What was your first job as a journalist?
I was Music Editor of Venue magazine, an arts and culture glossy based in Toronto
Have you ever used a typewriter?
My first job. I wrote radio commercials on an IBM electric, which had an italics ball. Two fonts!
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Clark Kent
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Briefly, succinctly and via email
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe InDesign, a Thesaurus widget
What's your favorite social network?
Facebook all the way
Who do you wish followed you?
Michelle Obama, Anderson Cooper, Jordan Peele, Cher, Renaldo, Elvis
Why did you become a journalist?
Because pinball wizard was already taken
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Yes! I was the Editor-in-Chief and it was called The Sputtering Candle (the high school yearbook was The Burning Lamp). This was 1979.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
My first travel feature for The Globe and Mail was all about a cruise I took with my siblings in memory of our mother.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Do your work, be a star, go home
What's your favorite drink?
Tequila!
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
In the kitchen or on the other end of the dog leash
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
American Esquire
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That it's all exotic meals and fabulous hotel rooms. Travel writers actually work!
