Binging on Atwood

At my last writing group meeting, we talked about the authors who had significantly influenced us as writers. One woman talked about a poet who helped her make the connections between art and politics. Another woman brought in poetry texts from her early university days, blushing as she read passages most meaningful to her. Although I [...]

Final edits

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I mailed out the Stealing Nasreen galley, marked up with anxious notes and strikethroughs and last-minute edits, to my publisher this past Monday.
It’s been emotionally difficult to stop editing the book, to quit fussing over it, to let it go. I’ve heard many writers talk about being unsure when a writing [...]

why I write fiction

My writing group did a free writing exercise on why we write this week. I like to express myself politically, socially, professionally. But why I write fiction is a little harder to explain…Sometimes, I feel like my characters “visit” me. They give me a glimpse of what they look like and who they are; I see [...]