About

I grew up in Mississauga, Ontario and lived there till I came to my senses and moved to downtown Toronto, where I lived till I REALLY came to my senses and moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ahhh, that’s better.

I started writing soon as I figured out how to hold a pencil. I have done very little in the way of developing other skills, though I am reasonably good at talking on the radio, and I am a pretty great cook.

I wrote Homing in November 2003 for NaNoWriMo…actually, I took on the challenge for a radio story for CBC’s Definitely Not the Opera. I was working there at the time, my colleagues liked my pitch, I experienced a brief moment of triumph before the head-splitting realization set in that, god damn it, I was going to have to write a novel.

I procrastinated, blardy blardy blah, ended up writing several tens of thousands of words in about three days near the end of November, ended up with a finished, but flawed manuscript, and spent the next few years alternately polishing and ignoring it.

Then along came Robbie from Invisible Publishing with an offer to make it into a book, and that was that.

Homing won the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award in 2008. I had such an outer body experience when they called my name, I didn’t even turn to look at, let alone kiss, my husband. I just bolted for the podium to accept my award. Because I am all class.

I am working on another novel. It’s called Fallsy Downsies, and it’s about a bunch of singer songwriters who end up spending a lot of time crammed in a car, heading west. It’s loads of fun to write, when I get around to it.

Homing was optioned by Lady Hammond Entertainment in spring 2009, and I am writing the screenplay. I sound so confident when I put it that way, don’t I?