I'm a member of a wonderful group of writers called Stroll of Poets, and every few weeks they have a reading with several featured poets. This Monday the 4th (tomorrow), I'll be one of those poets! Along with the awesome wordsmiths David Fraser, Neil Meili, and Daniel Poitras.

So, if you'd like to hear some great poets (and maybe even read a poem or two yourself - there's an open mic after the featured readers!) - then stop by the Upper Crust restaurant at 10909 86 Ave NW in Edmonton between 7:00-8:30 pm (the doors open at 6:30). Hope to see you there!

​I'm so excited for a couple of recent publications that have come out. First off, that's me up above holding the new copy of Grain Magazine, which has my poem "In another line of time" published in it!

Also, today my poem "Lost" is appearing in Write City Ezine, a great publication out of Chicago. Free to read online!

In upcoming news, in just a couple of weeks I'll be at the When Words Collide literary conference in Calgary. I'll be speaking at a couple of panels, doing an autographing session, and also bopping around the conference. If you'll be attending too, please drop me a line - always happy to meet new writers!

And I never announced the BIG news I teased earlier - my latest novella Dual, written last year for the 3-Day Novel Contest, made the longlist! I'm very excited to be in such great company, especially for a contest that normally attracts 500-600 writers every year. I'm thrilled to be a part of it and have my work to be esteemed so highly by the judges, especially since this was my first year entering. Very exciting!

All in all, it's been an eventful couple months. Sorry about the sporadic postings, but my Author Versus AI project is taking up most of my time these days. I'll be back shortly, probably with a report from the convention in August. Until then, hope you're having a great summer!

​I was quite excited to attend the Writers' Guild of Alberta's annual conference this year, which took place over this past weekend. They had a great lineup of speakers, workshops, and events.

I'm a WGA member, and I've met a few of the organizers at different events around the city. So, I was happy to volunteer and help out - I signed up to do book sales on Saturday morning. It was a fun way to talk to members who were attending the conference (and get a good look at the books that were finalists for the Alberta Literary Awards.

First event of the day was the keynote address by Deborah Willis. She covered a wide range of subjects, everything from motherhood to the creative process, and why she's not writing a book right now... but might be soon. She was a very enthusiastic and compelling speaker.

After my stint volunteering at the book table, I headed off to the workshops. Next up was "Storycraft Essentials" with Thomas Wharton. Participants did a few cooperative writing exercises that explored the construction of short stories and how to look at them, which was fun. The last advice for the day he gave writers was a list of recommended books on the writing craft, which you can see in this slide. I've read a couple of the ones on the list or had several of them recommended to me by other writers - for example, Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin and A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders.

Afterward, I headed to "Writing to Effect Change" with Bertrand Bickersteth, Deborah Willis, Jenna Butler, and Juleus Ghunta. It was a well-moderated panel that explored the social impact of writing, both on the authors themselves and how they viewed their writing going out into the world.

I enjoyed hearing about their different perspectives and how they all came to writing. Some arrived at it late, some early, and some have put it on pause as they pursue other things in life, but they all had a message to tell that has impacted readers.

Juleus Ghunta was also the keynote speaker at the awards gala that night, and he took us on a journey of his life and how he learned to read at age twelve, and was on his own at the tender age of fourteen. As part of his speech, he read several very moving poems about his experiences, as well as discussing the impact of literature on both him and others.

Sunday started out with a keynote speech by Jessica Johns, which covered a wide range of topics that centered around the idea of treaty and what it means to her, considering her Cree heritage. Some notable quotes from her speech: "Treaty is an ongoing relationship. ... Treaty is always living. It grows as we grow. ... I have a relationship to story. A treaty with story." (Her novel Bad Cree won the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction at the gala on Saturday.)

Following the keynote was the AGM for the Writers' Guild, where the guild elected new members for the 2024-2025 year. After that was the last event for the day: "Ask an: Author, Publisher, and Agent Interactive Q&A" with Kendall Bistretzan, Natasha Deen (author), Wayne Arthurson (agent), and Matt Bowes (publisher). They answered a number of questions about query letters, book manuscripts, and the state of publishing today.

It was a great conference, and I met a number of lovely writers from all walks of life - some just starting out and some with multiple books or stories under their belts.

But I have to say one of the most exciting events of this weekend was on Friday night, when my daughter graduated from middle school. I will echo parents everywhere when I say, "She's growing up so fast!" It was wonderful to see her walk down the aisle and get ready for the next step in her journey: high school.

So, all in all, it was a really packed weekend! Hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend too.

I'm having a wonderful time writing my book-a-week project, but I've been neglecting my author website here. However, I have to tease some big news coming soon (but that I can't talk about yet). It's very exciting, though!!! And I can't wait to share it.

Speaking of news, is anyone going to the WGA (Writers' Guild of Alberta) conference this weekend (June 7-9), No Place Like Home? I'm one of the volunteers who will be helping out (I'll be at the book sales table Saturday morning, which will be selling the works of the authors who will be speaking at the conference). If you're attending, please feel free to stop by and say hi!

I'm thrilled to announce that my poem "Morning Ritual" came out today at The Wild Umbrella. I also had a lovely Q&A with Editor-in-Chief Julian Kanagy about my poem and writing in general.

I've also had some wonderful talks on several podcasts, radio shows, and TV shows recently about my project Author Versus AI. While you can check out all the links on my sister website for my project, here are some notable recent highlights about my journey to write a book a week:

Speaking of a book a week, I better get to writing. Hope you all have a lovely Thursday!

Also, look out for me in and around the Edmonton, Alberta area. I'll be doing readings and giving workshops at various places and literary conferences, as well as having "office hours" at local libraries if you'd like to come see the writer at work. I'll be posting a schedule once I've gotten into the groove of things with the writing and feel ready to take my show on the road. I'm also a scheduled guest at several upcoming podcasts, so if you're not anywhere near Canada, you can still hear me chat about Author Versus AI online or on streaming services.

I keep saying that I'll be running a Kickstarter soon, which I will be (soon being a relative term). I'll be raising funds to pay the NON-AI (read: human) creatives who have signed up to participate in creating lovely artwork for the covers of my lovely books. And there will be all sorts of fun rewards if you support the project, such as being a character in a book or getting a one-on-one Zoom session to edit your own work or give you some targeted advice about writing. So, stay tuned for an announcement about that too.

Phew! Lots of things going on, but the first thing that's going to happen with me right now: writing like mad to get my word count in for today. Happy writing, all!