Mitchell Toews Member Member since 2016

Where do you prefer to do your creative work?

In the woods, where I live. Jan's and my home is just north of the 50th parallel, in the rocky Canadian Shield made famous by the Group of Seven painters and emblematic of Canada. The boreal, with my birthplace and childhood home of Steinbach on the prairies not far away, is where my heart lives. Nothing is as beautiful to me as this region; a natural marvel (the Betula Pluton and the enormous granite outcroppings, the endless wetland, the biodiversity) and the ancestral home of First Nations and the Manitoba Métis Nation. It is inspiring and offers a true four-season experience with a sense of nature, solitude, and wonder a part of every day.

As a result, PLACE plays an important role in all my writing, coming directly from my life and allowing my experiences to inform my imagination as well.

Do you read literary journals and magazines regularly? If so, which are your favorites?

Pulp Literature, a Canadian magazine that — in terms of diversity and equality — practices what it preaches. Madly artistic, risk-taking, big-hearted, empathetic, and devoted to art above all.

Cowboy Jamboree is a helluva joint. It's about people like you and me. Underdogs who don't hate the kennel keeper, but know to watch them carefully.

Blank Spaces is another Canadian market that does a wonderful job of bringing people into literature. No pretension, all guts.

See my Bibliography for a long list of outstanding publications: https://mitchellaneous.com/2025/11/18/mitchell-toews-capsule-bibliography/

Who are your literary (or artistic) heroes?

Miriam Toews, Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut, Patrick Friesen, and Armin Wiebe. I also enjoy artists with slightly smaller identities (but great personality and talent!): Gregg Norman, Ralph Friesen, Ariel Gordon, Donna Besel, Jude Neale, and Andrew Unger... just the beginning of an enormous list.

(You haven't been called a m**fcker until Ariel Gordon calls you a m**fcker...)

Mike Skinner and the Streets, Bob-by-God-Dylan, John Prine, Woody Guthrie, and almost every singer-songwriter who takes the stage at an Open Mic to perform their own stuff.

How much of a typical day (or week) are you able to dedicate to your creative work?

I try to write daily, usually in the morning. The summer of 2026 has been an anomally, out of synchronization with the past nine years because, with two books coming out in December/26 and May/27. I am not looking to add too much more to my workload. My submissions to publications have slowed and I am also gearing up for a lot of time editing. Ask me in June or July of 2027 and I'll have quite a different report, I'm sure.

Do you have a personal creative style? How would you describe it?

From my author website: Overview; Artistic Creed

I come to writing fiction from the storyteller’s places: the campfire, the backseat on a long drive, the bar stool.

Everyday people’s stories inspire me because they demonstrate how extraordinary every life is and allow us to recognize what unites and divides us. As editor, poet, and writer Judith Lawrence of Lambertville, NJ has suggested and what I strive for is, “A unique writer’s voice… the pure untarnished colloquial rawness in the reading. Having something to say… to be startled, drawn into the story, even if it’s in the stillness, or the lines between the lines of the work.”

https://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/2013/07/six-questions-for-judith-lawrence.html

Where do you find inspiration?

The things closest to me: nature, my family, my memories. I want my stories to feel alive and immersive and so it's important to me to have THINGS HAPPEN, including elements that provide an intense physical or emotional vicarious experience for the reader.

What single creative achievement are you most proud of?

Keeping my artistic dream alive from age 20 to 60 and then quitting my financially rewarding job to dedicate myself entirely to fiction at an age when many are de-stressing their lives. I did the opposite, taking on the unknown, with no guarantees of financial reward. I am fortunate to have people in my sphere, family and friends, who have been brave and resolute. I try to emulate them with my writing.

What fictional character would you most like to be?

A cross between Owen Meany, the Boat Who Wouldn't Float, The Raven Motif in Solomon Gursky Was Here, and IRMA VOTH. (With at least a pinch of Nick Adams.)

What advice would you give to a young, budding writer (or artist) with less experience than yourself?

If you ain't got a shovel, grab a root... and DIG! (A paraphrase of a line from Sometimes a Great Notion, by Ken Kesey.)

Do you incorporate generative AI/LLMs into your creative process? If so, how?

No. Additionally, I hope readers, judges, or editors never copy my submissions into generative AI as a short-cut to filter or screen them.

What is your favorite word and why?

In an industry dominated by rejection, "Congratulations!" is an instant dopamine drop in my artistic IV.

What would you like your epitaph to say?

"They broke their hands on his head."