In anticipation of our Volume II launch on Nov. 8, we are running a series of interviews with some of the people involved in its production. This week, we have a short interview with writer Mady Matthews. We spoke to Mady after one of our Thursday workshops, where her fiction story “My Secret Side” was discussed.

How did you hear about the Bolo Tie Collective?

It was actually when we came to the MacEwan Open House last year. I came here with my family and we were walking around… and (we saw) this poster (for the Bolo Tie Collective).

So what interested you about it? Why did you want to join?

Well, I wanted to get into a creative writing class for my first year, but all the sections were full. And then I thought, “Hey, there’s the Bolo Tie, I’m going to go do that.” Because this is another environment where there’s creative writing, and it means I can still do my writing and not have that year gap where I’m not doing anything.

What was it like to have a story workshopped?

Oh my gosh, it was terrifying but extremely exciting at the same time. I’ve had stories workshopped before, but that was with people where they didn’t go into so much depth as we did tonight, and I loved how lots of people noticed different things, or the same thing, so I know, “Oh okay, that’s one thing I really need to work on, that’s good to know.” I don’t know really how to explain it… It got my heart pumping.

Do you think it helped your writing? 

Yes, I do. For sure.

Do you plan on submitting to Volume III, or even Volume IV or V in the future?

Definitely, definitely.