Category Archives: Writing

Martin Amis, Vladimir Nabokov, and a cat named Tux

Posted on July 23, 2023 by nancytinarirunswrites

Fans of the CBC weekly program Writers & Company will know by now that after 33 years on air, this beloved program with interviewer Eleanor Wachtel aired its final original episode on June 23, 2023. Wachtel, who over the course … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Personal stories, Writing, Writing Criticism | Tagged Brian Boyd, Eleanor Wachtel, Experience, grieving about pets, Kingsley Amis, Lolita, Martin Amis, mortality, Nabokov's Natural Selection, NDEs, near-death experiences, Stalking Nabokov, The Rub of Time, Vladimir Nabokov | Leave a comment

An anti-retirement rant

Posted on May 12, 2023 by nancytinarirunswrites

A week ago, at the end of a 3-hour Zoom meeting with my co-editors, I felt a strange mixture of relief and sadness. I knew that we had just finished the last meeting when we would be writing and editing … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Injuries and Getting Older, Personal stories, Running, Writing | Tagged Book Editing, Daniel Leviton, Retirement, Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives | 4 Comments

A new season of life

Posted on May 7, 2023 by nancytinarirunswrites

What happened to that flurry of blog posts I promised three weeks ago? Life—meaning work—intervened, as it has so often when it comes to writing my blog posts. I plan to write a rare post about my editing work next … Continue reading →

Posted in Injuries and Getting Older, Personal stories, Writing | Tagged blocked arteries, cholesterol, Coquitlam Crunch, knee replacement surgery, plaque, Sasamat Lake, statin | 6 Comments

A flurry of blog posts in the forecast

Posted on April 16, 2023 by nancytinarirunswrites

I’m taking on a challenge this month: I will be writing eight blog posts in four weeks. This is a challenge defined by a Toastmasters project I’m working on. Those of you who are familiar with my blog know that … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Poems, Vignettes, Writing | Tagged blog writing, cherry blossoms, Douglas R. Hofstadter, Le Ton Beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language | 4 Comments

It’s easy to have a Happy Birthday

Posted on June 13, 2022 by nancytinarirunswrites

Some of my regular blog fans (few in number, but treasured by me) may have noticed that I haven’t written a post for months. I feel choked by not being able to write. For me, writing is an essential way … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Injuries and Getting Older, Personal stories, Writing | Tagged artery blockage, Coquitlam Crunch | 2 Comments

Ayad Akhtar in Conversation With Eleanor Wachtel about Homeland Elegies

Posted on October 28, 2020 by nancytinarirunswrites

I recently listened to a special presentation of this year’s Vancouver Writers Fest: a 90-minute conversation between Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright, and Eleanor Wachtel, the host of CBC’s Writers & Company. They talked about his recently-published book, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Commentary, Writing, Writing Criticism | Tagged 9/11, American interventionism, American politics, artistic integrity, Ayad Akhtar, colonial heritage, Donald Trump, Eleanor Wachtel, Fahrenheit 451, Homeland Elegies, Muslims in America, Pakistani immigrants, Ray Bradbury, Vancouver Writers Fest | 4 Comments

Three unexpected gifts

Posted on May 9, 2020 by nancytinarirunswrites

For nine years now, I have been keeping a journal I call “Three Good Things.” I write in it every night before going to bed, sometimes for less than a minute and sometimes for much longer. The only requirement is … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal stories, Relationships, Writing | Tagged creative work, friendship, gifts, Hans Fenz, Writing | 1 Comment

Riding, writing, and the ‘rithmetic of making big bucks: why I’ll never get rich

Posted on April 8, 2019 by nancytinarirunswrites

I’ve been thinking about financial matters more than usual in the past few months, ever since my landlords boosted my rent exorbitantly. I love my Port Moody apartment—both the view and the lifestyle it gives me—and I made the … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Cycling, Personal stories, Writing | Tagged Belcarra, blogging, Eleanor Wachtel, Karen McGregor, Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Toastmasters, Writers & Company, Writing | 2 Comments

Finding my way out of writer’s block with photography: a photo journal

Posted on January 15, 2019 by nancytinarirunswrites

I’ve been trying to puzzle out why I haven’t been able to write much in the past year or two. What is the cause of my writer’s block? There are all kinds of uncertainty involved. I have nothing … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal stories, Vignettes, Writing | Tagged Burrard Inlet, Hoarded Ordinaries, Ioco townsite, Mundy Park, photography, Sasamat Lake, writer's block | 6 Comments

Eleanor Wachtel in conversation with ex-Marine Elliot Ackerman about modern warfare and grief

Posted on December 4, 2018 by nancytinarirunswrites

Elliot Ackerman is a novelist and an ex-Marine who was an active duty officer for eight years, including five tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also spent three years as a journalist in Syria, covering that country’s civil … Continue reading →