Deborah Cooke: Author

Category: Writing Life

  • Agency

    Social historians often talk about “agency”, by which they mean the power of a certain type of person in a certain society to influence his or her circumstances. Does a peasant woman in 12th century southern France have agency? Can she get rid of an abusive husband? Can she improve her material conditions? Can she…

  • Summer Hours

    Every year, the same thing happens – summer comes. Today is Victoria Day in Canada, a statutory holiday and the unofficial beginning of summer. People open their cottages on this first long weekend, or plant their gardens, or generally celebrate the return of summer one more time. Even when it’s a bit chilly – as…

  • Flashbacks

    There was some talk on my chapter loop yesterday about flashbacks and I thought I’d share my comments with you here. Flashbacks are one of those storytelling devices that don’t get a lot of respect. There are many writing instructors who state that flashbacks – like prologues, another much-maligned device, or dreams – should never…

  • Money Laundering

    But not the illegal kind! I finally got around to ironing a bunch of shirts the other evening – they’d been hanging in the laundry room, patiently waiting, for quite a while. One had something in the front pocket. This was strange, because Mr. C. seldom puts anything in his shirt pockets. It was a…

  • The Pilgrimage Analogy

    I have talked in the past about the perils of critique groups, and dipped my toe into the topic again yesterday. Let’s talk a little bit more about critiquing and why it worries me. And then we’ll have an analogy, just for fun. I don’t have an aversion to critiquing, per se. We all have…