Vanessa has been a professional writer for more than thirty years. Mostly working as a freelance agriculture and environmental journalist, she has written countless pieces for regional and national publications as well as industry groups. She is also the author of three books: Rain on a Distant Roof, The Things She'll Be Leaving Behind and The Haweaters. The Haweaters was shortlisted for the Canadian Author Association's 2021 Fred Kerner Book Award. In addition, her short fiction has appeared in literary journals across Canada and in the United States, including The Dalhousie Review, dANDelion, filling Station, The New Quarterly, PRECIPICe, Qwerty, and Reed Magazine.