Category: books

Vacation Time

P1000623Heads up: the blog is taking August off though I won’t be. I’ll be working flat out for the next couple of weeks in an effort to conquer my ‘to do’ list.

I’m just about finished another round of revisions on One Good Deed, I have a book proposal to finish by the beginning of September, and a couple of articles to research and write too. I also have line edits to tackle for Million Dollar Blues and I’ll be exchanging emails with Estrella Cover Art as we work to come up with a cover concept. I’m planning to send that story into the world sometime this fall.

It’s going to be a fun (and busy) three weeks. At the end of it, I’ll be rewarding my efforts by escaping up island for a few days at the beach.

Enjoy the rest of your summer. See you in September!

Cover It

In Plain Sight CoverBook covers are on my mind. Last week I received an advance copy of the cover for In Plain Sight. If you missed it on my Facebook Author Page, here it is on the left.

I’m thrilled with the way it turned out though I’ll admit my first glimpse of the cover raised concerns. Megan, the girl you see, finds out early in the story that the father she thought was dead is very much alive, he’s a convicted terrorist, and he’s Middle Eastern. For my story purposes, Megan needs to look a little like him. Not a lot, but enough that one could argue for some similarities.

The first time I saw the cover I identified Megan as a beautiful girl with a strong Celtic look. Her hair was reddish rather than the dark hair I’d referenced in the story, her eyebrows were light, and her face was made even paler by direct sunshine. I asked the art director if she could darken Megan’s eyebrows as well as her hair, and possibly give her skin more of a golden tone. I did get darker eyebrows, but messing with skin tones is problematic, so instead the art director removed the direct sunlight which gave Megan’s skin a slightly golden look. The hair, which remained a lovely reddish hue, remained the same and that posed a bit of a problem for me.

Luckily Orca shared the proposed cover before my final page proofs were done so I was able to go into the manuscript and tweak. Where a couple of girls make racist comments and insult Megan because she looks just like her father, I have the girls referencing the fact that Megan must streak her hair to hide the fact that she has the same coloring as her terrorist father. I think it’s a stronger passage than what I originally wrote and it’s realistic too: most teenage girls mess with her hair color at least once or twice in their lives. I made a few other subtle modifications here and there, allowing for Megan to look the way she does on the cover.

I’m grateful to Orca Book Publishers for sharing the cover early enough in the process that I could make some changes to the manuscript. It’s wonderful to have a strong cover that matches your story. Watch for In Plain Sight in 2017.

Meanwhile, I’m just starting the cover design process for Million Dollar Blues, my next Laura Tobias title. It’s a novel about love, money and relationships. I’m excited to be working with Viola Estrella of Estrella Cover Art. www.estrellacoverart.com. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

 

 

My July Reads

sweetpeasThe sweet peas are blooming though they’re a little confused. They don’t know whether to produce long, sturdy stems with deliciously scented blooms or short, stumpy little wisps with rather ambivalent flowers. I blame it on the weather. It was hot for a while but then it cooled off. As I write this, we’re in for a few days of rain. I’m not bothered. Sweet peas love cool, moist weather; the rain keeps the forest fire threat low; and an indoor day or two means more time to curl up with a book.

Here’s what I’m reading this month:

At the gym: Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

On the Kindle: Anything for You by Kristan Higgins

Beside the Pond: A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold

Books read to date in 2016: 40

My May Reads

pollen-1880x1249It’s allergy season around here. Like so many other climate-related things, it seems to be happening earlier and earlier. Years ago, my allergies would hit in June. We got married at the beginning of June and I was a congested mess for weeks before and after. I had a reprieve for many years and barely suffered at all. But this year, my hay fever is back, and it’s been uncomfortable for weeks. So I’m avoiding dairy, popping decongestants and working in the garden when the wind isn’t blowing the cottonwood around. When I come inside to read, I make sure I have tissues nearby.

Here’s what I’m reading this month:

At the Gym: The Humans by Matt Haig

On the Kindle: The Light Between Us by Laura Lynne Jackson

Beside the Bed: Some Nerve by Jojo Moyes

Books read to date in 2016: 32

Congratulations White Pine Winners!

 

The Ontario White Pine awards ceremony was held earlier today in Toronto. Congratulations to Jeyn Roberts who won for her title The Bodies We Wear. Honour book status was awarded to Don Aker for Delusion Road and Nick Cutter for The Troop. I was privileged to be nominated for The Art of Getting Stared At. The Ontario Library Association does a tremendous job of running the program which encourages thousands of students to read the nominated titles.

Here are the three winning titles:

bodies-We-Wear-2-e1414534497262The Bodies We Wear by Jeyn Roberts. Faye was eleven when a powerful new drug named Heam was forced on her and her best friend, Christian. Faye saw hell and vowed retribution. After years spent training,Faye is ready to take revenge on the men who destroyed her future and killed her best friend.But vengeance has its price and a mysterious young man doesn’t want Faye to pay up.

 

 

 

 

delusionroadDelusion Road by Don Aker. Willa Jaffrey is beautiful, rich, dating the perfect guy and determined to have a fabulous senior year. Enter Keegan Fraser, a handsome new student who wants no part of the games everyone plays at Willa’s school. Despite a rocky start, Keegan and Willa gradually become closer, even as Willa’s carefully constructed universe begins to fall apart. But little does Willa know that Keegan’s past holds the darkest of secrets – and it’s about to catch up to him.

 

 

 

troop-NickCutterThe Troop by Nick Cutter.  Scoutmaster Tim takes five boys for a weekend camping trip to Falstaff Island. He thinks the worst he’ll have to deal with is the boys’ different personalities clashing, or perhaps the leader of the pack challenging his authority, but the truth is much worse. A disturbing stranger stumbles onto their island campground and their camping weekend turns into a fight for survival as they find themselves with a monster in their midst.

 

 

 

All three sound like edge-of-the-seat reads! Congratulations again to the winners!

Taking in the View

mountainimageWhen mountain climbers reach the summit, they stop to take in the view. They might even rest a while, have a snack, and reflect on how the climb’s been going so far. That pause, I am told, not only refuels them but also provides helpful perspective.

Writers aren’t much for taking in the view. We’re not inclined to look back either, at least not the writers I know. And I include myself in that group. We’re all about the next set of edits, the next re-write, the next book, the next challenge. It’s good to strive, and to look ahead. But I think we miss out a little bit when we don’t stop to take in the view.

A few years ago, I was in a library getting ready to talk to a group of high school kids. They were still in the classroom; they hadn’t arrived yet. I organized my set up on a table at the front of the room and then I left to get a glass of water. When I walked back in, it was like I was seeing that table for the first time. All those books . . . and I’d written every single one. I remember feeling almost startled. And then satisfied. And then, as I scanned the table, somewhat reflective because each book was a signpost along my career path.

Last week, Orca Book Publishers and Munro’s Books hosted a spring book launch. It was a welcome opportunity to pause and celebrate the release of our books. But since then, I’ve been looking back – not a lot, just a little – and thinking about my career path so far, how things have worked or not worked, what goals I’ve let slide that maybe I need to recommit to, and what detours have taken me in a direction that needs some correcting.

I can’t say I’ve reached the summit – I’m not even sure I can see the summit – but I am taking in the view, both the path that’s in front of me and the path I’ve already walked. I’m having the odd snack as I do it. Taking the occasional rest. And in the process I’m gaining much-needed perspective.

Take a breath, take a break, take in the view. You won’t be disappointed. I guarantee it.

It’s Book Launch Time!

If you find  yourself in downtown Victoria this Wednesday night, join me at Munro’s Books while I launch Stepping Out.  I’ll be in fabulous company – Penny Draper, Sarah Harvey, Laurie Elmquist, Monique Gray Smith, Jillian Roberts and Jeff Rudd will also be there.

I’d love to see your smiling face too!

spring launch poster EMAIL

Revise, Revisit, Retreat

reviseI’ve been in revision mode for the last few weeks, working on In Plain Sight, a YA novel about a girl who learns her father was a terrorist. I’ve also been cutting and shaping Million Dollar Blues, a women’s fiction novel about a lottery win.

This Friday, however, I’ll be leaving the desk and heading up island. I’ll catch up with a dear friend that night and then on Saturday, I’ll head to the Red Door for a two-day writing retreat with my friends, the Pen Warriors.

It’s a revise, revisit, retreat kind of week. With luck, I’ll find time for a beach walk.

And that’ll make it rejuvenating too.   P1000623

My April Reads

lilacs-vaseThe lilacs are blooming weeks ahead of their usual bloom time. The rest of the garden is ahead of schedule too. That means I’m spending more time digging in the dirt and less time between the pages of a book. And when I do sit down to read, I’m either after information or I’m looking for an escape.

Apparently not everyone understands.

At the gym a few weeks ago, I got on the elliptical with a Susan Elizabeth Phillips book in hand. As I positioned the novel and fired up the machine, the woman beside me glanced over. “That’s not exactly book club material, is it?” She smiled the way condescending people sometimes do and lifted up her novel. “We’re discussing this book next week.”

Yep, book shaming is alive and well at Steve Nash Fitness World in Victoria.

I smiled back and said, “You’ll have lots to talk about. The mother gets Alzheimer’s, the father dies, and the daughter’s marriage implodes.”

Okay, I didn’t say that. But I could have. Because I read the book a while back and that’s exactly what happened. Instead I looked at the woman and said, “You’re at the wrong gym. Skinny thighed book shamers belong at the Pilates studio next door.”

Okay, I didn’t say that either. I said, “Susan Elizabeth Phillips is a very good writer and book clubs are overrated.”

I said half of that (I like book clubs). And then I turned the elliptical up to 15 and pretended the woman’s head was underneath the pedals.

These days, I don’t need to read anything depressing. For the last seven months or so, some Really Big Uglies have hit us hard, one after another, like a series of winter storms that won’t let up. So when it comes to novels, I’m happy to have a soft place to land.

Kudos to the talented authors who do such a good job writing books where the test results are always negative . . . the good guy always wins . . . couples always find their happily ever after . . . laughter is as important as breath . . . and cookies are their own food group.

Here’s what I’m reading this month:

At the gym: The Girls of Mischief Bay by Susan Mallery

On the Kindle: Take Off Your Pants* by Libbie Hawker

In the Kitchen: Everyday Super Food by Jamie Oliver

Books read to date in 2016: 28

*Hawker’s book happens to be about writing. Can you imagine book shamer’s reaction to that title?

Seeding Heavy

I usually plant heavy and I tend to write long. That means my garden overflows even after I thin and prune. And it means my novels sometimes get a little out of control before I revise them down to an acceptable length.

I can plant sparsely. I’ve done it plenty of times. I can write lean prose too. I do it when I produce novella length books for reluctant readers (watch for In Plain Sight coming in 2017).

Gardens and books start with seeds – the seed of an idea or the seed of a tomato – and in the beginning stages, it’s my nature to seed heavy. With garden seeds, you rarely get 100% germination so it’s prudent to allow for some failure. With novels, you never know which tiny tangent, random piece of dialogue, or secondary character might play an important role in the final novel. I outline, but not rigidly, and I like to leave room for surprises.

That means starting out like this if I want a garden bed of basil:basilseedlings 002

 

 

 

 

And starting like this if I want to work my way down to something publishable:april 11 2016 032

 

 

 

 

Then I need to take that overwritten book and revise it, and take that over seeded flat and thin it. I like the process. But last weekend, as I worked outside transplanting peppers I’d grown from seed, I felt a little sad at the number of plants that wouldn’t make it to the garden. They’d germinated but they were either stunted or so far behind the other seedlings that there was no point potting them up.

april 11 2016 023

Coincidentally, the day after I finished my garden work, I was back at the computer editing Million Dollar Blues and feeling a little blue myself at the passages and phrases I had to delete.

But if I want to get to this:april 11 2016 033

 

 

 

 

 

And eventually this: STEPPINGOUTCOVER9781459808959

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the work of thinning and revising has to be done. It requires a certain ruthlessness that can be painful. But the end result is always worth it.  basilpot