This week we had a surprise snowfall that returned us to full-on winter conditions. After spending half a day grumbling about the weather, I went out for a snowshoe with a friend. I didn’t expect to spend a day in early April breaking trail through 20cm of new snow, but once I embraced the conditions, it was a wonderful day.

The return to winter weather will help me with a new reading goal. I'm not bringing another book into the house until I've read the stack that has been building on my bedside table since pre-pandemic days. I've given myself permission to discard the books after 50 pages if they aren't grabbing me. I'll post an update next month.

Adult Book Recommendation

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

How could I not love a book dedicated to librarians and described by the author as a paean to books? Multiple characters in 15th century Constantinople, present-day Idaho and a future interstellar starship find hope and solace in a book. At 600 pages it is a weighty tome, but I was so invested in each of the characters, their struggles and their worlds that I ripped through it.

Children's Book Recommendation

Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker

Zenobia July is a trans girl starting at a new school in Maine. Previously homeschooled by her angry father in Arizona, she’s now living as a girl for the first time in her life. As she struggles with new friends, a new family and presenting herself in her new gender she gets embroiled in solving a cyber mystery involving hateful memes on the school website. This book is a sophisticated middle-grade read with a wonderful cast of larger-than-life characters which left me thinking long after I finished the last page.

Behind the Scenes

Revising

My first book, Jake Reynolds: Chicken or Eagle?, took seven years and 17 drafts before it was accepted by a publisher, and then another three drafts with my editor at Orca Book Publishers. There was only one chapter from the first draft that made it into the final book and even that chapter was heavily edited. Thankfully, with 20 years of writing experience under my belt, I no longer need so many revisions before publication. However, I still revise at least three times before sending a book to a publisher and go through three rounds of revisions with my editor. There is nothing fast about the writing process. It’s a good thing revising is my favourite part of the process!

Thanks for reading!

Sara