Today at the nooner Jeanette Lynes told us that it took her 7 years to write her debut novel. (It’s called The Factory Voice and I’m gonna get me a copy.)
But Ariel quickly got her to point out that during that time she had also published numerous books of poetry, and also she teaches.

But anyway, 7 years has got me thinking.

I have been sorting through a lot of thoughts lately, about what makes a writer. What validates a writer as a writer and what makes a writer ‘good’.
I’ve concluded that, despite the popular pressure of
publishing = writer = good writer= writer that feels validated in their craft

its all bs and everyone that wants to write is entitled to be called a writer, and who even knows what’s good or not when its all based on opinion anyway and there are SO many different and wonderful styles of writing in the world.

Really it’s about people having a voice and being able to share that voice with other people, and about connecting with other people through voice.

So that means that sometimes you might not write a damn thing for months, or years, or sometimes you find your grandma’s old journal but its not actually a journal, it’s a bunch of short stories scribbled down and partly finished and you realize that she is a writer and you are a writer and even that girl in your first year English class who really liked to write about the time she found her cat dead and rotting and how it was really just a poorly veiled metaphor for how she felt in high school, she is a writer too.

I know I’m being idealistic. And I know that there are probably some of you out there that are editors or teachers and you are like “Courtney, I have seen all kinds of writing, and trust me darling, not everyone that wants to be a writer is a writer”
And I respect that I have never been in your position.
I also respect that it can be important to support people in developing their writing.
(but always we have to ask-who's support? who's ideas of developing?)

I just feel like it is so dangerous to put limitations on who can write, and what is good, and what is good enough to be shared. What I am interested in is knowing that everyone feels like their voice is good and valid and valued.

Because writing is an act of resistance.

All of this has nothing really to do with Jeanette Lynes or her reading today. I really enjoyed what she shared of her novel, it was fun and intriguing and it made me laugh. And she also wrote a poem about her mother’s feet and I liked that too. Oh, and I really like her hair.

Have a good day.
See you tonight at mainstage.






Courtney Slobogian was born in Winnipeg and likes it that way.

She is a writer/understated activist/ irreverent feminist.

Some of her work can be tracked down in quiet corners of the internet.

She co-hosts a radio show on CKUW called Tiger Lilies are Poisonous, and dislikes cotton socks. She wrote a thesis once.