I’ve been a full-time freelance and contract writer for 20 years, dividing my time among a large number of projects and writing for many different media.
I started writing for the Literary Review of Canada with this essay on the literary western genre, published in spring 2021 issues.https://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2021/06/writing-into-the-sunset/
I discussed the joys of cheap outdoor fun amid a pandemic in an essay in the Globe and Mail in April, 2021. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/first-person/article-my-inflatable-kayak-gives-me-the-freedom-to-explore/?fbclid=IwAR1TxZnoR8Jw6GGSp2PZM_MNzaiR4ztsvrQ8phiDIpc8hwjYQF6r93pqcgg
Since 2002, I’ve been the speechwriter for Manitoba’s Lieutenant Governors, beginning during the term of the Honorable Peter Liba and continuing through the terms of the Honorable John Harvard, the Honorable Philip Lee, the Honorable Janice Filmon and the Honorable Anita Neville.
For two years up until the October, 2019, federal election I was the contract writer for the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Member of Parliament for Kildonan-St. Paul. I wrote letters, speeches, constituency mail-outs and a report on the findings of a task force she put together on seniors’ issues.
In 2022-23 and between 2012 and 2017 I wrote five major reports for the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission, an advisory body that conducts hearings and carries out inquiries into matters of environmental significance and offers advice to the province’s Minister of Conservation. Most recently, I wrote the report on the proposed Sio Silica sand mine in eastern Manitoba. I wrote reports on three major projects of Manitoba Hydro, the Crown Corporation that generates and transmits electricity in Manitoba: the Bipole III Transmission Project, the Keeyask Generation Project and the Manitoba-Minnesota Transmission Project. I also wrote a long-term review report on the effects of the Lake Winnipeg Regulation Project.
I wrote for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s magazine Wave, covering research and clinical care, for eight years. Other regular freelance clients have included Winnipeg Free Press special sections, Manitoba Agriculture, Travel Manitoba, and trade magazines for the Canadian retail and construction industries.
Since 2012, I have written the Winnipeg Free Press’s weekly book news column, Paper Chase. I’ve also been writing book reviews for the Free Press since about 2004.