From My Blog

Were My Novels Used to Train AI?

Posted on March 21, 2025

The Atlantic Monthly published an article yesterday revealing that millions of authors’ works were used without permission to train META’s artificial intelligence. META is owned by Mark Zuckerberg. According to writer Alex Reisner META explored buying the rights to the works they were going to use for training AI. They eventually decided that would be […]

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Huge Thanks to the Canada Council

Posted on March 13, 2025

In the last few weeks, the social media posts of Canadian authors have been filled with expressions of gratitude to the Canada Council. Every year the council sends out cheques to Canadian authors. You can receive between $500 to $4500 depending on how many copies of your books are on the shelves in public libraries […]

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I Love to Read

Posted on February 1, 2025

February is I Love to Read month so I thought I’d kick things off with a photo collection featuring people reading. My students read in the 1980s. I had an old bathtub in my classroom for kids to sit in when they read books. My mom and her sisters read a book around 1933. My […]

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Depression Menu

Posted on December 29, 2024

I’m working on my third novel right now. It is set during the 1930s depression. One of the things I’ve been researching the last couple of weeks is what kind of foods were popular during the Great Depression in Canada. In one scene the family in my book needs a quick meal after they’ve worked […]

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Literary Lunches

Posted on December 9, 2024

When I was in Victoria in October I had the pleasure of lunching with Lara Kordic the editorial director at Heritage House, the publishing company that has released my first two novels Lost on the Prairie and Sixties Girl. Lara and I discussed the new books Heritage House will publish in 2025. We also talked […]

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A Little Teaser

Posted on August 8, 2024

I am working on a third novel. It will finish the series that begins with Lost on the Prairie my first book and Sixties Girl, the second one. This yet unnamed story will take place, between the time periods in the other two novels, in 1939, near the end of the depression and just before […]

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What A Realistic Painting!

Posted on August 5, 2024

Look at this AMAZING painting some kids from Sargent Park School here in Winnipeg did after reading my novel Lost on the Prairie. This is a section in the book that has my hero Peter escaping from a burning barn where he is spending the night. Can you see Peter just outside the barn door […]

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The House on the Highway is Gone

Posted on August 4, 2024

Yesterday I was in Steinbach all day. Driving to meet a friend for lunch I passed one of the homes I lived in as a child in the community. It was gone!! In its place was an apartment complex. I don’t when was the last time I drove by the location since I’m not in […]

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I’d Like to Visit Gull Lake Saskatchewan

Posted on May 26, 2024

Yellow Canary Books & Stationary Earlier this month a unique little bookshop set in an historic home in Gull Lake Saskatchewan called Yellow Canary Books featured my novel Lost on the Prairie on their Instagram page. I’d love to go to Gull Lake and visit the Yellow Canary Bookshop someday. I had a wonderful time […]

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The Smell and 10 Other Reasons I Love McNally Robinson Booksellers

Posted on April 27, 2024

Image from the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association website Today is Canadian Independent Bookstore Day! It’s a day for readers, writers and publishers to celebrate bookstores that aren’t part of a larger chain but operate independently to serve their communities in unique ways. The McNally Robinson Booksellers store at Grant Park Shopping Centre. Photo by Mike […]

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