I began treeplanting in Northern Ontario as a way to finance my education, but by year six it became clear to me that I was addicted to the special kind of rugged existence that goes with that job. I enjoyed pressing up against nature and the strange, macho righteousness of working very hard physically. It was in a cookshack in the backwoods of Northern Ontario that I met the man who was to become my husband and the father of our three sons.

My husband-to-be ran a logging operation in Belgium and I convinced him to let me work for him. My first impressions were ones of awe and fear. The cutting down of forests is profoundly sad; nevertheless, I find it poetic to watch a man lean into his job and to see a huge tree silently topple. I limbed felled trees, poplars planted in rows after WWII, for two seasons. The work is dangerous and I had a few close calls.

Goose Lane Editions liked my stories, some of which are rooted in these experiences. Way Up is my first published book. Many of the stories appeared in literary periodicals across Canada. Smoke, Prism international, Blood & Aphorisms, Prairie Fire and Descant have all supported my work over the years. I have written for The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star, The National Post, Books In Canada, Maisonneuve Magazine, Bookninja.com, and The Literary Review of Canada, where I was fiction editor.