Ralph Robb

June 12, 2018

In Defense of Love and Banter…

British working-class banter. Cultural or just plain disrespectful? Over the past few months, my dear new wife has overheard the banter between me and my daughter and was left almost traumatized to the point where I questioned whether I had been as good of a father as I had thought. Perplexed, I immediately called a…

May 11, 2018

Adventures in Sunny Costa Rica!

When the tropical sun hits your skin, it’s different. And on the heels of an ice storm, its down-right decadent!! I had the true pleasure of visiting Costa Rica this past April to witness the wedding of my beautiful daughter Kimberley. The joy of a destination wedding was multi-layered: We got to explore new surroundings,…

April 21, 2018

Ralphs Take: How to get new ideas for your book

New location A change of scene will do you good! Get those creative juices flowing by venturing out of your office or house and find a new place to write. The new smells, sounds, sights, and feel will push you to expand your imagination and explore new ideas. People watch People are fascinating creatures. Their…

April 21, 2018

Ralphs Take: How to create an intriguing character

What’s your character’s purpose? Give your character motivation that helps to drive the story. Perhaps create a backstory that influences the actions of your character and helps to explain why they are on the mission that they are on. Figure out what their beliefs are, morals, how they think and why they were placed on…

March 5, 2018

Heightening The Senses

It may sound a little crazy, but sometimes when I’m out on a trail I close my eyes for as many steps as I feel brave enough to take to heighten the 4 remaining senses that naturally get diluted by the 5th. For me, my purpose for hiking is not only to get exercise that…

March 5, 2018

Comic Book Memories…

It’s kind of funny- I can’t remember many of the books that I used to read as a kid. This could be because there weren’t that many that went beyond C-A-T spells cat. Why would there be? All the reading material that I consumed came in the form of comic books surrounded by beautifully illustrated…

March 5, 2018

Black Panther

There’s nothing like a movie and a dinner with my wife and two of our best friends to end a great Saturday evening. Growing up as an avid Marvel comics fan, Black Panther was never my favorite superhero. Much to the dismay of many, Spidey held that special bro-mance position for me. There was more…

June 25, 2016

Pride in the Streets

This year I had the pleasure of attending the Toronto Pride Parade and couldn’t believe the love, excitement and different groups of people that were there! It was definitely a party I’m glad I attended. Growing up in the 60s, 70s, and 80s the way that the LGBTQ community was perceived was very different than…