One of the things I love to do in my writing day is take a lunchtime break to walk the dog and listen to a podcast. Recently, on one of the regular podcasts I listen to, author and entrepreneur Jennifer Cohen was being featured, and she said something that made me stop in my tracks.... Continue Reading →
Knock me sideways! Did you know there is an active debate amongst Jane Austin fans about which version of Pride and Prejudice is better? I certainly didn’t, but apparently the contenders in the arena are the A&E six-part miniseries starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, and the 2005 feature film starring Keira Knightley and Matthew... Continue Reading →
FOUR YEARS AGO, I wrote a blog post about the little fixer upper I had bought. This post was written with a healthy dose of optimism, and an undercurrent of idealism. Me and my 70s-era fixer upper—we would go on an adventure together. I saw into her soul, saw who she once had been and... Continue Reading →
Ah, springtime. Hands down, it is my second-favourite time of year (close on the heels of autumn, which is my absolute favourite). Springtime is the time of year where mother nature is waking up again, and filling the air with her perfume. Spring is when the trees are alive with the scent of lilac and... Continue Reading →
Fear. It is a natural human emotion. It alerts us to the presence of danger or the threat of harm. It is, at its core, a primitive and powerful mechanism for self-preservation. But how is self-preservation an explanation for one’s reaction to fear when it is the result of a phobia? After all, by its... Continue Reading →
“You only have one story to write, and you will write it many ways.” – Unknown So about that quote attribution. I write “unknown” because… well… I heard it somewhere, thought it would be a great blog topic to explore, and now for the life of me I cannot remember who said it. Internet searches... Continue Reading →
Should I write it? Do I dare? But it’s such a sensitive topic. This, in a nutshell, was the essence of my mental grappling as I sat down to outline my current work in progress: The Haunting of Tess. After all, developing a main character to whom a sensitive issue is central requires a lot... Continue Reading →
It resides permanently in my basement, in a ten-by-ten nook parcelled out of the main floor plan behind the garage. It is squat, square and black. It is my new favourite thing on these cold, rainy spring nights. It is… my wood stove. My actual stove. I call her Delilah. Two years ago, I bought... Continue Reading →
It has been a strange night here at Casa Bale. Following recommended Federal guidelines for self-isolation due to the Covid-19 Crisis (willingly and without complaint, mind), my special someone and I have found ourselves inside and without the kiddies for the night. Without the kiddies and with no options for a fancy meal out means... Continue Reading →
Netflix Paralysis. That’s what I’m calling it. It is a state of existence in which there is simply too much to watch on my streaming subscriptions that I become overwhelmed with, and therefore paralyzed by choice. It’s not just The Big Bad N that’s perpetuating the cycle. It’s Crave. It’s Amazon Prime. It’s YouTube. And... Continue Reading →
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