Once a month, on a Tuesday afternoon, the Annapolis Valley Regional Library’s Bookmobile rolls into Scots Bay. It’s always an exciting day at my house – from the scramble to locate books that need to be returned, to the anticipation of the arrival of books we’ve placed on order, to the celebratory “book haul” spread [...]
read on... →In 1870, there were over thirty thousand children living on the streets of New York and many more who wandered in and out of cellars and tenements as their familes struggled to scrape together enough income to put food on the table.
Under the mentorship of sister physicians Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, my great-great [...]
read on... →At this years Read for the Cure event in Toronto, I spoke of the importance of storytelling. I shared a tale about how a story a seamstress once told a doctor in the late 1800′s led to a breakthrough in modern medical research.
I posted a blog entry about my part in that story a [...]
read on... →After you’ve finished writing a novel, there comes a moment when you decide to pack up the notebooks, index cards, and sticky notes you’ve scattered through your life for the past few years and bid them a fond farewell. It’s a bittersweet process to be sure, but it’s also a time of excitement, because (if [...]
read on... →When I’m working on a novel, I tend to gather music, quotes and images from various sources to inspire me as I write. The walls of my studio quickly become covered in photographs and words from the past, and my ipod gains new playlists based on setting, plot and characters.
I thought I’d share some [...]
read on... →
Just wanted to let you know about two events that are around the corner, and one that’s coming up in October.
This Sunday, September 11th, I’ll be popping by the Chapters in Dartmouth, NS (41 Mic Mac Blvd.), to take part in their fall preview event. If you’re in the Halifax/Dartmouth area and would [...]
read on... →I’m here, although a bit late.
I said spring, didn’t I?
As you know, I shut most of my online-self down around the first of the year, figuring the wild, wonderful Canada Reads ride would give you enough to read, hear and see of me without my endlessly [...]
read on... →Dear Internet,
It’s not you, it’s me.
I’ve been online since 1993. It started with Gopher, The English Server, and a little cyber hole-in-the-wall called D-Con. I loved that geeky, text-only frontier and the sense of freedom that came along with it. It was filled with [...]
read on... →Whew…what a crazy couple of days it’s been. I’m still not quite caught up on sleep yet, but I thought I’d post a little behind the scenes slide show of the Canada Reads 2011 launch in Toronto. I’m still pinching myself over the fact that The Birth House was chosen by Debbie Travis [...]
read on... →The news came at 7:15 am – Gaspereau Press co-owner Andrew Steeves announced to Don Connolly on CBC Nova Scotia’s Information Morning that a deal has been made to get more copies of the Sentimentalists on bookstore shelves. (You can read their official press release here.)
According to Steeves, plans for an alliance with [...]
read on... →
When I was a child I loved finding things…a jar of my grandmother's old buttons, a cigar box filled with boy scout badges and river stones, a flouncy party dress pushed to the back of my mother's closet - circa 1955. With every relic I discovered, there came a story. Real or imagined, the tales that surrounded each object were magic, making the 'thing' more immediate, something more than it was before I'd found it.
Fact or fiction, fantastic, joyful or sad, stories make us more than we were before we found them. Welcome to my shoebox of buttons, sealing wax and scribblings.
- posted on 16/05/2012 23:03:49
