I’m gearing up for this year’s Whe Word’s Collide Festival for Readers and Writers, which takes place Aug 11-13 at the Delta Calgary South. This year I’ll be on six panels, all of them in the hotel’s Tower building:

Beyond Traditional and Self-Publishing, Fri 3 pm, Fireside room

Aging Series Characters, Sat 10 am, Parkland room

The Mystery of Mysteries, Sat 12 pm, Bonavista room

Absolute Mystery Basics, Sat 3 pm, Willow Park room

Fragility & Mental Illness Within Story, Sun 2 pm, Bonavista room

The Thrill of the Smoking Gun, Sun 3 pm, Parkland room

I’ll also be doing a shift or two at the Books We Love authors table in the Merchants’ Corner and attending the Mass Autograph Session (Sat 8-10 pm) and Roaring Twenties themed banquet.

It’s shaping up to be a fun and hectic weekend. Hope to see you there!

Today’s the day for my monthly post on my publisher’s website and I’m blogging about our Calgary Stampede.

More pictures from our June 29th pre-Stampede Side-saddled reading and discussion.

Great fun last night our joint reading Side-saddled: Local Writers Take on the Stampede. I was awed by the turnout – about 80 people. Everyone seemed enthused and interested in the readings and discussion about all aspects of the Stampede, from mini-donuts to animal treatment. I learned so much and will now be more observant of our annual happening. Several people who attended told me they found it the perfect launch into the Calgary Stampede season.  Many thanks to the Calgary Public Library and Wordfest for hosting, and for Shelf Life books for bringing our books for sale.

Happy Canada 150 Day!

I’m gearing up for my first event of the Calgary Stampede season Side-saddled: Local Writers Take on the Stampede. I’ll be reading from my novel Ten Days in Summer, set during the Stampede, and chatting with local authors Aritha van Herk, Emily Ursuliak, Kris Demeanor and emcee Shaun Hunter about all things Stampede.

The event takes place  Thursday, June 29 at 7 PM – 8:30 PM, in Memorial Park Library’s lovely second floor presentation room, 1221 2 Street SW, Calgary.

You can register on the Calgary Public Library’s website, but this isn’t necessary.

When my fellow BWL author J. Q. Rose invited me to guest blog in her Summer Readers Circle, I leapt at the opportunity. She scheduled me for today, June 16th. I suggested we swap blog posts on the same day and write on the same topic. J. Q. proposed we both blog about what inspired us to write our books. 

My blog today features J. Q.’s post titled My Inspiration for the Romantic Suspense Novel, Dangerous Sanctuary. In the post, she also talks about her non-fiction book written to empower and inspire girls called Girls Succeed: The Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women.

If you read and comment on J. Q.’s post through one of the simple methods outlined, you’ll automatically be entered in a draw to win a free ebook of Dangerous Sanctuary. Deadline is Tuesday, June 20, 10:00 pm EDST.

And then you can go to J. Q. Rose’s website, read my post and make a comment for a chance to win a free ebook of Ten Days in Summer.

Happy Reading!

Today is my date in June for the Books We Love Insider Blog. Check out my photo blog post about my recent trip to Boston.

A friend of my sister’s from high school kindly took this photo for me.

Joanne and her son work at Indigo Signal Hill, Calgary. Thanks, Joanne, for noticing this.

An excerpt from my short story “Adjusting the Ashes” appears in this week’s Calgary Through the Eyes of Writers. “Adjusting the Ashes” won the 20o3 Alberta Views Short Story Contest and you can read the full story in the Alberta Views archives. Of all my short stories, this one most inspired my mystery novel sleuth Paula Savard.

I updated “Adjusting the Ashes” in response to a call for submission for a Writing Menopause anthology edited by  Jane Cawthorne and E.D. Morin and was thrilled when they accepted it.

This month Inanna Publications released Writing Menopause: An Anthology of Fiction, Poetry and Creative Non-Fiction. The Calgary Book Launch takes place on May 25th. Unfortunately, I’ll have to miss it, but I cheer on my fellow contributors, who will be reading that night: Rea Tarvydas, Lori D. Roadhouse, Roberta Rees, Steve Passey, JoAnn McCaig, Shaun Hunter, Rona Altrows, Jane Cawthorne & E.D. Morin.

Here are the launch details:

DATE & TIME: Thursday, May 25, 2017 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm

VENUE: Shelf Life Books, 1302 – 4 Street S.W.

For more information and to read excerpts of the book, take a tour at Writing Menopause Facebook page.

Tuesday night was my first taste of Calgary’s A Taste of Local Authors reading series, organized three times a year by author and When Words Collide organizer Randy McCharles. My publisher Jude Pittman attended and took these pictures of me reading from the Stampede parade scene in my novel Ten Days in Summer.  The audience chimed in on cue with Yahoo’s and Yeehaw’s.

The next Taste of Local Authors will take place at Owl’s Nest Bookstore in December.