Bravest Thing (He Ever Did)

Here is a brief scene from my upcoming book, Disconnected: The Broken Path . Twelve-year-old Ben has been struggling without his usual dose of the internet. He's been acting up, and getting into trouble. Finally, his parents send him to Grandpa's, hoping some time on the farm will smarten Ben up. * * * The bike to Grandpa’s was a nightmare. The screaming wind attacked Ben, and each push of the pedals seemed a torturous step towards the peak of Mount Everest. Only the summit of Ben’s journey was not to stand on top of the world in glory, but to have a conversation he wanted to avoid.              He pulled into the farmyard and leaned his bike against the house. The strong wind promptly pushed the bike over. Ben scowled, decided to leave the bike in a collapsed heap, and knocked on the front door. Ben never knocked on his grandpa’s door, but this time he felt like a prodigal grandson, and that he must not be too bold or brash....

  The time has come, dear friends and family members. That is, the time has come for me to request your help! I am working to have my fiction novel, Disconnected: The Broken Path , released in late March of this year. Needless to say, it is both a nerve-wracking and exhilarating experience. To read on what my book is about, and the special reason of why I wrote it, click HERE . Can you please help me? You see, when I launch my book, I'm going to be needing a certain amount of reviews on Amazon, within the first 48 hours of release, in order to trigger Amazon to push my book to a greater audience. If you join my launch team, I will send you an electronic copy of my book ten days before the actual launch date. Then, when launch day comes, I will ask that you post a short review to Amazon. Of course you may wish to buy a physical copy at that time as well, and even share news of the book on social media. But the main thing I will need is the timely review . The book does not take long...

  A short piece of humour, as posted on social media today: Person: how does writing work? Writer: well you type & delete. You rethink. Then you do 187 min. of research & correct it. You reread & wonder if you have a grasp of English. Then you revise. Person: then you’re done with the book? Writer: then you move to the next sentence. I have certainly experienced this. Most especially with my early days of writing at the website onepeterfive.com . My goodness. I think I spent over 20 hours once writing an article! What a waste of time! I’m sure that’s what the readers said too after they read it. But, as things go, writing got a little easier. Most things in life are like that. However, there is still a great deal of editing and re-editing required when crafting a paragraph - or sentence - for an article or essay. The struggle is real. When I started writing my novel - Disconnected: The Broken Path - I took this similar approach. It was slow, tedious, and altogether ...

  Note: This article originally appeared at my author website: danieljmillette.com . As you can imagine, I have begun the process of enlightening the world about my upcoming book (and the reasons for it). This past weekend a typical scene played out. My wife and I took our four children to the outdoor rink to play hockey and practice some skating skills. Next to this rink is a heated little shack where you can lace up skates without freezing your fingers off. Trying to keep all your fingers intact is one of the main pastimes in Saskatchewan during the winter. As we entered the shack, we noticed two girls – both in grade 6 – just sitting there. Now, if we lived in a normal moment in history, these girls would’ve been out skating. But we do not. They were sitting on the bench, glued to their phones. Eventually we heard one of them comment, “Like, I just need ten more followers on TikTok! Ten more!” Like, ok then. We skated and what not. When it was time to go back into the shack we ...

I'm trying to get an author website up and running (I do plan on keeping this one, however). To read my first post, please click HERE . A preview: There are so many things I want to say in regards to my soon to be released novel - so many experiences to describe. The problem is, I don’t know where to begin. I know, I know. I’m a pretty pathetic writer after all. Maybe I should just begin with the one question I’m asked the most: “What is it like writing a novel?” The new website is: danieljmillette.com 

  I wrote recently about living the traditional Catholic faith at home, even without the presence of the traditional Latin Mass. You see, in my parts TLMs are rare, and such actions become necessary. However, I will now add that there is hope for the future. With that, I offer a brief update. Our family was, in fact, able to make it to a TLM over the Christmas break. Our first since July. Never mind the continuous 35 below weather in Saskatchewan, nor the snowstorms and blistering winds which have accompanied these Christmas Siberian temperatures. Quite simply, over the Christmas break an FSSP priest hopped in his truck and drove 3000km, all the way from Ottawa, just to come and offer the holy Mass throughout the week of Christmas. I am humbled and amazed at what this heroic priest did. It boggles my mind. Really, it does. May God reward him abundantly. Well, the Mass we attended was New Year's morning. The church was full. The choir was great. The priest said Mass most reverently...