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I consider myself to be a very spiritual person and because I am I feel it is very important to incorporate that into my books. I want my characters to reveal their own spirituality through deep relationships with others and thus with God. In my first book, Please Tell Me Who I Am, Alexis and Kate have a very strong friendship that sustains both girls through their trials. Alexis also had a loving relationship with Mrs. Boucher that held her together and kept her grounded eve

That's right, I'm stuck with knowing what to write in this blog post or, for that matter, what to write in my latest novel. No worries though, as I seldom plan out what to write until I actually sit down to do it. I suppose this is a bit unusual. J. K. Rowling once said that she had it all laid out in her mind what her Harry Potter series was about before she put it down on paper. That's amazing to me. However, there is something to be said for not having a map. It allows you

Fire FireYou're a Liar, a sequel to Please Tell Me Who I Am is part of what I call my teenage angst books because they highlight issues that face teens at risk of an emotional crisis. Our current state of mental health is at a critical point as we struggle to find resources to help with depression and anxiety. This is especially so for teens who may believe they can't approach parents and guardians about their issues and therefore tend to rely on friends as their first line o

My Study Guide and Lesson Plans for Use with The Storm has just been released on Amazon! Elementary school teachers are invited to have a look at this manual. If you liked The Storm then you''ll love even more the Lesson Plans that expand on that story. It is a 76 page book filled with both Lesson Plans and 26 accompanying worksheets that support curriculum and provide students with some advanced and interesting learning. It is great for all students, those whose first langua

Hi everyone! A few weeks ago I gave my 8 year-old granddaughter, Winnie, her copy of The Storm. When I passed it to her, her eyes turned big and round with excitement! She took the book into her hands and immediately turned it over. Her smile grew in intensity when she saw my picture and she exclaimed, "Nana!" Her reaction got even better when I showed Winnie the dedication, made to her, of course. There was no time for me to read it to her, but when her mother, Christy, did

As I wait for the illustrations to be done for Charlie's Dream, and as I wait for my daughter Meaghan to finish the graphics for my Study Guide and Lesson Plans for Use with The Storm, I have been doing little except for reading. I'd like to share a couple of titles that I have enjoyed very much. I just finished a book called Innocent by Erin Kingsley. I can't tell you too much because that would be a spoiler alert, but I can give you the general gist of the novel. A youngish

That's what I did, cried silently, as I rode on the bus to work each day in 1998. I was a new teacher back then, full of enthusiasm for my new position as kindergarten teacher. I loved it, but there was a dark side to it all; I had to mask my deepest feelings as I worked to remember all that happened to me as a child. I lost my job due to these feelings, something that will always be a deep regret for me. All that didn't stop me though. I continued in therapy and decided to w

Yes, it is magic that you meet when you read Trees of the Lew. In a fantasy world where tree spirits roam free and speak, sometimes, in riddles and rhymes, the magic that happens is really what happens on the inside of all of us. I wanted to write a book that could reach out to all, rich in the inviting role of spirituality in everyone. This isn't about religion; this is about reaching deeply into one's soul to find out what's there. What you find is the human condition - nee

If you want to be a good writer be an avid reader. Reading an author's perspective on the world expands your own. New vocabulary also expands yours and you can be more descriptive using specific words for things. That's how I morphed from being a reader to a writer. Even if writing is not your thing, reading enriches your world view. There is just something very soothing about reading a good book. I was a very avid reader even as a young child. I taught myself to read before

For the last two months that the The Storm has been in the publication phase, I have been working steadily on a Study Guide to go with it. I have said more than a few times that I believe that fiction books have a lot to offer to classroom study. It offers an enhancement of the reading process, builds vocabulary and teaches the children about different genres of fiction; for example The Storm is a sample of a picture book with a circular text - it begins and ends the same way

A young boy, Oliver, dreams of castles and is making a model of one with playdough. He is so excited to complete it until he finds it destroyed by his cat, Baxter. What ensues is a matter of anger, hopelessness and fear until something changes. Oliver feels a spiritual lift of hope, belief and reconciliation with Baxter. I'm very pleased to announce the publication of my book, The Storm! It is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and other venues. Shop around for the

It was quite a long time ago, 1987 to be precise, that I was a Teaching Assistant helping children whose first language was not English. I wasn't allowed to "teach" which was pretty hard as we are all teachers at heart, so I began using books to help the kids learn new vocabulary. It started with just reading to them but soon morphed into creating worksheets to go along with the texts. This got me noticed. I was asked to set up a seminar for other Teacher Assistants to explai

My Blue Angel is the name of my memoirs. I very much wanted to write a spiritual book about my life, one that could be uplifting and not just about abuse. It begins with the birth of an angel, Iris, who is assigned to watch over me. It soon becomes obvious that I need a guardian. The initial scene is of me running ahead of a train. Yes, that really happened. The train was bearing down on me as I ran across a bridge. I didn't have time to be scared; I had to beat that train. O

Trees have always been a huge part of my life, mostly just my backyard trees but also the ones on our land near Wainwright, Alberta. There is something about them that really appeals to me and provides me a place to hide amongst them. I used to do that, hide under the trees in my backyard, the maple and the plum tree, to escape being around my unsafe family. I was quite little when I did this. I spent my time "playing" with the fairies of my imagination, using clay from our g

The old adage says to write what you know and I've always thought that a good plan. In Please Tell Me Who I Am, the main character, Alexis, is a Multiple Personality. So am I. Alexis is a cutter. At one time in my life, so was I. That said, I felt very akin to Alexis. When I wrote about her having episodes of dissociation with the Goblin, I remembered who I was too, when pain was so great I needed to cut to experience something different. I'm so glad to report that that time

In Please Tell Me Who I Am, the name Agatha Stuck came through my unconscious self in a dream.

With four published books and four more in various stages of progress I still find myself asking if I am truly an author. That's just my take on things at the moment. I am getting better with this identification. That fact is, I've been an author in my mind for the majority of my life. In grade school I was tagged by teachers as a gifted writer and that gave me the desire to someday write a book. It took me fifty years to do it. My very first book, Charlie's Dream (still not

Healing from Childhood Sexual Abuse often feels like an impossible task even if you have the much-needed guidance of a trusted therapist or counsellor. The betrayal of the perpetrator and the consequences of abuse are huge. Grieving takes what feels like forever but it is the surest path to healing. From abuse to betrayal to grieving to healing, this book is a journey that there is no getting around. However, healing is for everyone despite the terrible pain and suffering of

This is a coming-of-age story set in rural Alberta in the mid 1960’s. Alexis was abandoned by her mother at the age of four and now lives with her father, a distant and demanding person. At the age of fourteen, Alexis does all the chores of an adult farm wife. The stress and isolation are held in check by her habit of self-harming, cutting. The minor injuries she imposes on herself helps to manage the pain in her heart, but with dire consequences. Her only bright spot is goin

A memoir, of sorts. All names have been changed to protect the innocent. A series of events meant to make a coherent story? It is that, but it is also so much more. When an angel, Iris, steps into the life of a troubled young girl the Universe responds in a most surprising way. It is about the life of Evelyn (Barbara) who suffered terrible abuse as a very young child. It was a journey that could have ended in forever.