Travel

Sweden & Denmark, I loved you both but I’ll never do you again in the winter

It was a snowy January day when she asked me, “Wanna go to Scandinavia for the weekend?” “But it’s winter there!” I protested. “It’s winter here, too. What’s the diff?” I shrugged. She had a point. “Fine. I’ll go.” Moments later, six girls booked a flight. When I would mention to friends where we were going, I’d laugh and bat a hand when they made requests for Swiss cheese and Swiss chocolates and even recommended that I buy a watch. Clearly, they hadn’t grown up watching the Swedish chef on Sesame Street like I had and therefore were unaware of […]

Writing

Piss off, self-doubt! I’m trying to write a book.

*SPOILER ALERT* We are all susceptible to an occasional violent yes-I-can-no-I can’t shit-storm. Sadly, this post offers no remedy. There is no moral or heartwarming message, either. However, at the bottom of this entry there is a happy ending. This is about a girl with a dream (me) going through a shit-storm of doubt. Welcome to my story. I had completed the first draft of my second book (Hamartia’s sequel) when something awful happened: I contracted the silent dream killer, self-doubt. It preys on all people regardless of race, social class, gender, and so on. Some weather through it as […]

Life

Against my own will, here’s what cancer taught me

I survived bone cancer. Although facing your mortality at 26 isn’t anything I’d wish on anyone, if there was a way to turn the perspective it forces upon you into a potion, I’d bottle it up and hand samples out on every street corner. Keep in mind that the perspective isn’t the same for everyone. Surviving is an experience and its effects vary as much as the people do. For me, these are the two most important lessons bone cancer forced me to learn the hard way: Stop deferring good times. I was twenty-six and had seven years left on […]

Travel

Getting high on Asia

Like many travel industry people, getting a new stamp in my passport is my addiction; a high I chase each time I go away and an overwhelming urge to keep travelling to maintain that feeling. After my ‘trip’, I return home with a killer hangover (jetlagged) and trying to recall whether or not I actually did all that travelling or if I dreamt the whole thing up. Asia is still all a blur and the twelve hour time difference between there and home kicked my ass. But now that I’m back to sleeping and my high has subsided, I’m eager […]

Travel

Volunteering in Vietnam – Leave for Change

At first, I was hesitant about applying for the Leave for Change program (L4C) because I didn’t think I had the skills for the job postings. So when I received the call that I had been selected for an interview I was screaming on the phone and jumping around like a lottery winner. That marked the beginning of a life-changing journey. I was accepted for a mandate with the World University Service of Canada (WUSC). I would be working in the travel and hospitality sector as an advisor at Bac Thang Long College (BTL) located in Hanoi, the capital of […]

Writing

An update from my rabbit hole

Happy New Year! Wait… are we past the point where it’s okay to say that? Sorry, I’ve been busy. But I’d like to take a moment to breathe and to tell you all what I’ve been up to. Why haven’t I written a blog post in a dog’s age? Because I’ve been deep in a rabbit hole writing my next book! I’ve proudly written 150 pages in three short months. Inspiration comes at the strangest times when I least expect it. I can’t control it or stop it and sadly, I can’t make it happen on demand either. I wish […]

Dog Tails

Thumper’s mercy-killing

Sadie is my bluetick coonhound. I love Sadie. She’s an awesome dog. But she is also a murderer; A coldblooded bunny killer. I knew that cats brought mice home to their owners as gifts. But I had no idea dogs did the same. One spring day, Sadie brought her pack leaders (us) a gift. Hubby and I spotted Sadie overjoyed and waggy tailed doing circles around her bed.  When we went to scope out what she was so proud of, we saw it. At first, we thought it was a dead mouse in her bed. But upon closer inspection, to […]

Life, Writing

Irreconcilable differences & bonbons

Like most new writers, I wrote my book while juggling life. For me, life was a fun full-time career, an awesome family, and a long list of cool friends. In May 2016, however, the thing that ate up a huge chunk of my time came to an abrupt end: my career. And when you’ve worked in the same place for as long as I had, it felt more like a marriage unravelling than a job ending. In my case, the uncoupling was not only amicable, it was welcomed. Let me take you back to when my love affair with the […]

Writing

Fearless chicken-shit!

It took two years for me to tell people I was writing a book. I told my husband when I reached the 25 000 word count. It was spring, 2013 and I had already been writing the book for almost nine months. His reaction was, “OMG, this is going to be a trilogy! I can’t wait to see the movie!” He thinks I walk on water. But I stopped writing. Then, in February of 2014, I went to Vietnam on a three week trip by myself and started telling people I met there that I was writing a book. It […]

Life

Top 10 things some people find shocking about me

This top ten list contains answers to the questions I am most frequently asked. Some people ask me quite boldly. Others hint and ask questions surrounding the topic. Note to the hinters – I know what you’re really asking me; sometimes I mess with you and deliberately evade your hints (I get a kick out of doing that). I’m a teenage mom. I had my first son when I was 16 and my second son when I was 19. Yes, I married the guy who fathered both my babies. We’ve been together since I was 15. I’m a high school […]