Coming up with a "Top Ten" or "Top Anything" list of favourite books from the past year is a little project I've been doing since, oh ... 2006? Some years it's easy, and other years it's frickin' difficult, mostly because I've read so many good books in a given year that I can't narrow it …
What You Have On a Boat
In a not-unexpected turn of events, Jason and I spent a week on a boat last month -- on a canal boat on the Llangollen Canal along the border of England and northern Wales. We last did a trip like this when the kids were small, and have always wanted to do it again. Finally, …
Covid and the Illusion of Control
Two years and one month into the pandemic, back in April 2022, I got Covid-19. At least, I think I did. My husband got sick, and tested positive on a PCR test. Two days later I got a negative result, but two days after that I started getting sick myself, and was miserable for about …
Streets of London
It was one of the songs that was on the soundtrack of my childhood: a constant on the radio, like Hey Jude or Delta Dawn or any one of a number of other ubiquitous early 70's hits. In retrospect I think what I grew up hearing was the 1971 Roger Whittaker cover rather than the …
UnPretty
This is something I've wanted to write about for a long time, but it's hard to write about. Not because it's an emotionally difficult subject -- it's not, at all, for me. It's hard to write about because the typical responses to talking about this topic are so predictable and not helpful. If you talk …
Beware These Ides
March 14 was the two-year anniversary of the first case of Covid-19 reported in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was also the day when, despite astronomically high case rates and record deaths, the NL government followed suit with governments all over the country and in many parts of the world in rushing to declare victory over …
It’s Not Live, But It Was “Live.” Now It’s Recorded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ_5jxILmok It's hard having a book come out right before a major wave of Covid cases and not getting to do any live readings. I miss that. So I scheduled a Facebook "Live" reading event the other night. Virtual live doesn't have the same energy as actual live, but it is fun, and has the …
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What “The End” Really Means to a Writer
The other day I posted this picture on my social media to celebrate a small personal milestone: I reached the end of the first draft of A Company of Rogues, which will be book 3 in my Cupids Trilogy and is scheduled to be released in Fall 2023. (If you look closely you can probably …
History Has Its Claws Into You
Well, the curse has come true. We live in interesting times. It friggin sucks and I personally had hoped to avoid this. I hoped to live out my allotted span on this earth in an era without any new world wars, great depressions, or global pandemics. Basically nothing that would be a required essay question …
My Top Ten TV Shows of 2021
Since I've already given you a list of my favourite books, I'll continue with the list motif and tell you some of the TV shows I really enjoyed in the past year. I'll be honest: most of my TV time is spent watching Star Trek reruns. But occasionally I do take a chance and dip …