I continue to work on revisions to a picture book about the sinking of the ocean liner Lusitania and the musical piece it inspired. The manuscript was accepted in 2008 and I'm currently working on the tenth revision!

The book is scheduled to be published by Houghton Mifflin in 2011. It'll be my first self-illustrated picture book and my first book for a U.S. publisher. So exciting!


APRIL 2009

Funded by grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, I took a leave of absence from my job at the library. I spent eight months writing a book about the history of women in aviation.

Twelve amazing flyers, thirty-two weeks of steady writing, and one temperamental computer...it was intense and wonderful! I finished the draft and returned to my day-job on April 2009, and am still trying to work out when, where and in-what-format to try to publish the "women pilots book."

I spent an unforgettable morning helping Don Cherry learn about his grandfather. Wearing my "librarian hat", I appeared with him on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, a show in which Canadian celebrities trace their family roots.


Don's family has lived in Kingston for at least four generations. He's famous for his rock-em-sock-em public persona, but people around here are quick to tell about his down-to-earth nature and his generosity. In my short visit with him, I found that to be true! He was a real gentleman.