Diane Schoemperlen is a novelist and short story writer from Thunder Bay, Ont. In her decades-long career she has written and published a dozen works of fiction and nonfiction. Her latest book, This is Not My Life, is a memoir recounting her six-year relationship with a convicted murderer. She is the 2017 recipient of the $25,000 Writers' Trust Matt Cohen Award. The award is given annually to an author for lifetime contributions to Canadian literature.

Schoemperlen answers four pressing questions for CBC Books.

"Funny you should ask! I was preoccupied with this very question earlier this year when writing the preface for my most recent book, First Things First: Early and Uncollected Stories. This retrospective collection contains 24 of my older short stories, including my very first published story from way back in 1974. Reading these old stories again, I wanted to give my younger self a hug and say, as I put it in the preface, 'Keep going. You'll get there. The more you write, the closer you'll come to figuring out what you want to say and how you want to say it.' At the end of the preface I offered a list (of course I did — everybody knows how much I love lists!) of what I would say not only to my younger self, but also to new writers of all ages:

Keep going.

You'll get there.

Read good books.

Be stubborn.

Be patient.

Read more good books.

Always remember that you have to do the first things first."

"For all of my writing life, I have compulsively collected books about writing. No matter how long a person has been writing, there is, in my opinion, always more to learn. Some of these books are instructional and some are inspirational. It's impossible to narrow it down to just one. Here are three. On the instructional front, I always recommend Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway. I've been teaching — and learning — from the various editions of this book for decades now. On the inspirational front, I recommend Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. On both fronts, I recommend Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott, a book I have reread every couple of years since its publication over 20 years ago."

"I don't remember where I heard or read it first, but the best writing advice I've ever received is: 'Don't wait for inspiration — just sit down and do it.' There will never be a perfect time to write. Natalie Goldberg said it best in Writing Down the Bones: 'Okay. Your kids are climbing into the cereal box. You have $1.25 left in your chequing account. Your husband can't find his shoes, your car won't start, you know you have lived a life of unfulfilled dreams. There is the threat of nuclear holocaust... you need to make a dentist appointment, the dog needs to be let out... you have to start eating sprouts and stop eating doughnuts, you lost your favourite pen, and the cat peed on your current notebook. Take out another notebook, pick up another pen, and just write, just write, just write. In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one definitive act. Just write.'"

"These days I have happily returned to my obsession with combining writing and collage. I have been working on a series of collages on the theme Create More, Worry Less which, in recent years, has become my life motto. I plan to incorporate these into a book which will also include short essays and stories... all of which will, I hope, encourage and inspire other people to remember that creativity is an unlimited renewable resource, a joyful act of energy, adventure, healing, and exploration — a powerful force that can change your life if you let it."