Pen To Paper

My collection has been quite some time in the making. It’s a series of personal short stories which have been incubating for years, until I finally put pen to paper last year in a true effort to tell these stories. They are stories about forming identities, usually under the influence of violence in an urban setting. I felt it was important for people to know how certain communities were coming of age in the GTA, and how they continue to come of age to this day, as I didn’t see these stories being told anywhere else.

I write on paper, then edit and transcribe on computer. I don’t always do this, but find this works for shorter stories as opposed to longer works. I don’t force anything. I maintain discipline and try to sit down at least twice a week to write or edit. If I find I’m forcing it, or at a block, I read and do research instead.

I hope the mentorship can help me become published, and that my mentor is able to provide valuable insight into the industry as well as assist me in being less ‘careful’ as a writer.

I would choose Cormac McCarthy to write a book on my life because I’d love to see a sentence that stretches for a page describing my stomach pain after eating Popeye’s for the third time that day. Either him or Shakespeare. Go big or go home right? I’d love to see how the Bard would sort my mess into a play.

In my perfect world, the writer would be free to read and write, have adequate studio space, and be able to secure grants and funding with ease to support their lives and projects. It would be nice if a writer was able to focus on writing, or devote time to whatever made them a more productive writer, instead of having to worry about bills and things.

Hopefully I’m published in 10 years. Beyond that, I’d like to think I’m financially stable enough to live a few months of the year abroad, writing, reading and eating my way through Asia, working on a novel. The lowest point for me is easily any point before I was writing prolifically, pre 2017. The highlights would probably be any time my stories are published, recognized, read, and loved.