Author of horror & SF who lost the plot, but now working on a revision. Not a bad person, just bad at being a person.
The Deadlights
Joined November 2009
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It's 19° at 6PM on Nov 4 in Ottawa, Ontario? Heck yes, I am going to find a reason to sit outside. And that reason is to edit a short story I wrote about 10 years ago. I won't be able to sit out here like this until May.
You never know what you'll see in Ottawa's Centretown. How about a red loveseat with a fry pan on it? I often see furniture out on the curb—couches, tables, dressers, chairs.
But fry pans?
ALT Photo of a red loveseat at the curb with a fry pan on it
BALLHALLA!!!!
Congrats to the @valkyries on their @WNBA championship! Sweet for this @UConnWBB fan that 4 are from UConn. And Coach Nakase gave my fave player @c_ducharme3 a training camp look.
Rooting for @TempoBasketball next season.
Let college hoop season begin.
While handing out Halloween candy, we heard Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and then this glowing combination of jellyfish and English knight walked up the street.
This is why I love living in Ottawa's Centretown. You never know what you're going to see next.
Let's get this Halloween started! To save our dog's sanity, we've decided to sit out on the front walk and hand out candy despite the chilly weather.
Determined to work on my #WIP today. Determined is one thing, progress is another. Stared at the computer, walked the dog, typed 1000 words I might delete, listened to a @UConnWBB game and put the trash out.
But right now, at 6:30 Sunday evening, things are clicking.
ALT Image of a post-it note saying "#AmWriting: Words finally start coming at 6:30 after a day of false starts"
A joy of living in Ottawa's Centretown is you never know what you'll see out on a walk with your dog. I have to admit a whole potato on a garden wall that looks purposely placed there is very low on the list of things I'd expect to see.
ALT A photo of a potato on a stone garden wall.
I find this blank flyer terrifying. Flyers announce things and communicate information. Is this flyer announcing the void? Advocating the null? The site of anti-information entering our world? Has its topic or event been erased from existence with the paper the only remnant?
ALT Picture of a blank sheet of paper stapled to a wooden telephone pole
Spotted on my walk in Ottawa's Centretown. I love the ornamental lanterns hanging from the beam on the second floor.
Downtown and Centretown are going through some very rough challenges right now, but there's also a lot of renovations, improvements and beauty hidden away.
ALT Photo of a brick house with a black 2-storey porch with black ornamental lanterns hanging from the beam using black chains.
The reason there is a beagle under my chair is a bug landed on his back while he was lazing in a sunbeam. Well, he screamed and ran for cover under my chair and remained there for about 5 minutes.
My brave, rugged and fearless hunting breed, folks.
Back home from an amazing and exhausting (in the best way) Can*Con, Ottawa's SFFH literary convention. Too much to praise and say, so to be brief: I am lucky to be be part of a talented & loving community. This convention continues to grow in importance and impact.
One of the cool things about the Brook Street Hotel where Can*Con is taking place is the stairwells are straight out of Backrooms.
Can*Con, Ottawa's SFFH convention, begins Friday night! I'll be on three panels this weekend and hope to make it to the Spooky Social for horror enthusiasts Saturday Night. Hope to see you there! More info at can-con (dot) org.
Spotted this walking my dog & it felt like a perfect encapsulation of local political discourse here in Ottawa. (Pic isn't a statement on a politician, more of a statement on how we see politics.)
Regardless, go vote! Advanced voting Oct. 16 & election day is Oct. 26, 2026.
ALT Political flyer for a local Ottawa candidate for mayor with a penis drawn over his face in black magic marker.
A year ago in my #WIP I renamed an area from Cannon Hill to Powell Hill, losing a favourite line from a gun shooting thug: "I put the 'cannon' in Cannon Hill!"
Editing today, I realized he can yell: "I put the 'pow' in Powell Hill!"
I love it even more.
RED DRAGON was good, but THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (Thomas Harris) is brilliant. This scene with Starling and Dr. Chilton is a masterclass. Starling, Crawford, Buffalo Bill and Lecter get such depth that their stories are as compelling as the search for Catherine Baker Martin.
ALT Photo of a page from the novel The Silence of the Lambs
My schedule for CAN*CON 2026 coming up Oct. 16-18 here in Ottawa. Panels on networking, building anticipation (or just frustrating the reader) and good (and bad) adaptations of literary works.
Con info at can-con.org/
ALT Poster for Matt Moore's schedule at CANCON 2026 Networking 101, Friday at 5:30 in Mainstream (3rd Floor) Speculation or Anticipation, Saturday at 5:30 in Decivers(3rd Floor) Where the Adaptation Actually Works, Sunday at 2:30 in Network (2nd Floor)
It must be the apocalypse. No, not politics or war or disease or the economy.
My WIP is a fantasy-set love story.
We're doomed.
#amwriting
