Read a very interesting article the other day about how apparently certain authors, especially in the business book writing field, are hiring special services that buy bulk copies of their books in such a way as to manipulate the sales figures and make these bulk sales count towards their sales figures, propelling them onto the […]

Okay, so I’m back home, safe and sound, basking in the glow of an amazing adventure and that little refrain keeps running through my mind because it was the translation of a song one of the international storytellers sang at the end of her performance. Ana Sofia Paiva is a petite and delicate Portuguese actress turned storyteller […]

Iran is about as different from Qatar as you can imagine. And it keeps reminding me of one of the ayats in the Quran that says that among His signs is the livelihood you seek. I can’t remember the exact wording, but it basically says in the Quran that there is a blessing in going […]

Geez, sometimes I wish I actually looked impressive. You come here to this Arab country thinking that, “Hey, we’re all Muslims!” and for once you actually don’t stick out like a sore thumb, at least not because you wear hijab, but you do stick out because you’re not ‘Arab chic’. You should see these ladies […]

I guess I should have known better. It’s so important to look at an itinerary carefully and make sure there’s enough time in between connecting flights for delays or mayhem to happen. The funny thing, my first flight on the way here to Doha was domestic, Toronto to Montreal, could have gone to the airport […]

I was talking to my son this afternoon, we do that a lot, and somehow we got to discussing the need to be friendly and reach out to people. He said that he’d been rebuffed at times, and so was reluctant to do so. And I remembered a moment so very vividly right there and […]

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 […]

Because I was chosen as one of the Toronto District School Board’s writers in residence I’ve been going to various schools who’ve won visits from me. On Thursday I was lucky enough to go to a school I’d been to several times before! One of the things I like best about the Toronto School board […]

The last time I went to this conference was years ago when they asked me to storytell for the kids. It was so long ago that one of my daughters joined me at the venue and then got annoyed with the audience because they were bouncing around instead of listening. She was only about thirteen […]

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 […]