Update to the confusion about my height

(… and other headlines you’ve never read before…) You ever have one of those “ah-HA!” moments when you realize something that you hadn’t understood before? And maybe you feel a bit dumb about it, because you should’ve gotten it earlier? But it’s kinda not on you? Only it is, at least a bit? You know … Read more

Read this book

I believe this is the first time I’ve doubled down on the work of one particular writer in my Read this book recommendations–I lauded her first book back in January–but man, is it deserved. A Closed and Common Orbit doesn’t follow the story established in the first book of the Wayfarer series in terms of … Read more

What I read this month

May ended up being an unexpected windfall of material to read, and as it was generally pretty quick to get through, I made good headway with it. I was in a library and wandered by the graphic novel section and came across the first three collected books of a series called Ascender. It took me … Read more

Tale of a tiny bird

We went to a friend’s pool party this past Saturday. One of our friends there had found a tiny baby bird–way more skin than fluffy down, eyes still not open, not able to move around too much and even that very unsteadily and unbalanced–on the pool deck. With no nest in sight to try to … Read more

Wait, I’m HOW tall?

A month ago I went for a medical exam to look at booking a minor operation, and in the pre-exam they check everyone’s height and weight and blood pressure. The usual things. Later, as I was in talking to the doctor, he was very frank about everything, and he brought up my weight. He asked, … Read more

How much is enough?

As of this weekend, I’ve broken 200 pages on my project of humourous stories and observations. That is, to be clear, 200 pages as they’d appear in a book, not 200 pages of solid prose writing. That’s crazy talk. This leads me to wonder when I should call it done as far as length goes. … Read more

New gig

I’m now officially employed by the LCBO as a summer customer service rep. Such short-term work can at times lead to being brought on for a permanent position, then potentially more hours and more choice in hours worked, so here’s hoping. I’ve been working the last couple of days on the requisite twelve hours of … Read more

A book-collecting revelation

When we did our recent reno, I donated a lot of books. Dozens of them, easily. Maybe hundreds. Swept off shelves by the armload, put into boxes as efficiently as possible, and hauled to the thrift store, again and again. Initially I balked at the idea. These were my books, after all, and book lovers … Read more

What I (didn’t) read this month

Bit of an odd month. I not only forgot to track what I was reading in April (very weird), but I’m pretty sure I actually completed reading… well… zero books. Which is really unusual. Here’s the thing: I put aside Fire Up Your Writing Brain, which I had started in March, in order to read … Read more

What’s enough to make me stop reading a book?

I’ve mentioned before that there are various things that will bump me from enjoyment of a book. Sometimes it’s plain bad writing. The advent of self-publishing has been a boon for anyone who has ever thought they want to write a book, because now they can produce one from their laptops and it will instantly … Read more