Thursday, February 23, 2012

Escaping Entry is Free Today!

Guess what?  My fantasy novel, Escaping Entry, is free today.  I bet you haven't been this excited since they announced cheese sauce might actually be good for you. (in small amounts, of course)  If you're at all curious to see just how heavy a novel containing a thousand foot giant feels, mosey on over to amazon and give it a download.  It's lighter than you think.  Or is it heavier?

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Ten Years of Stuff

It seems we are moving.

Make that: we are moving.  From Vancouver to Ottawa.  For those not familiar with Canada, that's a bloody long way.

It's exciting, as long as I don't allow myself to think about it too much.  Then it's simply frightening.  To distract myself, I've taken to throwing most of our belongings into a massive garbage bin.

It's eye opening seeing just how much stuff we have.  Books, clothes, dishes, empty dvd cases.  I never thought of myself as a consumer, but after looking at everything we have, it's obvious I am.  On an off day I might even call myself a hoarder.  I've seriously got boxes full of newspapers for reasons I can no longer remember.

Most amazing of all, though, is the amount of toys we've accumulated over the past ten years.  Children's toys.  Dollies mostly, and stuffed animals.  Holy cow do we have a load of stuffies!

As part of the moving process, we've told the girls they are to choose a box full of stuffed animals, and the rest will be given to goodwill thrown in the dumpster.

We must have a thousand of those fuzzy buggers, and my daughters know the history of each one, right down to the store where we bought it from.  It's an amazing talent, really, but somehow they are going to have to decide which ones they are going to keep.  Out of everything that has to happen between now and the end of March, this just might be the most difficult of all..

Friday, February 10, 2012

Julie the Carnivorous Rabbit

I'm thinking of writing a children's book.  It's about a little boy named Sam who adopts a rabbit, but because of global warming, the rabbit turns out to be a carnivore.  At first, Sam feeds the rabbit ground beef from the local butcher.  Meat, though, is expensive, and to save money, he feeds his family to the rabbit, beginning with his little brother, Louie.

Having two little girls of my own, I know stories should not only be fun, they should contain lessons as well.  So, Sam is environmentally conscious, burying his rabbit's leftovers in biodegradable garbage bags, and walking to school instead of taking the bus.  Also, because both his parents are eaten, he is forced to become more self-reliant.


I've never written a children's book before.  It's kind of exciting.