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Aug 12
2009

A Bonus of the Writing Life: New Friends in Far Places

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Once a book is published, it has a life of its own. If you're lucky and your book is well distributed, it will be read by many people. I remember how excited I was when my daughter told me she

Aug 10
2009

Lynda Barry on Creativity

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I spent the weekend with a very dear friend in Kingston, Ontario. On the drive home, I listened to a really good CBC interview with American novelist/graphic artist/playwright Lynda Barry. I have to

Aug 06
2009

Thursday Afternoon Smoothie!

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I just had a delicious mango-pineapple smoothie at a cafe on Sherbrooke St., in NDG, the Montreal neighbourhood where I live. Better even than the smoothie (which was totally yum-yum) was the company

Aug 05
2009

You Need to Be a Little in Love with Your Narrator!

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Well, at least I need to be a little in love wih my narrator. Most YA (young adult) novels are written in the first person (of all of mine, only one, On the Game, is told from the

Aug 02
2009

This is What My Office Floor Looks Like

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IMG_1549.jpgPretty messy, no? I shot that photo for you this morning because I want you to see what the floor

Jul 30
2009

Thinking Time!!!

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We all have our weaknesses and though I hate to admit it, mine might be THINKING!! I'm way better at DOING!! (If you know me, you'll know that I am a very active person.) So you can imagine

Jul 27
2009

I'm Not the Only Snoop Around

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This weekend, I was reading in the Montreal Gazette about film director Ken Scott and how he came up with the idea for his latest movie, Les doigts croches (Sticky Fingers), which is about

Jul 23
2009

Delilah's Dreams

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You may remember that after one of my school visits this spring, I mentioned a student named Delilah in one of my blog entries. Delilah was determined to improve her writing and she was going to try

Jul 20
2009

We Are Our Own Best Material

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Today again, I can't take credit for the title of my blog entry. The line, "we are our own best material" is a paraphrase of something Irish-American writer and teacher Frank McCourt

Jul 16
2009

"Imagination Saved Me"

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I got the title for today's blog entry from an interview I heard yesterday on CBC radio. Literary journalist Eleanor Wachtel was interviewing Jackie Kay, a Scottish poet. Jackie, who is bi-racial,