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A Firm Writing Resolution: You Will Not Regret Formulating One for 2026

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 18:10:43 +0000

Resolutions can be tricky—just an exercise in fooling yourself! But they can also be a dynamic trigger. In this post, I will share a writing resolution that paid off big for me. If you have not decided on New Year’s resolutions for your writing, it is a good time to choose priorities for the […]

Our Christmas Réveillon—A Franco Custom

Denis Ledoux — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 20:31:13 +0000

At Christmas, it was a Franco custom to have an all-night party—a réveillon—after the midnight mass. The following excerpt is from my French Boy / A 1950s Franco-American Childhood. ___ For our first Christmas in our new home, my parents hosted a Christmas réveillon for both sides of the family. We children grew excited witnessing […]

How an Idea Becomes a Book

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:05:57 +0000

This is how an idea becomes a book. ___ Every month (at 1 PM/ET, 12 CT, 11 MT, 10 PT), you can participate in a live memoir-writing workshop on ZOOM. Usually, it occurs on the third Thursday of the month, but in November, I will be traveling to give a book talk on the third […]

The Making of Here to Stay

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 14:37:18 +0000

Until October 31, 2025, Here to Stay / Lives in 17th Century Canada is available with no S/H. Get your copy today. In 1995, I became intrigued with tracing my ancestry to the first of the Canadian colonists who bore my patronym. Who were these of my people who came to North America four and […]

Many disparities between women in early Canada and in New England

Denis Ledoux — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 20:22:54 +0000

[Jeanne Mance, founder of the first hospital in Montréal (the Hôtel-Dieu) and a key figure among the women in early Canada.] We want to believe that European settlement of North America was identical, but it wasn’t. The French and the English colonies established different patterns. The women in early Canada had a more public presence. […]

Telling the Past as It Probably Was!

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 05:15:10 +0000

My latest book is Here to Stay / Lives in 17th-Century Canada. In this post, I want to make clear that people then lived with different paradigms. It’s the only way I can explain things. Telling the past of New France was not easy. As I was writing Here to Stay, a story of my […]

Have You ever Written an Advance Review?

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 18:23:03 +0000

Write an Advance Review of Here to Stay/Lives in 17th Century Canada. Thanks for stopping by! I need you help. Here to Stay/Lives in 17th Century Canada is about to launch into the world. Your advance review of Here to Stay will be an important element of its success. What is an advance review of […]

Filles du Roi / Daughters of the King: Marthe Quittel Comes for a Husband

Denis Ledoux — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:15:04 +0000

Among the eight filles du roi aboard the Marie-Thérèse who were coming to find husbands was a woman from Normandy, Marthe Quittel, a Protestant from Rouen. (more…)

My Mother Passes

Denis Ledoux — Sun, 11 May 2025 14:37:09 +0000

On this blog, I have frequently offered excerpts of my mother’s memoir, We Were Not Spoiled. It has been such a satisfaction for me to have written her story and to have been able to hand her a copy. One day, after I had presented her with the hard copy of We Were Not Spoiled, […]

Sit in on this Virtual Memoir Tour

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 19:39:00 +0000

Today, I am urging you to sit back and enjoy this virtual memoir tour in which I read an excerpt read from my memoir French Boy/A 1950s Franco-American Childhood. Here’s some necessary background: I did not learn English until I went to grade school. My brother had preceded me in school where he had learned […]