A busy summer saw this particular project come to a close on its first draft after several years. I wasn’t particularly satisfied with it, so put it away for a bit. Might look at it over the Christmas holidays and see about starting the second draft. Over the Labour Day weekend, I finally participated in […]
Read more "3 Day Novel Writing Competition"During the holidays, my family loves to puzzle and we often gather around the kitchen table pushing pieces together into the wee hours of the morning. As 2020 ends and the new year begins, this also describes the state of much my writing. In any other year, I would be deep in the revising stage […]
Read more "Putting the Pieces Together"Who could not use more charming stories of love and friendship during these times? Books often seem like the only friends you can hold close right now, so what better than to have a stockpile to keep you going? The keen eyed among you may notice the CJSW Radio journal from last year’s funding drive […]
Read more "All Hallow’s Eve, 2020"Summer started with a lot of good intentions. The Summer of Proust initiative continued with The Captive, while a flurry of activity found me deep into preliminary work on a new writing project, powered by Ritual Coffee’s Teenage Riot Espresso, found here in town at Luke’s Drug Mart, with a mind to have a first […]
Read more "July Happenings"This winter, I spent some time out near Golden, British Columbia, enjoying the quiet. I had a delightful time staying at Il Nido, a bed & breakfast nestled between the Purcell and Rocky Mountains. Apparently, I read a lot of British literature and also drank some wonderful locally roasted coffee. I wish I’d brought another […]
Read more "New Year, New Beans, New Books"Wow, September was a busy month. A piece I wrote back in the spring about my years as a Stampede Park parking lot attendant made the CBC Creative Non-fiction Longlist. I submitted something last year and didn’t make it past the first round, so improvement is always good. Next year, the Short List! This was […]
Read more "September Happenings"The lazy summer days of writing in my backyard have given way to cooler mornings working in my basement, waiting for the sun to rise. It’s been a long time and a lot of words since last I wrote here, largely as a result of a rather unusual summer for me, productivity-wise anyways. Generally, the […]
Read more "End of Summer"What better way to fuel up your February ambition than with a morning cup of hot chocolate? The YYC Hot Chocolate Festival presented by Meals on Wheels kicked off this week and my beverage of choice today is Bridgeland Market’s Peppered Petals & Cocoa featuring cardamom and rose water with pink peppercorn sprinkles. I’m not […]
Read more "February Goals"January’s goals are a real mixed bag. I’ve been looking forward to reading Madeleine Thien’s Do Not Say We Have Nothing since the fall and have been promising my daughter that I would read The Cursed Child for almost as long. Ken Dryden’s autobiography, The Game, has sat on my shelf for almost six years, […]
Read more "January Goals"With National Novel Writing Month well under way, I’m wishing everyone the best of luck with their endeavors. Having recently finished a piece for the CBC Short Story Competition and still doing a bit of research for my next big project, I am ill-prepared to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. However, I do love the […]
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Coffee and Blarney 