The Sunshine Coast RAinforest

I should say something profound and important about 2021, but I’m just grateful to see the last of it. The year gave a last kick in the teeth with an unusual dump of snow. I would like to remind the weather gods that this area is a rainforest. The operative word is “rain”, not “snow”. Luckily, I live in a friendly neighbourhood and someone shovelled my walk before eight this morning and two neighbours arrived shortly after to shovel my driveway. The sun is out; the temp is around 0’ C, so almost balmy. I am trying to find the bright side.

I missed another research trip to Britain. I optimistically have booked it for May 2022. Perhaps Covid and its variants will have given up by then and I can take this trip. Everything is booked with a cancellation policy attached these days. Our Left Coast Crime Conference in Albuquerque New Mexico, moved their cancellation date to just before the conference which is helpful. No one can predict the situation four months into the future. Those people who are comfortable with uncertainty must be enjoying these times. Everyone pivots at dizzying speed trying to accommodate the latest news.

2021 was a good year for my publishing life. Always Pack a Candle A Nurse in the Cariboo-Chilcotin was released in the middle of June and has surprised me with the appreciation it’s received. Data from the sales of independent book stores produce the BC Bestsellers’ list and Always Pack a Candle got on it in July and has stayed there. An unrelated cookbook has been on the list with me, so I bought it—in memory of a shared experience.

The third book in Emma Dakin’s British Book Tour Mysteries, Perils in Yorkshire, was released in October. The fourth, Danger in Edinburgh, is ready at the publisher’s and the fifth, Overkill in Kent, is on my computer in the form of the first rough draft. I am looking forward to the second draft as writing the second draft is fun. The characters come alive; the scenes become more colourful; I find more humour in the dialogue. I get up from my computer at the end of the writing day feeling energized, as if I’d had a lively visit with friends.

A happy and prosperous new year to all.