I've had some good new recently. Here's a blip about it from The Guelph Mercury : Guelph writer up for Christian writing awards  http://t.co/LO17P0FQ
 

Reviewing a journal the other day I realized it’s been just over a year since I found out that Chasing the Wind won the 2010 Word Alive Press publishing contest in the non-fiction category.
 
It’s been a whirlwind of a year beginning with editing, reading proofs and finally having the published books arrive on my doorstep. There was book launch, interviews and media appearances. And there was the pleasure of finding copies of Chasing the Wind in Chapters and Christian bookstores from here to Chatham.
 

The high-pitched vocalist from downhere, Marc Martel, is doing what many Christians say we should be doing - but getting flak for it.
 
Martel has entered the Queen Extravaganza (http://www.queenextravaganza.com) contest where musicians use a video to audition a spot on a 2012 tour featuring the music of Queen. The band will be made up of musicians hand picked by Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor. This is not a tribute band. It’s a touring production of Queen music.
 

As a Canadian, I needed to quote philosopher Marshal McLuhan who is famously known for coining the expression “the medium is the message.” And nowhere did this point become more obvious this when than when I read a new novel and saw a new movie.
 

What did you read this summer? I’ve had the chance to energize my creative juices by reading a few books which focused on the intersection of arts, faith and culture—some of which I mentioned in past weeks.
 
Another thought-generating and spirit-energizing book is Creative Matters, a collection of essays by members of the Creative Collective—which you can find out more about at www.creativecollective.is.
 

If you’re looking for the next “how-to” book on doing art as a Christian, don’t read Pursuing Christ, Creating Art by Gary Molander
 
If you’re looking for a book that will challenge who you are as an artist and what you should be to create the best art you can, then devour Pursing Christ, Creating Art.
 

Last week my wife and I spent a few days in Quebec City—one of Canada’s and North America’s oldest cities. We explored Old Quebecy, exploring the upper and lower city, as part of our 25th anniversary celebrations.
 
You can’t visit Quebec City without stepping inside at least one of the dozens of churches—mostly Roman Catholic—which have a history as old as the city. We visited four—including the magnificent basilica of Ste. Anne de Beaupre, a pilgrimage shrine located about a half hour east of the city itself.

Sorry folks, I'm in Quebec City celebrating the 25th anniversary of my wedding to a wonderful woman who has been a support in my work in the arts.
 
Look for comments next Tuesday.

I finished reading Historical Attitudes that Shaped the Church's Use of the Arts by Matthew R. S. Todd (Word Alive Press 2010 www.wordalivepress.ca). It's a short gem (about 170 pages, but only 107 are text, the rest are footnotes and references) I discovered at the recent Write! Canada Writers' Conference, which now has passaged marked and underlined for further reference.
 

If you happen to be in Guelph this weekend, check out the annual Art on the Street festival.
 
The annual event takes place Saturday, July 16 and is sponsored by the Downtown Guelph Business Association and the Guelph Arts Council. The event closes down Quebec Street, a key downtown thoroughfare, as 60-plus artist display works featuring everything from photography to sculpture to blacksmithing to painting and everything in between.