This video takes one of the happiest Christmas songs and turns it sad by playing it in a minor key… I’ve also long believed that you can make this popular jaunty carol into a pretty sad one, simply be reworking the lyrics from present to past tense, changing the odd word and singing all verses […]
When I was working for the Writers Guild of Alberta, we ended up getting into a “Who has the worst (and therefore best!) ID photo?” discussion during one pub night. A young writer I knew pulled out his student ID (which, tellingly, he still carried even though he was no longer a student) and I knew […]
No one in the convention hall at the Queensbury Convention Centre was more surprised than Ryan Meili. It was June 6, 2009 and the Saskatchewan NDP were choosing their new leader from among four candidates. After Deb Higgins had been dropped off after the first ballot and Yens Pedersen had conceded, Meili knew there was […]
A new site called IWriteLike.Me claims to analyse your writing and tell you which author's style you most resemble. I tried it with a couple recent blog posts and got Dan Brown (great! ). On the other hand, when I copied in the recent article I wrote for real money and with a bit of […]
I haven't done any freelance writing (the kind that pays anyhow!) for quite awhile but through an old high school friend who works in magazine publishing, recently ended up with an assignment to write a profile of a world champion female kick boxer who happens to work in my hometown. I did the interview at […]
I've been writing stories since I was a kid.I specialized in creative writing while doing my BA – English.I worked for five years in Saskatchewan's publishing industry.I worked for three and a half years in Alberta's writing industry.I organized and participated in writing retreats, writing groups and workshops.I served on the board of the Saskatchewan […]
Make sure you watch to the end…
An oldie but a goodie from libraryland's own Jessamyn West, here's a list of the seven core plots in literature I found via a recent Reddit post. I remember learning a version of this list in grade nine English that only had four items (which I've put in bold below) but always trying to prove […]
I don't know much in this life but I do know that my version of the great unfinished Canadian novel begins with this line: “There were two kinds of music in my hometown growing up – Country and AC/DC – so the hymn being played at my grandmother's funeral is unfamiliar to say the least.” […]
“Consider the Lobster” is one of four (how'd that happen?) books I currently have on the go (the others – “Convergence Culture”, one about contrarian management principles which I can't remember the title of – probably “Contrarian Management”, and buzz book of the moment, “Twilight”.)One of the essays in the first book on that list […]
