I found the wooden alphabet block with the letter N and added it to the row that was beginning to spell my name — R O B E R T G O O D N . . . Now I needed one more O. I carefully rotated each of the blocks I had not used, … Continue reading Chapter 2 – Alphabet blocks
books
Robins and skunks on O’Malley Road
The songbirds are back: robins, meadowlarks and others – spring has come to Saskatchewan. Sometimes we can even tell it by the weather. Last Saturday was a beautiful sunny day with a high of 22° Celsius. That would be 72° in Americanese. This morning the ground was white again for several hours and the high for … Continue reading Robins and skunks on O’Malley Road
Book Review: Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
At the ripe old age of 17 I believed I had outgrown any need for the Bible. It was almost ten years before I opened the book again. I was sceptical, but I thought there might be something worthwhile somewhere in this collection of writings. I guess I was looking for answers, but didn't really … Continue reading Book Review: Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
Learning the craft of writing
The child that was myself was born with a little talent, and I have worked hard, hard, hard to shape it. Yet even this could not have made me a writer, for there is no book can tell anything worth saying unless life itself has first said it to the person who conceived that book. … Continue reading Learning the craft of writing
The sad state of publishing
Doesn't everybody have a dream about writing a fantastic book that will be bought by a major publisher, where an editor will be assigned to fine tine the manuscript, a publicist will be assigned to promote the book, and everyone will live happily ever after? Forget about it. It's not going to happen. The publishing … Continue reading The sad state of publishing
Memories of the Inscribe Conference
You know you're in a group of writers when a workshop leader asks each participant to name five of their favourite books from childhood and one includes the dictionary in her list. She says she used to read two pages a day. And nobody thought that was weird. That happened in Colleen McCubbin's class on … Continue reading Memories of the Inscribe Conference
Grace for daily life
We have gone hurtling through the sky in a series of hollow metal tubes and are now safely home. We left a week ago today, flying by WestJet from Saskatoon to Winnipeg and Winnipeg to Montréal and came home two days ago by the same airline, flying Montréal to Toronto and Toronto to Saskatoon. We … Continue reading Grace for daily life
Natural affection
I started school in 1948 in a one-room school. The first order of business on the first day involved cutting and pasting and I recall the teacher assigning me to help a little girl who had apparently never done anything of the sort before. I was already quite a proficient reader and the Dick and … Continue reading Natural affection
Taking stock
Things that I am learning: - It's not important to know what my abilities, talents, or gifts are. The only thing that matters is if I am following where the Master leads and doing what He asks me to do. - It's not important to know what I have accomplished for the Master, even less … Continue reading Taking stock
Self Help or Helping Others?
In my younger years, before I was a Christian, I read most of the well-known self-help books on the market. I was disappointed with the whole lot of them.In The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale took a verse from the Bible and told me to recite it over and over, much like a … Continue reading Self Help or Helping Others?
