Blog: Notes From the Blanket Fort

Note #6 – So You Want to Write a Book…

I absolutely think you should. And I’m going to tell you how to do it.  Or at least how I do it. First, set yourself up at your laptop, in your writing space.  Bring a cappuccino. Spend ten minutes wandering around the house, looking for your glasses.  Find them beside your laptop. Write a few catchy sentences. Remember you left a load of laundry…
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Note #5 – Music I Heard with You

Stories are funny things.  It’s hard to say when exactly they were born, or even when the first seed of an idea was planted.  But if you’re wondering, I can tell you exactly where the dedication in The Kitchen Sink Sutra came from. In case you haven’t got a copy handy (and really, why don’t you?) the dedication says: For Memère, Music I heard…
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Note #4 – Home Is the Where the Dog Is

So, I’ve been away from home for a month – thirty continuous days – taking care of three dogs while their humans went on an adventure to Costa Rica.  They were lovely dogs, and their house has a lovely river view and it was sort of an adventure for me too, in that it shook me out of my routine.  I might not have…
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Note #3 – Getting Back to the Page

By my count, spring has come and gone three times this month so far – thaw, freeze, snow, repeat – which is sort of strange, even by Ottawa standards.  The weather forecast is suggesting that the next iteration of “spring” will come a day or two from now, just as actual “calendar spring” arrives.  I remain skeptical, however.  This is Ottawa.  I’ve lived here…
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Note #2 – Captain of the Blanket Fort

Maybe you made yours out of sofa cushions and blankets.  My grandfather did a lot of carpentry and talked about load bearing walls and support beams, so I always made mine out of TV tables and old flannel sheets.  But however you did it, one of the best parts of childhood was getting to build a fort of some kind – a tree house,…
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Note #1 – In Which I Establish a Web Presence

So, apparently, I have a blog now. Trust me, no one is more surprised than I am. But I’m told that if you’re going to be a successful author in this digital age, you must have a platform, a brand, a web presence. So here I am world, all kinds of present and accounted for. What’ll we talk about?  I’ll probably be rambling on…
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