Yearly Archives: 2014

May Writing Links

Lit Reactor. A Real Monster: Writing About People You Know

Write to Done. 31 Ways to Find Inspiration for Your Writing

Lifehack. Improve Your Writing with these Editing Tips

The Writers’ Helpers. Writing death scenes

The Write Practice. 8 Tips for Naming Characters

Writing Forward. Ten Grammar Rules and Best Writing Practices That Every Writer Should Know

Fiction Factor. Creating Memorable Characters

Flavorwire. 10 Famous Authors’ Famous Addictions

Quick and Dirty Tips. Grammar Girl’s Editing Checklist

Writers Helping Writers. The Writer’s Bane: Describing a Character’s Physical Appearance

Big Rig Adventure

Big Rig Route: 10,402 km / 6,459 miles

DAY 1
Toronto, ON → Milton, ON → Sarnia, ON 
361 km

I love road trips but without a driver’s licence, it’s rare to find myself a passenger. A friend, who has been driving a tractor trailer for twenty-eight years, invited me to ride along on one of his runs (April 9 – 21). He picked me up in Toronto and we drove to the trucking yard in Milton, where we grabbed his sleeper cab and bobtailed to Molson Canada for a trailer full of beer to haul to Kent, Washington. After we would drive down through California to pick up produce to transport back to Toronto. Truckers refer to this route as “runnin’ the triangle.” We hit the trail at 7pm and hitched it to the post in Sarnia. 
Dedicated Truck 521
42,000 lbs of Labbat’s Blue
DAY 2 
Sarnia, ON → Walcott, IA
813 km
We crossed the border and headed west across Michigan, stopping in Battle Creek for kibbles ‘n’ bits. After driving through Indiana and Illinois, we stopped at the Iowa 80 in Walcott. It’s the largest truckstop in the world, hosting the annual Trucker’s Jamboree with truck beauty contests, live music, cook-outs, and fireworks. They sell everything you need to pimp out your truck and also have a barbershop, massage clinic, dentist, and mini movie theatre. Most truckstops are now called travel centres and cater to all motorists, as before they only made money off truckers for fuel and parts.

Iowa 80: World’s Largest Truckstop
DAY 3
Walcott, IA → Rapid City, SD
1260 km
We tried sleeping with the heat off last night, so it wouldn’t be so noisy but woke up freezing at 5am. Oops! The contrast between the blue skies and yellow fields of Iowa, heading west on I-80, was beautiful. We stopped in Des Moines for our first showers of the trip. Truckers get free showers with their rewards card, collecting points through purchasing fuel. I broke out the flip flops as we crossed into South Dakota on I-29, and later… tried a little driving! The heat was back on for our sleepover in Rapid City.

Atlantic, Iowa

Mitchell, South Dakota
Chamberlain, South Dakota

DAY 4
Rapid City, SD → Belgrade, MT
904 km
After a breakfast buffet in Rapid City, we left South Dakota on Highway 212, kitty-cornered Wyoming, and then started across Montana. This state is so vast, and I was impressed by its ever changing landscape and climate. I love mountains! The cows were all lying down in the fields… they know their weather! We hit rain, then heavy snow from Livingston to Bozeman, but things cleared up at Belgrade where we stopped for the night. 
Spearfish, South Dakota
Highway 212, Montana
Big Timber, Montana
DAY 5
Belgrade, MT → Ellensburg, WA
904 km

We drove through Butte, birthplace of Evel Knievel, and then stopped for the best breakfast at River City Grill in Missoula before leaving Montana. After passing through the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, we parked for showers in Post Falls. Into Washington, there were expansive farmlands one after the other, before we crossed the beautiful Columbia River at sunset. We hitched it to the post in Ellensburg, with a plan to deliver the next morning. 

Butte, Montana
Montana Idaho Border

Ritzville, Washington
Columbia River, Washington
DAY 6
Ellensburg, WA → Kent, WA
170 km

It was only a two-hour drive from Ellensburg to our delivery site in Kent, but alas, we were not able to unload until the following day. This was a good time to take the mandatory 36-hour reset. We spent the day and night in the distribution parking lot and made do with vending machine goodies. While my driver napped, I traipsed around a grassy field, watched planes come and go from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and made friends with a lone Canada Goose.

Ellensburg, Washington
Cle Elum, Washington
Kent, Washington
DAY 7
Kent, WA → Medford, OR
694 km

We unloaded the beer at 9am and were on the road again at 10. Tumwater was our first stop along I-5 for kibbles and showers. From there we faxed ahead for an Oregon trucking permit. Most companies pay annual state fees, but not if they don’t pass through often. In Portland, we hit rush hour passing over the pretty Willamette River and then continued south through lush farmlands (grass smells good!) with sheep, sheep, and more sheep. We slept in Medford, our last stop before California.

Portland, Oregon
Salem, Oregon
DAY 8
Medford, OR → Lodi, CA
553 km

My driver and I had a morning routine: he filled out his log book while I tidied our “little house on wheels”. California is rolling hills and mountains… and warm! After a long winter in Toronto, that still wasn’t over, it was great to wear a dress and sandals! We drove down the I-5, passing breathtaking Mount Shasta and true blue Lake Shasta before stopping in Corning, where we ate breakfast and got the truck washed. We continued down to Lodi and parked 521, renting a room for the night. A real bed was nice, but I did miss being in the truck, the noise and vibrations – everything!
Weed, California
Mount Shasta in Shasta National Forest, California
Shasta Lake in Mountain Gate, California
DAY 9
Lodi, CA → Salinas, CA → Bakersfield, CA
572 km

We drove west towards the coast to Salinas for pickup. Five hours and three stops later, we had 34,000 lbs of baby spinach, kale, red and green leaf lettuce, romaine, and celery loaded and ready to transport back to Canada. Reefer on… ready to roll. Heading down Highway 101, we stopped in King City for kibbles and did our first bit of night driving until we retired in Bakersfield. Although my driver often travels at night, he planned for very little on this trip, so I wouldn’t miss anything!
Hollister, California
Salinas, California
Salinas, California

DAY 10
Bakersfield, CA → Fillmore, UT
904 km

I loved this last leg of California, with its rolling hills, Joshua trees, wind turbines, trains, and desert landscape. At Barstow, we hopped on the I-15 to travel up to Primm, Nevada for lunch and a wee bit of gambling before running parallel to the Vegas Strip. We were only in Arizona for half an hour, but the Virgin Mountains were a trip highlight! We drove through much of Utah in the dark before parking in Fillmore for the night. I would wait until the next day to see this state.  

Bakersfield, California
Tehachapi, California
Virgin Mountains, Arizona
I-15 through Virgin Mountains
Virgin River, Arizona
Virgin Mountains and Virgin River, Arizona
DAY 11
Fillmore, UT → Big Springs, NE
1140 km

We stopped in Nephi for breakfast before driving past the gorgeous Tintic Mountains in Provo and the Wasatch Range in Park City. On the way out west, we only travelled the northeast corner of Wyoming… now we would cross the entire state. In Evanston, we saw our one and only trailer rollover, likely caused by the driver falling asleep. The Green River Twin Tunnel was also a trip highlight, with my driver pulling his horn going through. After a quick stop in Rawlins for showers, we left Utah and drove into Nebraska under bright stars and lightning in the distance where we hitched it to the post in Big Springs.

Provo, Utah
Evanston, Wyoming
Green River, Wyoming

DAY 12
Big Springs, NE → Walcott, IA
1020 km

The end of the trip was near… so I soaked up all the warmth and beauty of Nebraska. We stopped in Wood River for our last fill-up of diesel, and then Grand Island for kibbles. The state was very dry, with most of its creeks and rivers dried up. A few drops of rain threatened, but it didn’t really come down until we hit Lincoln. In Walcott, we had come full circle and parked again for the night at the Iowa 80 Truckstop.

Big Springs, Nebraska
North Platte, Nebraska
Wood River, Nebraska
Wood River, Nebraska
DAY 13
Walcott, IA → Milton, ON → Toronto, ON
1102 km

Our last day of driving… was travelled mostly in silence. After declaring a few trinkets at the border, we made it back to the trucking yard in Milton around midnight and unhitched the trailer to be taken by a city driver to Cambridge. My driver filled out his paper work while I packed up our belongings. The trip went faster than I could have ever imagined, but I’ve been invited to tag along again. I feel perfectly suited to the trucking lifestyle, everything that is, except the driving!

Blue River Bridge between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario

Follow the Big Rig Travels blog to road trip across America with Big Rig Steve!

“First Dive” in The Dalhousie Review

My short story “First Dive” is in the latest issue of The Dalhousie Review, published at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

This is one of my earliest works and is included in my collection Men and the Drink. It is the first part of a trilogy that revolves around a young female narrator over a period of three years. The second story, “Permanent,” was published in The Nashwaak Review, and the third, “Black Satin Pants,” is still looking for a home. I was close to retiring “First Dive” as it had been rejected eleven times, and I wondered if it was strong enough to stand alone without the rest of the trilogy.

Much thanks to the fine folks at The Dalhousie Review for accepting my story.

April Writing Links

terrible minds. 25 Ways to Fight Your Story’s Mushy Middle

Flavorwire. Absurd Urban Dictionary Definitions of Famous Authors

Writer’s Relief. Rejections: A Badge of Honor

the guardian. Bad Grammar award reveals shortlist of English language offenders

Sundog Lit. How to Submit: Becky Tuch

Ploughshares. How to Charm the Pants Off an Editor with the Power of Your Words

The Wall Street Journal. In Search of the Next Gabriel García Márquez

Huffington Post. Are All Fiction Writers Tormented?

Echolocation. The Deepest Pleasure’s in the Making of a Story: Cynthia Flood on Short Fiction

The Secret Life of Writers. Six Tips for Writing Your Synopsis

Writing Confidence

White Cabbage Butterfly | Photo: Bruce McArthur

“On a Tuesday I see myself as so gifted that I think the cornflakes I left over for breakfast should immediately be wrapped and sent to some Literary Museum for bronzing and held for posterity… Come around on Thursday and I will grovel at your feet to take me on as a shipping clerk in a dockside factory that manufactures ‘I Love New York’ ashtrays. My confidence not only blows with the wind but is susceptible to the currents caused by a butterfly at rest.”

-Neil Simon, The Collected Plays of Neil Simon, Vol.2

March Writing Links

Building Stories. Peter McArthur House

The Province. Canadian writers share their horror stories

Sundog Lit Blog. How to Submit: Leesa Cross-Smith

New York Times. Audiobooks and the Return of Storytelling

Book Riot. Is Hannah Horvath a Believable Young Woman?

metaphysical conceit. first drafts and writing longhand

The Millions. Creativity and Madness: On Writing Through the Drugs

Jody Hedlund. 6 Key Things to Consider When Developing Characters

Bookslut. An Interview with Wells Tower

How Creatives Work. 5 Reasons to Read Hunter S. Thompson

“Thank You for Disappearing” in PANK

One page from this story was written over two years ago… and then another page a year later. It wasn’t until last summer that I wrote a complete first draft. This is becoming a reoccurring process: fermentation in the brain for long periods of time before pen goes to paper, fingers to keys. Workshopping the story with a first reader and my writing group during the revision process was invaluable. After submitting the story, an acceptance letter from the prolific Roxane Gay, co-editor of PANK, was fantastic news!

More online fiction:
“Little Hawk” in Little Fiction
“Rivals” in Joyland
“The Promise of Puppies” in Dragnet Magazine
“Hybrid Love” in Lies with Occasional Truth

February Writing Links

Andrew Jack Writing. Writing Magic: 25 Tips, Tricks and Things To Think About

Lit Reactor. 20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes

Buzzfeed. 12 Fundamentals Of Writing “The Other” (And The Self)

From the Desk of Kimberly Hill. Why You Shouldn’t Have a Plan B

the guardian. The 10 worst couples in literature

ottawa poetry newsletter. On Writing #22: Matthew Firth

The Millions. Style Sheet: A Conversation with My Copyeditor

Book Forum. The Bottle and the Damage Done

The New Yorker. The One-Sentence Novel

Paul Sutton Reeves. Revenge in Literature and Life

January Writing Links

Dazed. Lena Dunham vs. Judy Blume

Salon. What Virginia Woolf taught me about failure

Flavorwire. 10 of the Greatest Essays on Writing Ever Written

Guardian. Dear diary, how did you become part of our literary culture?

The Town Crier. The Puritan Marks its Progress

Buzzfeed. Not Here to Make Friends: On the importance of unlikable female protagonists

99u. 10 Creative Rituals You Should Steal

Ploughshares. Fictional Writer Master Class: Stop the Presses

The Millions. Commercial Grammar

Book Riot. 10 More Fabulous TV Author Cameos

I’ve been posting literary links at the end of each month for a few years now, giving each year a slightly different title. You’ll find all of these under the literary links label.

2011: Literary Links Roundup
2012: Literary Links
2013: Lit Links
2014: Writing Links

Reading List 2014

“When you think about it zoologically, Grimace is clearly related to the same species as Sesame Street‘s Cookie Monster. Both have similar body shapes – dark colors, mottled hides, those darting black eyes and, most significantly, both have an obsessive compulsion to consume one single item of American junk food. They’re practically twins. Of course – and this is crucial – Grimace is less of a moralist about the whole thing. Unlike Cookie Monster, Grimace doesn’t care if you can count from one to ten, he just wants his milkshake. “Ya, ya, C is for Cookie; J is for Just give me my fucking shake, okay?”
-“The Return of Grimace” in Certifiable, David McGimpsey

So… here goes. A new year with new books and maybe the return of a few favourites. Most of my books come as lenders from friends and the library, or from second-hand shops and the Sally Ann. It’s rare that I go out of my way to find a specific book to read, but that might change. I ordered my first two books online! The only thing I’ve ever bought online before were football shirts and winter boots with someone else’s credit card. And although I still don’t believe in credit cards, I was able to do it with a gift card. I’ve had a backlog of books I’ve wanted to read filed away in my brain… hoping to get to some of these this year.

2014 Readings

Dance of the Seven Dwarfs by Zsolt Alapi
Certifiable by David McGimpsey
Hellgoing by Lynn Coady
Pilgrims by Gabriel Garcia Marques
Hero of the Underground by Jason Peter with Tony O’Neill
A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
Getting Naked with Harry CrewsInterviews | edited by Erik Bledsoe
Emerald City by Jennifer Egan
The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry by Gary Greenberg
BabyWorld by Jonathan Martin Dixit
The World According to Garp by John Irving
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
What’s Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies
Amelia Earhart by Kathleen C. Winters
All the Names by José Saramago

I would also like to read more than I did last year… but am happy not be in a reading paralysis. For a great list of reccomendations, check out Roxane Gay’s My 2013 in Reading