Posts

In This Context: Wayfinding

Image
It's been quite the autumn. After the events in September, we had another at the end of October. In that one, author Roy Blomstrom (who is also my husband) and I participated in Entershine Bookshop's "In Conversation with Michael Sobota" series. Roy's newest historical novel, The Devil's Violin: Myllysilta's History , had come out early in the summer, and this was our celebration. Michael asked us his trademark thoughtful questions, we ate cookies, Roy talked about The Devil's Violin and I talked about Making Up the Gods, we signed books that the lovely Entershine people sold. It was a nice event. We're fortunate to have both Entershine and Michael in Thunder Bay. Besides interviewing authors and participating in the arts community in general, Michael writes book reviews for the local newspaper AND the local arts magazine (for which he also writes a column on movies). The following weekend, I began co-leading a three-week community arts/creative wr...

Deepish Thoughts from the Summer

Image
Yes, I'm aware that it's already October--we're not even in the FIRST days of autumn anymore. However, the weather is very summer-like (and too dry!), so summer's experiences have been on my mind. Also, September was a full month. Besides extending the summer "I want to be outdoors" feeling as long as possible, I had a couple of events. Early-ish in the month, I shared a book signing with David Giuliano, Marathon-based author of The Undertaking of Billy Buffone (Latitude 46), at Indigo Thunder Bay. It was fun to see friends and spend time in the local branch of the national chain.  I'm on the left Later, I hosted a stop on the Northern Tour for Rod Carley's new novel, Ruff , also from Latitude 46. We had a great chat at the library about all things creativity, Shakespeare, midlife crises, plagues/pandemics, and everything old being new again.  Rod signing copies of Ruff Between and among those events and the regular Activities of Daily Living, I'v...

Simone and Blueberry Scones at Canadian Cookbooks!

Image
It's so much fun to share information about the characters in Making Up the Gods that aren't necessarily an integral part of the book.  For example, as the novel begin, Simone bakes, and it's surprising to her that she's enjoyed it so much. She takes advantage of the presence of Chen and Martin to keep baking. And one of the things she makes is scones.  I also make scones, though I have zero nine-year-olds and also zero potential cousins hanging around. I've been using the same recipe for about 45 years, since Fort William Historical Park opened. It's a pretty foolproof recipe, which is why I keep making it, although I did have some performance anxiety around it this year after accidentally substituting baking SODA for POWDER (WHY???? Such a rookie move.). Regardless! This week, a review of Making Up the Gods, as well as a link to the Blueberry Scones recipe I use, appears at Canadian Cookbooks! Here's a link to the review. The recipe is linked in the text ...

What an August; Hello, September!

Image
August held lots of weather. Hot and humid days worthy of June in Oklahoma, cool rainy days hearkening back to April (perhaps? March?) in Oklahoma, and a share of those cool night/bright and sunny days that are so typical of Augusts of my memory. And now it's September, with its "back to school" or even "the other new year" vibe. Certainly my holiday is over--my sister has gone back home to her regular life, the weather is changing further, events are beginning again in town.  AND! Some of those events on the horizon include me! First, on September 17, I'll be doing a joint signing with David Giuliano at Thunder Bay's Indigo location from 11 to 1. We'll share short readings, discuss our books, and sign whatever you like!  David is a fellow Latitude 46 Publishing author. His award-winning novel, THE UNDERTAKING OF BILLY BUFFONE, is set in Marathon and is a satisfying, layered who- and why-dunnit. A former Moderator of the United Church of Canada, he...

Something About Pruning and Watering

Image
We don't garden, exactly, but there's a rosebush on the septic field that produces lovely small blooms in August.  It also gets kind of weedy, and in previous years, I've taken some pruning shears to what appeared to me to be "dead branches." Did I know what I was doing? Nope. Did I do any research? Nah. I was just doing what was obvious. (Narrator: not so obvious.) This year, we had little snow and (in spite of a lot of rain in June), a relatively hot and dryish summer, so our well has been iffy. On occasion, we top it up from the lake, using the pump system at the camp next door.  This year, when I'm not actively putting water from the garden hose into the well (and no, we don't drink the well water), I've been leaving the (somewhat leaky) spray gun on the septic field. I also had the bright idea of leaving it close to the base of the rosebush. And this has been the result!   In case those photos aren't clear, green leaves and some blooms are spr...

More Conversations about Making Up the Gods

I so enjoy talking with readers and other folks about Making Up the Gods. Each person has a lens through which they read anything, and combining that with their life experiences and the moment through which they're living can be really powerful. Thinking about it, I've often said, "This is the right book for me at the right time." And, of course, a different view--"This isn't the right time for this book for me" or "Hmm, I don't seem to personally *like* this type of book." In any case, I've recently been fortunate to have several public discussions about my book and its themes: grief and loss, home and place, choices and communication. They're collected on the Making Up the Gods page, linked above, as well as in individual posts. Here are the latest two: Podcast: Let's Talk About Grief with Anne, on how grief can be a powerful motivator to make changes.  YouTube: Shawn Breathes Books , in which Shawn Mooney and I have a great ...

Do SOMETHING

Image
My sister worked, for a while, as an editor at an engineering firm. Once she went to her boss because there was too much to do and she wasn't sure where even to begin. He told her, "Do something." As in, pick something, anything, and do it.  It sounds really simple, as in TOO simple, but it's turned out to be helpful advice.  Clouds probably don't feel overwhelmed. For one thing, action always helps. Standing frozen with too many competing priorities whirring in your (my) head isn't useful. If nothing else, doing something breaks the power of those non-helpful thoughts. Mine generally include, "Whatever I do will be wrong" or "I'm really going to mess up" or "When will they find out I don't know what I'm doing?" And for another, getting my hands dirty in a project reminds me of that specific project's needs.  As in, "Oh yeah, I remember now--this scene was really difficult and I couldn't figure it out and ...