Speaking Out and Standing Out with Canadian Children's Authors at CANSCAIP Prairie Horizons conference

The 2025 Prairie Horizons conference of the Saskatchewan chapter of the Canadian Association of Children's Authors, Illustrators, and Performers was a great success! Set in beautiful downtown Saskatoon, conference attendees explored the theme of Don't Drop Out: Speak Out, Stand Out. I am grateful to organizers Yvonne Denomy, Mary Harelkin Bishop, and Maureen Ulrich for inviting me to speak as part of a publishing panel and to share notes on manuscript evaluations with three of the attendees.

The publishing panel addressed these topics (some of my responses are in parentheses):  

- What are the challenges for publishers and editors? (Cost of production; selling and marketing the books; lack of financial support for indie publishers & authors)

- What helps an author or manuscript/illustrator stand out, and what is a publisher looking for in a manuscript? (A unique topic/storyline/approach to a subject; great writing that tells the story and helps the reader care about the characters; for DriverWorks Ink books, a story that readers can learn something from, to help make the world a better place)

-  What are tips to encourage aspiring authors and illustrators to stay the course? (Keep going; try to not be discouraged by a rejection letter; try to look at comments or criticisms of the written work as opportunities for improvement; keep searching until you find an editor/publisher who is a good fit for you and your work)

- What do authors/illustrators need to know about Artificial Intelligence (Be careful; use it sparingly and cautiously; add an AI clause in your contracts to protect yourself and your publisher; know that AI  copies sources without permission or compensation to the originators of the ideas; check for the source of the information to confirm it is correct and not plagiarized; be cautious that you are not stealing the creations of others)

The conference had numerous sessions and events in addition to those in which I participated. It's always nice to learn something new and connect with other writers, authors, and publishers. Thanks again to CANSCAIP Saskatchewan for hosting a great conference.

Enjoy these photos from CANSCAIP's 2025 Prairie Horizons Conference.

Blogger and Book Editor Brian Henry, Deana Driver of DriverWorks Ink, Emma Sakamoto of Groundwood Books, and Edward Willett of Shadowpass Press 

Author and Spoken Word artist Khodi Dill inspired the audience to speak out against injustice

Author and Storyteller Cort Dogniez shared why authors should speak out about history and injustice

Three award-winning DriverWorks Ink authors (left to right) Mary Harelkin Bishop, Deana J Driver, and Jennifer S Wallace at the 2025 Prairie Horizons conference

A view of downtown Saskatoon and the South Saskatchewan River, May 2025

A Surprise Connection to Reg "Crash" Harrison's Family Farm

Selling my books at craft and trade shows on the Canadian Prairies is usually a fun and fascinating exercise in which I meet avid readers and get ideas for future stories to write and/or publish. Sometimes, people praise my publishing efforts and the nonfiction or historical fiction books they particularly enjoyed. But the lovely surprise at a craft show in Swift Current in October 2024 was a unique experience.

A few minutes before the show closed on its final day, a woman came running up to my booth, clutching her copy of my book Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Death. "I made it!" she said. "I told my husband I met you yesterday and it was too bad I didn't have my book with me. He asked when the show ended today and told me I still had time to get back here!" Which she did, and I promptly autographed the book for her.

But that wasn't the only reason for her return visit. This time, she brought her cellphone, which contained photos she wanted to show me of an important farmhouse.

You see, Arlie (Dreger) Neufeld was raised on a farm at Lorlie, Saskatchewan, just down the road from Reg "Crash" Harrison, the 102-year-old subject of my book. Reg was a bomber pilot in England in the Second World War who had survived four plane crashes and numerous close calls. I wrote the biography about Reg's childhood on the farm at Finnie, SK, his adventures during his war years, and his life afterward, including being made an Honorary Snowbird by the famed Canadian aerobatics team.

Author-publisher Deana Driver and Arlie (Dreger) Neufeld

When Arlie first spoke with me, she said her sister Loretta was a friend of Reg's youngest sister Sylvia, so she wasn't sure if Reg would know her. Arlie then asked when Reg had last been to the area where they grew up - a question I did not have an answer for. She talked about how she'd been out there recently and had taken photos of the farmhouse. She would have shown them to me except she'd left her phone at home.

So here she was on Day Two of the show, posing for a photo with me and the book, and showing me photos of the farmhouse - the Harrisons' farmhouse, not the house her family lived in!

I was astounded and pleased. I had thought Arlie was talking about photos of her family's farmhouse, not Reg's. This was a great surprise!

Harrison family's farmhouse, Finnie, SK, 2024
Photo by Arlie (Dreger) Neufeld

Side view of Harrison family's farmhouse, Finnie, SK, 2024
Photo by Arlie (Dreger) Neufeld

Harrison family's farmhouse, Finnie SK, 1960
(one of the 98 photos in the Crash Harrison book)

I wish I'd had those recent photos for the book, but I didn't know the house was still standing or I probably would have driven out to take some photos myself.

Oh well. The things you learn after a book has been published.

Thanks, Arlie, for coming back to the craft show and sharing those images with me.

Reg and his daughter Laurie, and his sister Sylvia were all tickled by the reconnection and the photos. They all say, "Hi, neighbour! And thank you!"

Reginald "Crash" Harrison and author Deana J Driver, 2023

Beauty in a tree branch

While sorting through some boxes, I found this photograph I had taken in my days of being a for-hire photographer. I didn't do as well at that job as I would have liked, mostly because I didn't have very expensive photography equipment in the 1990s - being a struggling creative artist and all that. Hmmm... that's still the case actually, but I digress.

Nowadays, most of us carry a cellphone camera that surpasses the camera, lenses and lights I carried in boxes then.

I fell in love with photography when I learned about it in journalism school in the early 1970s. I even had a darkroom in the basement bathroom of one of my homes in the '80s. The bathroom was specifically built so no light came in to disrupt my developing skills (literally and figuratively). That's likely the place where I developed the roll of film and printed this photo of wintertime tree branches.

I love this photographic reminder that beauty surrounds us, often in unexpected places ... such as when you look up after a lunch break while delivering books to a shop in Emerald Park, SK - as in my photo below from earlier this winter!

Writing with a Purpose

The other day, I took one of my writing journals to a grandchild's soccer game so I could do some journalling while I waited for the game to begin.

The only person in the stands near me was a woman... who all of a sudden said, "Hey, look!" as she pulled a copy of the exact same journal out of her handbag.

What are the chances? And how cool is that?

"You've met your journal twin," she said to me.

We both smiled.

Some spiritual people that I know tell me there's no such thing as coincidence, that things happen for a reason. So I wondered why this unusual event occurred. 

It didn't take long for me to figure it out.

I write in a journal to help process my thoughts and emotions. I would have shared most of those with my husband when he was still alive, but he died eight years ago from cancer, so I have been figuring out a new way of life since then - one that involves a lot more time alone. Writing helps me release the ideas and emotions - of all varieties - that well up inside me. Once I've put them on paper - writing them out by hand over a longer time versus typing them up quickly - my soul feels lighter. More at peace.

I've reminded myself, in this past year especially, after receiving such nice responses to my latest book, that I write because that's what I am supposed to be doing. It's my calling on this earth. It's one of the things that makes me happy and brings a sense of purpose to my days and nights. 

I enjoy writing about other people and their fascinating lives and accomplishments. As a retired journalist as well as a book publisher, editor, and author, I enjoy sharing true stories and documenting them for historical purposes, and for entertainment too.

In thinking more about the journal I brought to that soccer game, I wondered where I got this particular pink journal. At first, I thought perhaps it was given to me by a dear friend or family member who knows about my need to write down my thoughts to release them from my mind. Then I remembered that I bought this journal at a discount store because of the words on its front cover.

So, in this new year, I feel like this moment of meeting my "journal twin" was a reminder of how I should proceed in 2024 in this different, new life of mine:
 Act, Show, Prove (although when I glanced at the journal cover just now, I thought it said Love instead of Prove, and that's good too).

I'm also reminded that words are important, and I'm grateful to have the ability to use them in my personal life and my profession. 

As Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad said, “My task...is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel - it is, before all, to make you see. That - and no more - and it is everything.”

Crash Harrison Bomber Pilot Book Coming Soon

My newest book is almost here! Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Death will be released at the end of July, and I am SO EXCITED!

It's been 12 years since I wrote a full-size book.

Since my last full-size book (Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope) was launched in June 2011, I have written and published The Sailor and the Christmas Trees (which is an inspiring 48-page Christmas story) and pieces in seven other books about farming and aviation. Writing and putting together this 176-page Crash Harrison book, however, has been its own unique and interesting journey.

The story is about Reginald "Crash" Harrison, a 100-year-old gentleman in Saskatoon who was a bomber pilot during the Second World War. He's had many fascinating adventures, including surviving several crashes and close calls, and has made some lifelong connections because of his time as a Second World War bomber pilot.

The printed proof of Crash Harrison arrived last week, and I am still a little overwhelmed by the reality of it all. The book is being printed! It will be here in late July!

Meeting Reg in May of 2019 when I interviewed him for the first volume of the Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation series was an experience I’ll never forget. I’d talked to him by phone to find out some details of his story, but sitting across from him and watching as he thumbed through his Pilot’s Flying Log Book from the 1940s to fill in details of his missions was really special. I’d also never interviewed someone of that advanced age (he was 96 at the time).

Reg is a gentle, kind man. He doesn’t consider himself to be a hero. That alone makes him more worthy of the honour than most. For the first Flight book, I wrote about Reg’s wartime adventures and a little about his life after the war. Over the last couple of years, as I was contemplating which book I would write next and who it would be about, I couldn’t get Reg and his life story out of my mind. I knew I had to write his story and share it with a wider audience.

We spent many hours talking in person and on the phone, adding more details to my first interviews about his wartime and after-the-war activities. We also talked in depth about his growing-up years on the Prairies and what it was like to walk three miles to school, herd cattle in the dust storms of the Dirty Thirties in Saskatchewan, and do homework by the dim light of a coal oil lamp. He told me about the first airplane ride he ever took – as a teenager – and how he paid for that flight with weasel skins, how his parents kept their family fed during the Great Depression, and how he was never scared while doing his job as a bomber pilot.

Reg became one of the few Canadians in the famed “Guinea Pig Club” after receiving reconstructive skin graft surgery during the war. And he was named an “Honorary Snowbird” by the renowned Canadian Forces’ Snowbirds aerobatics display team, which flies under the same squadron number as Reg served during the war.

I wrote the book in Reg’s voice, as thought he is telling his own story.

The book is educational, with captivating tales of Reg’s adventures and his life. I am certain that Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Death will be enjoyed by readers from teens to seniors and I’m looking forward to launching it this summer and sharing it with all of you in the days and months ahead.

DriverWorks Ink is grateful to Creative Saskatchewan for Book Publishing Production grant support of this title.

The Power of a Chance Meeting

 One evening in mid-May, I started a conversation with a young man at a gas station. We were both filling our vehicles with gas on a blustery night.

I said, "The weather turned cool quickly."

He said, "It's not winter, so I'm good with it. I'm counting my blessings."

I agreed. 

We continued pumping gas into our respective vehicles.

At one point, he walked over to his passenger side window to talk with his wife, who as sitting in the car, looking at me. Then he came over to me and said, "My wife loves your licence plate holder."

My plate holder says, "MY FAVOURITE PEOPLE CALL ME GRANDMA."

I told them it was a gift from my daughter and that I didn't even notice the top part of it for awhile - "MY FAVOURITE PEOPLE". I only saw the bottom phrase "CALL ME GRANDMA" (because it's bigger and more obvious), and I thought that was terrific.

As I finished filling my vehicle's tank, the young man came over again and said, "I don't know what you believe or if this is okay, but do you believe in Jesus?"

I said, "Yes, I do."

"Do you need a prayer?"

I replied, "Always." (Because really, who doesn't need a prayer?)

He was surprised and pleased with my answer. He asked if there was anything specific I wanted him to pray for. I said, "No."

He asked if he could lay hands on me. I said, "Sure."

He put his hand on my arm, took off his hat, and began to pray for me. He thanked God for me and my life, for my heart, and my gifts. He asked Jesus to bring joy, and joy and joy into my life, and he prayed for my kids and grandkids.

It was such a nice, comforting surprise.

I thanked him and told him that his prayer was lovely. I asked if I could give him a hug, and we embraced.

Young Dillon, wearing a "Demons Fear Me" T-shirt, put a big smile on my face that night.

A testament to being kind to others, to the power of prayer, and a chance meeting at a gas station on a windy Prairie evening. 

Therapy Dog Saves A Life

Murphy, the English Springer Spaniel, is a very special dog. He’s the first Therapy Dog to help patients in a Canadian hospital emergency room. He did that in 2015. Last week, he saved a life outside an emergency room in Regina.

Murphy is the subject of the wonderful children’s picture book Murphy Mondays: The First St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog in a Canadian Emergency Room, written by his handler/owner Jane Smith and published by my company, DriverWorks Ink.

Jane contacted me in 2018 to ask if I would help her publish a book about her and Murphy’s volunteer work as a certified therapy dog team. Murphy moved with Jane and her husband Preston to Saskatoon from Nova Scotia in 2014. Since the fall of 2015, they have been visiting the Royal University Hospital Emergency Room in Saskatoon. They have been the subjects of several research papers and studies as well as being models for other therapy dogs.

With financial support from the Royal University Hospital Foundation, we published Murphy Mondays, which has three chapters about their true story: The Child Patients; The Adult Patients; and The Doctors, Nurses and Hospital Staff. The book is illustrated by Wendi Nordell and also includes 16 photos of Jane and Murphy and other people and places connected to their therapy dog work. Jane has donated proceeds from the book’s sales to the RUH Foundation and St. John Ambulance.

As a therapy dog, Murphy has helped children and adult patients feel more comfortable in emergency rooms and other healthcare facilities, including vaccination clinics and some communities after disasters or traumas.

In November, I was privileged to accompany Jane and Murphy while they visited a young man they had come to know years earlier. I watched as Murphy was his usual calm self when he walked into the room beside Jane. When he saw this young man and heard his voice, Murphy’s tail began to wag rapidly. We all enjoyed watching as this young man lit up with smiles and laughter as he hugged and cuddled with his favourite dog.

Jane wrote about that visit, speaking for Murphy, on their Instagram page murphymondays: “So excited. I haven’t seen this gentleman in years since he moved to another city. I visited him weekly for many years. I love ❤️ him and he me. What a great reunion. He kept asking daily to see me. Finally, we got to hug and cuddle. Found out he travels bi-weekly to Saskatoon, so we are setting up visits at an organization he is a part of. Within minutes of leaving, I was snoring in the car. Gave him my whole heart as usual.”

A few days ago, Jane and Murphy were taking part in a St. John Ambulance crisis response training session in Regina. What happened one night while they were on a break is a remarkable story that highlights the value of these wonderful, gentle animals.

Jane Smith wrote about this event on Instagram, as though her dog Murphy is talking:

“I helped save a life tonight! So getting needed rest on Jane’s lap. In Regina, for crisis response training so I just happened to practice tonight. Went out for a pee and a man who petted me suggested I cheer a motionless person on a bench. It was -26 degrees Celsius with the wind chill. Even I was cold. The man came with Jane and I under a fence and over and through snow. The person did not respond to Jane or the man. However, I got a few grunts when I licked her face. 911 was called. I stood still as could be and didn’t mind the sirens as Jane waved down the fire truck. The firepersons and paramedics got her standing and moving and took her to the ambulance. They thanked us.”

What an incredible story about some pretty amazing people who make up one marvelous St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Team! I’m so honoured to know Jane and Murphy and to help them share their stories.

To read more about Murphy, follow him (and Jane Smith) on Instagram at murphymondays and purchase the book from DriverWorks Ink.

 

Shredding the past and moving into a new year

There's a certain satisfaction that comes with shredding old business files. You see where you have come from, what you've accomplished, who you touched, who touched you, what did not go so well, and what you learned from it.

In shredding business files that are older than seven years, the timeframe after which CRA says you can shred your business/income tax files, I came across many memories. Things I’d forgotten. Things I needed to be reminded of. Things I might want to try again, but maybe in a different way.

I found lovely notes from authors, readers, fans, work colleagues, and family. Little winks were hidden in expense and sales sheets from craft or trade shows and posters for dozens of author readings across the Prairies. I remembered mental images of children and adults who were enthralled to hear about my books and those of the authors I publish. What a precious gift of memories.

The new year will bring more terrific new books to my business. Four marketable books are on my DriverWorks Ink publishing list at present, along with a few that will be produced only for the authors and/or their families. There will be new growth – for my authors and readers, and for me as we learn new concepts from writers who are known and beloved or are new to us.

Onward and upward! Welcome, 2023!

  

Reconnecting with a special friend and unique story in Brandon MB

As an author and book publisher, I am often asked, "Where do you get your stories from?"

Sometimes, I find the stories or book subjects by researching and asking questions, the way I did when I was a freelance journalist writing for various Canadian newspapers and magazines.

Sometimes, the stories walk into my line of vision or hearing, as was the case when my daughter Lisa told me about the indomitable Dionne Warner, the seven-time cancer survivor who was about to speak at a Relay for Life rally in Regina in July 2011 (which made me think Dionne's story was worthy of a great book, which I would go on to write and publish - Never Leave Your Wingman).

Sometimes, as in the case of the book I wrote about former Royal Canadian Navy man John Hanlon of Brandon, Manitoba, the story comes to me through a friend of a friend.

In about 2011, a dear friend of mine, Dexter van Dyke, suggested that he knew of a story that his friend, Elaine Rounds of Brandon, had told him about an elderly man who did something wonderful during the Second World War. 

In November 1944, John Hanlon was a wireless operator on the HMCS Royalmount, which was docked in St. John's, Newfoundland at the time. John knew their convoy would be at sea on Christmas Day, so he and a couple crewmates walked up a hill in St. John's Harbour and cut down some evergreens. John hid those trees in the belly of his ship and pulled them out weeks later, on Christmas morning, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean - surprising his crewmates as well as some English children who were on another ship in that convoy, coming to a safe home in Canada. John's forward-thinking made that wartime Christmas a very memorable day for many people for decades to come.

John had been telling this Christmas 1944 story to his children, grandchildren, his United Church community, and Royal Canadian Legion members at Christmastime for decades after the Second World War ended.

Elaine had told Dexter about the story. Then Dexter told me. We all knew it would make a great book. So I asked Dexter to connect me with Elaine and, thus, John Hanlon.

I met Elaine Rounds in Brandon in May 2012, based only on an introduction via Dexter. Elaine became an instant friend and we have spoken and seen each other several times in the years since then. That first day, she took me and my husband Al to the care home in which John Hanlon was a resident. John's wife Audrey told me the story while John, unable to speak at times at age 90, nuzzled in beside me and bumped my leg when the story got interesting.

Before I left John's room that day, I promised him and Audrey that I would write his special Christmas trees story before that Christmas and I would donate some money from each book to the Royal Canadian Legion (Dominion Command Poppy Trust Fund, which helps veterans and their families). John Hanlon passed away a few days after our meeting.

I fulfilled my promise and wrote The Sailor and the Christmas Trees book a couple months later in a style as though John was telling his Christmas trees story to the reader. When I phoned Audrey to read her what I had written, to make sure I had the details correct, she said, "I can hear John's voice." This brought tears to her eyes and to mine. A nonfiction writer cannot receive a bigger compliment.

I added a biography of John to the back of the book and invited artist Catherine Folnovic to illustrate the first half of the book, with family photos completing the biography. In a spur-of-the-moment decision that first day in Brandon, I had asked Al to take a photo of me with John, Audrey, and Elaine in John's small room. That photo has been a precious memory ever since.

This past weekend, I was storm-stayed in Brandon after a successful weekend at the Brandon's Big One Arts & Crafts Sale. Deciding to not take a chance on driving back to Regina in bad weather, I opted for a hotel room and I also made a phone call to Elaine Rounds to see if we could connect again. We met for supper and spent three glorious hours bringing each other up to date on our lives, relishing in our friendship, and celebrating the wonderful people who brought us together.

Thank you to Dexter, John, and Audrey. But thank you, especially, to Elaine, who knows a very good story when she sees one.

Elaine Rounds and Deana Driver
in Brandon, MB - Oct. 24, 2022

Publishing books and sharing the stories of others is no ordinary thing

I’ve spent most of my adult life writing or editing or designing newsletters or book layouts, or publishing and selling books, and I sometimes forget how cool that is. 

So far, I've written five non-fiction books and contributed pieces to more than a dozen other books. And I've published more than 70 books written by 50 or 60 (mostly Western) Canadian writers. That's been my life since I wrote my first book in 2001.

 
My adult daughters sometimes remind me that “most people don’t do this, Mom. They don’t go to a bookstore to sign the books they’ve written.”
 
I've also been reminded that most people aren’t interviewed by the media about what they wrote or published either. Because I was a journalist doing the asking of the questions for 30 years, it was a little strange to suddenly be on the other side of the interviews when I began writing and publishing books, but I quickly got used to it. And since I prefer to put together books that are either fascinating true stories or based on such, members of the media regularly invite me or my authors to talk about our books. Which is wonderful. But, I suppose, not "normal". 

Again, I forget this sometimes ... until I receive a rather panicked call from an author who is facing their first media interview. I then take them through a "pretend interview", with me being the interviewer, and we both relax a little. Usually, it works out well.

So this is the unique sort of world in which I live and work.

But once in a while, I have an interaction with an author or one of the contributing writers for one of the anthologies I've been publishing recently, and I remember the importance and impact of my work again.

Case in point: At a recent open house for the Regina Flying Club, Mason Adam Wray came up to me and introduced himself. We'd talked by email and by phone last year when I edited and published his story (in Volume 3 of the Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation book series) about sneaking out of a cadet camp in Alberta to check out a derelict aircraft in a nearby "boneyard". 

Mason is a smiley, positive guy who hosts a YouTube channel called Wings of the Prairies. He LOVES aircraft! It was great to meet him in person. We took some photos together and visited off and on throughout the afternoon. 

Mason Adam Wray (left), Deana Driver, and Canadian Aviation Historical Society president Gary Williams at the Regina Flying Club, June 2022

Then Mason told me something that made me stare at him, mouth open, in awe.

He said his complimentary copies of Volume 3 of Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation had arrived in his mailbox on the day of his wedding.

On his wedding day, people! What kind of crazy timing is that?

He added that his family passed the book between themselves for that entire day and remarked on how proud they were of his achievement in being a published writer.
 
Wow.
 
Let me never forget that story and the beautiful trickle effect of my work.

What I do for a living is not ordinary. Not even close. The books that others and I write and that I publish add significant substance, historical record, and pleasure to readers and to the fabric of Prairie and Canadian culture.

I am often humbled by the people whose stories I share through my writing and publishing efforts. I am honoured that they trust me to do that storytelling. 

I never forget that!

Fun On The Farm 3 book the last in the series

 A couple years ago, I was selling my DriverWorks Ink-published books at a craft show in Swift Current when a man walked by and yelled at me: “When are you doing another Fun On The Farm book? I really enjoy those!”

Fast forward almost three years, in the midst of a global pandemic, and here it is. Bring on the laughter!

Fun On The Farm 3: True Tales of Farm Life adds another 32 short stories and six poems to those of the first two volumes of the series, with more amusing antics, accidents, surprises, and laughs about growing up, living, or working on Western Canadian farms. Twenty writers, including me, have contributed to this volume.

Author /editor/ publisher Deana J. Driver with Fun On The Farm 3

The stories include how I learned to drive a car in a grain field in Alberta at age 12, played in a culvert on our farm as a kid, and watched high school friends of my husband go a little goofy during our rural wedding a few decades ago. My sister Leanne Pacholok and brother Alan Pacholok talk about their adventures too, including Leanne’s Poohsticks games through that same culvert, and Alan’s numerous antics and accidents that ended with minimal damage to him, but not to our mom’s prized plate from Poland.

Shellbrook author Laurie Lynn Muirhead shares stories of how her brother showed off his “flying” skills and how she nurtured a runt piglet to its full size. Saskatoon writer Marilyn Frey contributed five stories to Fun On The Farm 3, telling of riding a pig, Sunday ball games, crop circles, and more. Brad Hauber of Lloydminster recalls picking rocks, winter sports, and the benefits of having younger brothers. The contributing writers include three authors whose work I’ve published: Mary Harelkin Bishop has stories of garden gumbo and a friend’s rocky awakening, Janice Howden explains her dad’s “crash” nickname, and Bryce Burnett’s poetry gives glimpses of farm life. Other contributors are Cheryl Crashley, Elias Entz, Jean Fahlman, Keith Foster, Becky Gamble, Ron Krenn, Theodore Mikolayenko, Karen Ollinger and Eldon McDougald, Rev. Dr. Joyce Sasse, and Jean Tiefenbach.

This is the final book in the Fun On The Farm series celebrating the sense of humour that Western Canadian farmers often utilize to get through the hard times and cherish the good times.

Fun on the Farm 3 books are available at www.driverworks.ca, McNally Robinson Booksellers, Indigo, Chapters, Coles, Handmade Saskatchewan gift shops in Regina and Saskatoon, SaskBooks, Amazon, and other select stores.

Signed copies of Fun On The Farm, Fun On The Farm Too, and Fun On The Farm 3 are available at a Book Bundle sale price from www.driverworks.ca/shop.html

Author finds hope in the Questions and Answers of kids

Ed Olfert is a master at sharing hopeful stories. He grew up in Kerrobert, Saskatchewan and found his bride, Holly, near there. They raised their family on their farm while Ed busied himself in a multitude of vocations including mining, working as a welder, driving trucks, doing mechanical work, serving as houseparent in a Christian high school, ministering a Mennonite church, and operating heavy equipment.

 In 2015, Ed came to DriverWorks Ink with a collection of hope-filled stories he had written for the Prince Albert Daily Herald. We were honoured to help him publish his inspirational columns, which reflect on his lifelong search for glimpses of God and glimpses of good in everyday life and the people around him. Rather than being preachy, Ed's stories are about family, neighbours, and friends, and include lives that we might not naturally connect to God, to awe and mystery.

 

In this time of pandemic, isolation and fear, we need to have hope. We proudly offer one of Ed Olfert’s short stories from his book And It Was Very Good – Everyday Moments of Awe.

This story by Ed Olfert is titled “Hard Questions and Answers”.

    "We are in a P.A. carwash when the call comes from our daughter-in-law. Holly’s hand waves suddenly in the window I have just begun to rinse. “We have to go now!”

    The rinse will have to wait.

    As we head out of town, Holly explains what she was able to understand from the frantic phone call. Our daughter-in-law, her two little boys and her sister, were on their way into town for soccer. On the Muskody Bridge, a motorist appeared to be having problems, and as our daughter-in-law got out to offer assistance, that person plunged over the edge. Our daughter-in-law was part of the attempted rescue effort. Now, she must stay to report in more detail to police. Can we pick up the boys?

    When we arrive, the bridge deck is crawling with emergency folks and vehicles. We find our family wedged between two police cars. Our daughter-in-law gets out when she sees us. Hugs are exchanged, tears are shed. Holly opens the back door. Six-year-old Jordan and three-year-old Josh look up at us. Holly asks if they want to come with us. Jordan, who is shaking uncontrollably, whose eyes are huge, simply nods. Josh announces, “I need to bring my toolkit!”

    Josh gets out, lugging his tools. He follows me around to the driver’s side of our truck. Holly scoops up Jordan, deposits him in the back seat, takes off her coat and covers him.

    The fifteen-minute ride to their house is mostly done in silence, except for Josh’s periodic wondering, “Will the firemen be able to find her?” Jordan’s eyes remain wide. I reach back, put my hand on his knee.

    At the boys’ home, Jordan climbs onto the couch. Holly finds a blanket to cover him. His eyes are dark, troubled, confused. Josh, meanwhile, has a need to play aggressively for a time. A dinosaur toy is produced; it is switched on, and as it wobbles noisily across the floor, Josh knocks it over, sets it up, knocks it over again. When he runs off to find another toy to crash, Holly picks up the dinosaur, which is still writhing noisily on the floor. She asks Jordan, “How do I turn this thing off?” A six-year-old’s smirk appears on his face, “You have to push the button on the poop!”

    The boys need to talk, not a lot, but need to talk about the bridge experience. Josh repeats several times, “I’m scared, I’m scared of what happened!” He is obviously struggling to find words to express feelings of confusion. Jordan, meanwhile, has less to say – he will internalize this – but he says, quietly, “This has been a horrible day.” He alternates between youthful teasing and giggling and struggling with weighty stuff. “Maybe she was on drugs.” When Josh again wonders, “Do you think the firemen could find her?”

    Jordan says in a low voice, “Brother, she’s dead.” Silly moments are interspersed with serious observations and questions.

    We sit with the boys for several hours. It feels like Holy time, a time to create a space for these two boys to express, to wonder, to grieve, to struggle to find words to approach this new reality. When you are three or six, it is almost impossible to use language to make sense of this, to touch despair, hopelessness. That is true for parents and grandparents as well, and we sit together in this space where these hard topics might be approached ever so tentatively. Trust seems an important starting point. In this sense, the boys have been     well prepared. This is not a time for answers, beyond the undergirding assurance of safety, continuity, love.

    That night, the boys sleep well.

    As I pondered and prayed through this experience in the past days, I realized that the paths of the young boys’ struggle to sort out deep spiritual complications in life are closely connected to my own. Truly hard issues are not resolved, in my experience, by someone approaching with a truckload of answers. Rather, it is in the identifying of the questions and in the permission to sit with those questions, to live in that tension, to hold that tension loosely. At some point, the deepest questions will change, probably without clearly defined answers, and hints of growth, understanding, wisdom will be left in palms that are held open.

    It is an honour to be present, to be invited into that struggle, particularly so when it is written on the clean, innocent slates of young children, struggling to understand, struggling to live with integrity."

And It Was Very Good: Everyday Moments of Awe by Ed Olfert was awarded Honorable Mention, Spiritual, in the 2016 Hollywood Book Festival, Hollywood, CA and was awarded Runner-Up, Spiritual, in the 2016 Great Midwest Book Festival, Chicago, IL.

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