Here’s the latest news about my writing work! Scroll down to learn more about what I’ve been up to.
My first novel, Milksop, has been acquired by Chicken House Press! Check out the acquisition announcement here. A huge thank you to Alanna Rusnak of Chicken House.
I completed a first draft of Milksop in 2023 through the Novel Development Program of The Novelry. For more about Milksop, check out my Substack post, “Today’s ODDity: I’m Publishing My Debut Novel. I’m 64.”
Milksop will come out some time in spring 2026. Stay tuned for a publication date!
It’s ODD, meaning Old Dog Dumps: Dispatches from a Journeyman Writer. In irregular posts, I’ll share what’s happening in my writing life, along with thoughts on writing and reading. Please subscribe: it’s free! To get a taste of my ODDities, check out my welcome post, This Is ODD! (BTW, in the photo, that’s our cat Lucy sleeping with our giant, Stanley. RIP, Stanley!)
From September 2023 to April 2024, I participated in the Humber School for Writers Graduate Certificate Program. I had a wonderful experience working on my second collection of stories, The Healing Arts, under the mentorship of Joseph Kertes. Stay tuned for news about the publication of this collection, a companion volume to Moonshine Promises.
“Bandits,” which was originally published in my first collection of Mulder tales, Moonshine Promises, has been reprinted in a collection titled Christian Environmentalism and Human Responsibility in the 21st Century: Questions of Stewardship and Accountability (Routledge). To accompany this story of pesky, egg-stealing raccoons, I also wrote an afterword, “Paragon of Animals.” Many thanks to the editor, Katherine Quinsey, for including my work in this collection in honour of my colleague of many years, Deborah Bowen.
My story, “The Homely Dreams of a Silly Soul,” published in the summer 2022 edition of Solum Literary Journal, has won the 2023 Word Award for best short story in the Christian short pieces category from the Word Guild! Not so homely, but still pretty silly.
Two of my recent stories have been shortlisted for 2023 Word Awards by The Word Guild! “The Homely Dreams of a Silly Soul,” published last year in Solum Literary Journal, has been shortlisted in the Short Story–Christian Market category, while “Parking Spots,” published in December 2022 in Blank Spaces, was shortlisted in the Short Story–General Market category. Winners will be announced September 16! Both stories will appear in The Healing Arts, my new collection of Mulder tales. Stay tuned for publication news!
As part of my 2022-2023 sabbatical, I attended the week-long Humber School for Writers Summer Workshop. The shared sessions were highly productive, as was the time spent in my workshop group, led by the inspirational Antonio Michael Downing. I workshopped a short story that I hope to include in my next collection, tentatively titled The Healing Arts.
The story was fine, I think. But a mortified editor from Prairie Fire reached out to me to apologize that my last name was misspelled on the front cover. It was spelled correctly everywhere else: in the table of contents, on the first page of the story and in the footer, in the biographical note listed among the contributors, and on the back cover. Just not on the front cover–in big, bold letters. Thank you, God, for keeping my author ego in check.
More importantly, “Excavations” is now published–and looking quite fine, if I do say so myself–on pp. 7-16 of the summer 2023 issue. The story will also be appearing in my second collection of Mulder tales, The Healing Arts.
A colleague suggested that some day this cover might become a collector’s item. Hmmm.
For the 2022-2023 academic year, I’ve been enjoying a sabbatical from my normal teaching and administrative duties. Here I am in Cancun, Mexico, doing research for a story. A Great White Shark is the main character. Seriously, though, I’ve been completing my second collection of Mulder tales, The Healing Arts, as well as getting started on my first novel (no title yet). Stay tuned!
I’ve been awarded a grant to support my writing from the Canada Council for the Arts! I’m honoured that I’ve received a Professional Development for Artists Grant for 2023-2024–because, Lord knows, I need some developing. I’m tickled, too, that the CCA has designated me, at the age of 61, a New/Early Career Artist. I’ll be using the funds mainly to complete my second collection of Mulder stories and my first novel. Stay tuned!