Author - jennifer_hatt

True love story: The Tulips

It was a day I was tempted to erase from the calendar. Then a trip to the grocery store changed everything. My dad had just been taken to hospital, again, in a city just far enough away to be beyond reach. I had just returned...

Embracing my inner hermit to be a better marketer

I come from a long line of hermits. But there are five ways that can work in my favour. Like my ancestors, I would rather stick needles in my eyes than step into a crowded room. Then, after years of fighting this to try and...

Writing Rose, the character I didn’t want to know

Writers control the story. So why choose a main character I didn’t like? Simple answer: he did, my male lead Jack, years ago, when I wrote my first book, Finding Maria. Rose was his love, his choice, and ultimately, his source of heartbreak when suddenly...

One nurse’s journey: now available

What a proud day! In hand is our first title published for a new author: she’s sweet and scrappy, courageous and honest, just like her story. I can’t wait to introduce them both. When Freddie Gardner Played is a memoir of Mary Sheehan’s three years...

Seed, Feed ‘n’ Weed: using stress to strengthen my spirit

In May, stress was winning I came close to giving up. Instead, I hit pause, and tried something new. And it worked. My Keep It Super Simple plan evolved on the spot. Starting May 28, I pledged to complete a 30-day experiment on incorporating tiny...

Lessons from a clothesline

My basement clothesline now sags with dripping wet clothes. The forecast said thunder showers; I was swayed by the brilliant blue sky. So who do I blame: nature, myself, or this bloody Nova Scotia weather that changes literally in the blink of an eye? The...

The Dark Side of the creative process

My lesson yesterday? The things that anger, frighten and frustrate are not minefields but diamond mines full of unruly bits that can be polished into a gem of a story. I left Monday for an overnighter in the city, a work trip, wondering in part...

It’s Monday, raining and day 22: Give yourself a break!

Here we are on a weekend of self-nurturing and the lunch conversation is paused by a participant’s plaintive plea: could she smell the coffee? No, no, she didn’t want one, well, actually, she did but was on a 30-day regimen of no caffeine, no sugar,...

Lessons from The Enterprise: Day 21

I always believed life’s best lessons could be found in Star Trek and this weekend, it was proven to me. Sweet. But there was something even sweeter. I got to share it. In the original series episode The Enemy Within,  Captain Kirk emerges from a...

Turn the knob, don’t pull the plug

I’m really dating myself here, referring to dials rather than touch screens, but that’s part of who I am, old. I also feel like a radio these days, needing to tune out but not wanting to lose the signals that enrich my life. It’s like...
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