I, Gayle, have been busy at a terrifically successful and information-packed Vernon Writer’s Festival April 11-14; but unfortunately the neuropathy and arthritis in Ian’s feet have meant that he had to stay home. Those evenings I reluctantly skipped the book readings and open mic to go through my workshop notes with Ian, filling him in on some of the highlights. Thanks to Markella Mildenberger, our coordinator, and all the writers who participated, especially those who led the workshops: Ben Nuttall-Smith on “Dynamic Presenter,” “From Memoir to Novel,” and “From Scribbles to Publication”; George Opacic on “Using Your Corpus Callosum,” “E Publishing and E Readers,” and “Script-Writing”; Laisha Rosnau on “Story Structure”; Stella Harvey on “How A Novel Comes Together”; Patricia Donahue on “Character Development”; and Shawn Bird on “Blogging and Social Media”. I learned a lot, enjoyed selling some of our books and trading some for books by other authors present, as well as buying a few. Now I have a stack of great books to read by some of our talented British Columbia authors.
Here, then, is the next installment of the children’s chapter book we have been blogging: “Jake, Little Jimmy and Big Louie.” We welcome any comments, suggestions for improvements or constructive criticism readers may wish to give us. If you have such, please comment below or email us at gayleian@gmail.com. And to our great-grandchildren, Leland and Hannah, who are consultants on this book, we eagerly await some more comments and pictures from you. Thanks!
“JAKE, LITTLE JIMMY AND BIG LOUIE” 
by Ian Moore-Morrans
edited by Gayle Moore-Morrans
Copyright © 2012
CHAPTER EIGHT
Louie Takes Off
You can’t really talk to a bird, whether it’s a little budgie or a very large parrot, and ask it questions, or have a conversation with it. It works something like a tape recorder, not nearly as efficient, but a lot more fun. You have to repeat the same thing over and over and over again and someday (maybe), the bird might repeat what you say, although it wouldn’t know what the words meant.
(The rest of the chapter’s content has been deleted prior to the book’s publication.)
Picture suggestions: Louie and Jimmy “beak-clicking.” Louie flying away.
MOOMOR PUBLISHING 
After looking at a few of the articles on your site,
I seriously appreciate your technique of writing a blog. I added
it to my bookmark site list and will be checking back soon. Take a look at
my website as well and let me know what you think.
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I really like what you guys are up too. This type of clever work
and coverage! Keep up the great works guys I’ve included you guys to our
blogroll.
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Hi Ian and Gayle, I’m happy to nominate your blog for a Liebster Award. The details are here: http://shawnbird.com/2013/04/27/liebster-award/
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Congratulations on receiving the Liebster Award, Shawn, and thanks for nominating us as well. It may take a little while for us to post about this and pass it along as we are inundated with other things happening in our lives at the moment. However, rest assured we will be posting about this in the near future. We enjoyed your random facts and answers to the questions posed. It is a good way to get to know other bloggers. On another topic, special thanks to you for a very knowledgeable and fun workshop on blogging and other social media you recently conducted at the Vernon Writers’ Festival. Gayle Moore-Morrans.
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Howdy would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in
3 completely different browsers and I must say this blog
loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good
hosting provider at a honest price? Thank you, I appreciate it!
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Thanks for your query and your feedback. We use Word Press as a webhost and have found it very good. The level we are using is free and we would highly recommend it. Best wishes.
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Glad to hear the writer’s festival was a success but sad that Ian was unable to attend.
Thanks again for the enjoyable visit with you and Ian. We just got back from 5 days in San Diego – cold and cloudy for 3 of those days.
See you next time and take care
Cheers
Ellen
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry
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Hey, Ellen. It’s great that you are now following our blogs. Yes, Ian was sorry to miss the festival but at least I could bring him the highlights. We loved having you and Richard visit and also glad you had some good days in San Diego, despite the not-as-great-weather as you had hoped. Sounds like Calgary! We’re having sun today and Misty and I need to get out for a walk. How are you finding the children’s book we are blogging? Or had you read it before in its earlier version? We’re having fun with it – not that Ian is doing much, but he enjoys reading the posts when I get them ready and then says, “Did I really write that?” Yes, I tell him – it’s good isn’t it? We are getting ready to receive some more pictures drawn by the grandkids and hope to start publishing it maybe by fall. I got some great new books to read at the writer’s festival. Will let you know my recommendations when I’m finished with them. Then you can order them or borrow from me as you wish. How did you find the book I lent you on the crazy mixed up blended (or should I say “unblended”) Scottish family/ies? Keep in touch. Cheers to you too! Gayle
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