I feel like screaming everytime I hear someone describe the Boston marathon bombers as ‘devout’ Muslims. Devout Muslims don’t bomb anyone. It’s ridiculous! Just because a person attends a Friday prayer now and then, DOESN’T mean he’s devout! Omigosh, it’s like saying a guy shows up for mass so he’s a saint! And what’s with [...]

Recently went to an event filled with young people that were definitely outside my normal realm of acquaintance. And in a word, it was FASCINATING! Reminds me of what Dr. Phil said in one of his recent shows, about how once we’ve made up our minds we stop searching for new information, and we only [...]

don’t fix it right??? Well apparently the way it works in mainstream media is keep the same formula till something eclipses it! Just finished watching Singing in the Rain, you know with Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds! Fast-forwarded through the sappy parts and honestly the title dance sequence still stands up brilliantly! And the dubbing [...]

Mike Tyson said that. And a company called Busy Building Things immortalized the saying on a little plaque that sits above my desk even as I type this. I think it’s amazingly profound! It’s quite self explanatory, I guess. I mean, you make a plan, a strategy, and then you jump into the fray and [...]

feels a bit like a waste of time. Sometimes the feeling of impotence in the face of global dilemmas is just excruciating. This is one of those times. It seems to crop up every so often. It’s like tensions build and build in Israel and Palestine, and they start fighting, and people start dying. And [...]

by, of all people, a Russian! Theodore Dostoyevsky! Oh why, oh why, did I take so long to discover him??? It seems I’ve been hearing his name all my life and yet niggling prejudice tainted it. I thought to myself, “Why would I read a book by a guy named Dostoyevsky? It sounds so Russian! [...]

Got permission from the powers that be, that I can finally release the good news that I’ve been clutching to my chest all summer long! Two things! Which should I say first? The local or the international??? Hmm. Let’s start local: The Toronto District School Board has chosen me along with some other authors (I’m [...]

It’s never a good idea to critique a story at 12:30 am when you’ve got a frozen shoulder from being on the computer too long and you’re exhausted and downright cranky. Increasingly I have been getting pleas for help from aspiring authors and darn it, I can still remember what it felt like to be [...]

Last Friday night my daughters came over and there was one of those moments–those double take moments–when you feel like your world has changed and it all started with a spilled glass of Cola (not even name-brand Coke)! One of my daughters had left it on the table where one of the grandkids could reach it, [...]

Waiting…waiting…waiting! To hear from my agent about the hajj novel. I don’t know, that last revision really took it out of me. I feel like I’ve been wrung out like a dish rag and someone’s using me to sop up a spill. In the meantime I’ve been starting a new novel–began the first chapter today. [...]