by Sue Horner | Nov 12, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Festive decorations filled store flyers and shelves even before Halloween was over. A local radio station started playing Christmas music ALL THE TIME on November 1. A spell of summery weather shortly afterwards had some of my neighbours putting up Christmas lights....
by Sue Horner | Apr 9, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Music is keeping a lot of us going during these days of social isolation and physical distancing. Without live music performances possible, I’m grateful to #CanadaPerforms, an online program and relief fund by Canada’s National Arts Centre. Through the NAC and...
by Sue Horner | Apr 2, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Having been in a home office for years, I thought this WFH (work from home) thing would be a piece of cake. Turns out, I’m as likely to be stress-eating cake as much as the next person. Projects I had on the go are on the back burner. I’m spending far too...
by Sue Horner | Mar 4, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Happy National Grammar Day, fellow word nerds! The big day goes back to 2008, and its founding by Martha Brockenbrough and the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. SPOGG is “for people appalled by bad grammar in public spaces.” Yup, that’s me. (Note,...
by Sue Horner | Dec 5, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
When it comes to Christmas trees, it seems people are either in Camp Real (oh, that fragrance!) or Camp Artificial (oh, so easy). For many years, my family was away over the holidays, so for safety’s sake, we went with artificial. And having one, we keep using...
by Sue Horner | Nov 20, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
As usual, festive decorations have been everywhere even before we got Halloween and Thanksgiving out of the way. So it’s time for my fifth annual list of holiday gift ideas for the readers, writers and word nerds in your life: 1. Greeting card gift pack A pack of...
by Sue Horner | Jul 17, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Who doesn’t love a slice of deliberately bad writing? Yes, word nerds, gather ’round. It’s time to celebrate the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest, “where ‘www’ means ‘wretched writers welcome.’” The contest awards the best of the worst opening sentences, or what the...
by Sue Horner | Nov 15, 2018 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
We’re barely past Halloween and U.S. Thanksgiving is on the doorstep. My husband just cheerfully informed me that we have less than six weeks until Christmas and someone has already wished me a Merry Christmas. Of course I haven’t started my shopping yet, but I have...
by Sue Horner | Nov 30, 2017 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Some of my neighbours have had Christmas lights up for weeks. U.S. Thanksgiving is done like turkey dinner, and we’re hurtling towards the Festive Season. So, time for my third annual roundup of gift ideas for writers, readers and word-and-punctuation nerds. 1. “I’m a...
by Sue Horner | Dec 7, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Confession: I’ve barely started my Christmas shopping, but I have started collecting ideas for gifts. While making my list and checking it twice, I’ve found some terrific ideas — for Christmas, birthdays or other occasions — for the reader or writer...
