I hate listening to myself on radio or watching myself on T.V. It makes me feel so self-conscious. If I laugh too loud, or gesture too much… Radio is a bit better but not much and I’m always worried about saying something stupid! Or something I just shouldn’t. But Shelagh Rogers was such a sweet […]

I had three presentations at a school today in the West end. I’d been to the school about ten years ago, when I was first starting out, and my has it changed! Back then this school had the distinction of being one of the most homogenous immigrant population schools in Toronto. About 96 or 98% […]

Despite the cold that lingers Despite the work that waits Despite the doctor’s appointment I finished it today. You’d think I’d be exulting You think I’d be overjoyed You think I’d be rushing to send it out But I’m feeling quite pensive now. This one’s a little bit raw This one shows a lot of […]

I’ve been asking myself all day why I’m addicted to spider solitaire, and I think I may have found an answer. It goes back to something I never mentioned, because it’s rather pathetic. A very successful author I know (she won the Newbery for goodness sakes!) once confessed that she played the most difficult level of […]

Well I guess I must be getting more tech savvy because I did indeed figure out how to unhide my spider solitaire and freecell. And since I’d done my work, I was itching for something to do, and I did go in and ‘unhide’ them. Well, I was too embarrassed to blog about it, but […]

I know that’s a cliche, but really it’s true. Had some good news over the past few days. Wanting Mor was nominated for the 2010/2011 Hackmatack award–that’s a reader’s choice award (in Canada they’re commonly referred to as the tree awards because they’re often named after trees–hey we’re Canadian–we have a leaf on the flag!). The […]

Many years ago I read one of my daughter’s diary. I was standing right in front of her and started reading her thoughts from grade five up to seven. It was honest, touching and in places, hilarious! The kind of writing one does when they don’t expect anyone else in the world to be reading it. […]

I always used to wonder why God seemed to put so much emphasis in the Quran on sending a messenger to a people from among their own people. It’s repeated over and over again. I thought, what’s the big deal if an outsider were to come and point out what they were doing wrong? After […]

There’s a line in Patricia McCormick’s book Sold where the mother says any man is better than none. It’s an interesting line because there are indeed some women who feel that way. In fact in writing Wanting Mor, I thought the stepmother was a bit like that too. But actually my stepmother is much more […]

It was a National Book Award finalist but it’s written in free verse! Gosh I hate free verse novels. They feel like the writer cheated. They’res kind of artsy fartsy. I think the first one I read was Kiss the Dust. It was good but I think the format is annoying. I mean why couldn’t […]