Nature / Writing

Saturday June 2, 2012 While poking around on IMDB a few weeks ago, I learned that actress Kathryn Joosten, who I loved as Mrs. Landingham on The West Wing , didn't begin pursuing acting until her 40s.  The change of direction in her life only came about after Joosten, then a psychiatric nurse and a mother of two, divorced her alcoholic husband.  As it says in the biography section of her official website : "Kathryn never forgot the anger and bitterness her mother expressed on her death bed for having put aside dreams and plans for the future that would never be.  After a few successes at Community Theater, Kathryn decided to see if she could follow her dream."   Along with beating the odds by having a late-start acting career that earned her two Emmys, Joosten also began a battle with lung cancer in 2001 which she only just lost today . I'm not a big follower of celebrity news, because most of the time I think the wrong stories get the most tractio...

Tuesday May 8, 2012 Several years ago I started reading Every Day Fiction , a website which posts a new piece of flash fiction, well, every day.  EDF defines flash fiction as stories which are 1000 words or less, so reading it is a fun way to constantly sample a variety of voices and ideas with a low time commitment.  As a result, over the years I've collected links to what I think are some great examples of flash fiction. EDF has released several "best of" print anthologies of their own. Now obviously what makes for good flash fiction is a matter of taste, and I'm sure plenty of people will disagree with my picks (be warned, I have a particular affection for anything silly, or involving animals).  But fantastic finds are always made more fantastic by the sharing, so I'm going to start emptying my "Favourite Fiction" bookmarks folder out on this blog, a few links at a time. My Favourite Flash Fiction, Vol. 1 Frankenstein's Monsters by...

Monday May 7, 2012 Mini who? I ordered business cards once before. It was just before a trip to Calgary, when I was going to see All the Light-Hearted Souls produced. Business cards seemed like a thing to have for my first ever "business trip", so I had a box of two-colour, text-only cards made up (Steve and I also handmade some illustrated minibooks out of a narrative poem, but that's another story). I think I gave out maybe four cards, and have given out another dozen or so since.  But now the URL is out of date, and the cards have been relegated to the scrap paper section of my storage closet (where they've proved surprisingly useful). It was time for something new.  New, up-to-date, and actually likeable. Enter Moo Cards. The spread. I first came across Moo.com years ago, and have kept them in mind ever since. For now, I opted for Minicards, which are half the size of a regular business card.  One of the great things about Moo Cards i...