From My Blog

Meet Me At The Pub

Posted on June 19, 2023

I’m really excited about a literary event I’ll be participating in on June 24th at The Public a brewhouse on Main Street in Steinbach where I grew up. Photo by Aaron Epp for The Canadian Mennonite I’ll be reading from my latest novel Sixties Girl. Mitch’s new book of short stories Pinching Zwieback comes out […]

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My Wish Came True

Posted on June 3, 2023

MaryBeth became a part of our family when we lived in Arizona In the early 1990s we visited our good friend MaryBeth in Massachusetts. MaryBeth had become like one of the family during the year we taught together and lived together on the same compound on the Hopi First Nation in Arizona. The year after […]

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Miriam and Me

Posted on May 15, 2023

My high school bestie Deb Fast was at the launch of my novel Sixties Girl and it was her idea I take a photo with Miriam Toews. Deb and I both grew up in Steinbach just like Miriam Toews did. Miriam has become one of Canada’s most well-known and celebrated writers. I would never have […]

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Novel News Round-Up

Posted on May 10, 2023

Can you find Sixties Girl in this bestseller display at McNally Robinson Booksellers? I was so excited when teacher, writer and reviewer Spencer B. Miller chose my new book Sixties Girl as one of his top five picks for middle graders from all the new Canadian novels that have come out this spring. What a […]

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A Cow Named After Me

Posted on May 9, 2023

In the fall of 2022, I got a message from Kathy Kyle who is a regular reader of my blog. She and her husband Russ Bayliss and their family own and operate a cattle ranch near Carnduff, Saskatchewan, close to the Manitoba border. Kathy had bought my first novel Lost on the Prairie. Kathy and […]

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The Sixties Scoop

Posted on May 5, 2023

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com One of the last chapters in my novel Sixties Girl is about a high school graduation night. Laura, one of the main characters, comes to a troubling realization at her grad party. During her childhood and teen years, there were kids at her school she ignored- other students she […]

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Love Those Kids

Posted on May 2, 2023

Yesterday morning I blogged about how being around children inspires me and gives me hope and joy. And then yesterday afternoon I had one of those experiences with kids that left me on cloud nine. Teacher Amelia Warkentin had invited me to visit her grade four class at The Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary School to talk […]

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The Innocence of Childhood

Posted on May 1, 2023

Photo by Laura Kilgus for the Rhode Island Catholic During the church service yesterday, I was sitting in a pew just behind two families with little children under the age of one. They were both so cute and their mothers were holding them in such a way that they were facing me and the woman […]

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In Recovery Mode

Posted on April 29, 2023

Talking with the ever delightful, incredibly supportive and hugely successful children’s author Colleen Nelson who interviewed me at the launch of my novel Sixties Girl I will write more about the launch of my novel Sixties Girl in a future blog post but for today I’m kind of in recovery mode. Photo from McNally Robinson’s […]

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What Would You Tell Your Grandchildren About Your Childhood?

Posted on April 28, 2023

Yesterday I was a guest on the CTV Morning Live show being interviewed about my book Sixties Girl. I talked about how in my novel, a grandmother tells her grandson stories about her childhood. The CTV Morning Live program always has a Question of the Day and in recognition of my interview, the question for […]

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