Women's hockey

Okay, so I'm still on the topic of women's hockey. But the more I research the more I realize how far women have come and what great hockey they play. I played as well, in the 70's. I loved the game. I participated in a lot of sports but playing hockey was probably my favourite. I remember I had some good friends who were great players but they had nowhere to go in those days but our league. We were the city All-Star team. The St. Catharines Jaycee Jets. We had coaches and they organized chalk talks and we travelled and we were serious. The other day as I was writing names kept popping into my head. Girls who I played with: Karen Vine, Brenda Patterson, Laurie White, Lyndsay Powell, Laurie Ifftodie, Mary Jo, Anita, Bonzo (Where are you now Bonzo?), and there were many more. Those were the olden days as my kids say. And they're sort of right because now...women can strive for an Olympic Gold medal. The women I'm writing about in 1990 who played in the first-ever official World Hockey Championships wore the pink uniforms knowing they were doing something important. Maybe I was too on a much smaller scale. My Pink Power women are pioneers and played an unbelievable gritty style of hockey. Susie Yuen from Manitoba was 4'10" and still played in this hit hockey. Now, women's hockey is non-contact, but just because they don't body-check doesn't mean they don't play tough hockey. As you can see, I'm sinking my teeth into this book. I'm loving the inspiration from the women!!! Thanks to everyone who made this possible!

New Book I['m working on! Pink Power!

I'm working on a new book these days. Pink Power! And it's not fiction. Hmmm. It's creative non-fiction. I think that's the genre. Or narrative non-fiction. Anyhoo, it's definitely a challenge, a big fat challenge. I write fiction. But I'm totally enjoying it even thought I have moments of pure frustration where I feel I just can't get a flow going. The book is about the first-ever Women's World Hockey Championships that took place in 1990 in Ottawa, and the Canadian Team that won the event wearing pink jerseys, white pants and pink socks. What a story! Women had been playing hockey for years but it wasn't until 1990 when there was actually a World Championships. Now look at our women. Look at what they did in the 2002 and 2006 Olympics. I also recently co-authored a book with Cassie Campbell and she was 16 at the time this event took place and went to the try-outs. She got cut. She really admires the girls on the PINK POWER team because she knows they were pioneers for her success. Pioneers in 1990. Crazy eh! Women had been playing hockey since the early 1900's but the pioneers are a 1990 team. They finally broke the old boys club and how did they do this. By wearing pink! This 1990 team wore the pink uniforms because it was a gimmick, a media ploy. They were getting no press, nothing. No media showed up at the try-outs. Press releases were sent out and tossed is waste baskets. And the organizers (Hockey Canada) of the tournament were panicked that no-one was going to show up to watch the event. They stood to lose a ton of money. But once they announced the pink uniforms, the media went crazy. I remember a lot of this because we were living in Ottawa at the time and I went to all the games. I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. The final game between Canada and the US was crazy. The arena was sold-out and everyone was wearing pink t-shirts, waving pink flamingos and the entire tournament was a huge success. I thought this would make a great movie and pitched to CTV but got rejected. I think they're doing another women's hockey movie which is great. I was a bit too late maybe. But, hey, I got the book contract. But, wow, I admire all you writers who do biographies. My hats are off to you for sure. It's a lot of work to dig up the research and I'm struggling with the opening, knowing my first three chapters are crap and will get scrapped. But I'm on a mission now because I want a great read to honour the women. This is not about me, it's about them! They deserve the best from me.

Robin Summerfield's column in the Herald, Saskatchewan and website difficulties

Good Morning!! It's Sunday, and I'm up early. It snowed again last night so the world looks white. Sunday and snow make a person want to stay in for some reason. But of course that is not possible. But, I do have an hour or so before I have to get going. Time enough for a short blog. Does anyone read this blog? I wonder sometimes. Is this blog recorded for the rest of my life? Somewhere out there? Okay, so I'll touch on my friends Robin's column that she writes every Friday in the Calgary Herald. By the way, if you haven't read her column it's fabulous. On Friday, February 9th she wrote about on-line stuff, blogging and personal websites. It was a great column. She wrote about all the people who post really stupid stuff on their websites and blogs. For instance, really personal stuff. Why would someone want to share their inner-inner thoughts on a blog? Maybe I'm doing that now. Am I? No, I'm sharing an opinion. And I'll share my travels. My luck at going to the Olympics, stuff like that. I'm not going to ever going to tell you about my family stuff or my love life or my childhood disasters, (unless they're funny), that's for sure. This stuff used to be saved for journals that were hid under clothes in a closet. But now people just share with the world, with people they don't know. That's scary. The thing Robin really harped on was--How are you going to feel about all that you wrote in five, ten twenty years? Where does all this stuff we write about on-line go? Well, it doesn't go away, folks. It's stored somewhere. And the crazy thing is young girls are doing really stupid, stupid things just to get attention thinking no one who knows them will ever know they did this. Crazy twenty-year-old sexual experimental stuff. Think Red Mile in Calgary when girls were taking off their tops for fun. Then someone snaps a picture and it goes on a website. Okay, so when these girls finally get married and have children what happens when little Johnny stumbles on Mommy with her tongue somewhere it shouldn't be. Girls, girls, have some dignity please. These stunts are not making you a better person. And then there's those who blog about personal stuff that would be better off said behind closed doors with a counsellor. Why share that stuff with people who are virtual friends? Maybe this writing can never be erased. The journal can't just be burned or thrown in the trash. Okay, enough. I've stated my opinon. Last weekend I was in Saskatchewan. It had been years since I'd been there. We went for my son's hockey tournament. This part of Canada is wonderful. We stayed in Saskatoon, a gorgeous city. Unfortunately, I didn't walk around much, the temperature was at least -30. The people in this part of Canada are so warm and inviting. But I had forgotten how desolate it was. Once you're outside of the city, the land goes on forever, with a few houses here and there. Then you hit a town. We played in Bruno, a place with just 400 people. It's an hour or so from Saskatoon. A grain elevator stands tall right smack in the middle of town. Or beside the town. Town people came to watch the games. As I sat there, observing, I came up with a plot for yet another children's sport novel. I do love to travel. And I do love to tell you about my travels. Okay, now on to my website. I'm doing some updating so have patience with me as I am a bit computer illiterate. I get going, make the changes, then somehow they just don't work. I'm trying to add a new page for my new book out in the spring but it's not linking. I will figure it out though, in due time. In the meantime everyone--have a great Sunday! Now I'm off to venture outside in the snow and cold.

Horrible blizzard but wonderful evening

Yesterday, I drove up to Edmonton for a Children's Literature Round-table. I got caught in this horrible storm and on the stretch of road from Red Deer to Edmonton there were so many cars slipping and sliding and heading right off the road into snow banks. The wind whipped across the lanes, making visibility almost impossible. As I gripped my steering wheel, I kept asking myself why I was doing what I was doing. Would it be another one those events where I sold only a few books. I finally arrived at my destination and was greeted by such friendly people. Marg Stephenson organized the event and there was a great dinner ready. I was still shaking a bit but after I ate I relaxed and started to socialize. My friend Debby Waldman, who I competed against in the show Total Write-Off, was there. She is so crazy and so fun--she can talk a mile-a-minute and I love her. When dinner was over all of us authors-eight in total--got to stand up and tell about our latest books. I talked about Northern Star and Too Many Men but I mentioned every book, of course. All the authors (Lanny Boutin, Marty Chan, Jacqueline Guest, Gail Sidoine Sobat, Linda Smith, Karen Spafford-Fitz and Debby Waldman) were entertaining and inspiring and I just loved hearing the stories behind their books. The entire night was fun, fascinating and just plain old fabulous! Because it was way, way too crappy to drive home, I thought I would get a hotel for the night but as soon as I mentioned this I had offers

from Edmontonians to put me up for the night. I stayed at Debby Waldman's because she asked first and we had a great evening, sitting around, talking about writing. She gave me a toothbrush, washcloth, towel, dental floss (I was impressed with the dental floss) and she set me up in her basement bedroom with clean flannel sheets on a comfortable futon. I mean, what else could a person want who was stranded in a city because of a snowstorm. I woke up this morning to sunshine and cold but was energized from talking writing. The roads home weren't too bad but there were at least two dozen stranded cars from the blizzard. I'm so glad I wasn't one of the two dozen vehicles off the road otherwise I would have a great event and a fun sleep-over!