During my 2006 May vacation in Vancouver, I could not find anything at UBC that proved Pierre Berton was an alumni. Seeing all the fog from my bedroom window, I came up with the idea of the Ghost of Pierre Berton story with a Scooby-Doo ending.

On the first night of the March Madness College Basketball Tournament, I lost Duke and Gonzaga - basically destroying my chances at winning the pool. I thought to myself - how many other people picked Duke?

My friend had his girlfriend break up with him. I suggested many "Technically legal , but immoral" revenge ideas. One of which was to sign her email address up to as much junk mail as possible.

My friend ignored me and took the high road.

My sister and I were talking about funerals and she mentioned her cat should be buried in a coffin. I came up with the title first, then worked on the story.

I watched a lot of the 90th anniversary ceremonies of Vimy Ridge and knew I had to write a story. A lot of it is based on real things - including the Grand Pere.

This is one of my better stories and definately one of the ones I am most proud to have written.

It was entered in the 2007 CBC Short Story Contest.

When the Ontario government announced it was going to make efforts to ban plastic bags, i thought to myself "Who would not want to see plastic bags banned?"

The answer? A hitman.

I saw a photo of Rachel McAdams sitting patiently in a Vancouver bus shelter waiting for a bus.

It only seemed natural to have her as a friend of Suzy's. Ham can't have all the celebrity friends.

I read in the paper that Jessica Simpson dropped 25 pounds in a matter of weeks. I couldn't see how this was healthy as I thought she already looked too thin.

No real thought process bought along this story. Just pure imagination.

In Septemberish, I ate a giant garbage bag of ginger cookies. I thought to myself, "what would happen to someone who was addicted to ginger?"

You will be happy to know I haven't touched a ginger cookie since I polished off the garbage bag.