That I described myself as ‘devastated’ yesterday even though I complained a few days ago about doing just that? It was when I was talking about being asked to leave (being dumped) from that writer’s workshop class I had paid to join. I will explain in case anyone wants to call me on it because […]

Was it twenty years ago that I joined my first writing group? Maybe it was nineteen. And it was a group/workshop that was offered through a local community college so I’m not even sure if that counts. But I attended every week. My kids were small, my oldest was five and the twins were two, […]

If you can dream-and not make dreams your master, If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same;” This is the beginning of the second stanza and I just think there’s so much to it that bears scrutiny. Have […]

I don’t even pretend to be a poet. To be perfectly honest I don’t *get* most poetry. Sometimes it can be breathtaking, but it’s very much hit and miss. But ‘If’ is one of the poems I have hanging on my bulletin board by my desk. The other two poems are The Quitter by Robert Service and […]

Joannie Rochette, our highest hopes for a Canadian Olympic medal in women’s skating, did a beautiful performance in the short skate even after learning that her mother died unexpectedly, yesterday. Hers was not the most skillful performance, it was not the highest score, but it was definitely the most poignant. When she got ready to begin, […]

Last night I was watching a biography of L.M. Montgomery. It was fascinating. It focused a lot on her recently published journals. In the biography, it was all Anne this and Anne that. There was a mention of Emily of New Moon, but that was it. My favourite book of hers, The Blue Castle, wasn’t even mentioned. […]

Today was another one of those underpaid gigs and considering I was storytelling at the swanky Royal Ontario Museum, it felt a bit cheap. I only did it as a favour to a friend of mine who was on some South Asian committee. At one point the Museum administrators were even asking me for my social insurance number, their […]

My brother has an aesthetic clinic as part of his medical practice. Many times he’s offered me free procedures to iron out wrinkles, look younger, stuff like that. Some of the procedures involve poking little holes in your skin so it forces it to rejuvenate, some involve chemical peels that burn off the old top […]

Every author has other authors they’ve looked up to and admired. Unfortunately many of mine: Mark Twain, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien, are dead. One of my favourite authors: Eloise Jarvis McGraw died before I got up the gumption to write to her. So after reading about Phyllis A. Whitney’s 100th birthday, I did […]

If there is a ‘rule’ for writing, everyone says it’s ‘write what you know’. But sometimes you feel compelled to write about something beyond your circle of experience. And I’m struggling to figure out a way to make it work. This goes back to that post about ‘What’s Your Angle’. I did discover an angle […]