…experiencing the shattering beauty of our ephemeral world, the soft, weeping vulnerability of the body, the heart-rending joy of community, family, and unexpected kindness… writing about the justifications behind our daily casual cruelties and destructions, the fallibility of parents (I’m one), and the feral brutality lurking within the animals we think we aren’t. My latest favourite question: What have you failed at this week?
Janine, the writer
Lucky for me, writing is deemed by society as an acceptable–even laudable–obsession. My fascination with the madness behind reasonable acts and the logic behind unreasonable acts aligns with a perfervid interest in dark literature; I’m the current Co-chair of the Greater Vancouver Chapter of the Horror Writers Association and a co-secretary of the HWA Membership Committee. I have a tendency towards purple prose, am a fan of the Oxford comma and the semi-colon, and flirt outrageously with the occasional comma splice. I’ve been delighted to speak at numerous writing conventions over the years and am always pleasantly stunned when they ask me back.
Janine, the rambler
My love for this heady, gorgeous, toothy state of being that we call life and the knuckled, fragile world we live in impels me to explore as much as I’m able to, whenever I can afford it. At the age of 18, I backpacked through the Middle East and then spent several years bicycling through Asia and the South Pacific on a shoestring budget of $5 a day (yup) while working odd jobs. Since then I’ve ridden rented Harleys here and there across the globe with my heroic hubby. I have a woefully neglected travel blog at: thewanderingeye.ca
Janine, the pilot
As a private pilot and volunteer for Airtime Canada, I’ve taught self-empowerment classes using aviation as a motivational tool, both in the public and private school sector. I’m an accredited Radio Operator’s Certificate examiner for Industry Canada and have had the honour and privilege of flying a 172 Skyhawk tin can (not pictured here) in Peru, England, Iceland, the USA, and coast to coast across Canada and back again (flysea2sea.ca).
Janine is one of the founding organizers of the Greater Vancouver Horror Writers Association chapter. The GV-HWA chapter strives to create a welcoming, inclusive, and accessible professional community of dark literature and horror authors, poets, editors, publishers, artists, filmmakers, and other creatives.
Janine is also the past-president of the North Shore Writers’ Association. The NSWA is a fellowship of writers at all stages in the writing journey, from novice to professional, published and unpublished. In short, it’s a darn fine registered non-profit organization association dedicated to nourishing the literary community through teaching and sharing skills.