Category: Food for thought
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Thick fun in the summertime
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I read an article recently that piqued my interest. It seems there’s a very recent trend to dive into “big, thick books” this summer, and the writer dissected why that might be. And since I write big, thick books, I thought about my own attraction to that type of novel.…
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Sometimes humanity restores your faith in it
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This post is a day late because my main laptop has refused to boot up again – it’s going back to the shop tomorrow. I’m working on an older, slower laptop, but at least I have the backup. So this story is a short one: Yesterday I stupidly left a…
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Next stop: the Twilight Zone!
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You’re traveling through another dimension – a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone! Fiction writers love to play with the ‘what if’ scenario.…
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Libraries and Third Spaces
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During the first COVID lockdowns, when you couldn’t walk around a neighbourhood without people crossing the street to avoid you, I found myself gravitating to our local botanic garden. I drove by one day, just escaping the four walls of our home for a little while, and found the parking…
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Rosemary: cook, remember and ward off the Plague
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One of the things I love the most about December is its fragrances, of fresh evergreens in the house, bay or pine scented candles, good food on the stove and in the oven – and on the table. One of the things I love the least about winter as it…
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The Mysteries of the Magi
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When I was around five years old, my grandfather passed away, and I remember his funeral chiefly for the overwhelming amount of incense – so oppressive and acrid that it made me cry. (I was sensitive to smells at an early age.) One of the typical components of incense used…
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Colour Me…??
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I don’t decorate with red and green for Christmas. Ironic, because red was my favourite colour when I was a child, and it is an attractive combination. I don’t mind it in small doses, but in large amounts it does tend to smack you in the eye. Is that holiday…
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Tea and Topics: Your genre or mine
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“When you are drinking tea, it is basically a private conversation between the tea and your individual soul.” – Lu Ann Pannunzio Introducing a new semi-regular feature for this blog: brief musings about writing over an aromatic mug of hot tea. I subscribe to a number of literary newsletters that…
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Happy Halloween!
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Hope you have a fantastically eerie Halloween this year! If you’re not going out, reading books 1 & 2 of my trilogy would be a great way to spend a quieter evening.
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Dreaming big
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Yesterday was National When Pigs Fly Day. It’s a day to take joy in silliness, but more importantly, it’s a celebration of possibilities. I love this description from one of the many online day calendars: “It reminds us that anything is possible if we are brave enough to take risks…