Susanne Fletcher lives in Ottawa's south end near four car dealerships and Sawmill Creek. Her fiction, non-fiction, and poetry have been published in Bywords, flo., The New Quarterly, Existere, The Antigonish Review and others.
Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?
I am originally from Vancouver Island, but I’ve lived in Ottawa for 45 years. I arrived via St. John’s, Newfoundland where I studied English lit at Memorial University. I met my husband, Chris Carton, there and he is from Ottawa so this is where we settled.
Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?
In 2010 I was introduced to blogging by friends. Our plan was to write about our shared experiences as adoptive parents. I posted short personal stories about family life until one day, in the middle of a family conversation, my oldest daughter said, “Don’t say anything else because mom will blog about it.” I changed topics which lead to writing micro fiction and poetry. The blogging community was extremely supportive and encouraged me to reach for a broader audience through publication. I sent out my first personal non-fiction essay to a knitting magazine who accepted it. Foolishly I thought, “Well, that was easy.” The next publication came over two years later. Bless hubris.
Up to 2016, Chris was my only reader and editor. He suggested I find local writers to share feedback on our work. That’s when I happened upon Rick Taylor and his writing workshop. Through that workshop participation I met Sharon Hamilton, Janna Klostermann, Stanley Hanna, Tamara Miller, Alexis McIsaac, Su Mardelli, Ruth Kennedy, who keep in touch and share works in progress, support and cheer each other’s creative endeavours. Janna introduced me to the Tree Reading Series in 2019 and that was when I experienced Ottawa’s vibrant poetry community for the first time. I was planning to retire in March 2020 excited to tap into this new-to-me literary community. I retired as planned at the start of the unplanned pandemic. Zoom helped maintain contact with friends, but I found it a hard medium to develop new friends or participate in launches, readings, festivals. Gradually, as things opened, I’ve attended more live events.
Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?
Am I the only person who fell for the myth that writers are loners? Writing is solitary work and hard, but without the support of others who understand the process I would probably have crumpled my paper and thrown away my pens a long time ago. I love celebrating other writers victories because I have a good idea what it took for them to achieve them. Likewise, their support keeps me going.
Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?
Can’t answer this one. My only writing reference point is Ottawa.
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 most significant impact the Ottawa writing community has had on my work is the awareness of the depth of talent in Ottawa. That knowledge makes me work harder to learn the craft. It is aspirational. But I’ve learned that I can tap into the talent more directly by reaching out to local poetry editors to help me improve.
Q: What are you working on now?
I have completed a chapbook of 10 poems. This is my first collection. The next project is fuzzy but I’m exploring Ottawa’s wooded walking trails which generally leave me feeling whole and happy after a hike. I’d like to write something joyous and invigorating about these trails and what they offer. Or maybe something completely different will occur to me as I’m out walking, which often happens.
