Monique Polak

What, you may ask, do pressed pennies and Beijing noodles have to do with each other? If you've been reading my blog this week, you'll know that I am doing a story for Maclean's about people who collect pressed pennies. Well now, I've got another story to juggle. Because the Beijing Olympics begin next week, the Gazette wants to run a story about Beijing-style cooking in next Wednesday

Some of my friends already call me the Energizer Bunny (I don't like when they say so), but I have to admit that today, I am feeling unusually energetic -- even for me. Maybe it's a result of the vacation, or that my Mom energy has to be channeled elsewhere since as of yesterday, my daughter has become a resident of Brooklyn, New York. Anyway, I've been a-writing. Finished a personal essay

Today must be a day for endings. I just just wrote the last sentence of the book I've been working on all summer. (Though mind you, the re-writing, which some people say is the most important part of all, comes next!) The other ending is the end of my official duties as mum. My daughter left home today to start a job in New York City. I didn't think I'd cry, but I did (of course, she

It's Monday afternoon and I'm reinstalled at my desk in Montreal. The holiday did me loads of good and I'm feeling very energetic and happy to be writing again. Of course I did keep my trusty journal and though I didn't exactly work, I did do some interviewing for a possible story. Best of all, I keep waking up with IDEAS IN MY HEAD!! This is very fun.  My main goal writing-wise

It's our last night in San Francisco... wanted to tell you about the street car we rode today to Fisherman's Wharf. Many of the street cars in San Francisco were used in other cities. It just so happened that the one we rode today came from New Orleans where it was used on the Desire line. Playwright Tennessee Williams named his play after a street car like the one we took today. And because

So we're spending a couple of days in wine country. Before that we were in Berkeley. Yesterday, we went to two wineries; our plan is to visit three or four today before we had back to San Francisco for the last leg of our trip. Don't worry -- we're just sipping!!

Mike's gone to the lobby to print up tickets he bought on line for a baseball game tomorrow: San Francisco Giants

Well here we are in San Francisco, having a super fun time. This is my first visit to California and I feel very at home here. We've already met lots of interesting people with interesting STORIES, like a young man who's made his fortune designing a new kind of penny-stretching machine. Yesterday we went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit. Kahlo and

So we're headed to San Francisco tomorrow morning. Means I won't be around to catch my "Summer Reading" segment on CTV this weekend. Melanie Porco, researcher for the show -- and Marianopolis College graduate!! -- e-mailed to let me know that the segment will air Saturday, July 12 between 9:30 and 10 a.m., and then again on Sunday, July 13 between 8:30 and 9 a.m. If you happen to

So here I am in Winnipeg -- have taken care of the official business I came here for (I was on a top-secret mission!!) and now I have the afternoon off. It's a short trip because I arrived at 11 p.m. last night and I leave first thing tomorrow morning. The joke here in Manitoba is that their provincial bird is the mosquito -- but so far, my combination bug and suntan lotion seems to be doing the

This weekend, we caught a bit of an old Charlie Rose show in which he interviewed American author/historian David McCullough. McCullough whose books include 1776, shared some practical writing advice. He explained that he does 60 per cent of his research before he starts writing a book. Then he researches as needed. I thought this was interesting because I've heard other writers say they sometimes