-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
- March 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- November 2022
- October 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- April 2021
- February 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- April 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- November 2019
- October 2019
- May 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- June 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- July 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
Categories
- Activism
- Ancient Peoples
- Art
- Astronomy
- Christmas
- Climate Change
- Code World
- Culture
- Development
- Editing
- Education
- Environmentalism
- Gardening
- Health
- History
- Internet
- Journaling
- Literary Theory
- Literature
- Mars
- Media
- News
- News of the World
- Police
- Politics
- Post-Apocalyptic
- recipes
- Religion
- Self-reliance
- Singularity
- Social Media
- Solar Power
- Solitude
- Supernatural
- Superstition
- Teaching
- The Cabin
- The Land
- Travel
- Uncategorized
- Winnipeg
- Writing
Category Archives: Art
My Writing in my Writing
Although I never made note of it before, I noticed when I was editing my latest book—The View from Vancouver—that I had slipped in references to my other books. At first I made little of it, and presumed I was … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Literature, Writing
Tagged Hope BC, The View from Vancouver, Working for Ray
Comments Off on My Writing in my Writing
Writing as a Logical Series of Steps
The inevitability of plot is one of the easiest aspects of writing. As a storyteller you shove a metal key into your characters, wind them up like a toy, and watch them perform series of proscribed motions. Many of the … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, Literature, Writing
Tagged Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Naked in the Road, story writing, Writing
Comments Off on Writing as a Logical Series of Steps
The Ego in Creative Projects
One of the central problems when dealing with a creative writer is that of their emotional investment in their work. They do not see what they have written as merely product, such as a snail and their shell, but rather … Continue reading
Something to Show for Each Year
I am frequently asked why I bother writing my various books. I don’t have a huge audience to satisfy like Stephen King or J. K. Rowling. In my case, my books sell sporadically and I don’t know there is a … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Literature, Writing
Tagged Ani DiFranco, Bob Dylan, Coming Home to Newfoundland, For a Breath I Tarry, J. K. Rowling, Multiple Personality Disorder, Not Quite Dark, Roger Zelazny, Stephen King
Comments Off on Something to Show for Each Year
Hostile Architecture 2
I have commented before on hostile architecture in Winnipeg, but now that I have collected a few more examples, I thought I would share what we walk by every day and ignore. Perhaps our own privilege blinds us. For if … Continue reading
Ancient Science at the Planetarium
Whenever we think about our ancestors we are inclined to imagine them as moronic, backward troglodytes, dragging their knuckles through lives as brutal and stunted as themselves. In our rather short-sighted and ungrateful vision, they do not hope to compare … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Peoples, Art, Astronomy, Culture, History, Supernatural, Superstition
Tagged ancient Greek mythology, Australian Aborigines, Constellations, Cro-Magnon, Freud, giant kangaroo, Glooscap, homo habilis, Lascaux Caves, megafauna, Neanderthal, Piltdown Man, planetarium, Pythagoras, Sunstones, The Dreaming, Theory of Relativity, Thylacoleo, Ursa Major
Comments Off on Ancient Science at the Planetarium
Fifty Shades and a Silo of the Publishing Industry
The so-called vanity press has changed little in the public imagination until very recently. Traditionally, paying to have your book published was seen as synonymous with junk novels and sentimental and self-indulgent poetry. The only route to acceptance by the … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, Editing, Literature, Social Media, Writing
Tagged Amazon, Beth Reekles, E. L. James, eBook, Erika Leonard, fan fiction, fifty shades of grey, Gulliver’s Travels, Henry David Thoreau, Hugh Howey, James Redfield, Jonathan Swift, Kindle, Lisa Genova, Penguin, Random House, Self-publishing, Silo Series, Still Alice, The Celestine Prophecy, The Kissing Booth, twilight, Warner Books, Wool
Comments Off on Fifty Shades and a Silo of the Publishing Industry
Writing is a Poor Person’s Art
Writing is the poor person’s art, just like soccer is the poor person’s sport. All you need to play soccer is a will, for a ball can be made out of torn nylon stockings, my friends from Chile tell me, … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, Literature, Solitude, Writing
Tagged blogging, meditation, quills, reader's digest, Writing
Comments Off on Writing is a Poor Person’s Art
An Authorial Dream of Wealth and Success
Perhaps because my latest book, Not Quite Dark: A Post-Apocalyptic Adoption Story is doing well in terms of sales, I had a strange dream about being a popular writer the other night. I dreamed that Obama had unwittingly endorsed my … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Literature, Mars, Post-Apocalyptic, Writing
Tagged Not Quite Dark, Obama, Surviving the Apocalypse, Thailand, Writing
Comments Off on An Authorial Dream of Wealth and Success