Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?
I grew up an hour outside of Ottawa and came originally for a BA in history and English at Carleton University. Afterwards, I went to Algonquin College for a diploma in professional writing. I spent five years living properly in Ottawa, and since I’ve been running back and forth from the country.
Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?
I always wrote little short stories with a vague dream of one day writing a novel, but wasn’t really devoted to the idea of it. During my second year, I got sick with mono and ended up dropping a few classes to cope. I had to pick a few summer classes and got lucky with a creative writing workshop which I ended up loving, and it inspired me. I began looking at writing programs to follow up with after graduation, as history was burning me out.
It was until I took professional writing that I stumbled into the writing community. I didn’t really understand the process of submitting work until I had written a series of poems for a class final assignment and was recommended to start a Twitter profile. I used to hate that platform until I realized how essential it was connecting with other writers and small press magazines. I was finding people with similar interests and different interests, and that was how I ended up stumbling into the Ottawa writing community.
Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?
I used to obsess over what I was writing and what people would want to read. When I began blog writing, I was able to write exactly what I wanted to say. Voices in the Attic was my first collaborative experience which led from grass roots design to planning trips. I got to collaborate and risk ideas, which was a huge stepping stone for someone who suffers an insufferable level of shyness.
I also benefited from seeing what impacted their writing. I came from a small rural town with my own personal life experience. It was different, mixing with other writers with different backgrounds.
Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?
Ottawa is exceptionally kind. I’ve been given more opportunities here than I have found elsewhere. I haven’t experienced much beyond Ottawa, so I can’t say for sure what is happening elsewhere, but Ottawa has a taste for the arts. There are so many platforms that support beginning to experienced writers, and it offers plenty of chances to learn.
Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements here? How have the city and its community, if at all, changed the way you approached your work?
I love Ottawa. It is where I learned to swing dance and to write. I spent the last few summers working at different Ottawa farmers markets, which is how I got to discover some of the corners of the city. I went through some of the best moments of my life here, which is why I always think of it as my home.
I’m trying to connect more with the city in my writing, which is mostly by connecting the rural lines to urban. I’ve been keeping my distance due to COVID-19, so looking at other writers within the community gives me a little bit of nostalgia.
Q: What are you working on now?
I was working on a series of true crime poems I put on hold recently. Lately I’ve been devoted to a fantasy novel I’m still in the beginning stages. During early lockdown, I picked up some books that my friends loved reading, which were all fantasy and not the typical genre I would usually go for. But, I ended up loving it, and it’s shifted my writing style over.
I’m also working on a publishing adventure with a friend I met in university.
During nights when I’m flipping my schedule over for shift work, I have been working on a small series of poetry based on the body and isolation, as well as connection to environment and labour.
