This spring I took the Canadian from Northern Ontario to Alberta. Via Rail, our national passenger service, lived up to the hype and then some. The towns we passed are not featured on most maps. I boarded in Folyet where a tiny unmanned building sits forlornly facing the tracks, its back to the dark and…
Performing for an Audience vs Building a Village
An Instagram question caught my attention today. It went something like this: do you want an audience or a village? So many of us are on social media posting and refreshing, clicking and liking but to what end? The question made me think about the difference between an audience and a village. For this article,…
How do homeschoolers find wholesome books?
Homeschooling is experiencing a boom in North America. There is a whole new generation of parents taking on the task of educating their children but where do they find curriculum? There are many ways to homeschool kids as well as established curriculum providers for different styles of home education. New homeschooling families may find there…
Author Spotlight: Mindy Baker
Mindy Baker is the author of the just released middle-grade novel Soledad and the Curse of the Phoenix. I had the opportunity to ask the author a few questions about her writing process, her inspiration and her life. What is your writing process like? I need to be in a quiet part of the house…
What is Grannycore trying to tell us?
In the spring edition of the magazine Magnolia, editor Joanna Gaines writes: "When I think about balance in design and food, I'm drawn more to harmony than perfect symmetry. In a home, it's the blend of old and new, soft curves and hard lines, investment pieces and vintage finds that creates a truly lived-in look."…
The Literary Resistance
Like the French resistance, Christian authors work in solitude to deliver messages that the culture doesn't like and actively works against. We are the resistance. We resist the culture and the agendas of the age. We resist the use of literature to manipulate and warp the minds of readers, especially the young and vulnerable. We…
Those Who Have Gone Before Us
This summer my daughter and her little girl stayed with us for a few days. One day, I showed my granddaughter a bowl that had belonged to one of her great-great-grandmothers. With all the sincerity of an eight-year-old, she said she wished that they were still alive. She wanted to meet them and talk to…
Signs of Life
I like a tidy house. In a novel I read recently, the main character – an older lady detective- observed during her investigations how much she loved the victim’s house. It was messy and cluttered and she loved it. It made me wonder if my habit of quickly tidying away any mess or clutter sometimes…
Giving our stories the gift of time
Sending out a manuscript too early is like taking your NICU baby home before she has fully developed. Her little lungs are too immature to work properly and her voice isn’t going to be heard. I remember sitting in the NICU with my brand new granddaughter - wires everywhere, alarms going off, specialized nurses scuttling…
A Conversation with a Stranger
On a vacation to Ireland, we were on our way to the Cliffs of Mohr when we stopped at Dunguaire Castle. As we walked up the drive, we were surprised to find a woman sitting there knitting colourful headbands like it was the most natural thing in the world. Her name was Eileen Ferguson. She…
