Patricia Sands

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A new role model

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I know I said I was going to rant … er, I mean, write …  about social media on my next post, but this first .  I just read this article and wanted to share it. There are some good suggestions for everyone to put on their “to do” list. Enjoy! (Hope the link works, let me know if it doesn’t. Figuring out stuff like that is messing up my “to do” list at the moment!!!)

100 Candles on Her Next Cake, and Three R’s to Get Her There

Published: October 18, 2010

Wonderful article from the New York Times on some amazing people celebrating their one hundredth birthdays.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/health/19brody.html?_r=1&ref=health

Writers and Editors Network (WEN) Toronto

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On Saturday I attended my first breakfast meeting with this organization since I joined earlier in the summer. The energy in the room and interaction of the members was impressive as well as friendly and welcoming and a lot of good information was shared. Lucy Waverman, well-known Toronto cookbook author as well as newspaper columnist and food editor of the amazing LCBO Food and Drink magazine, was the guest speaker. As well as providing interesting information about writing cookbooks and testing recipes she spoke at length about the publishing world in general. She has seen a lot of changes in her career and noted how self-publishing appears to be the way of the future as traditional publishers struggle  to keep going. She stressed the importance of social media marketing – like it or not! More on that in my next post.

Check out Lucy’s website and bon appetit!

http://lucywaverman.com/

http://www.wenetwork.org/

A very cool stranger

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I love it when ‘stuff ‘ like this just happens. During the Bridge Club’s week on Vancouver Island we piled into our vehicles one morning – Bo driving 6 in the van, Barb with 4 in her car – to do the two-hour or so drive to Campbell River for lunch at Dick’s Fish and Chips. Nothing else would do! The first scenic stop was at Qualicum Beach. Gotta have a group photo … and before I know it, a gentlemen relaxing on a nearby bench has been recruited. He continues to smile as he is handed several cameras and proceeds to patiently complete the task. Wondering who we are, several of us chat with him for a few minutes, Barb takes a photo of the rest of us with him, someone hands him a postcard about the novel (the enthusiasm never waned) and off we went. Two days after I returned home, a polite e-mail (address from my website on the postcard) arrives from the Qualicum Beach ‘photographer’ asking if it is ok to contact me. Sure, I say, and thanks again for taking the great photo of us. Two more days pass and an e arrives from him containing a beautiful, lyrical, poem about his encounter with us. I forwarded it to the rest of the gang. We were all blown away. Thank you Qualicum Beach ‘photographer’ for making our brief stop that morning a very special memory forever. So cool!