Writer's Highlights

After seven years teaching high school science, Gretchen switched careers and studied writing.

In 1992, she won:

First Prize for Non-Fiction

Writers' Federation of New Brunswick (Canada) Literary Competition

for a humourous essay. This award prompted a four-year stint reading her humourous commentaries on child-rearing for CBC radio. Read radio commentary

She then wrote commentaries from a feminist perspective for The Telegraph Journal, New Brunswick’s provincial newspaper. Read newspaper commentary.

Upon reading through the scrapbook of her great-aunt, Gert Harding, she researched and wrote a biography: With All Her Might; the Life of Gertrude Harding, Militant Suffragette.

Gretchen then switched to screenwriting. Her teleplay 106 Fire Hydrants (adapted from a chapter of Alan Wilson’s book, Before the Flood) was chosen for the

The Atlantic Film Festival - CBC Script Development Workshop, 1996

The script was then produced and broadcast nationally on CBC-TV.

Gretchen's second screenplay, inspired by Gert Harding's life and family lore, won the same award:

The Atlantic Film Festival - CBC Script Development Workshop, 1997

Meanwhile, back in 1993, Gretchen had won her second WFNB award:

First Prize for Children's Literature

Writers' Federation of New Brunswick Literary Competition

for a collection of nonsense rhymes and shaped poems. She expanded the collection into a 28-page book and engaged a gifted illustrator, J.O. Pennanen. Upon publication in 2000, Lollipopsicles was accepted into:

Born to Read

an initiative of the Province of New Brunswick,

which gave every new mother in NB a bag of Atlantic Canadian children’s books. The book won rave reviews.

In 1999, Gretchen's screenplay for a feature film, Margaret & Deirdre, won:

The CBC Television Performance Showcase.

Years later, Gretchen produced and directed her screenplay as an Ultra Low Budget feature. It screened at festivals from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Melbourne, Australia. In 2008, at the Trail Dance Film Festival (USA), Margaret & Deirdre won:

Best Screenplay

and was

nominated for Best Dramatic Feature and Best Foreign Film.

Her screenplay Tineke’s Art was optioned for four years and raised over $70 000. Both Margaret & Deirdre and Tineke's Art -- now Angela's Art -- are available for option. (Contact Gretchen)

Gretchen wrote, shot and edited many short and feature-length videos, all screening at festivals. Three of her educational videos were picked up for distribution by Moving Images in Vancouver.

The comedic 4-minute Piece o’ Cake, which she shot in her kitchen, won:

Best No Budget Short

at the Broad Humour Film Festival in Venice, California, 2007.

In 2015, Gretchen decided to bring Gert Harding’s exciting story to the stage. She started with a 1-act drama about Harding’s initiation as a militant suffragette. Orchids Can be Destroyed was developed by both Theatre New Brunswick and the Saint John Theatre Company, enjoying a 5-night run in Saint John in 2016. It can be downloaded through the Playwrights' Guild of Canada.

Next, Gretchen wrote the libretto for a feature musical, Gert Harding, inspired by Harding’s memoirs and family lore and with an added love story. Harding was a lesbian who never confided in family, so the musical includes a fictional lover, Sunita Sharma, as one of the many suffragettes of East Indian heritage.

In the last few years, Gretchen decided to adapt her two most successful screenplays into novels: Margaret & Deirdre and Angela's Art. (Contact Gretchen)