Tabatha Southey is a writer and newspaper and magazine columnist. She is the author of Collected Tarts and Other Indelicacies, a witty collection of essays which showcase the many lessons learned from over a decade of column writing.

Equal parts funny, thorny and vulnerable, the book tackles subjects from what it's like to anger jazz enthusiasts, to the turbulent U.S. political climate, to glimpses into her own personal life.

Below, Southey takes the CBC Books Magic 8 Q&A, answering eight random questions from eight writers.

All my life the question I have waited to hear has always been "Would you like me to buy you a puppy?" Not once, I tell you, not once.

I would probably come back as a country singer, as I never tire of the music, and that way I could keep my hair. All my songs would be story songs, mostly about sad waitresses.

I just don't really know if I can answer that question.

All of the above is the glib answer, of course, but in truth writing is demanding work, partly in that you never stop, partly in that a bad day's work is never behind you, but it ain't coal mining, as they say. I know how lucky I am to have been given the space.

Columnists essentially face reviews every week, often very harsh ones and in the main, reader feedback has, as I explain in my book, been what has kept me at this gig.

Any time I mention anyone in my family or a friend in my work, even if they are to be unnamed, I ask permission. This has never happened but if they did not sign off on what I'd written, I'd shelve it and I mostly write in the hopes of making my children laugh.

7. C.C. Humphreys asks, "What life experience do you wish you'd had that would have helped your writing?"

The last grade of high school I completed was Grade 9 and I feel my writing would have been improved if back then someone had given me a dog.

I try not to be too precious about the whole thing, so other than the sacrifice of a goat every new moon, I keep it pretty simple ritual-wise.