Where I’ll Be at World Fantasy Con
World Fantasy Convention November 1-4, 2012 Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel, Suites & Conference Centre Toronto, Ontario Thursday, November 1 9:00 p.m. OUR MONSTERS, OUR SELVES The best monsters—ghosts, vampires, werewolves, zombies—all begin as human beings, as US. All have their roots in the ideas of lost/ strayed/stolen humanity. Freud alludes to the factor of semblance in The Uncanny, and that idea, with the tensions inherent in duality/ dichotomy—an otherness both projected, and found within—is crucial. Think...
Read MoreEditor Interview: Christie Harkin of Fitzhenry & Whiteside
I had such a wonderful time getting to know Christie Harkin, children’s editor at Fitzhenry & Whiteside books, when I interviewed her for Cynthia Leitich Smith’s blog. Read all about it over on Cynsations today, where I’m...
Read MoreBaaaaaad Blogger: Do I Have Social Media Fatigue? Or Am I Just Lazy?
Wow. It has been exactly one month since I last posted. I don’t think I’ve ever let that much time elapse since I began this blog way back in February 2011. Oh, what interesting things I had to say back then. I blogged about worldbuilding, “Developing Desire,” and how I gave up true love with the mailman. I took my readers on the roller coaster of publishing my first novel. For quite a while I was habitual about blogging at least once a week. What happened? Yes, I did have some illnesses and some house guests this past month. (My fifteen-year-old nephew is staying with me this week...
Read MoreThe Truth about Trends–a guest post by Megan Crewe
I’m thrilled to be hosting Megan Crewe on the blog today. Megan and I spoke about speculative fiction at last November’s CANSCAIP meeting and I found her to be nothing less than profound. I asked her to write up a few words about something every writer thinks about: trends–and I think both writers and readers will enjoy what she has to say. Megan’s new book, The Way We Fall will be coming out on January 24th. You can read more about it at the end of this post. The Truth about Trends by Megan Crewe Hang out in writerly circles for very long, and you’ll hear...
Read MoreCanadian authors! Have you written to your MP yet about Bill C-11?
In its current form, Bill C-11 is a catastrophe for authors, since it directly undermines copyright, which is how authors earn their meagre incomes. -Paulina Ayala, MP forHonoré-Mercier,Quebec All right, if you are American you might just want to ignore this post because today I’m doing a little public service announcement for Canadians. As many of my friends in CANSCAIP (the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers) know already, there is a copyright bill called C-11 that is now going through its first reading in parliament. Apparently it is almost...
Read MoreAgent Hunting
I was thrilled by the response to my October 19th post, A Query Dissected, in which I shared the query letter that got me my agent and discussed some of the things I thought a query needed to be successful. But what if you are not quite there yet and don’t know which agents to approach? As difficult as writing a query letter was, I found searching for an agent to be even harder. How was I supposed to know which agents were reputable? How could I find out which ones represented my favorite authors? How would I know when I’d found the agent that was right for me? And so I’ve decided to write...
Read MoreAbout Me
Hi! I'm Lena, a young adult fantasy author from Toronto.