I was interviewed by Ilona Bell (a writing student at the University of Victoria) in Feb 2026 as an assignment for one of her writing classes. I loved the interview Ilona wrote, so I thought I’d share it with you in this blog:

Priorities

An interview with Maryanne Pope
by Ilona Bell

“The skill will come, the knowledge will come, the magical moments will come, but they won’t come if you don’t make writing your top priority.”

– Maryanne Pope

Alberta, summer of 2007. At a farmhouse, settled in at her computer, Maryanne Pope knew she had gone down the right career path. She was on her 6th rewrite of her memoir, A Widow’s Awakening, and needed some time away from home to focus.

Her days on the retreat consisted of going for walks with her two dogs in the warm prairie winds, the simple pleasure of reading in the evening, and working for hours at a time on her novel. “One day, the pain inside, the hurt of writing that, finally shifted.” She connected the dots on things she never intentionally wrote to be linked. “I felt this moment of magic.”

Despite her meticulously scheduled days filled with writing, Maryanne graciously offered up an hour of her time for an interview.

“So this is the project board,” she said, gesturing towards the sticky note covered wall opposite to the window.

We were huddled in her home office where every surface served a purpose. The room was full of papers, books, and furniture, but it held a tidy semblance. She went on to describe her writing process, how she plans her days out.

By getting up around 5 am, she’s able to finish up her work days around 3 pm every day, making the afternoons a sacred time. Not every strategy she incorporates into her schedule is traditional— but they work. From her specific 47 minute timed work sessions to the fact that she does the bulk of her writing from her bed, there are many creative elements to her daily routine.

In order to work from home, discipline is important. She stressed the fact that a lot of the writing she has to do throughout the day isn’t the creative kind.

“For my screenplays and my play scripts,” she started, “I have to actually write the business side of things to get the money to produce them…so I send a zillion emails a day.”

Maryanne inhabits the small Vancouver Island town of Qualicum Beach. Being a tourist town in the summer, the winters are incredibly quiet — especially in a small suburban neighborhood filled mostly with retirees. She balances its mundanity with writers retreats all across the world. From Hawaii to Greece, and various countries across Asia, Maryanne gathers much of her inspiration from these getaways. After all, it was on that Alberta retreat 19 years ago where she first felt a sense of belonging in her craft.

There’s a comfort and a privilege being in the home of a writer. This is where she lives, yes— but also where she works. It’s tidy, streamlined, yet full of life. The bulk of our interview took place in the living room, the glass backdoor overlooked her flourishing garden.

Maryanne poured me a glass of water, lit a sweet-scented candle, and offered that I sit on the plush couch. Not only was she doing me a large favour by agreeing to the interview, but also making my comfort a priority. Nestled into the arm chair across me, adorned in overalls and a sweatshirt with her light-coloured hair tied back, she answered my many questions.

“Where I went to school to learn to write a book? Life.” Maryanne’s book, A Widow’s Awakening, is a memoir about the loss of her husband, John Petropoulos. From her TV series script, God’s Country (about Canadian silent film star Nell Shipman), to her stage play series, Saviour (about ‘life’ after death) — she writes about a vast range of topics.

“I said to [John]…I said, ‘I am so scared I’m gonna wake up 20 years from now, and still not have finished writing a book,’ she says. “He looked at me and he said ‘Yeah, you’re right about that.’”

She knew this was harsh, but she also knew it was what she needed to hear.

“Now…I’m not alone. A lot of people do this, right? We want to be a writer, but we don’t want to do the work of writing. Anyways, he died the next day.”

She drops this last sentence casually, and then goes on to describe how now she HAS to write a book. She began writing the novel 2 weeks after John’s death, and it was published 8 years later. Her work is published under Pink Gazelle Productions — a company Maryanne started 2 years after his passing.

The company focuses on making “the world a better place by inspiring people to reach their highest potential and fulfill their life’s purpose with passion, joy and gratitude.” Through it, Maryanne creates cinematic, theatrical, and literary works.

“Trust me, grieving is not the best time to learn how to write. Yes, it’s therapeutic, but writing in one’s journal is not the same as publishing a book.” After the tragic loss of John – he was a police officer who died in the line of duty in 2000 – Maryanne began devoting much of her time to bringing awareness to this cause. They were both 32 when he passed.

John’s death was completely preventable— whilst investigating a break and enter complaint, he stepped through an unmarked false ceiling and fell nine feet into the lunchroom below. He died of head injuries. She didn’t want others to go through what she has, so she has worked with the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund for the past 25 years, raising awareness about the importance of workplace safety.

She mentioned the Virginia Woolf quote, “I am rooted, but I flow.” While her days are planned out hour by hour, she understands that life happens.

“This afternoon, I’m going to a friend’s 100th birthday party. That’s the kinda stuff I don’t wanna miss.” Despite the many tasks she has to do that night, and the early flight to Calgary the next morning for a film shoot, there are parts of life that cannot be pushed aside. There’s a balance. Maryanne has spent many years tweaking and perfecting it, but she’s found it. “Tomorrow’s a new day, and I will get done what I need to get done.”

After all the time she has spent building discipline when it comes to her craft, there’s a sense of trust she has in herself — an important element for a writer.

“It’s better than drugs,” she said in relation to tapping into this otherworldly sense of consciousness as a writer. She described these moments where she feels something bigger than her taking over as she writes. “The divine, the universe.” While writing her Saviour play about the afterlife, she began to notice that things she had created in this fictional world started happening in the real world.

“I’m really glad and super thankful that my writing enables me to have a place/project to PUT all the stream of wild insights I get…pretty much on a daily basis. In a weird way, it normalizes it all.” Her craft gives an outlet to explore and materialize these thoughts.

A career in writing takes work, but Maryanne understands the worth behind it. There comes a point where you have to just sit down at your computer and fill that blank page. For Maryanne, this moment followed her husband’s death. She urges aspiring writers to not wait for tragedy to strike.

Yes, there is plenty of time to make mistakes in your craft, procrastinate, switch career paths, and start over again. But that doesn’t mean putting off what you know you’re meant to do. It’s never too late to start. It’s also never too early. “If we have these dreams and these callings to become a writer, it’s because we’re supposed to.”

Maryanne ended the interview with this piece of advice for young creatives:

“The skill will come, the knowledge will come, the magical moments will come, but they won’t come if you don’t make writing your top priority.”

Maryanne Pope is the author of “A Widow’s Awakening.” She also writes screenplays, playscripts & blogs. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Co-Founder of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. To receive her blog, “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” please subscribe here. And be sure to visit our PinkGazelleCards Etsy shop.