STORYWORLD

So winter is already here in full force which means the holidays are closing in on us. Maybe it's time to consider some of the delights and aggravations of the season. Check these out: Fir trees decked with pillowy white snow - a delight to the eyes! 😀😀 Driveways covered with icy snow - a pain in the ass (and lower back)!  👎👎  Cosy evenings spent around a crackling fire equals "I love you." 💗💗 Endless days spent inside because it's -25 outside equals "I'm sick of your face. Let's get the f*** out of here." 👿👿 Aahh - the spicy deliciousness of cinnamon and nutmeg and delicious holiday baking. 🍪🍪 Owww - the bloated gassiness of gluten and sugar on your overloaded holiday gut. 😤😤 Raising a glass of Christmas cheer with friends and loved ones. 🍸🍷😀😀 Raising all the ancient gripes and grudges after too much Christmas cheer with friends and loved ones. 🍷🍷🍶🍹🍺🍻😡😬😡 Laying out the cookies and milk for Jolly Old S...

Major apologies for the long time gap between posts! My time has been taken up with revising my new novel. The whole process takes a long, long time from the inception of the idea to the time it's sent out on submission to publishers. This new book (working title, MATTIE WAS HERE) was born from a scene I conjured up many years ago of a woman deliberately losing her husband on a second honeymoon. I imagined her slipping away from him and hiding in a narrow alleyway to watch him panic as he realizes she's gone. That's all I had. The question then arises - why would she do that? What would cause her to do something so cruel. For years I sat on that idea until I finally worked out a story that begins with "the scene". It became a story of twins - two inseparable girls - living with their single father until he can't manage any more. They're then forced into the foster care system only to be shunted around from one place to another until one of them dis...

I've recently changed writing gears to work on a more lighthearted project, inspired by a chance moment in my life when I went out with a friend to walk her dog, a cute, woolly little mutt. As we strode down the leafy path, I was amazed at the number of people who stopped to chat and generally fawn over my friend's dog. In that short walk we met more new people in half an hour than I had in several years, and some of them were hunks! My friend and I are both married, but it didn't take much of to stretch our imagination and ponder the question: C ould walking a dog help you meet the man or woman of your dreams? And that's how THE DOG WALKERS' DATING CLUB was born. The main character, LILY, is a self-professed dog hater after some traumatic dog-bite incidents in her childhood, which lends the book a more interesting dynamic when she decides to take on a puppy in the hopes of improving her chances of meeting someone to love. She wrestles with her n...

Well, it's just past the mid-point of August when we're all trying to savour the last weeks of summer. Take more walks, go to the beach, sit on the deck or patio and enjoy the sun - with a good book in hand, of course. I've reviewed a few more books you might be interested in reading. They're mainly suspense/thrillers, because I needed to be in that mode to complete the book I've working on. Thankfully I've finished the first draft. Now the tough part comes when you ask yourself if it's really any good and what it needs now to make it work in terms of story, language use, world building etc. etc. Anyway, hope you like these books: ARMADILLOS by P.K. Lynch This slow-burning story of Aggie, a young girl who escapes her Texas backwoods home by simply opening the door and walking away from years of chilling and deliberate abuse, is one that gradually settles itself into your bones and compels you to read on no matter how depressing the situations ...

It's that time of year when you're stretched out on your deck, patio, the beach, by a lake or river or at the park taking in the sunshine. Cold drink to your right, healthy snack (chips contain Vitamin C, don't they?) to your left, and a magical book in your hands. Summer is the time for a novel you can't put down - or only put aside long enough to go for a dip to cool down or share a glass of wine and lunch or dinner with friends and family. Summer is the time when you lie in bed, windows open, warm night air blowing the curtains and the moon shining down on your book. Imagination runs wild on warm summer nights, maybe bringing back memories of some long-forgotten night in your life. Here's a few books that will thrill you in different ways - maybe even make you shiver! But they'll certainly draw you quickly into their world. A MAN CAME OUT OF A DOOR IN THE MOUNTAIN by Adrianne Harun Set in isolated British Columbia this beautifully written,...

After a short break from blogging, I'm finally back to let you know that I haven't actually gone missing in action. I'm still writing - at least trying hard to finish the first draft of my new novel, a suspense/thriller set in Minneapolis. These months of close family celebrations have made me really appreciate how fortunate I am to be part of a stable, loving family network. That isn't the case for many children. The main character in this story is a survivor of the foster care system, and while I must say that many children who go into foster care enjoy the warmth and security of some very good homes, there are far too many who endure years of abuse, neglect and impermanence which leaves them deeply traumatized and unable to form lasting relationships later on in their lives. While doing the research for this novel I read many disturbing reports, both from Canada and the US. One quote really stood out to me, from a survivor of multiple foster homes: Even tho...