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Book Launch – November 22, 2014
Yesterday's Book Launch of my debut novel, The Medal, was fabulous! We expected 40-50 people. Seventy showed up. I was thrilled that so many came to help me celebrate. Thank you all. After half an hour of chatting and enjoying the refreshments, I spoke about my book....
The books have arrived!!
I was sitting on the sun porch talking on the phone to my sister when there was a knock at the door. A Purolator man informed me he had twelve boxes for me. I must have looked surprised. "Didn't you know about it?" he asked. Then I started to grin. My novels had...
Joseph Vankoughnett didn’t like being wiped out of the family history
Remember the Mitchell gravestone? The one where the parents tried to obliterate the name of their late daughter's husband? Well, there's more to the story. Apparently Joseph Vankoughnett didn't take kindly to being wiped out of the family history. He took it upon...
Stories from the cemetery
There's an old church and cemetery around the corner up the road. On our way back from our walk a few days ago, John and I wandered around the gravestones - some dating back to the mid 1800's - some as recent as a three weeks ago. I found the headstone of a neighbour...
The page proofs have arrived
The proofs have arrived! It's pretty exciting to see what The Medal will look like in book form. I've spent the last couple of days going over each page to check for errors or changes. My husband saw me moving my pencil from word to word and asked why I was counting...
When is enough enough?
When Borealis Press requested my novel, I had to make a decision about the ending. For months I had considered writing a different one. I like happy endings, but I think the new last chapter creates better dramatic irony. Now I have to send the manuscript to the...
July 7, 2014 – a great day
July 7th -the day I heard that Borealis Press wants to publish my novel, The Medal. My roller coaster ride with Borealis began in February. On one of my crazy-busy Tuesdays, I rushed home at 5:30 pm to change out of my yoga clothes and get ready to pick up my...
Self-editing
When some people write, they dump all their words on the page until they exhaust their ideas. It's an intense, uninterrupted process. Not me. I write a paragraph or two (sometime just a sentence) and then I review: there's a better word here; I need more detail there;...