Birthday?
September 23rd. I’m right on the cusp between a Virgo and a Libra, so I’m doubly cursed; I have the neuroses of a Virgo and the indecision of a Libra.
When did you start writing?
I originally started out writing songs around age 14. I used to play a lot of guitar, and listening to punk rock groups like the Clash inspired me to write my own music. As a teenager I was also interested in poetry, but I never got much further than writing dirty limericks. I started keeping a journal in high school and that eventually led to a career in journalism.
What is your next project?
I just finished the manuscript for “The Rumshop Diaires”, a comedic memoir/travelogue about my first newspaper job in Trinidad, the Caribbean island where my parents are from.
What is your favorite hobby?
I enjoy photography, which forces me to use a different part of my brain than the section I use for writing. I also took a bartending course a few years ago, so inventing cocktails for my friends is another favorite pastime. (Hey, my Mum always told me to do what I love.)
What was your training or schooling?
I grew up in Winnipeg, Canada, and then studied mass communications and sociology at York University in Toronto. I also completed a degree in journalism at Toronto’s Ryerson Polytechnic University, and then studied publishing at Harvard University’s Radcliffe College. But that’s just the nerdy school stuff.
I started writing for my campus newspaper at York University and eventually became a freelance writer. I’ve since worked for newspapers, radio shows, magazines and dot-coms in Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, New York City, and the Caribbean. By age 26, I’d worked — and been completely penniless — in four countries. Freelance journalism is a great way to see the world…as long as you don’t mind eating ramen noodles.
