submit your writing to higher ranked litmags
In 2020 I started submitting a creative nonfiction story about me and my much-missed mom. It’s a story that encompasses so much of who my mom was and why she means so much to me, and I was sure it…
Sage Tyrtle
How I Successfully Traded Screen Time for Writing TIme
I have a complicated relationship with technology. For a really long time I was an early adopter. I had my first PC in 1986, I met my partner online in 1991, I had an online journal in 1995 and a…
I’m in an amazing craft book
Author Lindz McLeod asked me to be part of a new kind of writing craft book. I was like, YES, she was like, did you want to know what it is? and I was like WHATEVER IT IS YES. I’m…
It Only Took me 5 Years To Get Into Fractured Lit
In November I opened a rejection from the flash litmag Fractured Lit. This was the 26th time I’d opened a rejection from Fractured Lit, over the course of 5 years, and I yawned and read it and then stopped and…
3 tools to help you write convincingly from a child’s point of view
In 1979 I got a pen pal through the TV show The Big Blue Marble. It was the 70s, so there was no effort whatsoever to make sure either one of us was a child as we gave each other…
How I Made Literary Magazine Rejections Into a Game
About a year ago I was at the best sushi restaurant in Toronto. It was my birthday. I was there with my family, and the unagi was so good my mouth is watering as I write this sentence, and I…
How My Terrible Photoblog made me a better writer
When I first moved to Canada, long before Instagram existed, I started a photoblog. I went out every Saturday with my digital camera, and I took photos of the pigeons fluttering around Bathurst station, the ice waves on the shore…
Dallas Won Because Its Characters Had More Than Hairspray in Common
I love watching terrible 80s TV, so recently I sat down to watch Dynasty for the first time. It’s a show about rich oil barons and their families. Like Succession, if Succession was set in Denver (DENVER) and everyone was…
Unlock Better Plots with Tricks from Musical Improv
I was so excited when I saw a poster for a new musical on the subway. I’ve loved musicals all my life, and the recent crop of “based on a movie” and “jukebox” musicals have been a massive disappointment. But…
Five Ingredients for Writing Meaningful Memoir
I’ve been telling true stories on stage for ten years, all over the world. I’ve taught workshops in India and spun tales in New York City. Won story slams, been on the radio, even on television. And when stages vanished…