: About Me

A journalist for seven years with large daily newspapers - Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald - I've always had an inquiring mind. My reporter skills have never left me and I always ask who, what, where, when, why and how, and include that information in every article I write. The reader wants to be informed.

My other careers included raising Registered Herefords on a 600-acre spread on the East coast; doing everything from scratch from milking the cow and churning the butter to tapping the maple trees and making maple syrup to halter breaking the calves and showing them at cattle fairs, as well as putting up 6,000 bales of hay annually and cutting, loading and selling cordwood from my virgin forest;

- raising Arabian and American Saddlebred horses on the West coast;

- living in the Northwest Territories and going down into the Giant Gold Mine;

- renovating six houses so far in my lifetime;

- being a town manager in Nova Scotia and Alberta for 14 years during which time I made a point of informing the public how they could get things done at city hall - my goal being to be the best civil servant ever;

- designing historic and beautification projects to spruce up whole towns, formulating economic development projects and prospectuses to attract new business and industry to towns.

- taking on every municipal job from dog catcher to by-law enforcement officer to economic development officer to writing by-laws and acting as the prosecution in court;

- getting sick with an incurable illness and finding my way back to health the natural way - without the help of the medical profession who said there was no cure - and because of my studies, becoming a natural health mentor;

- editor of Canada's largest natural health magazine,
300,000 monthly circulation. Proactive in lining up writers, major articles and photo shoots a year in advance, resulting in 100% on-time freelance submissions and increased overall efficiency.

- working as a speech writer for the Minister of Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, and writing all his speeches to get agriculture laws passed in the Alberta Legislature;

- landscaping urban lots and pasture management on the farm;

- studying veterinary books and doing my own veterinary work on cattle, horses, dogs, cats, pigs, rabbits and chickens;

- achieving gourmet cooking status with fresh homegrown food;

- a lifelong voracious reader, with the thesaurus, encyclopedia and now the internet being essential in my search for knowledge.

Other interests and achievements include:

- being a volunteer servant for Nicotine Anonymous World Services, an organization that provides a spiritual 12-step program and support to nicotine addicts who want to quit using tobacco and stay quit.  First Canadian to be elected to the Executive of Nicotine Anonymous World Services in 2010.

- I was an active member of Toastmasters International for more than ten years; in my first year I was awarded the Rookie of the Year Award, presented to one newcomer out of 4,000 members for all of Saskatchewan and Alberta for editing and writing award winning newsletters and for writing and designing a 50-page public speaking manual for Toastmasters; the Rookie of the Year award is given annually to one new Toastmaster for competitiveness, enthusiasm, dedication, mentoring others, personal improvement, service to the organization and to one's community.

- completed the four-year course in Municipal Administration from Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, specifically Accounting, Municipal Law, Administration and Economics. Only student since its inception in 1935 to complete the four-year Municipal Administration Program in three years.

- political activist, especially in the areas of environmental concerns, responsibility for actions and freedom of speech.

- Owner of Pets & Plants TLC from 2003 to 2010, a service I provide where I live in people's houses and look after their pets while they are on vacation. As a writer, it's wonderful to have loving animals curled up around your feet while you write.

My passion is ...

being passionate about everything that interests me

My childhood ambition ...

to be a writer

My favorite memory ...

the magic of living on a farm and caring for animals

Why I write ...

Knowledge is everything, moreso if movingly written

My first job ...

A news reporter at the age of 17

My best moment ...

Having my great love - a farm that brought out the best in me.

My inspiration ...

Writing books & articles that will change people's lives

Health & Fitness > Emotional Health & Wellbeing Empowerment and mental illness

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“Niacin to the Rescue” Niacin may be the answer to reverse memory loss, alleviate schizophrenia, and depression and prevent the mental effects of ageing such as Alzheimer's Disease. So said Dr. Abram Hoffer, 82-year-old psychiatrist and biochemist, at the recent conference of the International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia. Hoffer says that the old paradigm in psychiatry, particularly in the field of nutrition, only uses vitamins as prevention, based on the theory that vitamins are only needed for deficiency diseases like scurvy or pellagra ...

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Writing:

• Professional Journalist
• Marketplace Approved Writer
• News Writer
• Helium Charter Member