As B.C.’s toxic drug crisis nears the 10-year mark, it’s difficult to find someone in the province who hasn’t been affected in some way. In this series, The Comox Valley aims to show that people who use drugs deserve respect. Addiction does not discriminate, and drug use can touch anyone.

It's my birthday, and it's also the day we get the keys to our first home. I honestly have no idea how it's going to feel, but I'm excited to get my life started up again. Moving takes everything out of you, and I'm ready to focus on living again. I wrote about it here

Looks like it's time to read this one again soon. Over the years I've written down every place I've read this #book, it's definitely the most-travelled of all of my books. I'd put it in my top books of all time, just for sheer nostalgia factor. It doesn't travel as much anymore, bit worn out.

Another one from the stack. I'd say Dr. Gonzo is one of the reasons I became a journalist. My actual work of writing about bus route changes is a bit different, but the man was steadfastly against any kind of abuse of power, and that's an idea I can get behind. #buythetickettaketheride

Continuing the exploration of my #coololdpaperbacks, this book was left at my house that one time my dad picked up some hitchhikers and we gave them a couch to crash on for the night. They were travelling on, and one of them left this in our rec room.

Today on #coolbooksIhave, this rad #paperback edition of The Dispossessed by Le Guin. I first read the version that looks like a Windows Desktop. While a #book shan’t be judged by its cover, this is a much better cover. Also very pertinent book in these trying times. Give it a read!

I’m moving, so it’s a good time to show off some of the vintage #paperbacks I’ve collected. Starting with this box set of The Lord of the Rings. Love these older #books

The quest to thrift all of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy in this edition continues! Vintage #scifi covers just hit different. 🟥 = ☑️ 🟩 = ☑️ 🟦 = ❔

I honestly believe our most powerful position in a toxic time that feeds on cynicism, apathy,& despair is to genuinely care and act for a better world. Cynicism is our enemy. We should check it, incl. on the left. It’s not intellectually superior. It’s the virus they’re trying to infect us with. NO

Found in a thrift store book #writing

It's hard to understate how valuable the Local Journalism Initiative has been to Canadian newsrooms and the rural communities they cover. If/when Poilievre scraps it, entire regions will become news deserts.

#writing post-apocalyptic fiction by hand with #alcisneros on in the background at 6:30 a.m. Happy Friday. #doom #om #music #scifi

Apparently ChatGPT is down? Good thing I never learned how to use it and instead find joy in actually using my brain to do my thinking, writing and creating, and don't need robits to interpret my emails for me. Gonna go #write part of my novel on paper.

Getting new #fiction ideas down with pen and paper this morning. Science fiction about broken tech promises, the hollowing out of the world, depression and love. It'll probably make me sad to write, but so far it's kind of a lovely story.

Wrote this in 2021 and stand by it. Corporations will never have people's best interests at heart, and the end game has always been what we're seeing now. www.campbellrivermirror.com/opinion/face...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-asb... "Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. All ... these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of ... authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege."

"We don't want to use in front of people," Roth added. "We don't want to use in front of children, we don't want to use in front of nurses. But we also don't want to have to hide away, because that's when we die." www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/local-news/w...

Journalist Anas Al-Sharif removes his helmet and announces a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel. His voice steady as his fellow Palestinians lift him into the air in celebration. For 15 months, the Al-Jazeera correspondent has reported on the genocide of his people in Gaza.

We need to watch our language around cars, bikes and crashes "The issue I have, besides the fact that people riding bikes are getting hit and killed by people driving cars and everything that goes along with that, is how we talk about these incidents." www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/opinion/we-n...

One of the things I like to do as the year comes to a close is look back at the #books I’ve been reading over the past year, and how those choices have affected the way I look at the world. www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/opinion/thre...

One of my favorite parts of Ministry for the Future was the abolition of the billionaires. Just to be that rich makes you an enemy of democracy. Wrote early this year:

The last (for now) in the transportation series. Talking about folks with mobility issues, and a list of resources, including @strongtowns.org, @thewaroncars.bsky.social, @climatetown.bsky.social, @modacitylife.com, @urbanistagenda.bsky.social and more. www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/opinion/opin...

A cool @bsky.app feature would be to be able to unfollow a starter pack that I've followed. Especially one that didn't turn out to be what I thought it was.

And just like that, got the first #rejection of this round of #querying. Just the way it goes. Good thing I got a long list of #litagents to go through. On to the next one.

Just sent out my first #query of this round. Hoping they like what I'm #writing!

Working on my annual “three books I read this year” column. Big year for 5-star books. Now to identify some themes.

Bit of light #reading while working a holiday market for my wife.

Well the edits I'm making to my #novel aren't actually improving anything, which must mean I've gotten it as far as I can go. The query letter is ready, so is the synopsis, I have a long list of agents. Guess I gotta do the thing now.

#Alberta, fill this out! your.alberta.ca/ab-passenger... #BC, where you at? #trains #transportation #infrastructure #sustainability #environment

Next in the series of how to get around better. My favourite way of all, bikes! www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/opinion/bike...

I keep forgetting to think of a title for my novel. Literary speculative about building a new life after the end of the world. Themes of nature, community building, social ecology, climate fiction, radical decomposition Options: 1. Gentle Apocalypse 2. Go Gentle 3. Regrowth 4. Primary Succession

First draft of a #query letter done! Time to go back in and read what I've been #writing to make sure it doesn't suck! Then ... the big scary "sending it to #litagents" thing. ☄️💥👩‍👧‍👦🏡⛈️🚲💜👩‍👩‍👧‍👦🌱

This was my second time fixing. #bikes for the Repair Cafe. It’s a program put on by the Lake Trail Community Education Society and Comox Strathcona Waste Management. The idea is to keep things out of the landfill, but it does so much more than that too. www.dirtbag-cycles.com/features/202...

why aren't the robots doing mundane tasks for us? why are they writing and drawing? they want to be me so bad...

USDOT just published a Climate Strategies that Work Playbook. Looks pretty good. Topics covered include road pricing, parking reform, and transit system integration. For each one, USDOT summarizes research findings and suggests federal funding opportunities. www.transportation.gov/climate-stra...

Well my therapist told me that the whole "pivoting from the interior work of writing to the exterior work of trying to sell what you've been #writing" is hard or something. So I guess I'm not doing it wrong. It's just hard.

Hey #writers, if your Work in Progress was a song, what song would it be? Here's mine: open.spotify.com/track/6rK7Vy...

Is it just me, or is Noam Chomsky turning into Treebeard?

Former Amazon worker here; do not cross this picket line. Don't do it. Don't even order from them (unless absolutely necessary). They're a disgusting company to work for and the reason for my knee problems that required years of physical therapy. Fuck Amazon. We stand with the workers! 👊🏻✨

A wonderful movie to watch on Black Friday instead of shopping: www.dailymotion.com/video/x3ie7xt Radicalized, anti-capitalist man who hates how much the holidays seem to be about over-consumption learns that the most important thing is spending time with loved ones.

Big day! Had the same notebook since 2016 and used the last page today. Got to open the new one and will start filling it up. It’s fun to have a tangible record of how the time passes, and to look back at how far you’ve come. It doesn’t always feel like progress, but it is. #writing #notebooks

#writing a hook for my #novel - How to keep living after the end of the world. - After the apocalypse you still have to brush your teeth. - A woman learns there's still a life for her even after the world ends. - The end of the world is relative. - How to raise children after the end of the world.

Querying time. Any #litagents out there looking for an understated post-apocalyptic book that looks at how we can rebuild a fairer, more equitable world after disastrous political and climate upheavals, and how we can wrap our mind around raising children in such a world? Query letters are hard.

Last weekend I fixed bikes at the local Repair Cafe. I wrote about it for the paper! www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/community/re...

Next in my series on how we should re-think our transportation: "We're all pedestrians. So why don't we design our community around that one, universal, shared experience?" Inspired by @laurajanegrace.bsky.social and @thewaroncars.bsky.social: www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/opinion/walk...

Denver gave people experiencing homelessness $1k/month. A year later, nearly half had housing. They also had fewer ER visits, nights spent in a hospital, and jail stays. The report estimates that this reduction in public service use SAVED the city $589k. www.businessinsider.com/denver-basic...

Authors receive a payment every time you borrow a book, audiobook or ebook from libraries in 35 countries. Those countries include the UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Germany to name but a few. Borrowing a book helps the author’s pocket as well as yours.

When I'm not writing fiction, I'm writing for the newspaper. Here are a few stories I've been proud of lately. First, and I think @thewaroncars.bsky.social would like this, a series on the transportation options in my city. Starting with cars. www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/home/cars-ar...

Half of #writing a synopsis is trying to remember which plot points made it into this draft.

This is what $15 at the #book sale gets you. Backwards #books are gifts!