Carrie lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with her husband, two sons, foster sons, and a menagerie of family pets. Carrie’s passion for reading and writing was instilled in her by her grandmother, Ina, who exposed her to the classics at a very young age. Her short story, The MS Lord Selkirk, earned an Honourable Mention in the 2015 Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition and the reading from the San Francisco award ceremony can be viewed here. Carrie has been accepted to the 2015 Yale Writer’s Conference, where she will continue developing her historical fiction novel, Byzantine Dusk.
WOW: Carrie, congratulations on your honorable mention for the story, MS Lord Selkirk. Where did you get the idea for the story?
Carrie: A local paper ran an article about the MS Lord Selkirk, a dilapidated passenger cruise ship that is currently being dismantled for scrap. The photograph captured my imagination and made me think about the passage of time and how pieces of our history fade away without our notice.
WOW: I love getting ideas from the newspaper! What are the themes you are trying to explore?
Carrie: I tried to parallel the ship's fall from grace with that of the old man's. Both have seen much better days and neither fit comfortably in today's world. Teresa and the couple's son are entirely erased from the old man's memory, just as the sight of great cruise ships has disappeared forever on our Manitoba rivers. There is loss and a sense of nostalgia.
WOW: Why did you decide to enter a flash fiction contest?
Carrie: As I set out to study the craft of writing I began to see contests as a wonderful opportunity to gain feedback. Flash fiction forced me to become very deliberate in my word choice and helped strengthen my writing.
WOW: So true! It is amazing what you can accomplish in 750 words. Tell us about the 2015 Yale Writer’s Conference. Your bio says you were accepted. What was this process like and what will you be doing at the conference?
Carrie: Acceptance to the Yale Writer's Conference was based on the submission of a writing sample; I used the first chapter of the novel I am currently working on and was extremely excited to be accepted. From June 6-21 I stayed in Davenport College on the Yale campus and had the opportunity to attend a master class, presentations by speakers such as Cheryl Strayed, panel discussions with literary agents and publishers, and daily workshops aimed at strengthening our writing samples. I left Yale with a completely new perspective on the industry and many amazing contacts.
WOW: Awesome! Your bio also mentions your historical fiction novel. What can you tell us about it?
Carrie: BYZANTINE DUSK is set in 1204, after the fall of Constantinople. Two young girls, one Christian and one Saracen, set out on a quest to the holy city of Jerusalem. As they maneuver through the volatile landscape of the Fourth Crusade, they discover that their differing faiths connect them in ways they never thought possible.
WOW: Best of luck to you, Carrie.
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