Happy New Year!

Now’s a great time for new creative beginnings and sustaining artistic goals. I have several course offerings during the winter season. The City of Windsor Recreation & Education department is currently enrolling for Creative Writing classes at Forest Glade Community Centre and Mackenzie Hall Cultural Centre. At Forest Glade, I offer two courses, one for youth (ages 12 to 15), and another for adults (ages 16 and up). Mackenzie Hall carries the adult course only. This is an affordable way to learn more about the basics and mechanics of poetry, prose, flash fiction, and micro memoir. Each class is interactive and includes generative prompts, writing reflections and discussions, in addition to some critique/workshop time. Space is limited! See the Events page for specific dates and times.

Additionally, for those writers interested in intensifying their commitment to craft, I am now offering weekly three-hour workshops at my residence. This course is limited to six participants and occurs over six weeks. Writers bring in longer form pieces in whatever genre they wish (fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry, prose, hybrid) for weekly discussion and critique. Our meeting time will contain some contemplative reading as well as brief overviews of relevant craft techniques. If you’re interested in joining, please email me directly.

Artist and fellow poet Adriane Clipperton recently shared her sketches of yours truly drawn at TOAST Open Mic Poetry’s monthly readings held at Phog Lounge over the 2024 year. Check out Adriane’s other illustrations and paintings on Instagram and her emotive and visceral writing via WordPress.

TOAST typically meets every third Thursday of the month from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. All are welcome to read and signups begin around 7:45. Check out TOAST’s official Facebook page for location updates, as Phog will be leaving downtown Windsor in the near future.

Phylum Press out of London, Ontario gave me a social media shout-out on Instagram in November for their debut issue, published in the fall of 2024. My poem, “Lessons from Bryophyta,” was part of the Nano Moss collection. Each quarterly issue focuses on a new species for the year’s phylum—a unique writing prompt—and they’re currently looking for work inspired by weeping moss. Submit here for consideration.

Thanks to Cameron Sauder and Gabriel Graham Piessens for accepting my poem, which was, serendipitously, written before their theme call went out.

The Malahat Review recently published two non-fiction pieces of mine for their fall 2024 issue. Check out “In Wheatley” and “Scenes from the Texas Eagle” in print. Thanks to Iain Higgins for his discerning edits and pairing together these two travel narratives that I didn’t realize were related.

Also want to recognize Moss Piglet for accepting “Trial Separation,” a prose-y poem that’s part of their November 2024 issue on patterns. The publication is bold, colourful, and bright, and visual art is married with written work. Thanks to John Bloner for the green light on this one.

Five Minutes published a new prose piece of mine called “Rings,” my first credit for 2025. Thanks to Susanna Baird and her team of readers for seeing the merit in this 100-word snapshot capturing a relationship struggle.

From left to right: Vanessa Shields, Ainslie Hogarth, Anne Baldo, Cassandra Caverhill, Elly Blake.

In October, I had the pleasure of being part of a publishing panel hosted by writer Vanessa Shields at Balanced Life Wellness Centre in Essex.

We had a great conversation about sending work to small presses and literary journals, how to find an agent, and navigating book deals. My colleagues were not only a wealth of knowledge about publishing, but also on how they stay sane in this industry. I learned so much from them!

In December, I joined several local writers at an event called Salon of the Refused, the premise of which was to share work that had been previously rejected. I read two pieces: a poem titled “Winter Reminiscence,” a personal favourite that had been rejected over several years and recently found a home with Saraband Press; and a creative non-fiction piece called “Nursing Home” about bearing witness to an aging loved one that has not yet found traction with a lit journal.

Special thanks to Wayne Johnson for organizing and also to my talented colleagues for sharing their work and perspectives on rejection.

I’m preparing for my second ever writer’s retreat, this time with the good folks over at The Chestnut Review. A group of us are heading over to Mexico to delve into writing by critiquing current projects and finding inspiration in new surroundings. Pics and a brief update to follow.