Have you been to Bowen? If so, what are you looking forward to. If not, what do you hope to find?

Yes indeed. I was honoured to be invited to present last year, and that was my first visit to Bowen. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with returning participants and meeting new ones! And if time permits, I hope to explore more of the island.

What's one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?

Once upon a time, I quit my job at the UVic Libraries to hitchhike across Canada, housesit in the jungle in Panama, and crew on sailboats, from Panama to Samoa.

What’s the best words of advice on writing you’ve ever been given?

Early on, a kind agent gave me some blunt feedback that amounted to: rewrite your manuscript from scratch. It was only then, when I was finally willing to burn that early draft and start over, that I really started to wrap my head around the craft. 

What do you like to read? Is there a book you could recommend?

One of the downsides to editing is I've become a very critical reader. I have an embarrassingly high read-to-return rate on Audible. So I prefer to stick to books that have won an award, which is *usually* a good sign. Genre doesn't matter so much to me, but I have a special place in my heart for literary spec. Some recent favourites: Tenth of December by George Saunders, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames.