TD Book Week 2018 Tour: Carleton Place and Westport

TD Book Week 2018 Tour: Carleton Place and Westport

As of this week, there are 30 Canadian children’s authors, illustrators and storytellers moving about the country giving school and library presentations under the sponsorship of TD Book Week. And I’m one of them!            ...
Upping your writing game (metaphors and more)

Upping your writing game (metaphors and more)

There’s densely sweet fruitcake, and then there’s cheap white bread. Writing can be that different, too. One is delightfully packed with metaphors, clever turns of phrase and words that dance into your ears and evoke surprising emotions or images. Or plain vanilla,...
Excited to tour Ontario!

Excited to tour Ontario!

Update: As one of the honored authors to be part of the 2018 TD Book Week tour next month, I will soon be speaking at ten schools and libraries over a five-day period in Ontario. (Better yet, I wind up on Mother’s Day weekend in Toronto, where my son will just...

The Facebook dilemma

Some celebrities and individuals are cancelling their Facebook accounts to protest the insidious use of personal data without their permission or knowledge. I just listened to a documentary that recommends another approach. Far more effective than cancelling, or...
Reading fiction builds empathy

Reading fiction builds empathy

The reason a Canadian named Carol Finlay started up book clubs in prisons was not just to give prisoners a welcome distraction and goal (to read the books), but to broaden and stimulate their minds through discussion about the book, and see if it could also expand...