News and Notes from the Field

Have you ever heard of Maud Leonora Menten? I hadn't, until last week, when I read this fascinating post about her life and work. Read More  

Even before I sent away my very first query package, I’d heard stories about the long, torturous waits for a response from publishers, and about the demoralizing form-style rejection letters one might expect. So I was not surprised when ... Read More  

Let's talk about The Silence. When The Silence popped up on my Netflix browser, I admit I was a bit skeptical (Bird Box knockoff, anyone?). But I watched it because, quite frankly, I consider anything with Stanley Tucci in ... Read More  

It's a grey, rainy Friday and I'm seriously tempted to go back to bed until spring shows up. I'm also feeling very grateful that I live in an area that is not seriously affected by flooding, and a great ... Read More  

  Tech Support and I have been playing Pandemic for a couple years now, ever since good friends of ours introduced us to the game. The dreadful diseases we combat include sniffilis, syphilherpetitis, zombiebomb, and gout (don’t ask me, ... Read More  

Of all the dinosaurs in all the world, SUE the T. rex might be the most famous. The most complete T. rex skeleton ever found, SUE is likely also the most well-traveled. Her bones, or at least casts of ... Read More  

Welcome to a new occasional series here on ye olde blog! As a former woman in science, I have a deep and enduring interest in the experiences and representation of women in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). ... Read More  

  Sometimes there are weeks where you work 8 hours a day every day and feel like you didn’t accomplish a single thing. This was not one of those weeks. This was one of those weeks when the stars ... Read More  

Scene: Lindsey and Tech Support driving home after seeing Aquaman Lindsey: I want my very own angry seahorse. Tech Support: I thought you wanted a bioluminescent octopus to play the drums for you. Lindsey: Yes. To play the drums ... Read More  

  Like most people with a social media account, I’ve been exposed to a lot of Marie Kondo over the last couple of weeks. Since a high proportion of my online friends are either writers or avid readers, a ... Read More  

  “So when are you going to write a real book?” Children’s writers in my audience are probably groaning right now, because this is a question we’ve all been asked at least once. Most of us come back with ... Read More  

2019, huh. So far, gotta say, not lovin’ it. To be fair, it’s been an especially challenging two weeks. We opened the year with a funeral for Tech Support’s mother, a wonderful woman who is already deeply missed. Air ... Read More  

No matter which winter holiday you celebrate, I wish you the very best of the season. For those raised in the Santa Claus tradition, here are some festive facts about reindeer! 1) Reindeer and caribou are the same species, Rangifer ... Read More  

I switched from “all season” Bath and Body Works products to Twisted Peppermint, which smells exactly like candy canes and is therefore just plain weird at other times of the year. I’ve also been listening to John Denver and The ... Read More  

Ah, Halloween. When I was a kid, it meant three things: 1) Trying to come up with a costume that would fit OVER my parka, because it’s cold in southern Alberta after dark at the end of October. One ... Read More  

Earl Bakken passed away last week at the age of 94. Not many people have heard of Bakken, but he saved millions of lives all around the world. In 1949, Bakken founded Medtronic, a garage-based medical equipment repair shop ... Read More  

The phrase “witch hunt” has been tossed around pretty casually lately, but here’s a case where it might actually apply: an Ontario psychic has just been charged with practicing witchcraft. Or, more accurately, with pretending to practice witchcraft. Fun ... Read More  

So far this week: Found a $5 bill blowing down the sidewalk in Ottawa; found a $20 bill in the laundry two days later. Let’s hope this is the start of a trend. Took a tour of Parliament. May ... Read More