2025

2025 was a big year for me. I received grants to work on my writing for the first time, I won a contest outside of university for the first time, I published in a couple goal journals for the first time. I really worked on finding a lifestyle where I could devote more time and energy into my writing this year, and it paid off. I was able to carve out space to go on writing residencies/retreats, to take poetry classes, and to meet with workshop groups and friends, and my writing is better for it. I feel proud of the work I've been doing and am noticing the ways I'm growing as an artist and as a literary citizen and cultural worker. To celebrate, here's a writing timeline of my year:

January

• Received a literary creation grant and recommender's grant from the Ontario Arts Council and Palimpsest Press

• Read "Everything I do is political, especially when we stay at home" by T.Liem in The Anstruther Reader

  • I first encountered T.Liem's work in their phenomenal collection Slows: Twice — which I recommended over at The Ampersand Review's Book Lover's Bulletin.

• Received a rejection from Room Magazine.

  
  

February

• Read. Wrote. Hibernated.

March

• Read "Appeal to the Doppelgänger" in Terese Mason Pierre's Myth. Was moved to write a poem after it titled "Excavate a doppelgänger", which then became the new title for my full length collection!

• Received a rejections from The Fiddlehead, The Ex-Puritan, and Poetry Pause.

• Made soups. Listened to Doechii.

April

• Celebrated lots of work wins in my role as a publicist at House of Anansi Press. Poetry is my favourite genre to work on, so April (poetry month) is always fun at work. I celebrated getting a couple poets on CBC Q, and planned and executed another successful Poetry Bash.

• I was also able to attend Toronto Public Library's Biblio Bash for the first time (as a publicist), and I celebrated getting an author on CBC Bookends for the first time.

• Read and re-read "The Snail" by Farah Ghafoor.

• Received a rejection from ARC Poetry (contest).

• Spent lots of time with my little baby niece whom I love dearly.

May

• Qwerty Magazine NO Issue which I guest edited made its way into the world!

• My poem "Glosa for the Night Terrors and My Lover" was published in ARC #106, with much thanks to Chelene Knight and the ARC Poetry mentorship program.

• Traveled to Kefalonia, Greece for a writing residency at The Ionian Centre for the Arts!

  • Reconnected with friends from the Martha's Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing.

  • Saw a Mother of Thousands plant flower - this made its way into a poem you'll find in The Ampersand Review #9

June

• Officially signed Excavate a Doppelgänger with Palimpsest Press — Spring 2027 baby!

• Read "Good Riddance" by DeeSoul Carson and was so inspired by the form I wrote two poems after it.

• Received a rejection from Grain Magazine.

• Considered the strawberry moon. Baked pies. Put in an air conditioner.

July

• The Egg Poets reconvened for The Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia's Jampolis Cottage residency!

• Read Sabrina Imbler's Dyke (Geology), Annick MacAskill's Shadow Blight, and Christine Wu's Familial Hungers. Wrote poems after all of them.

  • You can read my poem after one of Annick MacAskill's in LongCon issue 2.2

• The Egg Poets read at The Trident Cafe & Booksellers, where I was able to connect with Halifax friends and peers, meet a couple folks from The Miramichi Reader for the first time in person, and re-connect with an old creative writing professor.

• We also read at the Merrit Gibson Memorial Library (The Canning Library), where we met international-award winning haikuist Blanca Baquero, and she gave us each a pamphlet of cow haikus.

• Considered the cows. Swam. Didn't look at the clock.

August

• Received rejections from Maisonneuve, POETRY Magazine, and Prism International.

• Read "Copper Koi" by Kayla Czaga

• Celebrated getting an author interview in The Globe and Mail 

• Cat sat. Ate a lot of bread and fruit.

September

• Received a rejection from Feels Zine.

• Partied. Considered the mice and the frogs.

• At work, celebrated putting together a national tour for poetry

October

• Got new headshots from Daniella Valenzuela!

• Two new poems were published in LongCon issue 2.2

• Faced trials and tribulations and survived them all.

• Spent quality time with friends. Read various queer poems. Saw Doechii live. Ate soup.

• Turned 27

  • Some money

  • No prospects

  • Not a burden to my parents

  • Am frightened

November

• My poem "The Packaging" won the Riddle Fence Poetry Contest!

• Sarah Marie joined as Co-EIC with me over at The Miramichi Reader

• Read so many excellent poems in The Fiddlehead #305. Especially:

  • A-E Best "New Tenant"

  • Jacqueline Trieber Willcocks "The Sound of Waking"

  • Amanda Merpaw "Portrait of Myself, a Lover, in Early Illness"

• Took dance classes. Watched Dancing with the Stars.

December

• My poem about pole dancingand sex work "At the same time, happening still" was published in Filling Station #85: Companionship.

• Took Christopher Citro's private poetry class.

• Read "Poem #23 (on hermeneutical injustice)" by Calypso André in Room Magazine 48.3: Rest/Unrest

• Went home to New Brunswick. Spent time with family and dogs. Learned how to knit. Puzzled.

Wishing everyone a happy new year, and for good things in 2026!