Great news – the anthology, YYC POP, has been published and released for sale. The cover is beautiful! And I’m humbled to be included in this anthology that features short non-fiction and poetry by many well-known poets and authors. Thank you, Sheri-D Wilson, Poet Laureate of Calgary and Frontenac House, for such a beautiful book!

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak and social distancing rules in place in the city of Calgary, and the province of Alberta, the publication and launch of the short story/poetry anthology, YYC POP, has been delayed until October 2020. The delay includes the public transit project of displaying excerpts of poetry and stories on City of Calgary buses and C-Trains. Please, stay safe everyone.

Great news. My short story, Robin Hood of the Prairies, has been chosen as one of ten stories and poems that will be excerpted and displayed on Calgary transit, i.e. CTrain and city buses, in the near future. I’m so excited! Transit schedules are changing daily due to Covid-19, so I’m not sure when this initiative for public literary art will launch. Stay tuned!

Exciting news! My short story, Robin Hood of the Prairies, will be published in 2020 as part of an anthology, in book form and online,  by Frontenac House. The anthology is the brainchild of Poet Laureate of Calgary, Sheri-D Wilson. More information on launch dates and where the anthology can be purchased, in the near future.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexels.com

I often get asked, why write children’s books instead of adult fiction?

It’s an easy answer – I grew up over the last (ahem) 30+ years, and found out it’s great to be independent, make my own decisions, chart my own path and all that. Yes, but it’s also more serious and demanding and – well, less fun. Sure, adults have fun and most teens seem to be in a big hurry to grow up. But now I’m going in the other direction – down. Back to my childhood I guess.

Why? Another easy answer – I want to laugh more, real belly-laughter, tears in your eyes, gasping for breath laughs. I want that lightness in my chest that feels like I could run forever or fly into the wild blue yonder or turn somersaults in the fresh green grass or pretty much do whatever I want to do! I want to tell stories that make someone spew milk out their nose or giggle themselves silly.

And kids know how to do this best! So my current WIP is a humorous Picture Book. And selfishly, I think it’s more for me than anyone else. Well – yes, I want readers too. So more here in this blog when I have news to share.

First, an apology for letting nearly two years go by without posting. Life took a terrible toll on me two years ago as my husband of nearly 40 years died in an airplane crash. Less than two weeks prior to that, my mother had passed away – gently, while holding my sister’s hand. She was nearly 101 years old, so she had lived an amazing, long life. I miss her still, but believe she’s now at eternal rest and, hopefully, reunited with my dad.

Losing a dear loved one far too soon is indescribably difficult, so I won’t say anything more here, other than to recognize I needed the past two plus years to regroup, to grieve, and to contemplate the purpose and meaning of life. One lesson I’ve learned is that equilibrium/peace of mind is a temporary state of being, and that we must embrace all the deviations and obstacles that delay our achieving it. As others before me have said, with the bitter comes the sweet, with the night comes the dawn, with the dark comes the light.

With the support and love of family and friends, I’ve been able to re-engage with writing. I’m starting to query publishers for my next YA novel, which (ironically) deals with grief. I hope my next blog post will be an announcement that I’ve found the right home for “AFTER MATT”. As a teaser, here’s my pitch from #PitMad that attracted a publisher’s attention recently:

“Teenage girl grieving her brother’s shooting death must choose between caregiving her PTSD mother or joining the sport she believes will save them all, biathlon. FALL FOR ANYTHING x WINTER OLYMPICS”.

I’ve presented The Art of Rebellion at three book clubs so far, and it’s been a tremendous experience. Always thinking of myself as hating public speaking, it turns out I love to talk about books – er, my book in particular. A new facet of my self-image has emerged.

This fall, I present at three more book clubs and can’t wait to do so. The responses and questions I get are always so interesting and make me think about how once a book goes out into the world, it’s the reader’s book, not mine.

So thank you, all you book clubbers! You are awesome and really lift me up!!

Prairie dogs are an exceptionally social and intelligent animal, yet so few know about them. I discovered much about their complex social behaviours, extensive language of vocalizations and much, much more as I researched them for my middle-grade book, DIRT WARRIORS. Curious about these charming prairie creatures? I hope to share more about them, and my book, in upcoming blog posts.

Think “Watership Down” meets the Prairies…

This past November, my husband and I travelled to Paris to present a copy of The Art of Rebellion to the Director of the library archives of the Louvre Museum. At the same time, we took some photos of the locations in the book, and shot some videos as well, to share with readers our love of the beautiful city of Paris.

Naturally, one of our first stops was at the Louvre, to revisit the Wedding Feast at Cana, by Veronese, The Bather by Ingres, and Madame Pompadour by de la Tour. I stood by the Wedding Feast to give you an idea of its immense scale. I could imagine Gabbi’s reaction to seeing these masterpieces for the first time.

We stopped and watched several artists, copyists, as they worked at their easels in the museum, and goofed around when I spotted Michelangelo’s The Dying Slave.

Another day was spent at L’Orangerie to visit Monet’s Water Lilies installation, and a half day at the Musee d’Orsay, where much of the Impressionists work is displayed, including this one by Auguste Renoir. It is titled The Swing, and was painted in the gardens of what is now the Musee de Montmartre. 

We spent a full day wandering in Montmartre, visiting the Place du Tertre, climbing the 300 steps to the Sacre Coeur basilica, strolling down rue Gabrielle and rue Cortot, visiting the Moulin de la Galette and Eglise Saint-Pierre, just as Gabbi and Babette would have done. Although the landscape and views have changed considerably, locals have tried to maintain nineteenth century Montmartre much as it was.

Naturally, we ate out and enjoyed the joie de vivre of Paris, strolling the night Christmas markets, sipping French wines, shopping and sampling food from around the world.

I hope you enjoyed this visual hop through Paris on the heels of my heroine, Gabrielle de Villiers.

Au revoir!