"At some point in a story, go one emotional level deeper, to the point where it almost hurts to write it. Do it by thinking about something powerful that happened to you. That truth can resonate."

Elaine McCluskey is a former journalist who now writes fiction in Dartmouth, N.S. She has published two novels and three short story collections. Her work has appeared in anthologies including The Journey Prize and Fish Anthology in Ireland. Her story "Their Dirty Little Lair" made the longlist for the 2017 CBC Short Story Prize.