OK Riel I'm Tweeting

Last week I purchased a PD package from the Writers Union of Canada. The content dealt mainly with how to use social media to help promote your book.I bought it in hopes of discovering some deep secret that would send my sales numbers sky rocketing.I am overall very pleased with the sales both The Year Mrs. Montague Cried and Ten Thousand Truths have had since their releases,however one can't help but get caught up a bit in the game.My book signings in November had me seated at a table right beside the rack of Fifty Shades of Grey and I must admit when the shoppers came eagerly (not a play on words)toward that display,part of me was so hopeful their excitement was to purchase my books.I am not a stranger to social media. I am on Facebook , I have a blog and I get the attraction and the benefits. I am also aware of how time consuming it can be and I am also cautious about exposing too much .Much of what the PD presentation was telling me I was already doing. It did present several other social media tools that I wasn't using though and one of those tools was Twitter. My friend Riel Nason has been talking up the positive points of tweeting and I decided to explore it. Before I knew it I had a username ,a password, had tweeted, was following and was being followed.See you on Twitter Riel!

Ten Thousand Truths Gets Honourable Mention

At the OLA Conference last week Ten Thousand Truths made the list of Best Bets of 2012 as an Honourable Mention. What an honour indeed to be considered and selected for such an impressive list. Congratulations to all the other authors and the work that also made the list.Check out the link listed on the right hand side of this page. I remember in my teaching days using the Book Centre brochures and having the dream of someday having a book listed there.This is huge for me and I am thrilled!!!

Beginning Another February

This morning I reflect on the start of another February. After reading my journal entries from February 2012 and my blog entry from last February it seems clear to me that the year went by very quickly.It also seems to me that it is a gift to be given another year and a gift to have the time to reflect the year's passing. As we live out our days they can often seem challenging or difficult at the time but when you look back at them they are rich with lessons we have learned and blessings we've received. Burton and I often joke about our wood supply which is supplied entirely from his time , energy and hard work.( he loves splitting wood by hand) This year the ongoing joke was that he almost had January's wood in as each rank was given a month and March and February kept being sacrificed for January. Every weekend he would add more to the January rank from a rich supply of dead maple so thoughtfully provided by a family of beavers a few years ago,that flooded an area killing all the maple trees standing in their path. Well we did it Hon!

We got through January as we have for the last 25 years in this house always facing the challenge of heating it's rooms with hard work and a positive attitude. I tear up thinking how that same outlook has carried us through so many challenges that have been much more daunting than keeping the furnace stocked.This February brings the revisions of The Sewing Basket which will be released in the spring. Last February I went through the same process with Ten Thousand Truths and the February before with The Year Mrs. Montague Cried.What more could a retired teacher who always dreamed of being a published author ask for?So here we go February. Today after the heavy winds and rain the last day of January brought, the ground is bare but I am sure many more cold and snowy days are ahead . I will take the time I am given to write and revise while at the same time take comfort in the ranks of wood now assigned to February and March and comfort in the fact that just as in the February's past, lessons and blessings await.

A Charming and Impressive Library

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the Cambridge Narrows Regional Library. Check out the web site. www.cambridge-narrowsregionallibrary.ca I was very impressed with the facility. With a lot of hard work by volunteers and their ongoing dedication and lots of support from the community, they have taken an old building and turned it in to a vibrant part of the community. The selection of books and other resources is astounding. The programs and activities they offer are numerous . The décor is welcoming and nurtures a love of reading in all ages. I was invited to meet in the morning with a group of grade eleven students and their very enthusiastic teacher. I was happy to meet Andrew, Brandis, Devon, Carly, Kristen,Justis, Greg and Mrs. Goodin. They had read The Year Mrs. Montague Cried and I was pleased to answer their questions and receive their comments.I talked more than I should have because we ran out of time and I would have loved to have heard more from them. Thank you so much Mrs. Goodin for sharing my book with these great kids and for inviting me to meet them.I then was invited to the home of Brenda Dunsmore for lunch. Brenda has been one of the people instrumental in the existence of the library and certainly is very involved in it's vibrancy. Brenda a former colleague and fellow Kingston Peninsula resident along with her husband Bruce have chosen to spend their retirement years in Cambridge Narrows. After having visited them in their lovely lake front home I can not blame them. I am sure they are getting back as much as they are putting in to their chosen location. After a lovely lunch with Brenda ,Betty and Pat I returned to the library where I spent a wonderful afternoon with a book club of about twelve ladies. What a welcoming group these ladies were. Again I probably talked too much but we also had a lot of discussion,some laughter and the emotion that makes tears well up.Days like this are such a joy for me. They combine so many of the things I love; spending time with kids, watching excellent teachers do what they do,being surrounded by books, sharing my work, telling my stories, listening to the stories of others,selling a book or two, and making another memory in this evolving career as an author. So today as I prepare to give the rest of this day over to writing I am reminded of why sitting here day after day alone turning words and sentences in to story is rewarded not with money but with the moments just like the ones I had yesterday at the Cambridge Narrows Library.

Welcome 2013

The sun is streaming through my office window and I am warm even though the outside temperature is -17. The furnace is well stocked , the kitchen stove is beginning to heat the water in the kettle and I am sitting in the quiet comfort of this room letting the frenzy of the last week settle.Yesterday we welcomed a large group of family and friends for our now annual New Years Day feast. For two days I work non stop to present a meal reflective of the efforts we have put in to growing vegetables, preserving the harvest and raising turkeys, chickens and pigs over the summer and fall months.I look to 2013 thankful for the gifts of 2012, ready to receive the blessings and challenges that lie ahead and very thankful for the memories I hold within the walls of this house and in my heart. I celebrate the people ,place and purpose I have been given.

A Day at Hampton Middle

Yesterday I spent a very enjoyable day at Hampton Middle School. Mrs. Graham welcomed me warmly the moment I arrived and all the staff was very friendly. I first met with the theatre full of grade seven students and they were very attentive, respectful and engaged in my presentation. I was very impressed with the thoughtful questions they asked and their insightful observations. As always it is challenging to share such a personal journey with a large group of unknown people but I was well rewarded for doing so. Next I faced a large group of active , pre Christmas break, grade eight students. At first glance I expected it to be daunting trying to keep this percolating group still. On the contrary though overall they were equally attentive, respectful and engaged. I came away from the group feeling very warmly received. At lunch time I was treated to a lovely stir-fry meal, salad and desert made by HMS EA Mrs. Freeze. Her generous attention to detail was very much appreciated and together with Mrs. Ketchum Boudreau ,Mrs. Jensen,Mrs. MacEachern and Mrs. Freeze (the district Literacy Specialist)I had a delicious and relaxing lunch.In the afternoon I had 21 eager students for a Writers Workshop and the enthusiasm and skill they showed was wonderful. Hampton Middle definitely has some budding writers.So all in all I had another very successful WISP visit and look forward to a few more this year. I am always reminded how much I loved being a teacher, how much I love being retired and how much I love being an author.

Get Me Through December

Here we are nine days into December. December for me has always been full of wonderful things.Thirty four years ago on December 5th Burton and I became parents for the first time to a beautiful baby boy Zachary Leverett White 8lbs 14ozs. What joy that baby brought with him. For years afterwards his birthday started off a month of family , friends and celebration filled with traditions that became so important to our growing family. Those traditions became more important but so challenging in 1999 when we had to face our first Christmas without Zac. Some of the following years, December was excruciating and we carefully negotiated our way around some of those traditions changing some and letting some go.I remember the feeling of holding my breath and determinedly getting through the season with relief coming after all the hype was over on January 2nd. Now thirteen years later I face the month with a quiet melancholy ,fervently hanging on to the memories and being very careful to concentrate on the parts of the celebration that fill me up . I don't feel the same desperation to get it over with. I will take each December day and enjoy what I have been given. I will enjoy my warm and cosy home,my health,the people I am blessed to have in my life, the gift of my office and writing time. I look forward to editing my third book and getting it ready for a May release.I will celebrate getting another year older on Boxing day.Listening this morning to Stephanie Mainville's rendition of Gordie Sampson's song Get me Through December I am extremely grateful that getting through December is something I look forward to not something I dread.