First Drafts

  In an interview by Leslie Karst, Sue Grafton, author of the popular “alphabet” mystery series starring Kinsey Millhone, was asked about her concept of “the shadow.”   “Your shadow is the pieces of yourself that you repress and deny,” Grafton explained....

The Facebook Experiment

If you’re a regular follower of my blog, you’ll know that I’ve recently been commissioned to write a Marketing 101 column for First Draft, the bi-monthly newsletter of Sisters in Crime – Guppies. For those of you unfamiliar with SinC-Guppies, it’s...

The Fine Art of Twitter

At the 2014 Academy Awards, Ellen DeGeneres’ “selfie with stars” Oscar tweet was retweeted so many times (in less than an hour, DeGeneres’ photo was already up to 871,000 retweets, with 210,000 favorites) that it temporarily shut down Twitter. That’s the power of...

Photo Finish

I recently had the good fortune to visit the Royal Ontario Museum in downtown Toronto. Affectionately known as the ROM, until March 23, 2014, the Museum is hosting the North American premiere of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, an internationally renowned exhibition...

Writers Write

Something you may or may not know about me is that I am a runner. I’m not a particularly fast runner, I don’t necessarily “look” like a runner, and I’m far from being a natural athlete. Nonetheless, running has been a passion since I took my first...