A few years ago, The New York Times ran a short story about a company that branded their dried potato dish: Funeral Potatoes. The name had caused a bit of a ruckus. People were offended by it. Shocked right down to their little tater tots. Because I guess we aren’t supposed to say the words […]

One of my long-dead boyfriends, Vincent Van Gogh, said this about my favorite time of the year: As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see. Oh, Vincent – you nailed it. There’s so much happening in the Fall/Autumn that I have to […]

We’ve been immersed in wickedly hot weather the past three weeks. Fry an egg on the pavement kind of heat. Some people love these long, steaming hot days. Not me. I enjoy the beauty of summer, but you can bring on Fall, thank you very much. I’m a woman with a big head of curly […]

It has been blistering hot this past month. (Yes – even in Canada!) A few weeks ago, my husband and I were going to be out of town, so I asked my garden-loving parents to water my garden. This wasn’t a small request. They had to drive 30-minutes each way. But they quickly said YES […]

At last! You have the time and quiet space to write and you sit down with a notebook and pen in a cozy spot. A cup of water/tea/coffee sits close by and you wait for the magical words to start flowing. The first few lines stumble onto the page and thennnnn….crickets. You scribble down a […]

Today I want you to write in the wild. My childhood was spent in a peapod hamlet on the prairies. I was the kid with her nose in a book – maybe you can relate. The summers were long and my mom wouldn’t listen to me complain about being bored. “Go outside and get some […]

During the short gardening season where I live in Canada, you’ll often find me outside. I enjoy gardening, although I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. Why do I love it? Writing is like gardening. You have to be willing to pull what isn’t working. And you only get better by getting […]

This is a writing prompt that looks into your future. Don’t fret – you still only need to sit still for fifteen minutes or so. (And you also get to write about the type of senior you will be.) First, let’s look at the present day. This shouldn’t be too difficult for you. I want […]

I love when children read their books to me. They admire the pictures, add their opinions, and point at what stands out on the page for them. If they stumble over a word – they either take a stab at it or ask for help. And then on one sad day, kids stop reading out […]

Writing can be a real bugger. Sometimes you have no idea what you’d like to write about. You want your writing to be profound and meaningful but your brain only comes up with the sound of crickets. This is a writing prompt about a time you needed to loosen up. You?? Yes. You. I’m a […]