Monique Polak

It's already 10 to 2 in the afternoon and I've been writing since I came home from my run this morning. I had a book review to write for The Gazette -- about a book that I found super interesting, Andrew Steinmetz's Eva's Three Penny Opera. I related a lot to the book because it is based on the story of the author's great aunt's life -- and she lived during World War

Hello, hello... shifting gears today... have decided to take a little break from fiction and am working on a profile of children's book author Frieda Wishinsky. I'm writing it for the CANSCAIP newsletter, which goes out to Canadian children's writers and people interested in the business. Anyway, I've got pages of notes from when I interviewed Frieda in Toronto in November and now

That's the daily quota I've set for myself. And this week I have what every writer craves most -- TIME!! When I looked at my agenda this morning, I had the delightful feeling that comes when I see BLANK BOXES. No plans!! And then, I sat down to work on Junkyard Dog -- my latest manuscript for Orca -- and when I checked my word count a little later, guess what?! I'd already written 500

Hello hello... I'm just back from a lively session with grades five, six, seven and eight students at The Study, a private girls' school in Montreal. I don't think I've ever had so many questions after one of my talks. Way to go, girls! Only problem is there wasn't time to answer all the questions, so I'm hoping students will send questions to the blog (use the comment section

I bet you think the answer to that question is writing and books. And usually, when I get together with my friends Jane Barclay and Lori Weber, we do discuss writing and books. But to be honest, this week, we mostly discussed our kids. It's been a while since the three of us got together and so we had quite a lot of catching up to do. We also drank a bottle of red wine -- so maybe that explains

First, let me explain: "shmall" is what some people call the Cavendish Mall, a shopping centre in Cote St. Luc, the Montreal neighbourhood where I grew up. As you may remember from an earlier blog entry, I've been doing writing workshops with a group of students at Hebrew Academy, which just happens to be located almost across the street from the "shmall." Together with

So it's Monday morning -- already 9:30. I want to get to the Y to lift weights (don't worry, nothing too heavy!), then I'm going to spend some time at my computer. I need to find my way back to the manuscript I was writing (Junkyard Dog) before I got busy with the re-write (On the George River). I started looking at Junkyard Dog on Friday -- what I need to do is re-read what I've

I don't know if you ever heard of a game called "Hot Potato." We played it when we were kids, and the idea was to keep passing an imaginary hot potato around so it never landed in your lap. About two minutes ago, I e-mailed off a copy of my George River manuscript to Sarah Harvey, one of my editors at Orca Book Publishers in Victoria. So I got rid of the hot potato... and in a few

I'm thinking of expert advice because last night I had a great talk with my friend Mark B, who lives in George River. I may have told you this already, but Mark and a friend of his (they both work at the local school) read the first first draft of my book that is set in Nunavik, Quebec and found a lot of things for me to fix. The hardest scene for me was the one with the polar bear. So, because

AHHH! That's the sound of a CEGEP teacher who has nearly finished her grading! Which means I have more time to concentrate on writing. Did  I already tell you I am revising my Nunavik manuscript (the tentative title is On the George River)? It's due next Monday!! YIKES!! (That's the sound of a nervous writer.) But, so far, I'm moving along okay in the re-write. I am a little