Terri Potratz • Writer & Artist

An Ocean Between the Waves: A Memoir of Integrative Healing A memoir about cancer, recovery, and the waves of healing—spanning conventional medicine, alternative treatments, and deep inner work.

I’ve written a memoir about weaving together conventional + integrative treatments. It’s live on Kickstarter until Oct 7 and by pre-ordering the book, you can help make it a reality. This is the book I wish I had when I was diagnosed and felt unseen 💙

👉 www.kickstarter.com/projects/ter...

When I was diagnosed with rectal cancer in my 30s, I turned to the ocean. I think cold swimming helped keep my cancer from spreading.

Here's an excerpt: open.substack.com/pub/papertow...

#CancerSurvivor #YoungOnsetCancer #IntegrativeHealing #Memoir #IndieBooks #ColdPlunge

Gander: The Social Media You Want, Built for Canada Fun, private, and ethical. We're changing the way social media is done around here, all without your personal data taking an unexpected trip down south.

Coming soon. A Canadian Social Media Platform.
gandersocial.ca#features #cdnpoli

A cat sitting on an ottoman in front of a fireplace.

Unreal that we felt the need for a fire in June, but here we are. Cat is on board.

Submissions are open. Send us your best short fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.

Before submitting, please review our guidelines at the link below:

buff.ly/ahzpuhS

#writingcommunity

Tiny bouquet of flowers held in foreground, with the silhouettes of three people on the ground behind.

A few high school teens stopped to present me with this teeny tiny bouquet while I sat on a bench waiting for pizza. They were on a random acts of kindness mission.
The kids are alright.
#islandlife #canada #pnw #tinythings

Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.

happy april 25th aka the perfect date ✨

Book cover of Swimming Studies against seashore and ocean background

Staycation camping, digging into Swimming Studies by Leanne Sharpton, my book club selection this month! #booksky

My 8yo made this sailboat.

#naturetoys #rucklepark #canadaparks

Working the final stitches of this conceptual quilt under the evening sunlight scattered through trees on this windy day. #naturaldye #ecoprint #textile #design

This is so Canadian Maple syrup is the fuel of patriotism

Visited a sugar bush this past weekend. Turns out Canadian patriotism tastes a lot like maple syrup.

open.substack.com/pub/papertow...

(btw @charlieangus104.bsky.social I think we should drop the "maple MAGA" term - maple is too good for that lot)

That sandwich is nothing without sliced pickle

Hard to tell if @macleans.bsky.social is being ironic here since the list of #CPC beneficiaries includes Right-Wing Media, The Military, Oil Magnates & The Tech Industry, but tellingly, no actual people. If this is wry cynicism, it's not obvious enough 👎
Real Canadian people deserve better #cdnpoli

@richroll.bsky.social did you ask her about Cassie Phillips, the original author of the "Let Them" concept?

Listening to @mark-carney.bsky.social and quotes from school kids who are worried about #tariffs got me. Had the same discussion with my 6 and 8 year old kids this AM. It's heartbreaking, but encouraging that our kids still have equality, kindness & care for all citizens in their hearts #cdnpoli

Fruit tree with crackers, yogurt containers, spoons, Gatorade, and an apple resting on various branches.

Passive aggressive clues that my children would like a tree house this year please and thanks.

Giant peach statue next to Lake Okanagan in Penticton, BC

I just purchased a swimsuit, a towel that folds into a beach bag, and a sweater from Hudson's Bay Company, during their foreclosing sale.
The lady at the register said "you could go for a swim right now!"
So I did. I drove straight to the lake, where the water is 4C. It was glorious.

I don't know if this is a lost in translation thing, but this cream spoke to me. My pain definitely feels angry.

Delightful serve-yoself bookshop from Upstart & Crowe above Persephone Brewing in Gibsons. Surprisingly diverse selection for such a small attic! I picked up John Valliant's latest, Fire Weather. #booksky #brewsky

A child standing on a log about to skip a rock into the ocean

Skipping rocks over a storm swell, Sunshine Coast spring break style

Child jumping over a distant campfire on a beach

A poster describing Chaharshanbeh Suri

Loved participating in chaharshanbeh suri on the Sunshine Coast today, a Persian fire jumping celebration to ring in the spring new year. The first quarter of my Gregorian calendar year was pretty much a bust anyway.

There was a site called airport carpets of the world that showed airports carpets of the world and it was fantastic. Sadly offline now.

Sign the Petition Demand Accountability from MCFD and Restore Family Integrity

Yes it looks like the child has been removed from the family because the parents were not consenting to medical treatments www.change.org/p/demand-acc... - letter from Davis Lim posted today

Wings of Fire also got my 7 year old reading! He liked the Dragon Masters series, but it was a non-starter on his own. WOF = total game changer, and he's also become interested in making his own comics. We are on book 3. 🐉

@markhamillofficial.bsky.social leading the rebellion with wit 👏

If you're looking at this one show in complete isolation, I might agree. But nothing happens in isolation. Rhetoric like this - especially how the show was initially framed - lays the groundwork for serious future threats of annexation. That's the fire - the normalization of "Canada as 51st state."

Worst of all is that you still aren't getting it, and the net result is a total loss of trust and faith in who you are and what you stand for.

🧵End

We all saw it and raised the alarm.

I have been a loyal fan, book club follower, and music listener for decades and I feel betrayed. I am a writer, a mother, and an artist, and I feel disenfranchised. I have worked as an editor across a variety of genres and mediums, and I am appalled.

🧵9

It is your job to establish the historical context of media within authoritarian regimes for your audience, but you are blind to your own part in it because you'd rather defend what you thought was a good idea for a show. That's where the anger among your listeners is coming from.

🧵8