SiWC 2009

Well, Surrey’s over for another year, and thanks to a husband kind enough to turn off my alarm this morning and handle the getting-child-to-school routine alone, I’m not quite as physically and mentally exhausted as I expected to be today. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still far from functioning normally, as the quality of this… Continue reading SiWC 2009

Craft is craft is… life?

My husband’s on his way back from NYC tonight following five intense days in a Jay Maisel photography workshop. He’s feeling that strange combination of exhaustion and exhilaration, sadness and joy that comes from a really good immersive experience. I recognise the symptoms: it’s the same feeling I come home from Surrey with every year.… Continue reading Craft is craft is… life?

Surrey Excitement

Fall is in the air, complete with blowing leaves and weather that shifts from rain to brilliiant sunshine and back again several times a day. For me, the autumn air means one thing: Surrey. Exactly one week from when I’m writing this, at 9:00 on Thursday evening, I’ll be ensconsed in one of my favourite… Continue reading Surrey Excitement

Why do you write?

Four of the women I know from the Compuserve Books and Writers Forum have started a joint blog called All The World’s Our Page. It’s joint venture across continents: two of the contributors are Australian, the other two American. Four like-minded people coming together from totally different parts of the world appeals to me, so… Continue reading Why do you write?

Vicarious Enjoyment

Like most as-yet unpublished writers I know, I daydream from time to time about seeing my books on the shelves of my local bookstore. I suppose it’s a dream that motivates me on those days when the words don’t come easily, just like the dream of that new book smell I anticipate when the first… Continue reading Vicarious Enjoyment

Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving here today, north of the 49th parallel. We don’t have much of a Thanksgiving tradition in our family. My mum came to Canada from Scotland, and she never picked up up the Canadian Thanksgiving tradition. The only time we ever really observed it as a family was when I was away at university,… Continue reading Thanksgiving

Crossing the line

The nature of my current WIP has me thinking about the nature of morality. However varied people’s moral stances may be, most of us have one, bordered by the lines we believe we would not cross. Some of those lines seem absolute, like the belief, say, that we wouldn’t – couldn’t – kill someone. We… Continue reading Crossing the line

Under the Surface

In honour of my dear friend Pam, whose recent post about her husband’s special mug was one of my favourites on her brilliant blog, below is a picture of my new giant tea mug. I spotted it on the first day of our summer vacation this year, and couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I… Continue reading Under the Surface

Sunday fun

My daughter’s favourite thing to do on weekend mornings is, well, nothing. After a busy week at school, the lure of TV, toys, and time to play makes her tough to drag out of the house sometimes. But it’s a beautiful day today, and I think we were all in the mood to do something.… Continue reading Sunday fun

Shortlist… check

After much discussion and deliberation, we finished the shortlists for the fiction and non-fiction sections of the writing contest at the SiWC, the two categories for which I volunteer as a reader. Now karen, the conference – and contest! – coordinator gets the very pleasant job of notifying the people whose stories have been shortlisted.… Continue reading Shortlist… check

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