January Recommendations

Upcoming Events

Booksweeps Giveaway: I’ve teamed up with 30+ fantastic authors to give away a huge collection of Middle Grade and YA books to two lucky winners. The Grand Prize winner gets a brand new Kindle Fire. You can win my novel, Count Me In, plus books from authors like Arthur Slade and Mahtab Narsimhan. The contest closes on January 12. Click here to enter: https://www.booksweeps.com/giveaway/january-2022/ya-middle-grade-fiction/​

​Adult Book Recommendation

Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

I have to admit, I’m recommending this book because I need to talk to someone about it. It wasn’t always a page-turner, but it made me think. I was invested in the characters and it left me with a lot of questions. Set in the near-ish future in England, the book is narrated by an Artificial Friend named Klara and follows her ‘life’ starting from the storefront window where she observes the world while waiting to be purchased. I won’t say more about it because what makes this book interesting are the clues that are meted out to allow the reader to piece together what’s going on in Klara’s world. If you read it, reach out, because I want to know your thoughts!

Children’s Book Recommendation

Rules by Cynthia Lord

This is an older book which I recently re-read and loved just as much the second time. 12-year-old Catherine’s feelings toward her younger, autistic brother are complicated. She’s at once fiercely protective of him and embarrassed by his behaviour. All she wants is a “normal” summer. When she becomes friends with a paraplegic boy she’s forced to think about what “normal” really means. This book is heartwarming and funny and full of commentary on what it means to interact with someone who is neurodivergent.

Behind the Scenes

When I asked my husband for ideas on what to write in this section, he suggested I describe my system for keeping track of ideas. I’m sure he imagined me outlining a shelf of carefully coded notebooks. Hahahahahaha! My reality is a mishmash of notebooks full of ideas, partly written stories (spread across several different books) all intermingled with to-do lists and notes I’ve taken during workshops and meetings. I’m usually a very organized person, but for some reason my organization does not reach the early stages of my writing. Late last year I bought myself a stack of inexpensive notebooks. My goal for this year is to use only one notebook per project and one project per notebook. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Professional Resource

BC author Lois Peterson has two great resources for writers on her website . The first is a list of 4 months of daily writing prompts with tips for how best to use them (my favourite--do a timed write). The second is a weekly Tip Sheet on promoting your Self-Published book.