This interview was conducted by Anna McCausland.
The Fraser Valley Writers Festival (FVWF) is a free two-day event taking place at the University of the Fraser Valley Abbotsford’s campus on November 7 and 8, 2025. The festival will include workshops, panels, live podcast recordings, and keynote addresses. As FVWF brings together prospective writers and enthusiastic readers, we asked four participating authors if there was a singular moment that they started to consider themselves “real” writers. Here’s what they had to say.
Feeling “real” is an inside job, something that happens not because we’ve hit a particular goal or accomplishment but because we’ve decided to stop measuring ourselves by the interpretations or judgments of others.
Christina Myers
Christina Myers: I still sometimes hesitate when someone asks me what I do. I’m a writer but am I a real writer? And I know that sounds wild from the outside looking in. I’ve spent pretty much my entire adult life working in writing, in one form or another. I was a journalist for many years and then turned to more literary writing over the last decade. And yet this identity is still a work in progress, something I still ask myself: do I count? Am I real yet? Can I claim that? I think this arises in large part from the way we measure art in our culture: by what sells and how many units moved and the number of awards accrued, and so on, and there’s a very real sense that there are gatekeepers ready to tell us that we don’t belong. I used to believe there would be a finish line after which I would feel “real.” But every time I passed one of those finish lines, I discovered that I had subconsciously moved the goal posts further along. Feeling “real” is an inside job, something that happens not because we’ve hit a particular goal or accomplishment but because we’ve decided to stop measuring ourselves by the interpretations or judgments of others. “Do I count among this group” has become “do I count to myself.” And slowly, the answer to that has become “yeah, actually, I really do.”
That eagerness to refine your craft, to pursue the authenticity of your own voice… to find a kind of joy in the pursuit, is I think the mark of a “real” writer.
Evelyn Lau
Evelyn Lau: I think most people tend to equate being a “real” writer with publication. Getting published is validating, of course, but so much of being a “real” writer is the years (sometimes decades) of work that transpire before the first publication, and continue long afterwards. The avid reading, the obsessive revisions, the receptiveness to critical feedback. Recognizing the importance of saturating yourself with words, stuffing yourself with other writers’ work, carefully figuring out what you admire (and why) and what you can dismiss. It’s a learning process that never ends. That eagerness to refine your craft, to pursue the authenticity of your own voice, to stretch for the “perfect” word/line/image—the willingness to do this, and to realize that you will more often fail than not, but to find a kind of joy in the pursuit, is I think the mark of a “real” writer.
I know my “real” writer self is in there somewhere, even when the moments of everyday life take over.
Taryn Hubbard
Taryn Hubbard: I remember all my writing firsts: my first publication in a literary magazine, my first attempt at a full-length manuscript, my first query letter, my first galley proof, my first book cover, and receiving my first box of books (that intoxicating new book smell was somehow even more amazing!). Those were all wonderful milestones that took years and years to reach.
Like many writers, I wear lots of hats. I’m a writer, but I’m also a mother, a partner, a friend, a community member, and a worker. As I continue my journey as a writer and develop my craft as a poet and novelist, I’m reminded that being a writer, for me at least, is not a linear experience. Sometimes all I can afford is a few minutes here and there to spend on my writing and I need to be gentle with myself on that. As someone who’s been writing things down since I was old enough to hold a pencil, I know my “real” writer self is in there somewhere, even when the moments of everyday life take over.
Yet, it’s this challenge to keep writing as a part of my daily practice that makes me feel like a “real” writer most of all. I’m a writer because I need to write. As I reflect on the time and dedication I have committed to getting words on the page, it’s early in the morning when my family is asleep that I appreciate most. It’s the part of the day where I can focus on the world of my creative projects, fresh coffee in hand.
One early story I wrote…actually generated a letter to the editor… I’d inspired someone to put their own thoughts into words.
Heather Ramsay
Heather Ramsay: I started writing poetry and picture books in elementary school and decided I wanted to be a journalist by junior high school. At some point in those Calgary-based growing up years, I dreamed that I’d end up as foreign correspondent in some far away land. I got as far as Vancouver where I completed a Bachelor of Arts in Communications at Simon Fraser University. The program was critical of mass media and I shifted to working for arts and environmental NGOs for a time. I also started spending more and more time among the giant trees that drew me out west.
Then I left the city and my original dream, albeit revised, began to come true. I discovered places with issues and stories as vital as any I’d ever imagined right in my own home. I wrote for community newspapers in places like Whitehorse, Smithers and Haida Gwaii. I went to meetings, met the local newsmakers, and shaped facts and details into a narrative that would inform and even entertain. Then, I got instant feedback in the grocery line.
One early story I wrote, about a clowning workshop for the Yukon News, actually generated a letter to the editor. Someone had been shocked by the antics I described and when the editor pointed the letter out, I thought I’d screwed up. But he was impressed! I’d inspired someone to put their own thoughts into words.