Women Writing

Welcome to the Women Writing podcast. In this episode, I’m chatting with author, screenwriter, and teacher Kathryn Mockler.

Kathryn Mockler is a writer, screenwriter, experimental filmmaker, editor, and publisher and the author of the story collection Anecdotes (Book*hug Press, 2023), which won the 2024 Victoria Butler Book Prize and was a finalist for the 2024 Trillium Book Award, 2023 Danuta Gleed Literary Award, 2024 Fred Kerner Award, and 2024 VMI Besty Warland Between Genres Award. She co-edited the print anthology Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (Coach House Books, 2020). Her films have screened at TIFF, EMFA, the Palm Springs Film Festival and most recently at the Arizona Underground Film Festival and REELPoetry/HoustonTX. She runs the literary newsletter Send My Love to Anyone and teaches screenwriting and fiction in the Writing Department at the University of Victoria.

Visit Kathryn’s website kathrynmockler.com and follow her on Substack at Send My Love to Anyone.

Rekindle Creativity Women’s Writing Retreat: Spring Getaway

Only 2 spots left! Join us for a weekend getaway at The Lodge at Pine Cove in beautiful French River, Ontario to reconnect with yourself and your writing, and make connections with a small group of fellow writers. What a wonderful way to celebrate the spring by rekindling your personal creativity and sparking your ideas. Dinah and I can’t wait to welcome you. Learn more and register here.

Women Writing Circle

The Women Writing Circle meets on the second and last Monday of the month from 6:30-8:00 PM EST. This offering is for paid subscribers ($8 USD/month). You can learn more about the benefits of subscribing here. I’m looking forward to creating a magical writing community with you, and getting some pages written in 2025.

Welcome to the Women Writing podcast. In this episode, I’m taking a coffee break with author, editor, and podcaster Kerry Clare.

KERRY CLARE is the author of Asking for a Friend, Waiting for a Star to Fall, and Mitzi Bytes. Her fourth novel will be published in March 2026. A National Magazine Award-nominated essayist and editor of The M Word: Conversations About Motherhood, Kerry also edits the Canadian books website 49thShelf.com, is host of the BOOKSPO podcast, and writes about books and reading at her longtime blog, Pickle Me This. She lives in Toronto with her family.

Rekindle Creativity Women’s Writing Retreat: Spring Getaway

Join us for a weekend getaway at The Lodge at Pine Cove in beautiful French River, Ontario to reconnect with yourself and your writing, and make connections with a small group of fellow writers. What a wonderful way to celebrate the spring by rekindling your personal creativity and sparking your ideas. Dinah and I can’t wait to welcome you. Learn more and register here.

Welcome to the Women Writing podcast. In this episode, I’m taking a coffee break with children’s author Laurie Elmquist. We chat all things board books, picture books, and chapter books and how you might get started writing for children.

Laurie Elmquist is the author of several books for children including her most recent board book, Country Baby (Orca Book Publishers, 2024) and upcoming picture book, Dr. Lila Frankenstein (Orca Book Publishers, Oct. 2026). Her book for young readers, Where’s Burgess (Orca Book Publishers 2018) was nominated for a Silver Birch Express Award. The second book in the series, Ruckus, made the Best Books for Kids and Teens List, 2020. Laurie earned her MA from the University of Windsor in English Literature and Creative Writing. She is an active SCBWI and CWILL member who writes picture books, chapter books and middle grade. She is grateful to work and live in Victoria, BC on the traditional, unceded (never surrendered) territories of the Lkwungen (Songhees) peoples. She can be found at her website and on Substack.

Rekindle Creativity Women’s Writing Retreat: Spring Getaway

Join us for a weekend getaway at The Lodge at Pine Cove in beautiful French River, Ontario to reconnect with yourself and your writing, and make connections with a small group of fellow writers. What a wonderful way to celebrate the spring by rekindling your personal creativity and sparking your ideas. Dinah and I can’t wait to welcome you. Learn more and register here.

Women Writing Circle

Are you looking for support, accountability, and community to reach your writing goals this year? The Women Writing Circle meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month from 6:30-8:00 PM EST. This offering is for paid subscribers ($8USD/month). You can learn more about the benefits of subscribing here. I’m looking forward to creating a magical writing community with you, and getting pages written in 2025.

Interested in joining the Women Writing Mentorship Program? Learn more here.

Welcome to the Women Writing podcast. In this episode, I’m taking a coffee break with my book coaching client, Holly Gutwillinger. Holly shares her experiences finding joy in her writing life.

Holly B. Gutwillinger is a heartfelt writer from a small town in Northern Ontario. In the evenings, after her day job, she devotes her time to writing and attending the Creative Writing program at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. She is working on her debut novel, which explores a woman’s complex relationship with her rescue dogs. Living in remote parts of Canada with her family has enriched her experience as a Canadian. When she's not writing in her favorite coffee shop, she enjoys reading, running, and spending quality time with her husband, two adult sons, and beloved dogs.

Find Holly on Substack at Ramblings from the Little Shed.

Rekindle Creativity Women’s Writing Retreat: Spring Getaway

Join us for a weekend getaway at The Lodge at Pine Cove in beautiful French River, Ontario to reconnect with yourself and your writing, and make connections with a small group of fellow writers. What a wonderful way to celebrate the spring by rekindling your personal creativity and sparking your ideas. Dinah and I can’t wait to welcome you. Learn more and register here.

Women Writing Circle

Are you looking for support, accountability, and community to reach your writing goals this year? The Women Writing Circle meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month from 6:30-8:00 PM EST. This offering is for paid subscribers ($8USD/month). You can learn more about the benefits of subscribing here. I’m looking forward to creating a magical writing community with you, and getting pages written in 2025.

Thank you Liisa Kovala, Maddeline Elizabeth, Foreman Josh, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dinah Laprairie! Join me for my next live video in the app on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 at 1:00 PM EST with Caroline Topperman.

Find us online:

* Dinah Laprairie at dinahlaprairie.com

* Liisa Kovala at liisakovalabookcoach.com

* Rekindle Creativity Women’s Writing Retreats

Find out more about our weekend getaway Rekindle Creativity Women’s Writing Retreat at rekindlecreativity.com

Welcome to the Women Writing podcast. In this episode, I’m taking a coffee break with author and professor Louise Ells.

Louise Ells was born and raised in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, by parents who were both voracious readers. Two of her father’s cousins were writers, so she grew up believing “author” was an entirely reasonable career choice. Ha! After a circuitous path which included jobs as a Cordon Bleu chef and submarine co-pilot amongst others, she earned her PhD in Creative Writing and became a university teacher. Her short story collection, Notes Towards Recovery, was published in 2019 and her novel, Lies I Told My Sister, in 2024. She continues to be passionate about teaching, reading, writing, and travelling, and knows how very lucky she is to be able to call herself an author.

Rekindle Creativity Women’s Writing Retreat: Spring Getaway

Join us for a weekend getaway at The Lodge at Pine Cove in beautiful French River, Ontario to reconnect with yourself and your writing, and make connections with a small group of fellow writers. What a wonderful way to celebrate the spring by rekindling your personal creativity and sparking your ideas. Dinah and I can’t wait to welcome you. Learn more and register here.

Women Writing Circle

Are you looking for support, accountability, and community to reach your writing goals this year? The Women Writing Circle meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month from 6:30-8:00 PM EST. This offering is for paid subscribers ($8USD/month). You can learn more about the benefits of subscribing here.

Bonus: As a paid subscriber, I’m offering a complimentary 30-minute book coaching call as a thank you. You can take advantage of that call to chat about your book idea, work-in-progress, publishing options, or anything else you’d like to discuss.I’m looking forward to creating a magical writing community with you, and getting pages written in 2025.

Welcome to the Women Writing podcast. In this episode, I’m taking a coffee break with Alissa Butterworth.

Alissa Butterworth is an author, editor, certified book coach, and educator. She has taught creative writing to teens through seniors and holds a longstanding Writer’s Workshop. Alissa is particularly interested in helping students discover (or rediscover) their own voices and gifts. Her short story “The Carriage Held but Just Ourselves” debuted as part of the Satellite Collective’s Telephone international art exhibit and was published in the accompanying Crosstown Press print anthology. Alissa's short story “Girls Who See Gods” will be released as part of the next Telephone exhibit, which is currently in production. She has appeared on television and the radio. Her debut novel To Die Is Different Than Supposed was published in February 2025 through River Grove Books. Alissa earned an MFA in fiction from Lesley University. She lives in Pennsylvania with her family, which includes a silly rescue hound named Scout and a boisterous preschooler.

Visit Aliisa at www.alissabutterworth.com. Get a copy of her book here.

Rekindle Creativity Women’s Writing Retreat: Spring Getaway

Join us for a weekend getaway at The Lodge at Pine Cove in beautiful French River, Ontario to reconnect with yourself and your writing, and make connections with a small group of fellow writers. What a wonderful way to celebrate the spring by rekindling your personal creativity and sparking your ideas. Dinah and I can’t wait to welcome you. Learn more and register here.

Women Writing Circle

Are you looking for support, accountability, and community to reach your writing goals this year? The Women Writing Circle meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month from 6:30-8:00 PM EST. This offering is for paid subscribers ($8USD/month). You can learn more about the benefits of subscribing here. I’m looking forward to creating a magical writing community with you, and getting pages written in 2025.

Bonus: As a paid subscriber, I’m offering a complimentary 30-minute book coaching call as a thank you. You can take advantage of that call to chat about your book idea, work-in-progress, publishing options, or anything else you’d like to discuss.

Interested in joining the Women Writing Mentorship Program? Learn more here.

Welcome to the Women Writing podcast. In this special episode, we’re taking a coffee break to chat about all things writing retreats!

Emily De Angelis comes from a long line of visual artists, musicians, and storytellers.She has spent many years developing her writing through independent study, workshops, conferences, and courses, including a year in the Humber School for Writers. She was also fortunate to receive an OAC grant for Works in Progress. Emily has western and Japanese-style poems as well as short stories published in various anthologies. She was guest curator and poet for an ekphrastic exhibit involving the work of early Canadian painter Florence Carlyle and recently launched a chapbook based on Carlyle’s writing and Emily’s poetry entitled In the Space Between: The ‘New Woman’ in the Writing of Florence Carlyle (Woodstock Art Gallery 2024). Her debut young adult novel, The Stones of Burren Bay, released in May 2024 with Latitude 46 Publishing. Emily is wintering in Woodstock, Ontario while spending summers on her property on Manitoulin Island.

Daphne Gordon is a writer and author with a background in journalism and a passion for storytelling. She is currently working on a nonfiction book that weaves personal stories, investigative research, and insightful interviews to offer a fresh perspective on the evolving world of psychedelics. This isn’t a guide to using psychedelics—it’s an invitation to reflect on their cultural, medical, and personal significance. Whether or not you engage with psychedelics yourself, this book explores why they matter and how they’re shaping our world. Subscribe to Daphne’s Substack newsletter Psychedelic Sundays and visit her website at daphnegordon.com.

Dinah Laprairie is a writer, editor, and an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach, offering story support to passionate people and community-minded mentors. For 13 years, Dinah served as editor–publisher of Open Minds Quarterly. Today, she supports authors as an editor and coach, serving people who want to inspire change by sharing their professional and lived experience on the page, whether it’s practical advice for specific audiences, life lessons, or big ideas that deserve a wide readership. Her coaching focuses on supporting the writer’s goals while upholding the reader’s needs and expectations. She is ready to help you with book planning and outlining, wrangling ideas into a message, getting into the writing mindset, revisions, or pitching your book to publishers. Her aim is to make you a confident writer who has the tools and mindset to write forward and publish the book you dream about—one that readers need, and read. Dinah hails from the land of blueberries and big nickels, in Northeastern Ontario. When she’s not at her desk, you’re most likely to find her reading literary or crime novels or taking part in a local class or trying a new recipe. Find Dinah on LinkedIn, Substack, or at www.dinahlaprairie.com

Rekindle Creativity Women’s Writing Retreat: Spring Getaway

Join us for a weekend getaway at The Lodge at Pine Cove in beautiful French River, Ontario to reconnect with yourself and your writing, and make connections with a small group of fellow writers. What a wonderful way to celebrate the spring by rekindling your personal creativity and sparking your ideas. Dinah and I can’t wait to welcome you. Learn more and register here.

Women Writing Circle

Are you looking for support, accountability, and community to reach your writing goals this year? The Women Writing Circle meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month from 6:30-8:00 PM EST. This offering is for paid subscribers ($8USD/month). You can learn more about the benefits of subscribing here. I’m looking forward to creating a magical writing community with you, and getting pages written in 2025.

Welcome to the Women Writing podcast. In this episode, I’m having a coffee break with creative non-fiction and novelist Marion Agnew. You can check out Marion’s feature in Women Writing here. Marion gives me an update on the Hoito in Thunder Bay, discusses writing her books, and we delve into all kinds of writerly topics, including her husband Roy Blomstrom’s novels.

Marion Agnew’s debut novel, Making Up the Gods (Latitude 46), was released in October, 2023. Her personal essay collection, Reverberations: A Daughter’s Meditations on Alzheimer’s (Signature Editions, 2019), was shortlisted for the Louise de Kiriline Lawrence award for nonfiction. She lives in Shuniah, Ontario, mere yards from Lake Superior, in Anishinaabe/ Robinson-Superior Treaty territory. The Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop recently honoured her with the Kouhi Award for her contributions to writing in Northwestern Ontario. Her website: www.marionagnew.ca

Making up the Gods is available at bookstores everywhere, and online at Latitude 46 Publishing. Reverberations: A Daughter’s Mediations on Alzheimer’s is available at bookstores everywhere and online at Signature Editions.

Roy Blomstrom’s The Devil's Violin: Myllysilta's History and Silences: A Novel of the 1918 Finnish Civil War are available online here.

Women Writing Circle

* The Women Writing Circle meets on the second and fourth Monday of the month from 6:30-8:00 PM EST. Our next session is MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2025.

* The first live session will be on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12 AT 1:00 PM EST.

* These offerings are for paid subscribers ($8 USD/month). You can learn more about the benefits of subscribing here.

I’m looking forward to creating a magical writing community with you, and getting some pages written in 2025.