VANCOUVER - Following the breakup of her marriage and a three-month bout with laryngitis, beloved Canadian songstress Sarah McLachlan has picked up her pen once again.

McLachlan says she is writing her first album of new material since 2003's "Afterglow" and plans to hit the studio in April with longtime collaborator Pierre Marchand.

As for a release date? Well, McLachlan has always been an artist who just can't be rushed.

"The record company (Nettwerk) is hoping for next year -- I highly doubt that, knowing the pace at which I write," she said in a telephone interview.

"But you never know. Miracles can happen. I'm just trying to get back into writing. I've been out of that process for a long time."

Last year saw the release of "Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan," a career retrospective that featured two new songs by the singer.

Just as the record was being released in October, McLachlan confided in interviews that she was separating from her husband of 11 years, drummer Ashwin Sood.

McLachlan says she's doing fine now.

"You know what, life is wonderful," she said. "No matter what happens, for me, I sort of look at it like, OK, this is hell right now -- I'm speaking in the past tense -- but there's going to be amazing things that come out of it. Things are going to get better because of this.

"It's that old thing of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. We're presented with whatever we can manage. And it's pretty amazing what we can rise to."

The 41-year-old drew from the pain she was going through when writing songs for "Closer" -- "U Want Me 2" and "Don't Give Up on Us" were the new tunes that appeared on the album -- and while she shies away from discussing her personal life, she says she's never had a problem writing music about it.

"It's pretty much been the way I've always done things," she said. "All my material for the most part is very personal and pretty autobiographical. But even if a song is masked in fiction, there's always a lot of me in there.

"I always in my songs choose to reveal as much as I'm comfortable revealing, and perhaps (those songs) were a little more revealing than normal, but again, it was what I was comfortable with. I've always tried to let my music speak for itself, without having to go out there and discuss what the songs were about or what the original motivation was for it -- usually it's quite self-explanatory."

These past few years, McLachlan has been busy raising the two daughters she had with Sood -- "that's really become my No. 1 priority these last couple years, and I've had the luxury of being able to do that and keep my toe in the musical waters as well," she says -- while continuing her humanitarian efforts, for which she's being honoured Saturday during Juno Awards weekend.

McLachlan will receive the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award and is slated to perform during the Juno show on Sunday (CTV, check local listings), which will be held in her adopted hometown of Vancouver, where she's lived for 21 years.

The two-time Grammy Award winner and eight-time Juno winner has been an avid supporter of animal welfare, lending her unmistakable voice to a successful SPCA campaign. As well, she has long worked to help underprivileged kids get access to musical instruments, founding the Sarah McLachlan Foundation in 1999 and the first Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach-Arts Umbrella Project in 2003, and has performed at benefits for innumerable other charitable causes.

McLachlan is also lauded for having founded the all-female music tour Lilith Fair, and once shot a bare-bones video for her song "World on Fire," donating virtually the entire $150,000 budget to charity.

Still, she said she was surprised by the recognition.

"I have to say, I was rather shocked," she said. "I guess I never expect these kind of things to happen. I just quietly go along and do the things that I do and I don't expect or really want any accolades for them."

So while she's happy and humbled to be recognized, she's also slightly uncomfortable.

"There's perhaps even a mild embarrassment attached to it, because ... the reason that I do what I do in the first place has nothing to do with getting anything back as far as public perception, it's merely something I do because it feels good and right to do," she said.

She's never felt it necessary to jump from project to project, and has only released material when compelled. Her return to writing was disrupted by the three months she couldn't use her voice -- she says she's struggled with laryngitis from time to time before, but never for such an extended period.

McLachlan says she doesn't have much active on the charitable front right now. After 20-plus years in the industry, she says she's figuring out exactly how much she can handle at once.

"I work quite hard not to try and set big goals for myself, because I find it very intimidating very quickly," she said. "Don't put a mountain in front of you and expect just to climb it.

"I'm trying to learn to set reasonable expectations for myself, so I'm not constantly berating myself for not achieving my high expectations."