Given the choice, isn’t it always better to believe in magic? That, I think, gets right to the heart of being a kids’ fantasy writer....

My husband and I drove out to Pixie Hollow Bookstore in High River (45 minutes south of Calgary), to meet with a kids’ book club. We met...

The winning and runner-up contest entries have been posted on howweirdcanyouget.com. Maureen

The rain has stopped, the garden is green, the weeds are happy!

I’ve been reading Jane Yolen’s book on writing, Take Joy, a book for writers. “There are writers who believe that writing is agony, and...

Two blocks from our hotel. I had to be barefoot in the sand, even in the spitting rain.

It’s time to wrap up the spring contest on howweirdcanyouget.com. Kids were asked to submit magical ideas for Griffith the wizard to...

We just returned from a wonderful wedding in Vancouver, with men in kilts (they really are dashing. The kilts, I mean). We’ve been...

After several months of not-enough-brain-for-serious-writing, I’m finally over whatever was sucking all sparkle from my brain. In my time...

I’ve just finished my fourth school in my It’s A Crime Not To Read visits. I had a wonderful time, in schools all around Calgary. I read...

It’s snowing. It’s the end of May, and it’s snowing. Again. I’m used to snow for the Victoria Day long weekend – there’s just tradition...

I spent Saturday afternoon at Cafe Books in Canmore, Alberta, signing Crow Boy and chatting. There’s a wicked view from the front of the...

I just finished the page proofs for Cursed! It was fun to read it again, after being away from it for a while. I’d have moments thinking,...

Warning: This library may contain unusual, hilarious, fascinating, sinister, and even frightening things. Read at your own risk. Isn’t...

Feather Brain has been nominated for the 2010-2011 Red Cedar Award (BC’s Reader’s Choice Award). Check out the other nominees at...

My younger daughter has coined a wonderful phrase, “the weight of laziness.” That’s all the extra weight in her backpack that she hauls...

Here’s a quote from Donald Maass, in The Fire In Fiction, about the manuscripts he sees: “Lackluster stories turn up every day, too, in...

Crow Boy is now out in the world. We launched it on Saturday at Monkeyshines, always a great place to hang out. There were lots of family...

Cursed is off to the typesetters. Maureen

The Calgary Young Writer’s Conference is an amazing event. Over 1000 kids, in grades 4 – 8, converge on a local high school (conveniently...