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Happy Mother’s Day: looking at births of a different kind
It’s Mother’s Day today, so Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there who is a mother, or has mothered children at one point or another. I have been properly feted by my children today starting with breakfast and flowers. Mother Nature also celebrated and gave me sunshine and perfect gardening weather. I’m feeling very blessed. I spent some time thinking today about each of the times I became a mother – the births of my three amazing grownup kids. Coincidentally, Halton Health Care posted a piece on LinkedIn (and possibly other social media platforms) yesterday, celebrating the 89th birthday of the OB… Read more…
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Back to reality
And just like that, it’s over. I’m feeling a little like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz today, except when click my heels together three times tomorrow morning, it will be back to work for me. Six months has flown by and I can hardly remember the fear – and excitement – that accompanied the beginning of my sabbatical at the beginning of March when I closed down my laptop and work phone and left them on my desk in the office. For the first few weeks, I eschewed alarm clocks, routine and the newspaper. I slept (a lot!), read… Read more…
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The half-way point
Time is ticking away. I’m cognizant that Sabbatical 2.0 has hit the halfway mark. I’m amazed that we’re here already. It’s going very quickly. Sabbatical 1.0 was only set for four months and I can’t imagine going back to work in just four weeks. Fortunately, I negotiated in an extra couple of months into the new-and-improved version, so I’m not staring that date in the face just yet. So how’s it going? Despite being basically stuck at home, I’m loving it. I’m writing, I’m reading and I’m even getting many of those “I’m too busy to do it” jobs ticked off… Read more…
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For the love of coffee shops
I miss coffee shops. I miss the smell of freshly ground coffee, the hissing sound of the milk frother and the thump thump when the barista empties the coffee grounds. I miss the background music and the constant buzz of noise as patrons come and go. When I first imagined my sabbatical, I thought I’d spend a lot of time writing in cafes and was looking forward to trying out lots of new ones to find the right creative vibe. When I needed a break from writing, I’d read. I had a stack of books waiting for me to have… Read more…
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Two weeks in…
It’s here. It’s finally here. This period of time I’ve talked about wanting forever. A stretch of a few months to devote to creativity. To writing. To storytelling. To trying to put enough words on paper that people might actually not hate. I’m under no illusions I’m writing the “great Canadian novel”. My ideas are lighter. Fluffier. They probably fall in the “beach read” category. I’m okay with that. They say to write what you know, and I haven’t lived a life full of spies, intergalactic travel or time machines. They also say the first draft of any book is… Read more…
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Sharing fiction fearlessly – well almost fearlessly!
Finally, 2020 is coming to a close. Just a few more days left. Vaccines are in the offing, so there is a reasonable chance that 2021 will be better. I’m counting on it. Way back in March, when the world went crazy, I sadly – and a bit angrily – slammed the lid back on the box of my sabbatical writing plans and turn my attention back to corporate writing and communications. That worked for a while, as we were insanely busy through until at least September. But recently, the seal of that box seems to be failing. Ideas keep…
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For the love of words
It’s no secret that I love words. As a kid, my parents nicknamed me “Chatty Kathy”, but I was just as much at ease with my pencil and notebook as I was chattering away at the dinner table. I think I get this naturally. I’ve written before about how my Grandfather helped me write an April Fool’s story for a friend, and my Mum writes a column for her local newspaper. As I grew older, my pencil was replaced first by a typewriter and then a computer, but for me wordplay has always been a means of telling stories –… Read more…
