12 or 20 questions: with Barry Dempster

Barry Dempster is the author of fourteen books, including a novel, a children’s book, two volumes of short stories and ten collections of poetry. He has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award twice and has won a Petra Kenney Award, a Confederation Poets’ Prize, a Prairie Fire Poetry Contest and the Canadian Authors’ Association Chalmers Award for Poetry for his 2005 collection, The Burning Alphabet. In 2009, he published two new books of poetry: Love Outlandish, published by Brick Books in April, and Ivan’s Birches, with Pedlar Press, in September. Barry is senior editor at Brick Books. Also over this past year, he was a Wired Writing mentor at the Banff Centre as well as facilitator of a two week poetry workshop in Santiago, Chile.

1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

I was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for my first book of poetry. I was so green that I actually didn’t know that there was a GG Award for Poetry. It gave me a shock to realize that people were reading my work outside of friends and family.

My most recent book, Ivan’s Birches, arises more from the subtle undertones of experience than my previous collection, Love Outlandish, where both my heart and my nervous system are worn on my sleeve. One shimmers, the other seethes.

2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?

Poetry was where my adolescent self felt most embraced. Growing up in the shadows of Christian fundamentalism and its use of volatile, life-changing language gave me a strong sense of compression and focus. And in the beginning there was poetry.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?

How things start depends on how much “unconscious” time I get, time to dream and ponder and play. There are often false starts, projects where my will gets in the way. Once I immerse myself in writing, pace has nothing to do with it. I work steadily which is not the same thing as fast. My first drafts are rough little creatures, but they feel enough like promises to keep me going through a revision process that can add up to so many drafts I eventually lose track.

4 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

A poem almost always begins with a line containing enough music to haunt me. Then and only then do I start opening myself up to content. I often think that I’m writing piece by piece without a particular goal in sight, but somewhere along the way I start to see a pattern. That point where a random blizzard starts to resemble a solvable puzzle is always a great relief.

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

I used to dread public readings. It felt like I was peeling a grape from the inside out. But then I started learning to let the language lead me, to just stand back and celebrate the harmony and dissonance of words. Now I sometimes enjoy myself up there breathing into a microphone.

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

I’m fascinated by the various levels of meaning that make language such a finely tuned system of truth and dare. I love undoing words and putting them together again in new relationships. It’s like building new mathematical equations with every fresh line, knowing that deep communication is both impossible and essential.

7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?

The writer, especially the poet, is the representative of language. We owe it to readers to honour the vagaries of communication, to stretch the limits of the lyric, to face up to beauty or horror or balance in whatever ways they demand. At the most intrinsic level, everything we do affects the world. It’s important to live with that knowledge, to accept that we make a difference whatever it is we do or don’t do.

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

I’ve been exceedingly lucky to have worked with Don McKay several times. He asks questions that I might never think of on my own. He both broadens my work and helps me make myself small enough to get out of the way of the music. Becoming a stranger to your own work can be a marvelous gift.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

Paul Eluard’s “I must not mistake reality for being like myself,” which I like to paraphrase as “Get your head out of your own ass.” It’s good to be reminded that I’m just a cog in the big machine, but that being a cog can also take a monumental effort and can sometimes feel like a religious experience. Very little to do with the ego, though. On a scale of one to ten, egos, like belly buttons and appendixes, don’t amount to much.

10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

I believe in giving the muse office hours, otherwise my life just sweeps me up in a swirl of lost minutes. An ideal day is where I sit down with the blank page after exercising for half an hour and stay there until I feel I’m done.

11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

I turn to other poets. I turn to nature. I go for a walk to remind myself that I’m just one of a myriad of phenomena, that the world will open up to me when I give it the space it deserves.

12 - What do you really want?

Besides immortality and world peace? I want to write a better poem than the poem I wrote yesterday.

13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

Definitely nature. It’s where the scheme of things begins and ends. It’s science and holiness and challenge. I’m also very open to other art forms, to film and music and painting. To see the world through someone else’s eyes is a huge boost and privilege.

14 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
Different writers at different times, but I find myself most often returning to Neruda, Rilke and Eliot, the ways in which they first got me thinking and feeling and trying to go beyond the insignificance of myself. Sometimes the best thing is to pick up a book at random and to discover another way of speaking and singing. No agenda, other than to leave yourself open to discover something new.

15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
I’d like to travel more. To take wiser, yet wilder leaps. I’d like not to feel so locked up inside myself.

16 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
I would have been a full-time teacher or a psychotherapist had I not fallen into poetry. What I would like to be able to do is to sing like Otis Redding, act like Sean Penn, and paint like Mark Rothko.

17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

Writing best suited both the most isolated and the most daring parts of myself.

18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

The last great book I read was Marilynne Robinson’s novel, Gilead. The last great films were Agnes Varda’s The Beaches of Agnes and the new Jon Amiel film, Creation, about Charles Darwin coming to terms with loss and change.

19 - What are you currently working on?

I’m working on several manuscripts at once. I’ve been writing feverishly these last few years, a combination of facing mortality and finally accepting the fact that poetry deserves the most dedicated of disciples.

12 or 20 questions (second series);

12 or 20 questions: with Lesley Yalen

Lesley Yalen is a poet and writer whose work has been published in Invisible Ear, Skein, Denver Quarterly, jubilat, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, This Elizabeth, was published by Minus House Press in 2007. She is a member of Agnes Fox Press, a new chapbook publishing collective that's going to knock your socks off soon, and she lives above a neurologist's office in Northampton, MA.

1 - How did your first chapbook change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

First chapbooks are so wonderful, I think, because for many writers that's the first time they've seen their work as part of a cared-for and physically beautiful object. Before "This Elizabeth" it was pretty much all 8 1/2 X 11 print-outs for me. There is a whole additional level of aesthetic engagement added when the poems are laid out and bound in a book. When I first received a box of my chaps, I was just so into how they looked and felt. I kept stroking them.

2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?

Actually, I didn't. I started in the MFA program at UMass, Amherst as a fiction student. After a while, I switched to poetry. I've always loved both, and I think it was probably some contemporary lyrical fiction writers I was reading in my mid-20s--Jamaica Kincaid, Amos Oz, Michael Ondaatje-- who got me back into thinking seriously about writing. At some point, though, I just realized that my mind does not really work in terms of story. It works more in terms of sound, idea, and emotion-- and, yes, narrative-- but not story.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?

My work is always a slow process. I tend to write long, interconnected sets of poems and it takes me a while to figure out what the arc of a given piece is going to be. There's a lot of reconsidering and revising and reconsidering and revising. It's not the poem-as-spontaneous-miracle paradigm, where the poet just sits down and it all comes out like a shining gem. Of course, I often wonder if I'm ruining my poems by overthinking them, but then that's like wondering if I'm ruining my personality by overusing it, and I just can't think about that.

4 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

I definitely enjoy giving readings and also going to readings. I'm going to one tonight in fact. I live in Western Massachusetts and we have a fantastic poetry community here. There seems to be almost non-stop readings, often in non-traditional venues (a field, a rare Judaica shop, a living room), and they are often put on by people with creative visions for what a reading can be (I've seen a stand-up comedy routine, an acoustic music duo, and visual art paired with readings all in the past few months!) Readings are the best way to build community among writers. That said, I shake in my boots before I go up there.

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

Oh god, let's see:
*can there be any truth given the relativity of everyone's subjective perspective?
*if so, what would that truth possibly mean?
*how are my most intimate emotions and experiences intertwined with the political, social, and historical context in which I live?
*how does my position in those contexts affect my vision, my ability to empathize with others, my language?
*what is the meaning of an individual's physical and/or spiritual limitations? In what ways are the limitations assets?
*how can contradictions and paradoxes become a site for unsticking things?
*what happens when I try to think through another person's language?

You know, fun stuff.

7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

Definitely essential. It can of course be difficult because my ego is always involved (read: entrenched) in my writing, but once I get over that I realize how lucky I am to have a not-me person's perspective on my work. What could be more valuable to me than a not-me? Nothing. Especially when that not-me is a caring and careful and engaged reader and writer. I've been very lucky to know and share work with several of those.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

I'm paraphrasing my grandpa here: when deciding which room to sleep in tonight, pick the one with the best dreams.

10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

Alice Notley; Marlon Brando; Harpo Marx; the guy who walked the tight rope between the World Trade Center towers; Sam Cooke, Anne Carson, Inger Christensen, Juliana Spahr to name just a few. This week, I am also borrowing Mariano Rivera from my husband.

12 - What do you really want?

13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

(See #11.)

14 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

Well, it just so happens that many of my dear friends and loved ones also happen to be the most influential and important writers working today. I'm talking about famous writers like Brian Baldi, Seth Landman, Natalie Lyalin, Joshua Bolton, Lewis Freedman, Marie Buck, Jason Schwartz, Sara Veglahn, Leni Zumas. I am so incredibly lucky that these famous and influential writers just happen to be my friends (and, in one case, my husband.) Their work never stops urging me onward.

15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Speak/write another language fluently. I've studied Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin, but never achieved fluency with any of them. It's the typical American regret, and also mine.

16 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

As uncool as it may be to say it, I think I would have been a therapist. I've always been really into thinking about people's motivations and frustrations and the choices they have as they face the things that come at them in their lives. I also like to sit in a comfortable chair. Who knows, I might still be one someday. Kim Rosenfield is a therapist and a badass poet, so I know it is possible.

17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

Book: I just read a chapbook called Cymbals by a poet named Ben Estes. So good.

Film: Sherlock Jr., a Buster Keaton movie. I watched it on the Turner Classics network with my grandpa.

19 - What are you currently working on?

A few months ago, I wrote a series of poems which took language from Helen Keller's memoir and explored a relationship to language and self and people and ethics that I imagined as being both hers and mine. That is to say that as I wrote the poems, sometimes I was trying to access her and sometimes I wasn't, and in the end I feel like I created a kind of shared brain for the two of us. I'm doing the same thing now with St. Augustine's Confessions. He is an incredible person to be in communion with (pun intended). He is so meticulous and so heart-wrenching.

12 or 20 questions (second series);

12 or 20 questions: with Tony Burgess

Tony Burgess is the author of several books and could be described loosely as a `literary horror fiction' writer. He recently adapted his novel Pontypool Changes Everything into a film for Bruce Mcdonald. Tony lives in Stayner with his wife, Rachel and their two children, Griffin and Camille.

1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

My first book didn’t really change my life…except it encoraged me to write another. It did give me some confidence in believing I could own a way of writing. Funny you should ask that about my most recent, ‘cause I’m writing a story right now that would fit just fine in the first book.

2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?

I did start writing in a kind of hybrid of poetry, fiction and non-fiction…still do…I like that you can approach fiction as if it’s anything you want., once you’ve damaged it enough.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing intitially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?

Hmmm…it changes a lot…I tend to write sentences in my head…imagine the writing first…then wait, sometimes days, sometimes longer, for the right rhythm and pace to fit the shape…then I look for, again days or longer, a spot in it to pull hard against the rest of the story…this is the beginning…could happen to any part of it but the pull, a sharp pull, unexpected to the rest of the story elements and I have my beginning…then I physically write…usually fast… and close to how I want to read.

4 - Where does fiction usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

There are more than one way…sometimes I know I’m writing a novel, but I allow somethings to grow in compartments within the longer form…I know, whether it’s short or long, my earliest challenge is to slow down…to let things be for a while…the ending can wait…it’s a bit like the way an actor trains themselves not to anticipate another actors line…you have to convince your reader that you don’t know what’s going to happen.

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

Sure. I started as a public reader long ago, and the writing was just something to `perform’ then disposed of…I do much less public reading now but enjoy it…has not much to do with my process anymore though…

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

Yes. There are always theoretical concerns…and they appear and disappear as you need them…you can either seem to be in league with an idea or not. The great thing about theoritical concerns is that will lay seige on the least conscious thing. You don’t have to even know the current question,- you are – ahem - always already weighing in.

7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?

Not a clue. Who should decide this: the larger culture or the writer? Dunno. Shouldn’t be me, probably.

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

Hmmm. That is one of those relationships that if it goes smoothly it isn’t working very well.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

Be working on your next thing before you last one gets reviewed.

10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

I write in the morning. For a few hours…I find as the day goes on and other things interfere I lose focus…but, if I’m on some crazed jag, I write around the clock a bit.

11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

Writing very fast can get rid of a stall…really it can…make the conscious choice to write much faster. Failing that, sleep.

12 - What did your favourite teacher teach you?

Dilletantism works.

13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

Lordy, I was going to say films, which is true, but I see you gave nature as an option. And yup, that’s it. Entire completed and spell corrected paragraphs can be found in nature.

14 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

Oh that changes…as time goes on it’s less about cribbing from great books than listening to ephemera around you.

15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Write a novel that you have to sing.

16 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

I would like to be a weather person on TV.

17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

Hmmmm. Like anything I suppose, my Mom told me I was good at it.

18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

19 - What are you currently working on?

Fiction, novels and short stories. Sequels to that damn zombie movie….other things.

12 or 20 questions (second series);

some upcoming rob (& one or two other) readings;

Wednesday, November 4 - 7:30 p.m. - Tricks of the Poetry Trade - Ottawa-based poet, editor and fiction writer rob mclennan will discuss his work, his creative process, and offer some proven tips for getting published.

Call Malcolm Matthews at 905-935-0581 for more information. St. Catharines Library.
http://www.canauthorsniagara.org/Resources/UpcomingEvents.html

Friday, November 13 at 7:30pm, St. Catharines ON; The Grey Borders Reading Series Proudly presents...

Catherine Owen, rob mclennan, and Jenny Sampirisi
Strega Cafe, 19 King Street, St. Catharines
http://greyborders.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, November 24 in Toronto, 8-9:25pm; rob mclennan reads at the Art Bar Reading Series with Jacob Scheier & TBA;

Clinton’s, 693 Bloor Street West; donations accepted but not required; featured readers + open stage;

Jacob Scheier is a Toronto writer, currently residing in New York City. His first poetry collection More to Keep us Warm (ECW Press, 2007) won the 2008 Governor General's Award for English language poetry. His poems have appeared in several literary journals in North America and have been aired on CBC radio. He is a regular contributor of articles and essays to Toronto's NOW Magazine and New York's The Indypendent. His poem "You're the Kind of Woman" was recently published in the anthology Leonard Cohen: You're Our Man.
http://www.artbar.org/

Friday, November 27, 2009, Ottawa; doors 7pm, reading 7:30pm

the semi-annual pre-ottawa small press book fair reading
lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
at The Carleton Tavern (upstairs), Armstrong at Parkdale, Ottawa

with readings by Michael Dennis (Ottawa), Spencer Gordon (Toronto), Michelle Desbarats (Ottawa), Garry Thomas Morse (newly in Ottawa) & Lisa Pasold (Toronto); with the ottawa small press book fair happening the following day at noon; http://robmclennan.blogspot.com/2009/10/ottawa-small-press-book-fair-pre-fair.html

Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 7:30pm; TORONTO; rob's second novel, Missing Persons, launches

as well as a number of other titles (tba) as part of the fall Mercury Press launch at Supermarket in Kensington Market, Toronto; http://www.supermarkettoronto.com/

In this short, generous, and lyrical novel, which seems to take place entirely outdoors in prairie weather, rob mclennan helps us discover, gradually a young Saskatchewan woman whose name is Alberta, creating in the process a portrait that is enduring, and endearing.
-- John Lavery

With no words wasted, this short novel is a sharp, lyrical, and mysterious look at the solace of silence and the struggle between the promise of the water and the power of the land.
-- Diane Schoemperlen

http://www.themercurypress.ca/

Thursday, December 3, 2009; The Yellow Door, POETRY AND PROSE READING

www.yellowdoor.org
3625 Aylmer, Montreal (between Pine & Prince Arthur); Tel: 514-845-2600; Founder, producer/host Ilona Martonfi 514-939-4173 ilona.martonfi@sympatico.ca
Doors 7:00 pm Reading 7:30 pm; At the door $5; An evening of Poetry, Prose & Music
rob mclennan with Stephen Morrissey, Susan McMaster, Jon Paul Fiorentino & Michael Mirolla.

"We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the League of Canadian Poets."

lainna, c'est what?

October 29, 2009; Lainna & I at C'est What, Toronto, Dead Elephant Ale and Scrabble; have you heard of this beer? Like Steam Whistle, perhaps; hoppy, nice. Although I have to admit I picked it for the name; it tasted nothing like what i imagine dead elephants; oh, train at St. Thomas, did you have to take our Jumbo away?

http://www.railwaycitybrewing.com/

The next night, Lainna & I went to Harbourfront, the launch of a new book published by Anansi on Broken Social Scene, including an on-stage interview with the author + some of the band by Toronto Star's Ben Rayner. A photo of her here with Rayner.

http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/94639

Before his current decade-plus at the Star, he worked at the Ottawa Sun; before that, he was a plucky young Carleton University journalism student who called me up on the phone, asking if he could interview me for some class project; see where he is now...? Nice!

12 or 20 questions: with Rosie Chard

Rosie Chard is the author of Seal Intestine Raincoat, a cautionary tale that portrays a city in crisis and unearths the powerful human instincts that convert helpless fear into the desire to adapt and survive. (Published by NeWest Press September 2009) She is currently working on the final draft of her second novel, tentatively titled Ladder, a story of hate and love played out on two sides of a wall.

1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

My first book changed my life because it altered the way I look at things. Although I have always been interested in small details, the way a person stands, the way adjacent colours react with each other, I’m now always wondering how those things can become part of a story.

Also, it led to new friendships. Winnipeg has a thriving writing community and as I was a newcomer to the city when I began my first novel I got a chance to become part of something.

2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?

I wrote some poems when I was about six years old but lost interest in it until I started writing my second book Ladder. This novel is written from the viewpoint of a young girl who loves poetry so it was an opportunity for me to use this form of expression within the framework of a novel.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?

Once I have an idea the writing comes quickly. It’s the re-writing that takes the time. I often write rough drafts in a journal with a beautiful ink pen (the implement is important) then transfer the work to the computer for re-writing and editing.

4 - Where does fiction usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

I find it much more difficult to write short stories than novels so I have only written very few short pieces. I started both my novels with the intention that they would be long-term projects and most definitely ‘books.’ I usually write an outline structure and then start by writing scenes. I can usually visualize the content of the scenes quite clearly but in the beginning don’t know what order they go in or how they might be related to the other types of narrative. The characters usually won’t speak at first so dialogue comes last.

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

I have only recently begun to enjoy public readings. A successful public reading inspires confidence and for me confidence improves my writing.

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

The starting point for both my novels was trying to get a sense of the zeitgeist of the day. I thought very hard about what really shapes our lives in the twenty first century. What concerns people? Where are we in time and space? What forces structure our lives?

Seal Intestine Raincoat, my first novel, dealt with the dual themes of disconnection and isolation Not only are there millions of recent immigrants in the world who are separated from their original communities but city dwellers in general are becoming increasingly disconnected from their geography and climate. I remembered a piece of clothing I had seen many years earlier in a museum in England. It was a seal intestine raincoat made by an Inuit man in Northern Canada and it seemed to epitomize a way of life that used to be so independent and intimately connected to the land.

The large-scale wall building that is currently going on in many countries throughout the world inspired my second novel, Ladder. In this I explored the themes of human territoriality, repression and boundaries. I also considered the power and meaning of garden making

7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?

When I began writing I realized how much everyone loves stories. People are hungry for them, so I think the most important role of the writer is to tell stories that readers are provoked by and/or empathize with. When people first gave me feedback on my writing I began to realize that they really did bring their own perspectives to the tale which not only gave the work a greater texture and depth but allowed them, as readers, to react with the story in their own terms.

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

For me the process of working with an outside editor is essential.

Working with the editors at NeWest Press (Doug Barbour and Tiffany Foster) on my first novel was an absolute joy. I respected their opinions and I felt they respected mine and it was wonderful to see the manuscript just get better and better.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

Something that was said to me just before giving the reading at my recent book launch-‘read slowly and glance at the audience every now and then.’ Quite simple but it seemed to be worth remembering.

10 - How easy has it been for you to move between writing and gardening design? Are there similarities, overlap at all between? What do you see as the appeal?

The transition from garden design, creating something via a drawing, to writing, creating something via words, has been a fascinating one for me. I have spent my life as a landscape designer visualizing something that isn’t there and then using a drawing to explain it to someone else. There are many similarities with the writing process and each form of creativity has enriched the other. In fact in my second novel, Ladder, one of the main characters driving the plot is the garden. Garden design involves thinking about scale, rhythm, movement, tension, juxtaposition, contrast and time scales, all of which are important during the writing of a novel.

11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

I write early in the mornings at the weekend and often in the evening during the week. I cannot write without music and listen to the same tracks repeatedly. Gavin Bryars, Angelo Badalamenti (Twin Peaks) and Captain Beefheart all make great background music.

12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

I put the piece away for a while and do something else. I also ask other people to read it because good feedback often seems to jumpstart stalled writing.

13 - If there was a fire, what's the first thing you'd grab?

To be honest, my computer.

14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

I like fragments, collected from almost anywhere, that can be put into a new context and so become something else. The animated films of the Brothers Quay and Jan Svankmejer are wonderful examples of this. Museum collections are also a great source of ideas.

15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

I have recently begun to enjoy poetry and am reading the works of Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allen Poe, and William Carlos Williams.

I love the writing of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, George Orwell, Paul Auster, Will Self, Douglas Coupland, Liz Jensen, Chandra Mayor, Arundhati Roy, Sylvia Plath, Dave Eggers and Haruki Murakami.

16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Without question, see more of the world.

17 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

When I was at school I told the careers advisor I wanted to be a journalist. He told me it was a cut-throat business and I would never survive. Unfortunately I listened to him.

18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

When I first immigrated to Canada I could not get a job for the first eighteen months so I decided I would fill the time productively and write a novel. The key was having the time, not only to focus on the writing but also to think what would be an interesting thing to do and how to go about doing it.

19 - What was the last great book you read?

Storming the Gates of Paradise by Rebecca Solnit.

What was the last great film?

Easy Rider

20 - What are you currently working on?

The final draft of my second novel Ladder. I’m also thinking about and researching my third novel.

12 or 20 questions (second series);