Focus on Children’s Literature with Martine Leavitt: next SCBWI meeting September 11
Do you wrestle with theme when you’re writing, or is it your guiding light? If you write YA or mid-grade fiction, you won’t want to miss Martine Leavitt’s presentation on theme on Thursday, September 11. Leavitt is...
Busy day in Waterton
On Parks Day, Saturday, July 19, Waterton was the busiest I’ve ever seen it. Hotels were full, the campground was bursting, and the aroma of waffle cones settled over the town as Ye Olde...
Family life in the osprey nest
Ospreys usually mate for life and are devoted parents. Ozzie and Harriet are two ospreys that have raised several families in the nest at Dunrovin Ranch in Montana (daysatdunrovin.com). This year’s chicks, Sol and...
Waterton launch of Ospreys in Danger on July 19!
My new chapter book, Ospreys in Danger, is set in Waterton Lakes National Park, so I am very excited to travel down to Waterton for a launch. I will be at the Waterton Heritage...
Ospreys thrive in Calgary
The next time you see a large bird soaring overhead, have a close look at it – it might just be an osprey! There are several active nests within the city of Calgary. The fishing...
If I said you were piscivorous….
Ospreys are very picky eaters. They feed almost exclusively on live fish and will rarely fly more than 6 miles from their nest to find food. Ospreys will eat fish from the ocean, lakes,...
Say hello to Lunar, Sol and Shadow
The three osprey chicks at Dunrovin Ranch have been named: Lunar, Sol, and Shadow. The names were inspired by the lunar eclipse that occurred on the night the first egg was laid. And if...
A different kind of osprey….
I googled Ospreys in Danger the other day and was a bit surprised by what I found. Images of the striking brown and white bird of prey were evenly matched with images of the...
Brian Keating talks about osprey platforms
No one gets as excited about wildlife as Brian Keating and today he was whipping up enthusiasm about ospreys. The osprey nest with the highest profile in Calgary is the one across the river...
Signing ‘The Wall’
Behind the counter at Monkeyshines Children’s Books there’s a cool and pretty unique feature wall. It’s an “I was here” for authors and illustrators who have had the pleasure of reading/signing/launching their books at...
Reading and signing this Saturday
Monkeyshines Children’s Books is such a fun place to explore! On Saturday, May 31, I will be reading from Ospreys in Danger and signing books, so please drop in and say hello. We...
From call to launch: Two years, three months and 17 days
My telephone – my rather retro home landline – has a strange feature: it announces the caller. I found that annoying right from the start because it garbled simple words. I mean, really, how difficult is “Grandma...
BOOK LAUNCH of Ospreys in Danger
I hope you’ll join me in celebrating the launch of Ospreys in Danger on Saturday, May 10, 1:00 – 3:00 pm at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary in Calgary. I’ll share a bit of the book...
Revisiting Selena Gomez
It has been a couple of years since I wrote Remarkable People: Selena Gomez. I went back through the book again to create the Quiz and was impressed – again – by how hard...
Working as an Illustrator: Next SCBWI meeting April 17
Illustrators have a variety of options for having their work published, but getting started can be a challenge. How do you approach a publisher? What can you expect from your working relationship with...
Adele Trivia Quiz
In 2008, Adele came to world-wide attention with her first album. Since then she has sold millions of albums and won buckets of awards – and dropped out of sight. Her rocky relationships were...
Making connections at the CPL Writers’ Weekend
Today’s Writers’ Weekend at the Central Public Library was a wonderful success once again. About a dozen Calgary writing groups set up booths, chatted with attendees in between sessions, and gave away candy, books and...
Kids’ books versus children’s literature
Is this a case of ‘I say potato, you say spud?’ I don’t think so. In my mind, children’s literature is like adult literature: finely crafted prose that delves deep into social issues. Great...
A beautiful day for inspiration
Real squirrels are one of my favourite animals. Not those imported black things that bounce along the top of my fence and nest in the chimney if we give them half a chance. Red squirrels...
SCBWI Event Recap: Chapter Books
We had a great turn-out at the SCBWI meeting last week, with lots of lively discussion before and afterwards. I guess writers don’t often escape our lairs. When we get together, it’s very motivating – though...
The Challenge of Chapter Books: Next SCBWI meeting January 16
At first glance, chapter books look simple enough to write. I’m talking about books for early readers, in Grades 2, 3, and 4. Take a simple storyline, add a couple of characters and start...
Test your trivia knowledge: Michael Phelps
Here’s a quiz to test how much you know about one of the best-known athletes in the United States and around the world. At the London Olympics, he became the most-decorated Olympian of all time. ...
A new Michael Phelps biography for 2013!
Researching this biography was a lot of fun – Phelps is an interesting guy with an interesting story. There are always a few things I can’t squeeze into my books, including a few little...
NaNoWriMo comes to the SCBWI
November is National Novel Writing Month. The challenge: to write 50,000 words in one month. It’s grueling and exhilarating at the same time. I “won” NaNoWriMo back in 2009, which means I was successful...
SCBWI & YABS get-together
September’s SCBWI and YABS meeting was a great success. Both groups support developing and published writers but offer different benefits of membership. Thanks to Lois Donovan for explaining details of Taleblazers and other YABS programs. You can...
