Writer and Story Teller
Hello
Welcome to Carmen’s author site—aka the location of stuff her family likes to brag about. Because she was raised to be humble, it chafes her to promote herself, so it’s also where she describes herself in the third person. Carmen writes from North Vancouver and has claimed Canada’s West Coast as home for more decades than she cares to admit. Still, she’s proud to be from Saskatchewan—where winter biking takes on new meaning.
She strives to be a good human, serves on local boards, volunteers with community and writing organizations, and believes in frequent, random acts of kindness. Her writing passions typically centre on more representation of neurodiverse characters, and she is at work on a novel about mothering her adult neurodiverse son.
Always Learning
Believing that life lessons are repeated until they’re learned, she keeps graduating from university—both long ago and recently. When she’s not writing—and overusing the em dash—she loves supporting other writers, creating non-writing stuff like food and hats, and celebrating her friends and family.
Even though she can be quite social, she does not love social media. But if you’d like to follow her, make her feel liked, and hear what she’s up to, she’s on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. On the other hand, both you and her have managed so far without digitally stalking each other, so it’s okay if you don’t.
If you click the “subscribe” button you can be notified when she posts something new. This will be infrequent since she’s the Bermuda Triangle of technology, and changing her brag-worthy website scares her.
Select Writings
“Preserving Mother”
Will appear in MER: Mom Egg Review
v. 23 April 2025
How do we keep close the memories of our mothers…the ones who taught us how to love?
“Motherhood Transitions: Menopause, Teenagers, Gender Identity and Disability”
Mothering Teens and Young Adults Anthology, Demeter Press
Spring 2025
Why is mothering teens so different than what I had imagined, and why do I feel so unprepared for my children’s futures?
“Speaking Ges”
filling Station
v. 83 November 2024
“Speaking Ges” (pronounced “Jess”) is a hybrid poetry/creative nonfiction meditation on the meaning of nonspeaking and nonverbal communication.
“Better Not Tell You Now”
Grain, the Journal of Eclectic Writing
v. 52.1 Fall 2024
Can a Magic 8 BallTM remove the uncertainty in my life and convince me all is well?
“Jess and the Banshee: An Excerpt”
emerge 24: The Writer’s Studio Anthology
October 2024, SFU Publications
What happens when your worries manifest as a spirit in your bedroom?
“Just Do It”
Commuter Lit
May 28, 2024
…when an interrobang is just how you do it/communicate ‽
“My Son is Different than Most, Sometimes Strangers Won’t Let Me Forget”
Toronto Globe and Mail
4/5 July 2023
An encounter with a concerned stranger made me wonder how much independence is the right amount for Ges?
“Pass the Kleenex, There’s a Hog-Nosed Shrew Rat”
The Mantelpiece Literary Magazine
November, 2023
“What I’ve Learned About the Compassion of Children.”
Toronto Globe and Mail
17 September 2012
A story about how Ges’s elementary school friends spread inclusive friendship across the whole school.
Club G
A warmhearted look at compassion in action on a Canadian elementary school playground. What a group of Grade Four students thought they were organizing for their classmate turned out to have lasting social and emotional impacts on everyone that no one expected.
Awards
“r/Repeat i/Imagining, y/You k/Kindness”
Creative Nonfiction Collective 2024 Contest Longlist
Details what happens over one early morning hour when a sleepy mother and neurodivergent son navigate the public space of the airport.
“Better Not Tell You Now.”
Federation of BC Writers 2023 Nonfiction Contest Longlist
A woman wonders whether a Magic 8 BallTM can convince her all is well. Later published in Grain 2024.
“Closet Full of Monsters”
Creative Nonfiction Collective 2023 Contest Longlist
What happens when your fears and worries interweave with reality?
2023 Emerging Writer Entrance Scholarship
The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University (SFU)
“It Can Always Be Worse”
Creative Nonfiction Collective 2022 Contest Shortlist
Judged by Omar Mouallem, this piece narrates a mother’s difficulties with social norms and disability.
“A Bride, A Rat and a Couple of Good Men”
North Shore Writers’ Association 2012 Contest Winner
When expectations and reality collide on a honeymoon, craziness ensues.