Robert Munsch is reported to have said that writing is like swimming; the more you do it, the better you get. In my case, knitting would be a better comparator, but the principle holds. That is why I continue to practise, take courses, and seek feedback from fellow writers and poets, published or unpublished. To date I have studied under authors Kim Echlin, Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall, and Marina Nemat as well as poet Catherine Graham. I am currently working with Allan Briesmaster, a member of the League of Canadian Poets, as my poetry mentor.

     Here is some of my writing:

• Joan's Passing a poem to honour a woman who died alone                 
• Hermeneutical Injustice—A Fancy Term for Just Plain Wrong, a piece I wrote after learning how well that concept explained what happened to me when I complained about a licensed health care practitioner                                                                                                      
• Chorus of Entitlement, a rant about human nature                                                                                                            
• No Business Knitting, a short essay about the lingering prejudice against the craft of knitting 
   
• If I Were God, a poem about persistent city noise
   
• Pilgrim's Petition, a short essay about what happened after I read No Friend But The Mountain
   
• Open Letter to Meng Wanzhou, a poem that connects Ms Meng to the Two Michaels.

I love working with words and originally applied that love to the field of dispute resolution where my writing was informational in nature. The goal was to convey information in a clear, literal, and organized way. Little, if anything, was to be implied. The same word was to be used to describe the same concept; no careless substitutions or vague terminology were allowed. 

     As an informational writer, I developed reports, newsletters, course materials, case studies, and more for various people, groups, or organizations. Commissioned writing has included 

• independent program reviews    
• position papers    
• program-specific materials such as FAQs, feedback instruments, information bulletins, intake guides, and standardized scripts & templates.    

     I have also published my own books, essays, and articles, including Bypass Court: A Dispute Resolution Handbook, (LexisNexis, 2015) and “Mediating Commercial Disputes: Exchanging ‘Power Over’ for ‘Power With,” in Rethinking Disputes: The Mediation Alternative edited by Dr. Julie Macfarlane (Cavendish Publishing, 1997). 

Editing is about relationships. As an editor, I help writers clarify their thoughts and express themselves plainly to their intended audiences, while at the same time respecting their voice. 

     Currently, I serve as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Arbitration and Mediation Journal, an online publication of the ADR Institute of Canada. Past issues of the journal can be found here https://www.canlii.org/en/commentary/journals/43/.

     I also serve as volunteer editor of Spiritus, the periodic newsletter of  Christ Church Deer Park Anglican Church in Toronto. Past issues of the newsletter can be found here https://christchurchdeerpark.org/spiritus-archive/.

     When I was an editorial intern at Colborne Communications in Toronto, I did an early structural edit of Erika Nielsen’s book Sound Mind: My Bipolar Journey from Chaos to Composure (Trigger Publishing, 2019). Now in its second printing, Erika’s book has since won several awards. See https://www.celloerika.com/author.

     I have also edited works such as    

• arbitration awards    
• columns & opinion pieces    
• committee decisions    
• policies & procedures    
• organizational profiles.  

IDEAS is a CBC Radio One documentary show about contemporary issues. Over the years I have contributed to the following shows:   

• The Trouble with Tolerance, a 3-part show, broadcast in 2015 as an “Ideas Classic.” Originally created in 2007, it wrestles with the nature and meaning of tolerance in a diverse society.     
• When Families Start Talking, a 2-part show, that looks at the conversations families do and don’t have about money, inheritances, care-giving, death, and other hot-button topics.     
• Changing the Workplace that examines what makes organizational change so compelling and why so many deliberate change initiatives fail.     
• Dispute Resolution, a show created when alternative dispute resolution was in its infancy. It discusses the ideas behind the techniques and follows the mediation of issues between a chartered bank and one of its customers.