Leaking my novel has been the most exciting thing I’ve done in awhile, and while everyone tells you not to, I am in my punk era and I’m doing it anyways. I might be a crime writer now, but there is a pretty strong YA-to-Crime pipeline, and I originally did my master’s for a young […]

I’m now at the point of the writer’s journey where I look back at what I’ve made, and think: it’s time to get serious. But querying agents is such a bizarre feeling. It is especially weird because I have spent my career in advertising and PR, so I have won and lost many pitches over […]

It may seem out of place that I’ve taken a sudden shift in my blogging to go from something creative to something political, but this is one of the tools I have to formulate my thoughts on what is happening in the early days of February 2025. It’s not a surprise that Canadians are none-too-thrilled […]

Beyond the Thickets and The Trees will be the first novel-length manuscript that I’ve ever really finished – as in, finished, finished. Since the age of 28, I’ve written two novels that I’ve given up on, was too confused by, or not confident enough in. My first novel embarassingly titled Hacker Girl, is a dystopian […]

I’ve thought about writing this post for awhile because I want to share all of the scholarships I applied for as a Canadian international PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. My goal with this post is to illuminate funding opportunities, and to help other Canadian researchers and potential doctoral students alleviate the financial stress […]

The Edinburgh Futures Institute is easily the most impressive building in the portfolio of pretty impressive buildings at the University of Edinburgh. Situated across from the flats along the Quartermile, the EFI is a dazzling new facility filled with millions of dollars worth of tech equipment for the purpose of offering fusion-style classes that allows […]

it’s taken a few weeks to catch my breath, but last month I presented on my first panel at the International Gothic Association Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I had alot to learn about presenting at a conference of this size, starting with the call for papers, followed by the funding process, travel and presentation […]

Listen, they did warn me. In the first week or so of starting my PhD at the University of Edinburgh, the zoom orientation room was filled with eager, new doctoral students. It was 2021, right in the midst of the COVID lockdowns, each of us glued to little screens, excited to jump into the doctoral […]

Yesterday I had the opportunity to join the Gifford Lectures with Dr Cornel West on his third lecture titled, Folly Presto, held at the Informatics Forum at the University of Edinburgh. I was there as a guest blogger, having previously attended a coffee reception with Dr West, as well as faculty from the School of […]

Each year the Writer-in-Residence at the University of Edinburgh organizes an end-of-year conference for students in undergraduate, masters and doctoral programs. This year, our effervescent writer-in-residence is Michael Pedersen – an accomplished writer and poet, and scribbler of the most charming emails. This may be trivial but after many years of being on the receiving […]