Blog

Copyright and Theft

Posted on by Patrick

Read Time to Fix Canada’s Copy­right Mis­take on Medium.

It’s a tricky top­ic, and I’m by no means expert in it, though I like to think I’m a decent­ly-well-read enthu­si­ast. I’ve actu­al­ly had my stuff “appro­pri­at­ed” for edu­ca­tion­al pur­pos­es (one day I’ll have to write a longer post about it, but for now here’s the Coles Notes ver­sion, sans the angst and irri­ta­tion I felt at the time).

My day job, which sup­ports my writ­ing habit, is at a uni­ver­si­ty, and so I know the appeal of not pay­ing for things, since bud­gets are tra­di­tion­al­ly tight, even under the most small‑l lib­er­al of governments.

Cana­da does indeed need to address its copy­right issues.

 

Opening line

Posted on by Patrick

Open­ing line for a new 850-word flash fic­tion piece:

Alice, star­ing up at the rip­pling green sky, said, “Make a wish.”

 

Springtime Bike Rides

Posted on by Patrick

Things I love about rid­ing my bike this time of year:

  • Shorts
  • Lilacs
  • Kids’ chalk art adding a pop of colour to the bike-trail tarmac

Things I could do without:

  • Diesel pick­up trucks giv­ing me 2″ of clearance

 

Definitions

Posted on by Patrick

For a scene in my cur­rent work in progress, I want­ed to know what the prop­er term is for the skull­cap worn by bish­ops in the Catholic Church. So I Googled arch­bish­op skull­cap, as you do.

The word is zuc­chet­to. It comes from the Ital­ian for … Pump­kin. (Because, appar­ent­ly, the lit­tle caps—worn to keep the bish­ops’ heads warm—reminded peo­ple of pump­kins cut in half.)

I end­ed up going with “arch­bish­op’s skull­cap” in the manuscript.

Prairie​ Comics Festival

Posted on by Patrick

I went today to the Prairie Comics Fes­ti­val. Recon­nect­ed with some writer friends (Chad­wick, Sam, and Jamie), made some new con­nec­tions (hi, Donovan​), and regret­ted not bring­ing along my busi­ness cards (at least three peo­ple asked about Word­Press stuff).

But I picked up a bunch of local art, so at least there’s that.

  • Mini Book of Mon­ster Girls by Autumn Crossman
  • Eggman Colour­ing Book #1 by Gabrielle Ng
  • How to be Human by Kath­leen Bergen
  • Street Style  Samu­rai by Jamie Isfeld
  • Those Who Make Us with short sto­ries by Chad­wick Ginther and Corey Redekop, among others
  • Win­ter­peg by Matthew Dyck
  • Spacepig Hamadeus by Dono­van Yaciuk
  • The Rangeroads  by Court­ney Loberg

I look for­ward to a lot of reading. 

Story Generator

Posted on by Patrick

The page bills itself as The Best Sto­ry Idea Gen­er­a­tor You’ll Ever Find, and when it dis­pens­es gems like this:

Have your char­ac­ter attend a themed cos­tume par­ty where they can’t find the per­son that invit­ed them, they know nobody else, and the peo­ple they meet are alter­nate­ly hos­tile and friend­ly. What is the strange theme of the cos­tumes, and does your char­ac­ter stay or run after a dis­as­ter happens?

…it’s hard to call that an exaggeration.

Head­er image cour­tesy Unsplash.