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Reflecting on Skipping Stones’ launch
What a whirlwind of activity it’s been in the lead up to the launch of Skipping Stones, and the actual launch week itself! Six weeks ago I was signing off on cover art and interior layouts, buying ISBN numbers, finalizing pricing and uploading files to publishers. At the same time, I was frantically building my marketing plan and trying to entice potential readers to see Skipping Stones as a book they wanted to read this summer. It’s funny. When I published Another Glass of Tea back in 2022, I was equally excited and terrified. It was my first book. What if I wasn’t… Read more…
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Taking care of me
Recently, I was very selfish. I work too hard. Pretty much anyone who knows me will tell you that. And in recent years, with kids all flown, between the day job and my writing, I burn the midnight oil more than I’d like to admit. I know I need to fix my handed-down trait of “you only need to see the doctor if you’re sick.” I actually went to see my doctor late last summer, and as expected, after an extended absence, she sent me away with a raft of paperwork for all the usual things a woman “of a… Read more…
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Celebrate International Tea Day with me
I’ve got the kettle on becaues today is International Tea Day, celebrated by many tea-producing countries. Etymology and linguistics have always intrigued me. I like knowing where words come from, how they transformed into words in my language, and why some words are almost identical across many languages and cultures. I was fascinated, when I started learning about tea that around the world, what we call it can be traced back almost entirely to one thing – how it arrived in different countries, starting over 2,000 years ago. There are really only two variations. Both originate from Chinese, but one is more coastal,… Read more…
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A lament for grammar
It’s not National Grammar Day (that’s March 4), but I can’t wait. When did people stop being able to write properly? My inbox is awash with writing containing misplaced commas, apostrophes and hyphens where they shouldn’t be, and missing where they should appear. Comma splices abound and if I have to explain the subjunctive tense (If I were…) or the difference between ‘that’ and ‘who’ (and ‘whom’ for that matter) one more time, I think I might scream. Don’t get me wrong – I know that language evolves, and situational usage means different rules. There are places where it’s absolutely right… Read more…
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My author journey – one year later
I still can’t believe it’s been almost exactly a year since I held Another Glass of Tea in my hands for the first time. It had already been uploaded to various bookseller platforms – Amazon, Kobo, AppleBooks and my publisher’s own bookstore – and it was there for people to buy it. But now it was in my hands. I was alternately filled with excitement and terror. Would people actually buy it? Woud they read it? And the even harder question -would they review it? The answer, to my delight, to the first two was a resounding “yes”. The third? It’s… Read more…
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The Sound of Silence
When did we get so uncomfortable with silence? I remember as a kid, my parents remarking – not without some degree of judgement – about a neighbour who always had the television on in the background. I was always a chatterbox, with the nickname Chatty Kathy to go along with it. It took four years of journalism school to learn how to bite my tongue and not feel the need to fill the silence. The best interview quotes always came when you let the subject do that instead! Raising three kids meant there was never any silence and I remember days when I absolutely… Read more…
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I Read Canadian
Marilla and Matthew. Offred. Golgotha Gingham. Mutt. Hagar Shipley, Dag, Claire and Andy, Elfrieda Von Riesen, Pi. Recognize some of those names? They’re just a few of the characters brought to life by Canadian authors. Hopefully you’ve been entranced by the stories of these characters. But let’s back up a bit. Before you read Atwood, Lawrence, Mowat or Martel, you might have read Gordon Korman, Phoebe Gilman, Robert Munsch or Jean Little. Why is that important? Today is I Read Canadian Day. The I Read Canadian Fund supports getting new, Canadian books into the hands of young people across the… Read more…
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Childhood favourites: books, books, books!
When one of my sons was small, he always had his nose in a book. In fact, an overzealous gym teacher once told his older brother that he should tell the younger that he shouldn’t be reading so much at recess. I figured if a six year old wanted to read Harry Potter at recess, I’d just let him. He’s still a voracious reader – both the boys are – much as his mother is, and it got me thinking recently about the books I loved in my childhood. I still have some of them, although I admit that others got donated when… Read more…
