book

Podcast launch artwork features a piece of graph paper with the title The Trade Up Podcast with John Finan and Lisa Brandt on a workbench with various tools and a welding helmet nearby

Trade Up Podcast Launches Today!

Today, episode one of the Trade Up podcast is live and kicking off another adventure in John Finan’s and my mission to promote the skilled trades. We call it “your guide to understanding, navigating, and excelling in the world of the trades.” It follows our book, Trade Up: Why Buy a Job When You Can Start A Career.

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The Weekend, The Book and Other Things

Saturday was hotter in London, Ontario than it was in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  Dubai, that over-populated, but-it’s-a-dry-heat, desert playground, where 40C+ is the norm. Where millions of people hustle through the world’s tenth-busiest airport on their way to spend their wealth at luxury stores while the sun beats down with a relentless burn. No wonder we didn’t want to go outside. …

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Throwback Thursday – At Your Service

When I was a kid, I loved the poems of Robert Service. They told stories of the Yukon gold rush in a musical cadence that included lots of alliteration and rhymes. Service didn’t bother with subtleties in his most famous works. You knew what you were getting with The Cremation of Sam McGee, The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill and hundreds of others. He also wrote six novels, two autobiographies and even acted in the 1942 film, The Spoilers, with Marlene Dietrich. Visiting his restored cabin in Dawson City, Yukon – a preserved historical site – is on my bucket list. 

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books stacked beside wooden candlesticks, titled Mystery, Romance, Biography

Birthing Another Book

I’ve signed the contract with Hibbert & Stiles . The manuscript has been edited. My fifth book is in production to come out as both a book-book and an eBook. Be Our Guest (working title) will be spineless, not in tone but it physical nature. It’s a quick read meant for publicists, talent managers and anyone at all who has an interest in radio and in getting a guest spot on the air. …

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headphones resting on a microphone in a broadcast studio

Write With Me

Back in September, I posted a blog about what potential radio guests should know before they pitch an idea. (Want to Attract the Media? Follow These Tips!) It was shared several times on social media and some people messaged me privately to say that these things never occurred to them. I know! That’s why I wrote it.  🙂  …

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Review: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

If, as I do, you prefer hard truth over comfortable fiction, buy this book or borrow it and digest it thoroughly. This is coming from someone who’s not big on the self-help book market but this page-turner is a best-seller for a reason. It’s not a typical self-help book. …

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Review: Kathy Griffin’s Celebrity Run-Ins: My A-Z Index

There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who think Kathy Griffin is hilarious and those who don’t get her comedy at all. Count me in the first camp. The red-headed agitator’s latest book is a collection of awkward and funny encounters with some of the most famous people in showbiz. 

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