Six Questions interview #26 : Ron Seatter

Ron Seatter works as a health psychologist in Ottawa. Ron practices being a dad, partner, writer, curler, reader, maker, and guitar-er.  Some of his creations can be found at ronovation.ca. His poetry submissions are rejected far more often than accepted.

Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?

Came to Ottawa in 2000 for my Clinical Psychology Residency at the Ottawa Hospital - General Campus.  Been here since except for a year away to teach at a College in Edmonton.

Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?

Always interested in writing.  I had a journal when I was 5 years old.  Mostly, admonitions such as ‘do not play on the road’.

Met a poet, Heather McLeod, who had taken a number of writing seminars with the illustrious, rob mclennan.  She introduced me to the Ottawa world of poetry, writing, etc.

Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?

The sense that my writing could be part of a continuous conversation. My profession helped me in this regard as we are trained to listen far more than talk. This idea validated my process as I read far more than I write. 

We have a saying, ‘don’t just say something, sit there.’

Also, this community provided encouragement. Excitement. Enthusiasm. My fear of beret-wearing elites abated quickly (with some exceptions of those using nose-raising terms such as gerund...) I found a sense of recognition and accepted caring.

I love this quote from F S Fitzgerald, “They talked until three, from biology to organized religion, and when Amory crept shivering into bed it was with his mind aglow with ideas and a sense of shock that some one else had discovered the path he might have followed.”

Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?

Difficult to answer.  I have only ‘wrote’ here.  But also difficult to imagine such a close community of writers elsewhere.

  

Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements here? How have the city and its community, if at all, changed the way you approached your work?

Yes.  Almost all (except my therapeutic writing) is a reaction to, or continuation of other writers here.  Having lunch with Amanda Earl, shared seminars with Christine McNair and Pearl Pirie, a pint with Rol Prévost and Janice Tokar, a talk or seminar with yourself, and so many others here - all is in mind while I write.  The Audience I suppose.

Q: What are you working on now?

Mainly psychological assessments. But these inform my poetry writing. Especially, the reciprocal effects of life - body: lines such as “varicose emotions”.

Specific projects include writing a collection of ‘the’ poems, ‘the I in therapy’ for instance.  Thought I may as well hit the narcissistic nail head-bash on.

Also, a collection of poems of growing up in a Pentecostal - the ‘End Times Are Comin!’, right wing, farm community, in Northern Alberta.

Also... starting a project(s) with a family doctor colleague, and my partner (fellow psychologist, Dr. Barb Virley): possibly a blog, or an eventual book with themes of body/mind, spiritual health, consciousness, and the dissociative aspects of coping versus non coping. We may even include writings on a personal level of health professionals coping with their own um ... stuff...

Six Questions interview #25 : Susan J. Atkinson

Susan J. Atkinson’s poems have won a number of awards, including first prize in the National Capital Writers Contest in 2019. Her poems have appeared in such journals as The Antigonish Review, Arc Magazine, The Dalhousie Review, Bywords, The New Quarterly, Room, The Peter F. Yacht Club and ottawater. Her first full-length collection, The Marta Poems, will be published by Silver Bow Publishing.

Q: How long have you been in Ottawa and what first brought you here?

I moved to Ottawa when I was 18. My father was a computer engineer and when the computer industry collapsed in England, he was recruited by Bell Northern Research and we made the great trek across the pond. Although my mum said we were only coming for a year, here we are decades later! After university I returned to England, but the economy was in near disaster and I missed everything about Canada, and so returned to Toronto where I began my career in the film industry. It would be 15 years later that I returned to Ottawa to make a home with my family. Honestly, we moved here on a wing and a prayer. I left the film industry and the hustle and bustle of downtown Toronto in the hopes of creating a slower, more idyllic childhood for our daughters.  

Q: How did you first get involved in writing and subsequently the writing community here?

I began writing and submitting poetry to journals back in the early 90s while I was in Toronto. Coincidentally, one of my first acceptances was in The Carleton Arts Review, while rob was the editor (thank you, once again, rob!). I was definitely isolated back in those days, using the “Poet’s Guide to Publishing”, as my bible. Despite working in a creative industry nobody was talking about poetry, it was always scripts and plays and novels. My big break into the Ottawa writing community was winning a poetry competition back in 2004 (or so). Christopher Levenson was the judge and at the reading/reception he asked if I had any more poems. Within days I sent him some sample work and he was kind enough to take it along to a poetry critique group that he was involved with. The group has now, all these years later, evolved into The Other Tongues, and still meets monthly with a number of the members from those earlier days still connected. A couple of years ago I was blessed to be able to join the incredible Ruby Tuesdays (cannot find words to express the gratitude and honour of being a member of such an outstanding collective of female poets). Around the same time I was invited to join the VerseFest planning committee. This has been, and is, a fantastic opportunity to be a large part of the poetry community. The wonderful Monty Reid had approached me to see if I could head up bringing a children’s poet, and hopefully some school involvement to the Festival. This opportunity, as you can imagine, has been rewarding on every level.

Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing – if at all?

The caliber, the talent, the knowledge of the poets from both The Other Tongue group and the Ruby Tuesdays has certainly elevated my own writing but not only as a craft but from a place of critical thinking and poetics. Being in a community of writers broadens one’s reading, not only of poetry and poetics but of all genres. I think becoming part of a writing community validates one’s own writing and somehow shifts it from the private pages of journals and notebooks into a public domain. For myself, this transition also added weight to my writing. I took my writing and the writing process much more seriously and over the years have grown to view it as a delicate craft that needs constant coaxing and nurturing.

Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide or allow?

I’m not sure I’m much of an authority to comment on what’s happening in other cities, when it comes to the poetry scene. My only other experience of writing was while living in Toronto and back then I really felt like I was living in my garret, which essentially I was for a while, except it was a bachelor apartment at the bottom of the house! What I do feel I have the authority to say is Ottawa is home to an unbelievable network of talented poets who are only too willing to support and mentor. I am afraid to name names for fear that I will unintentionally miss someone. What I find striking about our writing community is how new and emerging voices sing alongside established, experienced writers and that there is a true feeling of hands being offered and a resounding gesture of there’s always room for one more in the life boat.

Our city is blessed with some incredible reading series, an international poetry festival and free workshops offered through our public libraries, which again, are led by some of the best Canadian poets writing today.

I think it’s important to look at the Tree Reading Series and how hard poets in our city have fought to keep it going. I think that represents how important a space for poetry is to this city. I don’t think you would see these passionate efforts in too many other places. In fact we should rename ourselves “City of Poets”.

Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements here? How have the city and community, if at all, changed the way you approach your work?

Funnily enough the collection that I have just completed, “The Marta Poems”, which will be published by Silver Bow Publishing, was inspired by a neighbour who lived a couple of doors down from me. When we moved to Pansy Avenue there were quite a few families with young children and as parents, we had the great pleasure of watching our children, along with the others run wild up and down the street. Marta was one of those neighbours. I would often sit on her porch and she would tell me all kinds of stories. I would go home and feverishly write down all that I could remember. It didn’t take long for me to realize she had become an unlikely muse and the heroine of her own story (much of which I admit grew to be rather fictious!) Not sure I am answering the question directly, but The Marta Poems were borne out of this relationship, so, it is safe to say the community shaped my writing. If we didn’t live where we live, I would never have met Marta and the poems, the collection would never have existed.

Q: What are you working on now?

At the moment I have a few balls in the air. I am thrilled “The Marta Poems” will be published in book form and am excited about the journey that lies ahead. I am also finishing up a couple of chapbooks. One entitled the small book of loss, and the other, the Birthday Party, The Tourist and The Mariachi Player. I am also working on a fifth children’s book in “The Little Witch Series” and a collection of children’s poems for use in the classroom. 

Six Questions interview #24 : Kate Heartfield

Kate Heartfield is the former opinion editor of the Ottawa Citizen, where she worked from 2004 to 2015. In 2015, she was shortlisted for a National Newspaper Award in editorial writing. She is now a freelance editor and teaches journalism at Carleton University and creative writing online. Her 2018 novel Armed in Her Fashion won the Aurora Award for Best Novel, and her time-travel novella Alice Payne Arrives was shortlisted for an Aurora and for the Nebula award. She’s written two interactive novels, The Magician’s Workshop and The Road to Canterbury, both of which have been shortlisted for the Nebula award in game writing. She lives in rural Ottawa.

Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?

I came to Ottawa from Manitoba in 1995 to study political science at the University of Ottawa, so I’ve been here for 25 years. I finished that degree, did a master’s degree in journalism at Carleton University, and by then this was home.

Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?

I’ve always been a writer, since I was a child. In Ottawa, I’ve tended to meet writing friends through local events such as the Tree Reading Series, the Ottawa International Writers Festival or Can*Con. Through and beyond those events, I’ve made a lot of friendships here, which is essential, for me anyway, in such a lonely business.

Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?

I’ve been in a couple of critique groups, which has helped me improve my writing in a direct way. Less directly, being in a community has helped me navigate my own journey as a writer – everything from imposter syndrome to productivity hacks. It helps to have people who’ll celebrate with you when things go wrong, or nod knowingly and put an arm around you when they don’t.

Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?

These days, I write mostly science fiction and fantasy, and Ottawa has an amazing, supportive community of writers in that genre, disproportionate to a city this size. We have superstars and up-and-comers, and the annual convention Can*Con is at the heart of that community. It’s so well-run that it attracts people from elsewhere and generally raises the bar of expectations on our community for respect and professionalism.

Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements here? How have the city and its community, if at all, changed the way you approached your work?

The years I spent as a journalist covering Ottawa and federal politics have definitely informed my work, which still tends to focus on culture, institutions and social change, although it’s now mainly through a fictional lens.

Q: What are you working on now?

My next novel is a big historical fantasy set in 18^th century Europe, coming from Harper Voyager UK in the summer of 2021. At the moment, my editor and I are deep in editorial conversations about it, which is a lot of work but very exciting, and it’s fun to work so closely with an editor who shares my vision and is just as enthusiastic about the book as I am. It’s a book about where modern liberal democracy comes from, and what some of its challenges are, so once again it’s very informed by my years covering politics here, even though Ottawa isn’t the setting.