Can Hens Give Milk Has Been Reviewed.

Please check out the reviews in the latest Publishers Weekly and the University of Manitoba's CM Magazine, April 1, 2011, as well as Kirkus Review for the same date. Thank you lovely reviewers. I'd toast you all with a cup of coffee, but I'm not in Italy anymore (great coffee over there). I can, however, toast you with my favourite drink - hot, strong, tea with a dollop of honey.

Travel is Always an Inspiration

My husband and I recently returned from a short - too short - trip to Italy. I took that sketchbook I told you about and used it as an illustrated notebook (Tom: 'Why do you always draw me with only three little hairs on top of my head?') I'm not so good with journals because I don't get into a lot of detail unless the mood hits me - and it sometimes does - but I like to jot down the daily events along with feelings I might have about something I see, or an observation or two about a piece of art or architecture. What I also do is jot down ideas for stories. It's quite surprising how a street, a view or a bit of local history can spark an idea. In Venice I learned some social history I hadn't known before that would add colour and authenticity to a work of fiction. And, of course, we had adventures - small ones, I admit - but an adventure is an adventure. It's all material for a story. The question is, which story?

The Right/Write Kind of Notebook - Help!

A few years ago a friend of mine gave me a wonderful little gift. It was a small, hardcover notebook with a difference. The size of a diary it had pages that were blank on the top half - suitable for drawing, sketching, cartooning etc. - and lined on the bottom half - suitable for writing witty bon mots or diary entries. I held on to it for about a year, then took it on a trip. It turned out to be the perfect book in which to jot down my adventures, and attempt to illustrate them at the same time. As I've said before, I'm not an artist, but I enjoy scribbling, in a cartoon sort of way, with bubbles for comment and dialogue. At the end of the trip I even used this notebook for photos and theatre tickets and cards from restaurants etc.
BUT ... I can't find another like it! Moleskin puts out lots of lined or plain notebooks, but not both. I've tried stationers and bookstores and found a lot of spiral bound (which would be perfect) lined or plain notebooks. Again, none has both. I tend to need lines because I don't write in a straight line. If anyone sees what I'm looking for in Vancouver please let me know. Otherwise I'll have to go with the blank page notebook and make an effort to write in straight lines. Thanks one and all.