Congratulations! You’re a writer.

I’ve spent equal time working as an editor and writer for the past 20 years. Since graduating from the University of British Columbia with a creative writing degree, I’ve contributed to about 75 outlets in Canada and in the US, including the Globe & Mail, National Post, The Walrus, the New Republic and The Guardian. From 2017-2023 I was editor-in-chief of The Walrus, Canada’s long-form general interest magazine.

In spite of my experience as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and award-winning freelance journalist, writing never really came easily to me until I was in my 40s, and sometimes it still doesn’t. I started to take note of the lessons I’m sharing while working at The Walrus and teaching literary journalism at the University of Toronto. The problems I describe are universal and common — the kind of stuff you might feel the worse for needing to know. Substack has given me a place to share them.

Writing for People Who Hate Writing is for anyone who: is a writer, gets stuck, would like to be a writer, has imposter syndrome, doesn’t know where to start, has a book contract and is freaking out, doesn’t have anyone to share their writing with, is afraid to show their writing, doesn’t know where to start, thinks their writing sucks, or who just generally doesn’t feel their ambitions are aligned with the expectations of the world. 

Or, as I like to call it: Congratulations! You’re a writer.

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