Flipping Bookworm

                                                    Please click this link for book and purchase information I enjoy year end lists. Even better are lists at the end of a decade. Here's my list of five changes to my writing life that happened in the ten years from January 2010 to January 2020. 1. I became a published author. Prior to 2010, I'd published short stories, poems and articles. They all helped me feel like a real writer and led me to teaching writing courses and workshops, but the term 'published author' is generally reserved for those who have published a book. This was a milestone I longed to achieve. After years of work, my first novel, was published in spring 2011. 2. I stepped up my social media presence. I was on Facebook before Deadly Fall was published, but only had a small number of Facebook friends, all people I knew in my real life. Aft...

                                                                Please click this link for book and purchase information On a recent trip to Ottawa, Ontario, I went to a play. Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, a new work produced by Ottawa Little Theatre. Fans of Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice , will instantly recognize the cues in the play's title. Pride and Prejudice is the story of the five Bennet sisters, living in early 19th century England, in search of husbands for fulfillment and financial survival. The novel's hero, Mr. Darcy, owned Pemberley, a great estate. 'Pemberley' in one of the numerous Pride and Prejudice screen adaptations Christmas at Pemberley takes place two years after Pride and Prejudice . The play opens with Elizabeth Darcy nee Bennet admiring her newfangled holiday decoration, a ...

                                Click this link for author, book and purchase information This month BWL published a new edition of my first novel, Deadly Fall . BWL chose to title the book, A Deadly Fall, in part to distinguish the new release from the original. I have long wanted to update Deadly Fall , to bring the time frame in line with the sequel, Ten Days in Summer . Deadly Fall was set in 2004. Due to the years it took me to find BWL, Ten Days in Summer wasn’t published until 2017. I asked BWL publisher Jude Pittman if I should make the sequel’s story contemporary and Paula, my protagonist, thirteen years older? Or set the sequel in 2005, making it almost historical? Jude advised me to set Ten Days in Summer in 2017, but pretend it was taking place ten months after the original Deadly Fall . “No one will notice,” she said. Jude was right. Nobody who has read both books has questioned me about Paula...

Click this link for book and purchase information Does setting a novel in Canada limit your readership to Canadians? Over the years, I've heard this question at Canadian writing conferences and other places where aspiring writers gather. Invariably, someone comments that he sent a query to an agent or publisher in the USA and was told Canadian stories don't sell. The implication is that Canada holds little interest for readers outside our country.  Even Canadians might prefer reading about far away locations. I've been guilty of this, especially when I travel and want to learn about the country I'm visiting. A novel set in my destination gives me a flavour for the place and its history better than a guidebook. I also recall hearing that a common feature of blockbuster novels is a variety of international settings. Author Dan Brown nailed that formula.   But others argue that Canada might be exotic to those who live far from here. They cite writers who have found great s...

                                         Click this link for book and purchase information When my son was at university, he took a course in Canadian History. His final essay explored the 1968 federal election, which catapulted Pierre Trudeau to prime minister. I thought, this is history? It's my life. I was a teenager at the time and vividly recall myself and much of country getting swept away by the charming, sexy intellectual who breathed fresh air into the political establishment. Trudeaumania Recently, I heard the term Near History, for events that happened during your own, your parents' or your grandparents' lifetime, depending on your age. Many loosely define the period as mid-twentieth century, but the time frame seems to be creeping closer to the present day. At a writing event I attended this spring, an author noted that his novels set in the 1970s were borderline histori...