Articles _________________________________________________

Surviving the Office Christmas Party | Published Dec. '05./Jan. '06 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: It’s that time of year again. I’m referring, of course, to the season of office Christmas parties, when otherwise cool, calm and collected co-workers gather to eat, drink and get merry, sometimes too merry.

Preparing Your Elevator Speech | Published Dec. '05./Jan. '06 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: Today, the elevator speech is seen as a valuable tool not only for promoting the company
but also for selling yourself.

Time Wasters and How to Avoid Them | Published Oct. /Nov. '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: People on the job often have one thing in common, that is, good intentions. Most people can identify with the reality of forgotten faxes, unreturned phone calls or overlooked e-mails.

It's Not Just You | Published Aug./Sept. '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt:A January 2005 nationwide survey of 7,718 American workers aged 18 and over revealed that less than half of all workers felt satisfied by their jobs.

Women, Have I Got a Job for You! | Published Aug./Sept. '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: Skilled Trades. ‘Skilled what?' you may ask? Perhaps that is the first time you’ve even spoken those words. Skilled trades include jobs in such industries as the following: construction, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, HVAC, automotive. It's puzzling that with all the opportunities available to women today, working in skilled trades is still overlooked as a viable career choice.

Book Reviews _____________________________________________

Future: Tense by Gwynne Dyer | Published June/July '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: In Future: Tense Gwynne Dyer lays out a thought-provoking and cogent argument supporting his belief that American unilateralism undermines the importance of international law and threatens international institutions that were created with the aim to stop war, such as the United Nations.

Love It Don't Leave It by Beverly L. Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans | Published Aug./Sept. '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: Research indicates that 55 percent of people are not satisfied with their work. No doubt
many are thinking of leaving their jobs for greener pastures. Is leaving the answer? Not necessarily, according to Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans, authors of Love It Don't Leave It: 26 Ways to
Get What You Want at Work. There is another alternative - staying and learning to take responsibility for your own workplace satisfaction. Sometimes you have to leave but, and this is the premise of the book, often you don't.

Case Studies _____________________________________________

Divas of the Trades | The Divas of the Trades campaign was launged in Ontario
in Dec. '05 by the Durham Region Local Training Board.)
Six case studies were published online (Sarah - Construction Craft Worker; Angie - Electrician; Nancy - HVAC; Cathy - Plumber; Jenn - Cabinetmaker; Kathy - Chef) as part of a poster campaign in Durham Region, Ontario, to promote work in the trades to women.

Essays __________________________________________________

The Best Job I Already Have | Published Feb. '06 in Mommies Magazine
Excerpt: I went to a job interview this week and I think I blew it. I know I rambled too much and perhaps came across as too intellectual for the position. I’m also pretty sure I didn’t always answer the question that was actually asked.

Reminders | Published Dec. '05/Jan. '06 in All Things Girl.
Excerpt: Anyone looking at the shopping cart might have wondered where the food with actual nutritional value was. There was ice cream, brownie mix, bags of bulk bin candy for decorating the brownies, two bags of chips, Bibo drink boxes, frozen waffles, pepperoni, cheddar cheese and pizza dough. My girls were having a slumber party, each one having invited one girl, and the night had finally arrived.

Finding the Perfect Gift | Published Dec. '05 in Mommies Magazine
Excerpt:My 8-yr.-old and I went to that great Christmas store - Wal-Mart - and traveled up and down the toy aisles. Little did she know I was mentally recording every “I want this” and “this toy is so cute” as I formulated her Christmas list in my head. Then we visited other departments. As we walked along I noticed her stop to stroke the scarves, eye some watches and study several CD covers.

Living the Laid Off Life | Published Oct./Nov. '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: It took me two weeks just to get used to saying the words. For a while I hid behind “laid off”, until someone asked me when I was going to be re-hired. So, I switched to “lost my job”. Then, one day I listened to myself talking about it. I was downright depressing listening to myselft tiptoeing around the subject like it was taboo.

The Wisdom of Nike | Published Oct. '05 in Mommies Magazine
Excerpt: Just do it! Through countless bus terminal posters, T.V. ads and larger-than-life billboards Nike has been issuing this command for years. And for years I’ve tried to ignore it. Just do it? Do
what, I’ve wondered - get more sleep?

At Just the Right Time | Published Aug./Sept. '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: Yesterday, I remembered that conversion when admiring our pea tree, with it's intertwining branches now displaying their dense, green foliage. You see, yesterday I was let go from my job of 4 ½ years and I imagine I feel somewhat like that tree did last November when it was being pelted by stinging, chilling rain.

Wide Brush Painting | Published Aug./Sept. '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: Imagine not having to endure office politics or concern yourself with having the right fashion each morning. What about not having to fight the traffic only to arrive at work and stare at your
cubicle walls for the rest of the day. Women in trades just don’t have these concerns and at the end of the day they know exactly what they’ve accomplished through their hard work and with their own hands.

Coffee on the Roof of My Car | Published June/July '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: When my car was just about out of the spot I was curious to see if he was still looking, but I wondered why he would be. My hair was badly in need of a trim, I was wearing no makeup and I was
in my least favorite, slightly frumpy pants (basically, I was a fashion “don’t”). Perhaps he was looking at me because I looked so unfashionable.

The Talk | Published June/July '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: That was the end of her questions and I was relieved there weren’t more. I felt like I did when I had just finished jogging a short distance after not exercising for a while: This had been a good first run but I was glad it was over.

The Best Advice I Never Got | Published June/July '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: She started to cry, and out with the tears came the truth about feeling pressured by her parents to pursue something in science like her older brother. She also said she didn't have the
courage to tell her parents what she really wanted to study, which was graphic design and visual communications. "I know I'd love it," she told me.

This Moment | Published June/July '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: He had been a Manager who worked long hours and whose wife stayed at home. He sometimes mentioned that he felt guilty for always working. He also talked about how he looked forward to spending more time with his wife and seeing the world together with her. About one month after his retirement she died of a massive stroke.

The Laws of Physics and Changing Your Life | Published June/July '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: This First Law of Motion basically says that objects tend to keep on doing what they're doing. In fact, says Newton, it is the natural tendency of objects to resist changes in their state of motion. He called this tendency inertia. Say it with me: INERTIA: the tendency to resist changes. I think we’ve all been there.

With An Inner Critic Like This | Published March '05 by The Write Gallery
Excerpt: Many of us have been there at least once, searching frantically for that misplaced diary, worried that our most private thoughts would be exposed. Pillows overturned, drawers emptied, we looked everywhere trying to find that precious book before someone discovered truths we had so carefully kept to ourselves; whom we liked, what we really thought of that Christmas gift, along with our rants, stories or most embarrassing, our poetry.

Simple Abundance | Published Dec. '04/Jan. '05 in The Word Weaver
Excerpt: My foot finds the spot where the floor creaks, coffee sputters and drips into the waiting carafe and our dog Cleo sighs occasionally, but otherwise the house is quiet at five am. I fix myself a coffee and listen, absorbing the unfamiliar silence. Soon, warm air sways curtains following the
familiar click, clink, thunk as the furnace beginning its day’s work. I think of my children and husband asleep in their warm beds and take a another sip before returning the milk to the refrigerator where every shelf is full.

In Sickness and In Health | Published Feb./March '05 in All Things Girl
Excerpt: My footsteps, hard and even, echo through the hallway, announcing my arrival as I climb the white marble stairs to the third floor where my grandmother lives. The stairs have been polished to the point of being slippery and I imagine the sting I’d feel if I fell on them. I marvel that my grandmother manages to check her mailbox each day without falling. I knock and wait, picturing my grandmother’s feet shuffling over creaks and carpet as she approaches the door.

Poetry _____________________________________________

Overheard at Playgroup | by Gwynne Dyer | Published Jan. '05 in Literary Mama
Excerpt: We all work full-time. You have to remember I was thirty pounds lighter then. When we are alone we usually end up talking about the children. Honey, give her back the toy. Money is so tight right now. I wanted a career until I became a mother. I said to him I was the one who was in labor for 26 hours.

Curtain Fall | Published Oct./Nov. '04 in All Things Girl
Excerpt:You smile while to your lips your raise a glass of poison, glass of death. . .

Toward the End of Day | Published Dec. '04/Jan. '05 in The Word Weaver
Excerpt: Intoxicating daze swims through my body / weighty eyelids closing. . .

Travel Stories ___________________________________________

Living the Journey One Step at a Time | Awarded Honorable Mention in the 2004 Non-Fiction Writing Contest by The Preservation Society, Inc.
Excerpt: The living of a journey becomes the telling of a story the second you begin sharing it, but where does that story really begin or end? Wouldn’t the initial recognition of your own internal, insistent voice telling you to ‘see the world’ count as the beginning? Wheels are set in motion by allowing yourself to consider going, by asking the question ‘what if’ and finally concluding ‘I can’. To me, these moments, along with the first, flushed-cheek excitement as tickets are purchased are as much a part of the adventure as deplaning in a foreign land.