Author Archives: linabranter

Miscellaneous Literary Goings-On

This last couple of months have been fraught with literary activities. Here is a recap, beginning in October and ending last weekend: SCBWI Conference This year the SCBWI Canada East conference took place in Montreal! Now, I love me a good writing conference, but the SCBWI have been far and away the most useful. ThisContinue reading “Miscellaneous Literary Goings-On”

Hi! I’m Back!

So you know when you have put something off for such a long time and it gets to be so long since you have done it that a task that wasn’t that big to begin with suddenly takes on epic proportions and becomes akin to scaling a mountain instead of taking a little trip toContinue reading “Hi! I’m Back!”

My Summer of Ceremony

Oh, it has been a while since I have last graced these pages with my inane commentary. But fear not oh 5 readers! I am back! At least until my coffee cup is drained, that is. At the beginning of summer, I spoke a little about ceremony in this post about my youngest’s graduation fromContinue reading “My Summer of Ceremony”

When the mice are away, the cats play

Now don’t get me wrong. I would way rather have my children home than not. But that does not mean that J and I have been sitting around the house pining away. No sirree. This is a sample of what we have been up to since our children decided to traipse off across the countryContinue reading “When the mice are away, the cats play”

Dear Bernadette: A review, kind of.

Dear Ms. Bernadette Fox, First thing’s first. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking Does this woman realise I am a fictional character? Yes? Do she care? No. I have been talking to fictional characters ever since I read The Catcher in the Rye at the age of 13 and found Holden CaulfieldContinue reading “Dear Bernadette: A review, kind of.”

What do you mean, you’re leaving?

I think I have a problem with living too much on paper. Once, when I was in Grad school and my children were 6 and 4 years old respectively, I saw an empty space in my calendar. I had class Monday to Friday morning, and my husband’s vernissage that night as well as an invitationContinue reading “What do you mean, you’re leaving?”

Grade Six Graduation: How it should be

For most of us living in secular North America, there are very few ceremonies that mean anything to us. If you are not religious you do not have a coming of age ritual. Weddings are fewer and far between and hopefully funerals are the same. So what do we have? We have the milestones setContinue reading “Grade Six Graduation: How it should be”

Book Review: The Blondes by Emily Schultz

Hazel Hayes has a complicated life. She has just arrived in New York from Toronto to complete her graduate studies. On the same day that she finds out she is pregnant by her married advisor, a crazed blonde woman pushes a young girl on to the subway tracks. The next day another act of violenceContinue reading “Book Review: The Blondes by Emily Schultz”