A global pandemic. Self-isolation. Health worries. No work. Too much work. Unsafe work. Unsafe streets. Blatant racism on display in the most gut-wrenching ways. These days, it can be hard to concentrate. Hard to sleep. Hard to see the way forward.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had trouble reading and writing over the last five months. My mind races from one dire situation to the next. I’m easily distracted. And if you’re one of those people who can’t concentrate, who can’t read right now, that’s okay. However you feel, that’s okay.
When I’m awake at night worrying and wishing I could get back to sleep, I remember when I was a kid, when I used to stay awake on purpose, vowing to read the whole night through. Sometimes I would set a stack of comic books beside my bed, determined to read them all. Other times, I’d read a novel under the covers. Reading has always been a joyful escape, and writing too.
Is there a book that might help you escape right now? That might bring you happiness?
Or maybe you have a story inside you that wants to be written? That helps you move forward? If you do, I hope you write that story.
A year ago, I announced my debut picture book – a story of two siblings told in just 230 words to be published by Owlkids Books in Fall 2021. Yesterday, I reviewed the illustration roughs for it by Anna Kwan, and they were brimming with life and emotion. I can’t wait to share more about this book!
Now, I’m excited to announce that I’ve signed a contract with Owlkids Books for a second picture book! I’m thrilled to be working with the talented Owlkids team once again. This time, it’s a nonfiction picture book, and I’ll share more about it later. The germ of the idea began when I was watching a documentary, and after much research, I wrote my first draft in my third semester at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Fifteen drafts later, it was accepted for publication, which is scheduled for Fall 2022.
Although our world is horribly out of sorts right now, I’d like to share some happy news. On Friday, I signed an agent contract with Ginger Knowlton of Curtis Brown! I’m super excited to begin this next stage of my writing journey with such a talented agent. Thank you, Ginger!
I’d also like to acknowledge that I didn’t get here on my own. My critique groups and partners have always been both tough and kind with their feedback. My east-end café writers helped to create a comfortable place to write when I didn’t have one. The students and faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts were instrumental in supporting and encouraging me, particularly my Writers Without Borders, my Goodnight Noises, as well as my faculty advisors:
Liz Garton Scanlon, who guided me into the world of writing picture books with a rigorous attention to language and a steady, nurturing hand.
A.M. Jenkins, who helped me move beyond planning-type thinking to tap into my characters’ deepest, rawest, primal feelings.
William Alexander, who encouraged me to balance intense focus with play, fun, and whimsy. Will, I vow to “trust my wyrd”!
Alan Cumyn, who taught me how to plumb the depths with each successive rewrite.
I’m excited to share my profile of the talented Soyoen Kim in the CANSCAIP NEWS Spring 2020, available to members and friends of CANSCAIP. Her latest book is A Last Goodbye, which was written by Elin Kelsey and published by Owlkids Books. Kirkus Reviewscalls it “Staggering” and it is!
UPDATE: Thank you to the organizers of the SCBWI Canada East Art of Story Conference, who have wisely decided to cancel it due to covid-19. I hope to be back as a speaker at a later event. In the meantime, they’re hoping to host online workshops and distance critiques so stayed tuned!
I’m thrilled and honoured to be included as faculty at the upcoming SCBWI Canada East Art of Story Conference. This is an intimate and craft-based conference focused on writing and illustrating for children and teens. I hope you’ll be able to join us.
Date: April 24 to 26, 2020 Place: Albert at Bay Suite Hotel, Ottawa
You can check out all the faculty and workshops. My talk will be based on my critical thesis and grad lecture I completed during my MFA in Writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. I’m excited to be able to share it with a wider audience.
How To Build Character Cultural Literacy To reflect the full and varied reality of human experience, all writers need to respectfully and thoughtfully depict secondary characters with a range of cultural beliefs. Even when our protagonists largely mirror us, can we say the same for all their friends?
Each character we create exists within a global village and within a particular nation, neighbourhood, social class, ability level as well as an ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, family, and peer group—each with its own distinct culture. Awareness of our characters’ culture beliefs will deepen their presence on the page.
Using insights from contemporary cultural anthropologists, I’ll introduce tools we can use to identify our characters’ deep-level cultural beliefs, offering insights into their motivations and story arcs. I’ll focus on family culture since that’s where we first learn and express our beliefs, although these tools can be applied to other cultural groups. We’ll also compare our own cultural beliefs to our characters’ to discuss the importance of respecting #OwnVoices, writing within our cultural elements, and avoiding bias through omission.
I graduated! Two years went by so fast. I can’t quite believe I’m done.
My final residency was a celebration from start to finish as each grad in my cohort delivered a lecture as well as a reading from their creative thesis. It’s fascinating to witness the growth of writers through this program and how it radically and fundamentally changes them. Add to that the usual workshops, faculty lectures, plus specialty seminars, and this residency was jammed-packed writing fun.
Relaxing before my lecture. Notice my light-bulb dress? It made my lecture illuminating!
It’s hard to explain how this program has changed me. It’s like it disassembled then re-assembled me as a writer. It expanded my scope in terms of genre and form, and it helped me plumb emotional depths to find my stories and characters. It also gave me the language to identify where a story isn’t working yet and the techniques to re-imagine it.
Dorm life.
But even though I now have an MFA in Writing, I’ll never finish learning how to perfect this thing called writing. It is impossible to perfect, which is one reason why I adore it so much.
My Hogwarts.
Before I began this program, I had to think long and hard about why I was taking it, and I decided that it couldn’t be because of the promise of whatever publishing contracts may come. It had to be for the sheer joy of building my writing craft and community. This program delivered that and so much more.
My brilliant cohort. I’m grateful to know them.
For one thing, I have access to future VCFA lectures and critical theses, so I can continue to learn and grow. And the VCFA community is warm and welcoming even beyond graduation.
Now, I begin the next stage of my journey with my post-MFA plans firmly in place. I plan to continue to put writing first, and strive for goals that are within my control. I plan to play with words, and make time for pondering and self-exploration. I plan to revise and re-imagine till my word shine. And I hope to share my new craft knowledge through workshops and classes.
My costume for our Space Disco dance included a homemade jet pack. To VCFA and beyond!
I’ve just finished my final semester! What a journey it’s been! Next stop—graduating residency!
For the last six months, I’ve been working with my fabulous faculty advisor Alan Cumyn, author of a slew of wonderful novels, like his latest one, North to Benjamin, about a boy named Edgar and the farty, lovable Newfoundland dog he cares for. My overall creative goal this semester was exploring how to write emotionally rich characters who compel readers to turn the page and publishers to say, “Yes!” Alan provided in-depth responses to my work through on-page comments, editorial letters, and video calls. His big-picture comments prompted deep revision while his enthusiasm and kindness celebrated what worked.
Fourth semester is all about writing a creative thesis, which is submission-ready creative work, and well as an academic lecture. For my creative, I revised twenty-two chapters of a middle-grade novel, and I wrote eight new chapters to complete a full draft. Through discussion with Alan, I have a plan for another round of revisions. I also revised three picture books, and my creative thesis is a combination of a fiction picture book, a nonfiction picture book and chapters from my novel. I leave this program with a pile of manuscripts to continue to work on as well as a writer’s toolbox that’s overflowing!
My lecture is titled “Peeking Beyond Our Cultural Blinders,” and I’ll be delivering it at my graduating residency in January 2020. I plan to talk about how our cultural blinders can get in the way of understanding our characters. Using insights from contemporary cultural anthropologists and touching on the #OwnVoices movement, I’ll introduce tools we can use to identify our characters’ deep-level cultural beliefs as compared to our own. I’ll focus on family culture since that’s where we first learn and express our beliefs, and show how cultural orientations provide motivation for how characters feel, what they do, what they say, and how they change. Writing this lecture has given me more confidence as a speaker and mentor, and I hope I’ll get the chance to share more of my new writing-craft knowledge with others.
At my graduating residency, I’ll also be delivering a reading from my creative thesis. And I’ll be celebrating the many talented writers I’ve been lucky enough to share this journey with. VCFA is a caring, supportive community, and I’ve met so many incredible people who’ve become lifelong friends. Here are a few friends from my class, who I’ll miss seeing at residency every six months!
I’ve been having fun drawing my Kan’t Draw Komics, which I started because I’m a terrible artist. You can read more about that in this post. Here are my latest ones.
As author Jane Smiley said, “Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist.”
May your story garden thrive!
Personally, I’m not sure the revision stage ever ends. That’s one of the wonderful and challenging parts of writing.
