L.E. Carmichael's Blog, page 28
October 18, 2018
Tweets From the Trenches: An Amazing New Book About WWI
I’d like to welcome Jackie Carmichael to the blog today! In addition to being my not-so-evil-stepmother, Jackie is a journalist and a poet and is celebrating the release of her first book. Tweets from the Trenches was inspired by her grandfather’s WWI letters and trench diaries. It’s a potent, emotional gut punch of a book, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in military or Canadian history. You can meet Jackie on October 22, at noon, at the Trenton Rotary Club (15 Creswell Drive, Trenton ON), where she’ll be reading and signing copies just in time for Remembrance Day. […]
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October 15, 2018
OleHenriksen Cured My Acne…And I Have No Idea How
When I was in high school, there was a commercial – for Olay, I think – in which the actress complained about having acne and wrinkles at the same time. I remember watching it with one of my Sisters of the Traveling Chocolate and laughing, because like that would ever happen. Not so funny when you’re 40 and it’s true! I don’t mind the wrinkles so much. I figure I’ve earned those, especially the one on my forehead that’s from decades of raising my eyebrows at people. But oil and breakouts are things we’re told we’ll grow out of, and […]
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October 13, 2018
Inside an Author’s “Process”
I love that word, “process.” Makes it sound like writers know what they are doing, when we’re actually just faking it and hoping no one will notice. Now that I’m working on a fantasy novel, though, I have noticed that my fiction process is totally different than my nonfiction process. My nonfiction process looks like this: 1) Get an idea. This part is truly easy – ideas are everywhere. 2) Figure out if anyone besides me cares about the idea. Much harder. 3) Research, read, synthesize, understand. Research is time consuming, but awesome. For starters, it’s like the grown-up […]
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October 11, 2018
Fox Cousteau: Intrepid Explorer, Finder of Fun
I’d like you all to meet Fox Cousteau: Fox Cousteau was a gift from one of my Sisters of the Travelling Chocolate.* The same Sister who has told me, on more than one occasion, that I do not have enough fun.* * Challenge accepted. It started small. I’d take him with me when I went out exploring my new province and send her a picture of him from wherever I was. But then something happened. Fox Cousteau started to develop… a personality. This should not have been a surprise. Writer-folk are always talking about their characters taking on lives of […]
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October 8, 2018
Today I Am Thankful for Science
Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Canadians! You know that thing on sitcoms where everyone sits in a circle and awkwardly says what they are thankful for? Let’s do that thing. Today I am thankful for science: for Banting and Best, Canadian researchers who discovered the insulin that allows my Grandpa, and millions of other people with diabetes, to enjoy a little pumpkin pie today. for the portable oxygen tanks that let my Grandma leave her nursing home long enough to enjoy picnics in the Rocky Mountains. for joint replacement technology, without which my Dad would be in a wheelchair. (And for wheelchairs.) […]
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October 6, 2018
Why I’m Grateful For the Return of Veronica Mars
After a very, very long hiatus, last week was supposed to be my (triumphant) return to blogging. Instead, I decided to curl up around a bottle of Bailey’s* and weep. It was partly my own fault. My recreational reading for the week was a John Connolly thriller. Connolly is poetry at the line level and scary as hell at the story level, and definitely not recommended for young readers or the faint of heart. Normally I love his books, but last week I was also reading a true crime book about behavioural profiling of serial rapists as research for the […]
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February 24, 2018
I Heard the People Sing at Les Miserables!
I adore musicals. Tech Support is more skeptical of the genre, despite having a deep love of Fiddler on the Roof and Paint Your Wagon. But since he’s a good husband, he took me to Les Mis for Valentine’s Day. I’d seen it live a couple of times before, but this was the fancy new touring production. Not sure I’m on board with it. They took out the “time and place” signals, which made it tough for Tech Support (who knows the story less well than I) to track the changes in year and setting. And with some of the new […]
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February 22, 2018
#metoo, Children’s Literature, and Separating Art from Artist
First things first: If you’re a member of the kid lit community and have been harassed or assaulted by other members of the community: I believe you, and I stand with you. If you’re a member of the kid lit community who has not been harassed or assaulted, please remember that just because it’s never happened to you, doesn’t mean it’s never happened. Even if you’re a huge fan of the accused. ESPECIALLY if you’re a huge fan of the accused. I was a huge fan of Jay Asher’s. I attended my first SCBWI conference in 2008. I was recently out […]
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February 19, 2018
Intent to Kill and the Forensics of Hang Fire
There has been a ton of debate online in the wake of the latest shootings in the States. One thing no one argues about is whether or not the shooters intended to commit murder, because of course they did. Canadians, on the other hand, have been debating the question of intent – in the Gerald Stanley/Colten Boushie case. Did Stanley shoot to kill, or did his gun experience a rare malfunction? Called hang fire, it apparently happens when there is a delay between the trigger pull and the movement of the bullet. My academic expertise is in the forensic science […]
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February 17, 2018
Who’s Your Favourite Fantasy Author?
Confession: I’ve been hoarding Terry Pratchett novels ever since he first announced he had Alzheimer’s disease. I’ve been doling them out to myself as rare and hard-to-earn rewards because I knew there would come a day that he wouldn’t be able to write any more. And on that day, I would lose forever the joy of reading one of his works for the very first time. I read Snuff as my treat for finishing the first draft of my new Kids Can Press book (eek!) and it was just as brilliant and incisive and wonderful as I could have hoped, […]
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