Why I’ve named my blog “Inspired by Noah”

Jun 172013
 
 June 17, 2013  Faith, Personal No Responses »
Why I've named my blog "Inspired by Noah"

When you put up a website, in essence, it represents you. People who don’t know you personally see your site and come away with a lasting impression. For years, I’ve been trying to find a look and tag-line for my website that feels right to me. It’s not enough to give my name and what I do or even show the covers of my books. You need a single focus that ties everything you are together. Since March of 2011, I’ve tried all of these tag-lines, each with its own “look.” “Release the creative you and become everything God created [ Read more...]

Getting organized to write: filing

May 062013
 
 May 6, 2013  Book Reviews, Organization, Writing 2 Responses »
Getting organized to write: filing

I probably have close to 1000 file folders. All colours. They’re in various places, including a 4-level horizontal filing cabinet, a smaller narrow filing cabinet, drawers in two desks, several Omni carts, several other movable carts with file folder spaces on the top and plastic drawers underneath, and a few file boxes. The files are in many categories. Files with stories and articles that have been published. Files with stories and articles that might never be published. Resource files on a variety of topics. Files on various areas necessary for writers. A file for each book of the Bible. Files [ Read more...]

N. J. Lindquist Closes a Chapter at The Word Guild and Write! Canada to Focus on Writing

Oct 302012
 
 October 30, 2012  News No Responses »
N. J. Lindquist Closes a Chapter at The Word Guild and Write! Canada to Focus on Writing

Markham, Ontario—After helping to equip Canada’s Christian writers for 11 years, N. J. Lindquist is stepping aside from all leadership roles in Write! Canada and The Word Guild in order to concentrate on her own writing and speaking career. Lindquist is an award-winning Markham-based writer, editor, publisher, and speaker who has authored 10 books, edited and published two bestselling Hot Apple Cider books, and spoken at conferences and churches across Canada. In 2001, together with writer Wendy Elaine Nelles of Toronto, Ont., and backed by a small group of writers and editors, as well as Lindquist’s husband Les, she co-founded [ Read more...]

Saskatchewan and Vancouver trip

Aug 282010
 
 August 28, 2010  Personal Comments Off
Saskatchewan and Vancouver trip

We had a great time in Vancouver. Eighteen people turned up for our Greater Vancouver Writers' Day workshops. I think everyone was happy. I know Les and I were. Great to connect! We also managed to touch base with other members of The Word Guild from the area, including Lando Klassen, owner of the House of James, and authors Grace Fox and Carolyn Arends. Plus we checked in with Flyn Ritchie of Canadian Christianity and even had a quick interview with managing editor David Dawes, who has interviewed me in the past, but always via the  phone or email. Nice [ Read more...]

New article about me

Jun 242010
 
 June 24, 2010  News No Responses »

A big thanks to Margaret Gibb, Executive Director of Women Alive, who decided to interview me for her "Canada's Amazing Women" column in the June/July issue of Maranatha News. The title of the column is "When the 'Different' Ugly Duckling Becomes a Swan," which comes directly from my article, "The Diamond Ring," published in Hot Apple Cider.

Keeping busy

Feb 232010
 
 February 23, 2010  News 1 Response »

I've been totally busy over the past month or so creating three new websites and nailing down details for Write! Canada. So not much time for me to do anything on my writing, etc However, I did manage to do two online interviews, which are both out this week. Thanks to KD Easley and Linda Faulkner for the interview opportunities. They asked some good questions. Like what would I need on a desert island? Tuesdays with Friends Author Exchange Blog Oh, yes, the websites that have taken up so much of my time. The Word Guild The Word Guild Awards [ Read more...]

Interview Up

Jan 252010
 
 January 25, 2010  News No Responses »

There's an interview with Patricia Paddey posted at the Write! Canada site this morning. Patricia interviewed Wendy Nelles and me, as directors of Write! Canada, about our long association with the conference and our vision for the future.  Ironically, Wendy and I both attended the conference for the first time in 1988, and we were both on the planning committee for many years. But we really didn't know each other at all until we started trying to save the conference in 2001. We've worked very closely since then, in almost daily communications. The interview

We had a party!

Nov 252009
 
 November 25, 2009  News No Responses »
We had a party!

On November 20th, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, Faith Family Books and Gifts in Toronto hosted an event with more than 30 Canadian authors at their store in Toronto. Here are two photos taken by author Deborah Gyapong, one of me and one of the reading areas. You can see many more photos on Deb's blog here and here. The last four photos are courtesy of author Fay Rowe. If you put your cursor on each picture, you'll see who's in them.              

Pictures from the weekend

Sep 142009
 
 September 14, 2009  News No Responses »
Pictures from the weekend

I spent Saturday in Pickering at Michael's Family Bookstore, along with about a dozen other authors. Here I am with my little section of the tent we had – in front of the store. And on Sunday I had a booth in the Artist's Alley at the Markham Classic Car Show just off Main Street. As you can see, we had beautiful weather on both days.

Preparing to write my memoir

Aug 192009
 
 August 19, 2009  My books, Personal 1 Response »

Although my choice of reading material is normally mysteries, I’ve been reading books on writing memoir and memoirs lately, trying to get a feel for what is acceptable or perhaps desirable. Just finished Who Do You Think You Are? by Alyse Myers. A difficult story of a young girl growing up in a dysfunctional, somewhat abusive home. The greatest strength of the book is the author’s ability to show the complicated nature of perception, and how despite lacking adequate information to make accurate judgments, children are a product of their environment as well as their genes. Before that, I read [ Read more...]

A million little mosquitoes

Jun 032009
 
 June 3, 2009  News 1 Response »

Some days it feels as if I'm being eaten alive by a million little mosquitoes. I look at my to-do list of maybe 20 items, and I try to work through them. But at the end of the day, my list is always longer, instead of shorter! None of the items that have been added are usually that huge, but each one seems to take just a little bit of my blood out and leave me tired, frustrated, and wondering where I went wrong. Okay, that's my explanation for not posting here recently.  And now, I will respond to a [ Read more...]

A fun memory from an early God Uses Ink Conference (before it was called Write! Canada)

May 272009
 
 May 27, 2009  Business of writing, Personal 6 Responses »
A fun memory from an early God Uses Ink Conference (before it was called Write! Canada)

In the fall of 1995, when Audrey Dorsch resigned as the editor of Faith Today and director of the God Uses Ink Conference, I was part of the planning committee. Even though Faith Today was short-staffed and assistant editor Marianne Meed Ward knew she couldn’t handle the workload of both putting out the magazine and organizing the conference, we decided to go ahead and hold the 1996 conference. Larry Matthews, the editor of the Canadian Baptist, had been part of the committee, and agreed to be the conference director that year. But things were a bit rushed. Back then, the [ Read more...]

Time for a change

Apr 272009
 
 April 27, 2009  Personal 3 Responses »
Time for a change

Today is my husband’s last day with IBM. He just left to turn in his laptop. I’m sure it must be a strange feeling. In actual fact, he hasn’t worked in an office for over 15 years. He simply walked to a room in our house, turned on his computer, picked up his phone, and dialed in to “work.” I remember during the winter Olympics a few years back, one of our sons looked in at 6 in the morning to see his dad wearing a housecoat, sipping coffee, and talking on the phone while watching Olympic coverage on the [ Read more...]

Thank you, Johnny Reid

Dec 272008
 
 December 27, 2008  Music Reviews 4 Responses »
Thank you, Johnny Reid

At the end of the year, it's good to look back and think about the people who have helped you along the way in the past 12 months, or longer. When I was quite young I memorized a poem about a self-made man who was only self-made in his own mind. The truth was he'd forgotten about all the people who'd helped him along his way. I hope none of us will ever do that. I have a long list myself of people who've helped me – intentionally or not. Not the least of those is Johnny Reid. Now although [ Read more...]

I love the book “Write Away” by Elizabeth George

Nov 182008
 
 November 18, 2008  Book Reviews, Writing, Writing fiction 3 Responses »
I love the book "Write Away" by Elizabeth George

I'm having lots of warm, fuzzy feelings while finally reading a book I picked up by chance  last summer.  The book is Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life, by Elizabeth George, author of over a dozen great mystery novels. Part of the reason I'm enjoying it is that I can now cross "Write book on how to write fiction" off my to do list.  While no two authors write the same way, she's pretty well nailed how I write – or at least how I try to write. Not seat-of-the-pants-hope-it-works-will-have-to-do-lots-of-writing-if-it-doesn't  (although I just tried that [ Read more...]

 Older Entries