Céad Mile Fáilte — Yes, welcome!

Although I’m a second (third?) generation Canadian, on St. Patrick’s Day I always enjoy taking advantage of my vaguely Irish roots. I haven’t been spending much time here on the blog, so no “new” post today, but if you’d like to catch up on some of my earlier Irish-hued entries, you could click back into the archives: 2009 and

A taste of flash fiction

Writers are always writing something. I have another novel in the works, and my long-suffering critique partners have been reading through each chapter as it rolls out of my brain. First drafts aren’t fun to read, believe me, and mine can be especially brutal when I’ve been short on writing and preparation time. Christmas is always

Father’s Day Family Things

“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” Desmond Tutu Our son and grandson arrived here Saturday evening after a five-hour drive. On a trailer behind their truck they towed our 1946 Willys CJ2A Jeep which has been residing in their garage for several years. It was

Finding the Missing Bee… er, Word

The bees are busy around here this week. There is a very fragrant lilac bush at one corner of our back deck, and I can hear the buzz whenever I approach it. They like the new columbines, too, and the rhododendrons. I get that. After all, the fragrance of lilacs, rhoddies and columbines is appealing.

Going Green?

Leafy greens Ecologically green Greenhorn cowboy Greenstick fracture Green apples ~ No matter what version you favour, come mid-March there’s really no other green except an Irish one. It was St. Patrick’s Day yesterday. I wasn’t particularly innovative, but I wore green, and my visiting daughter baked a batch of green cupcakes for her girls. There was

A worthwhile challenge: can we do it?

Yes, I know I said I was taking a blogging hiatus, but this is worth breaking it for. Every so often I come across a very worthwhile cause. This time it was on Facebook, where I discovered singer/songwriter Jimmy Rankin had decided to do a Christmas giveaway — a personally signed guitar. He plans to give

Take one character and call me in the morning…

.  Are you a writer who creates a cast of characters, or do characters evolve from your stories, appearing one at a time on that old ‘need to know’ basis? Twelve years ago (can it really be that long?) I was hired as a consultant for the filming of Best In Show, a CastleRock “mock-umentary”

A Christmas Eve Smile

I know I said I was taking a blogging break, and I am, but I couldn’t resist sharing this.

Songwriting from Humble Beginnings

Every so often my posts on writing stretch into the realm of song writing. You’ve heard me brag a bit (here and here) about Ra McGuire and his iconic rock band, Trooper. Ra’s son, Connor McGuire, is the next generation of our McGuire family musicians, singing, writing and performing his own music. His EP Different

“A Canadian Legend”

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I’m a huge Trooper fan. I’m very proud of my cuz, Ra McGuire, Tooper’s lead singer. He’s been singing in a band since he was twelve… I don’t think he’d want you to count how many years that’s been, but he’s still singing, still touring, still making albums,