The last few weeks, I’ve been away from all forms of social media. I haven’t blogged, been on Twitter or even checked Facebook. Truth is, I’ve hardly even been on my email. The break has been nice. Disconnecting online to connect in person over the holidays isn’t a bad thing at all, except for missing… Continue reading A New Year
Author: Kathy Chung
December 6, 1989, Remembered
I was a first-year university student, away from home for the first time at the University of Victoria, the day Marc Lepine massacred fourteen women and injured many others before turning his gun on himself at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal on December 6, 1989. Before he shot them, he separated the men from the… Continue reading December 6, 1989, Remembered
Mashups
It’s a professional day here in our school district, which means I have the girl at home and am doing low-attention catch-up tasks today rather than diving deeply into any project requiring all my attention. And somehow that leads to just a leeetle more procrastination than usual. Need an excuse of your own to procrastinate?… Continue reading Mashups
Lessons in Storytelling
I had the pleasure of hearing Ivan Coyote speak at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference in October. She’s fabulous. Before and since then, I’ve watched several of her performances on YouTube. They never fail to make me smile or laugh or cry or nod with agreement or all of the above, depending on the video.… Continue reading Lessons in Storytelling
Remembrance Day
No matter what your opinion of war or of the military, today is about remembrance, not politics. Every one of the people who has given their lives to military service was someone’s child, and each had other roles, too, as someone’s parent, sibling, cousin, grandchild, coworker, neighbour, confidante, coach, teammate, or friend. Please take a… Continue reading Remembrance Day
On Balance
It’s a new year of sorts, for me. In my world, September has always seemed like the start of a new year, even more than January 1, no doubt because from the time I was old enough for preschool, September marked the start of a new school year, first as an elementary school student, then… Continue reading On Balance
Memorable Days
It’s ten o’clock on a Wednesday night, and I’m listening to mellow music and drinking a glass of wine. I should go to bed early, because I’m tired, but it’s been a busy day, and my mind is too active to sleep. I sat down tonight to write a letter to a friend, and found… Continue reading Memorable Days
Out and About on the Internet
I am up to my crossed, bloodshot eyes in SiWC contest entries at the moment. I should, in fact, be reading them right this minute. This is what is known as a sanity break. Not that I don’t enjoy the reading. I do. But it’s an intense, exhausting process reading them all back to back,… Continue reading Out and About on the Internet
You Say It's Your Birthday…
9/11 memorial blog posts, retrospective TV shows, and new articles are all over the media this week, as I knew they would be. Many of them mention the “almost ten years” since the day we watched live as what we first thought must be a tragic accident turned into an act of terror we could… Continue reading You Say It's Your Birthday…
A Writer's Mind… or Where do you get your ideas? (I know. Sorry!)
Work – in the form of my position as conference coordinator for the Surrey International Writers’ Conference – has been nuts, and is likely to stay that way until after the conference in October. I knew that would happen, but in a bid to at least keep a little piece of my head churning away… Continue reading A Writer's Mind… or Where do you get your ideas? (I know. Sorry!)