Hours after returning to Prince George I was at UNBC taking part in the Bridges Festival of Art and Culture, and delivering my first reading. It went smoothly and I was asked interesting questions. For example: what do I do with a new idea? If it is new to me, I go where it takes me. What if the idea has been used before? If the idea is new to me, I go ahead with it. It has happened before that different people have used the same idea. For example, Anson MacDonald and Robert Heinlein wrote stories with very similar plots, and the same title, “By His Bootstraps,” yet the two stories have their own distinctiveness: read them both! They are delightful time travel stories.

Many thanks to Greg Halseth, Rob Budde, Jeremy Stewart, and Joanna Smyth for organizing the Bridges event. Thanks also to Janet Merrin for coordinating the book readings and Mardeanna Berg for facilitating book sales at UNBC, and all the people who attended the events, thus supporting the Arts in our community.