An ennui overcomes a writer between the writing of books: bad dreams, purposelessness, a sense of time running out, a lack of accomplishment, anger towards the muse who has deserted him, a chafing at the bit to get back into it. There is also another dilemma that one has to face today: what is the […]
Should I write another novel? Read More »
Once upon a time, a benevolent prime minister looked upon the land and decreed that we would no longer be diminished by books written in the UK and America, that Canadian writers would stand tall and be recognized for their talents. He opened a war chest of money to fund fledgling publishing houses and to
Feeding the Barbarians at the Gate Read More »
I was going to write something the other day, and paused. The words were not flowing as freely as they used to. Was I getting too old for this gig? When I figured it out, I realized I was editing as I wrote, that’s what was wrong. This was something I had never done before.
Self-Censorship leads to Self-Paralysis Read More »
Thanks to social media, we constantly joke about “shrinking attention spans,” as if this is a phenomenon embroiling only the younger generation. We lamented when Twitter forced everyone to concentrate for 140 bytes before surfacing for air. We renewed our interest in “a picture is worth a thousand words” when Instagram hogged the limelight from
Shrinking Attention Spans – an epidemic Read More »
Advertizing in politics is now under the microscope. Especially after Facebook was able to create custom ads that only the individual viewer could see, targeted to that viewer’s likes and dislikes; these ads were mostly of a negative nature and were walled off from public scrutiny and criticism. It had to come to this before
Custom Advertizing in Politics – Good, Bad or Ugly? Read More »
I have been following the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, particularly in the corporate employment sphere, and I’m feeling both trepidation and relief, glad I don’t work in that environment anymore. Big Brother has arrived at the corporation. I’m also having difficulty separating the human from the robot, for the two are emerging from
Big Brother is Watching Read More »
As I sat down to write a eulogy to my mother who recently passed away, I scratched my head trying to find the many accomplishments in her life. On the surface, I came up with, “She was a devout Catholic, married at age 21, raised four children, was a homemaker who never worked outside the
I remember when social media sites were first set up. They invited us to join for free, to exchange messages, pictures and other snapshots of our lives with friends scattered far and wide over the planet. When I signed up for Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads, I thought this was an excellent way of keeping in
Hooked on the Social Media Drug Read More »
Someone told me that I would find inspiration to finish my new collection of short stories if I went to Ireland. So I did, spending three days in Dublin, a day in Belfast, and a week at a writer’s retreat, Anam Cara, on the Beara Peninsula of County Cork. Apart from doing the tourist thing
A Self-Directed Literary Tour of Ireland Read More »
Are there non-starving writers? Yes, there are. The old cliché of the “starving writer” needs to be dusted off. There are all kinds of writers these days, and only a few of them are starving. Who are these “other types” and what shapes and sizes do they come in? Okay, let me have a go.
Are there Non-Starving Writers? Read More »