THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - Helena Katz says Fort Smith is a good place to be a writer.

Helena Katz: freelancer finds Fort Smith a good place to write. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"When you live in the North and Fort Smith, it's like one big writing retreat," said the freelance writer, who moved to the community three years ago from Montreal.

Fort Smith offers lots of quiet time and a balanced lifestyle, she said. "It's really conducive to writing."

Katz's mother in Montreal has even noticed a difference in her daughter – now finding her calm and serene, instead of tired and stressed.

Before coming to Fort Smith, Katz, 45, wrote two non-fiction crime books – 'Gang Wars: Blood and Guts on the Streets of Early New York' and the Canadian bestseller 'The Mad Trapper: The Incredible Tale of a Famous Canadian Manhunt.'

"I have a master's in criminology and I couldn't let it go to waste," said Katz, who also has a degree in psychology.

Katz is currently working on her third book 'Cold Cases' for an American publisher. The book, which is due out later this year, will deal with 40 unsolved murders and disappearances from the 1840s to 2003.

She is also negotiating with a publisher for a book about the wrongfully convicted in Canada.

Aside from her books, she writes in numerous publications, particularly travel magazines, and is president of the Travel Media Association of Canada.

As a travel writer, she enjoys trying new experiences, although she noted she is sometimes inept at new things, like attending a cowgirl boot camp in B.C.

"It's kind of like Rick Mercer with a pen," she said.

Katz also writes for corporate clients, such as Parks Canada and the Town of Fort Smith for which she recently revised a travel guide.

"One of the reasons that I write is I'm curious about things," she said, adding it gives her an excuse to ask questions. "It satisfies my curiosity and I get paid for it, and it's a way for me to make sense of the world around me."

When she moved to Fort Smith in July 2006, she began writing an e-mail dispatch – A Letter from the North – for family, friends and colleagues, about 100 people in all.

"I think people are curious about the North and they don't know what it's like," she said.

The electronic letter would deal with such topics as learning how to dogsled, the francophone community in Fort Smith and the time she got lost in the bush for seven hours.

Katz produced the letter for three years and plans to return to writing it. In fact, she may eventually gather the letters together and publish them as a book.

As for why she moved to Fort Smith from Montreal, Katz said, "The short answer is I fell in love with the North and fell in love with a Northerner."

She first visited Fort Smith in July 2004 to do a travel article about Wood Buffalo National Park and Fort Smith.

It was then that she first met the Fort Smith man who is now her partner. They kept in touch, and now share a home on the outskirts of Fort Smith.

Katz said a lot of people in Fort Smith have their own stories to tell.

Over the past two years, she has been asked several times for advice by people working on writing projects.

That has her thinking about becoming a travelling writer/mentor for NWT communities, similar to a writer-in-residence at a college or university.

"It's something I'd like to do," she said, adding she would be able to help people and share her passion for writing. Katz said she is a successful freelancer in Fort Smith, because she was already in mid-career when she moved to the community.

"So I can make it work that way because I got that experience," she said.

She believes it would be more difficult for someone to start a freelancing career in Fort Smith without having contacts established with southern publishers.

Katz also works hard at being a freelancer, which includes bookkeeping and marketing her writing skills.

The freelancer who eats is someone who markets all the time, she said. "You're not just a creator, but you're also a businessperson."