When I was 21, I got into a motorcycle accident while traveling in Europe and I had to lie around a lot in the aftermath, which was really the first time in my life that I became really focused and inspired to write.

The flattery is nice, but awards don`t add up to writing quality songs.

I listened to my record and hear lots of influences. And it`s very rich... it`s got a wide spectrum.

I seem to have secured some place in world of music and that`s kind of all that really matters to me.

If I`m writing strictly for others, how does that show what I`m experiencing or thinking? I just got to a point where I realized I could be as personal as I wanted to be and people could relate to those situations if they so choose.

I think it`s important to really press on with the song writing and just go with it. There`s no code, there`s no craft... it`s just let yourself shine through your music. If it`s meant to be loved and heard, it`ll happen.

I`ve built a solid career there, but America`s ten times the size. Now that we`re onto the third record, I feel like the stars have aligned and American audiences are embracing my music even more.

I`ve found that in now having experienced what it`s like to make records and just through growing up in general that you should be expressive about what`s affecting you instead of trying to sing about a subject just for the sake of other people getting something from it.

Maybe in past years, perhaps women didn`t feel quite as comfortable with revealing themselves, and their skills and their crafts... and now we are, so we`re out there, just like the guys.

Well, Winnepeg has everything to do with my music in the sense it was where I was born and raised, cultured and all that sort of thing. A lot of my experiences come from Winnepeg.

I`m not writing just about melancholy stuff anymore, I made a point to cover a wide range of emotions.

I can`t say I want to earn a particular award or sell a certain number of records, because even if I do that, the satisfaction only lasts five minutes.

When I get up and play, I`m not having to sell myself because people are coming in with an open mind even if they haven`t heard me before.

So in a sense, the accident was definitely good for me and if that didn`t happen, it probably would have taken me a lot longer to get productive.

Well, I actually first got into music as a small child, and as I became a teen, I sought out making money from music, weather that was singing lounge gigs, backup in studios, or weddings.

I`m learning a lot about myself being alone, and doing what I`m doing.

If certain songs become popular enough to the point where I`ll be playing them the rest of my life, I don`t want them all to dwell on the same down moment that I`ll have to keep reliving.

To be honest, I`m not as goal oriented and ambitious as I once was.

Don`t get me wrong, we still go out after a gig and hang out late, but we also make sure to go to bed within some point of the day`s travel schedule.

Generally my feeling is that I think women are just in a universal way coming out, coming to their own more. And they have more opportunity, and basically we`re equal.

Once I got a record contract, and I took my songs which weren`t quite finished, or maybe they were a good idea, maybe they weren`t. I took them into the studio and developed them. They came to life and they evolved... and they`re great.

Of course, I would be depressed sometimes, and my Mom would be worried about me because I would just sleep to escape. Cause I was so scared of being a musician or artist, or whatever you want to call it.

And I think it`s a real challenge to be up there sometimes with only a keyboard if they don`t have a grand piano... and to try to win people over that way. It`s really hard.

Actually, no, because awards don`t spark sales as much as you`d think.

Making sleep happen is a must- anytime, anywhere, from a plane to a train to an automobile. Ideally, I like to get eight to ten hours a night, though I`ll take it broken up in two segments if I have to.

The real excitement comes from continually making records that I`m really proud of and finding my identity in the record making process.