Genuine Choice: Why I Quit Twitter and Facebook

The ground is under my feet. Snow turning soft, ridged snowmobile trails collapsing into black earth in the fields where we run our dog. In the early morning, the blue jays show up to eat the sunflower seeds that the red squirrel has knocked out of the feeder. Chickadees and nuthatches flit around, and a […]

The Need To Read

Yesterday morning, I drank my coffee in the South Pacific. On the island of Tahiti, to be exact. During a game of haru raa puu which led to a dramatic and moving conclusion for Miss Alma Whittaker, who nearly drowned, but fought the ocean’s grasp before arriving at an epiphany that made me cry. All […]

Bacon and Eggs

I’m in the midst of a physical and mental transformation. Don’t worry: I’m not getting plastic surgery or starting a religion. Instead, I’m figuring out how to eat in order to shrink. You see, over the past couple of years I’ve gotten a bit, well, chubby. Not grossly obese or unable to squeeze through doorways, but […]

Seven Ways to Stay Sane

Well, now. How’s everybody doing? A little bit of this? A touch of this? Yeah; I hear you. I’m not sure what to say. I could reiterate my own outrage; I could talk about fascism; I could point you to this excellent (and, yes,  frightening) article by David Frum (uh huh, that David Frum, who […]

Craving Kin

It took about two minutes of talking to a few writer friends at the Canadian Writers’ Summit last weekend before I began realizing what might be wrong with my novel. I felt like a sponge, soaking up thoughts, ideas, writerly conversations while wandering between tents and event rooms at a muggy Harbourfront Centre in downtown […]