Tag Archives: #amwriting

My Changing Author Photograph

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When my first novel, A Deadly Fall, was published in 2011, I decided to get a professional author photograph for book promotion. A friend recommended her friend, Deb Marchand, a local Calgary photographer who specializes in portraits, family pictures, and special events like graduation photos. 

I contacted Deb, found her cost reasonable, and arranged a photo session. Deb likes to shoot outdoors and prefers the evenings for better light. We picked a date, but that summer kept getting hit with evening thunder showers, and we had to cancel our first date. The next time, another storm loomed, but we agreed to chance a downpour. 

Deb chose a location on a park ridge. I had asked her advice on clothing for my portrait. Since it would be a head shot, clothes only mattered from the chest up. Deb said a plain coloured top with a rounded neckline would be best. I had also read that it’s best to avoid jewellery in portraits since it detracts from the face, which is what people most want to see about the person. 

I looked through my wardrobe, couldn’t find the perfect top, and threw a bunch into a bag with the plan to discretely change on the ridge until we found the top that worked. Fortunately, on that evening of looming clouds few people were out walking in the park. After taking numerous photos of me in several tops, I went to Deb’s house, in the rain, to go through the selections on her computer. An agonizing choice when so many photos looked similar and I’m not the biggest fan of pictures of me. 

In the end, I settled on a photo of me wearing a white top with a V-neck. I liked the look so much that I had the photo enlarged for my family room wall. 

Deb and I became Facebook friends. She came to my book launch and read A Deadly Fall and my next two novels. In 2019, I realized my eight-year-old photo was out of date and asked Deb if she’d be interested in another photo shoot. This time, we met on a clear, spring evening in Calgary’s St. Patrick’s Island Park, and I had the perfect top–red with a rounded neckline.  

Six years passed. I published three more novels, let my hair go naturally gray, and. thanks to cataract surgery didn’t wear glasses anymore. Every time I sent out my author picture, I felt it didn’t look like the current “me.” I messaged Deb who was enthused about working with me again. She suggested Prince’s Island Park downtown for our third photo shoot.  

Deb asked if I’d prefer a city or nature backdrop. I chose nature because I liked the greenery in my past photos and thought high rise buildings in the background would portray the wrong image for my shift to historical fiction. Deb thought a light-coloured top would be a good contrast to nature colours. I chose a pale pink rounded-neck T-shirt top. 

On a warm, slightly windy and smoky evening in June, we walked around the Prince’s Island Park and caught up on each others’ news. Deb photographed me on a staircase to the Bow River and in front of trees and flowerbeds. She had me do models’ poses–chest out and swish your arms down your hips to your thighs–and fussed with my windblown hair. It reminded me that I wouldn’t want to be a model. 

After the session, Deb emailed me a longlist of photos as well as her five personal favourites, from which I chose my two author photos. Here they are:

Deb and I shared a few laughs during the photo shoot. She said that, as a bonus, she’d add a joyous portrait as her gift to me. “It will be one of those great laughing photographs that makes me smile as big as your smile in the photo.” 

Many thanks to Deb Marchand Photography for all these years of great author photos. 

Do The Happy Hollisters Stand the Test of Time?

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When I was a child, I devoured novels about children and teenagers who solved mysteries and crimes. The Bobbsey Twins, The Happy Hollisters, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden. I loved them all and passed the books down to my two sons who enjoyed reading them. Since my granddaughter loved Robert Quackenbush’s series of Sherlock Chick mystery picture books that I got from the library, I wondered if she’d like these classics for older readers now that she is almost eight.   

The Bobbsey Twins were my gateway mysteries, but I could only find one Bobbsey book in my house. My granddaughter liked reading it with her dad, so I thought of trying her on a mystery series for the next reading level: The Happy Hollisters. 

The Hollisters are a family of five children aged four to twelve. People they meet in the stories always comment on their happiness. The siblings never quarrel or pick on each other or complain about doing household chores. Their parents are equally happy. They don’t yell or punish their kids who constantly get into dangerous situations.  

Since the novels were published between 1953 and 1970, I decided to read the first book in the series to check that it wasn’t too dated for modern children. 

Naturally, the story reflects the times. The Hollisters live in a “white” middle class world. The two boys play Cowboys and Indians. Only the girls (cheerfully) help their mother make sandwiches for a family picnic and all three love playing with dolls, even “tomboy” Holly. The boys tend to be more rambunctious and daring than their sisters and take on the leadership roles. 

But Pam Hollister beats all the neighbourhood boys in a mini-car race, and the girls get into scrapes and contribute to solving the mystery.  

As a modern reader, what startled me most about the book was the children’s freedom. Mrs. Hollister lets four-year old Sue follow her older siblings everywhere. The Hollisters live on a lake, and Sue almost drowns. (Their intrepid family dog rescues her). When the older children build a campfire, Sue’s dress catches fire. Her brother Ricky burns his hands while saving her. Mrs. Hollister takes all of this in stride. 

The other adults are equally unprotective. When the children find the final clue to the mysterious thefts, they prudently take their information to Officer Cal. He invites them to hop in his patrol car and help capture the thief.  Children of the 1950s might have believed Cal would do this, but would today’s more protected kids find it plausible? But if they don’t, would believability matter if they’re engaged in the Hollisters’ adventures?  

In the end, my son felt the books were a bit too long for his almost-eight-year-old. We’ll wait another year to try them on her. The Happy Hollister series was out of print from 1983 until 2010, when the publisher started to reissue the novels in paperback, hardcover, digital, and audio formats. You can buy the complete 33-paperback book set for $285. https://thehappyhollisters.com/product/the-happy-hollisters-bundle-collection/ The reissued books are described as faithful to the originals. I think for modern children, the stories could use some updating. For starters, I’d made the children, their parents, and their dog a little less than totally happy.   

Successful Book Launch for A Killer Whisky

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I enjoyed my book launch for my new novel, A Killer Whisky, on Tuesday night. The weather co-operated with relatively mild temperatures and a hint of sunshine. Views from the Treehouse at cSPACE Marda Loop were lovely. It was especially great to see so many smiling, supportive faces and chat with newcomers and friends.

As part of the festivities, we offered “wee drams” of whisky and whisky cocktails named for some of A Killer Whisky’s characters. The most popular cocktail was “Katharine’s Patriotic Canadian Maple Whisky Sour.” Here’s the simple recipe:

Ingredients – yields one serving

1.5 oz whisky

1 oz lemon juice

2-4 teaspoons maple syrup

Pinch of ground cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

Fill a cocktail shaker or mason jar about 2/3 full with ice.

Add whisky, lemon juice, maple syrup, pinch of cinnamon.

Securely fasten the lid and shake well.

Pour ice into cocktail glass.

Add maple whisky sour mixture.

Enjoy!

This was my favourite cocktail, too, but I refrained from drinking at the launch to stay alert for my discussion of how I came to write A Killer Whisky and the history that forms a backdrop to the story.

My friend and Calgary literary historian, Shaun Hunter, did a fabulous job of hosting the event. Another friend and writer Leslie Gavel kept the slide show moving smoothly. Judith from Owl’s Nest Bookstore created a fine display of my six novels.

Most people seemed to go home feeling satisfied and enthused with the event. I couldn’t ask for better launch my novel, A Killer Whisky.

A Killer Whisky visits another website

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Check out BWL author J. Q. Rose’s website https://www.jqrose.com/2025/03/focus-on-books-series-guest-susan.html for her feature on A Killer Whisky. I discuss the origins of the novel and J. Q. reviews A Killer Whisky. J. Q. lives in the United States and questioned why “whisky” isn’t spelled “whiskey” in the title. She explains the different spellings in her post, and I had a character in my novel explain it so Americans won’t think I don’t know how to spell.

Preparing for the Book Launch on March 25th

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My book launch for my new mystery novel A Killer Whisky is ten days away. I’ve spent the past month on preparation, and there’s still plenty to do. 

An easy task was to create a Facebook Event Page and invite about 160 Facebook friends who live in the Calgary area. So far, nine have said they’re going. This might not seem like a lot, but some will bring a friend, not all attendees confirm, and part of the purpose is to let people know my new book is available. I drop into the Event Page daily and make occasional comments to generate interest. One friend told me my Event Page shows up regularly on his Facebook feed, possibly because he presses “like” whenever the page appears. From other “likes” to the page, I notice that friends I didn’t invite have seen it. Thus, the page becomes continuous promotion for relatively little effort on my part.  

For friends who aren’t active on Facebook, I created a poster that I email to them individually. This takes more time than a mass mailout, but I think the personal approach prompts more people come. People usually reply, whether they can go or not, and it’s fun to catch up with those I haven’t seen in months or longer. I contact everyone who’s shown an interest in my writing and especially those who have attended previous launches. It helps to keep an attendance list and look back at previous launch pictures.  

In addition, I’ve sent notices about the launch to my writing groups for inclusion in their weekly or monthly newsletters to members. Few people will attend as a result of these announcements, but some might buy the book and read it if it strikes them as interesting. 

I’ve also started work on the launch program, which will centre on my PowerPoint presentation. I enjoying doing PowerPoints and work hard to find the right image or bullet points to compliment what I want to say. My talk will focus on my inspirations for writing A Killer Whisky, setting locations in Calgary, and the novel’s historical background – the story takes place during the 1918 Flu Pandemic, World War One, and Alberta Prohibition. I still need to create more slides and tweak existing ones to make the newspaper headlines, advertisements, photographs, and cartoons more effective. 

A week before the launch, I’ll get a dress rehearsal for the PowerPoint presentation at the Pincher Creek Municipal Library, where I’ll discuss the historical events relevant to an audience in Southern Alberta. Both the Pincher Creek Author Talk and Calgary Book Launch will include readings from the novel, which I still have to select, practice, and fit into the program.  

Other ingredients for the book launch event are food and drink. Since “whisky” is in the novel’s title and plays a key role in the story, I’ve pursued my idea of serving “wee drams” of whisky and whisky cocktails named for the story’s characters. A few weeks ago, I knew little about whisky cocktails other than that I’d liked Whisky Sours when I was younger. From the internet I’ve now learned about bitters, muddlers, and channel knives for making lemon twists, and I’ve found cocktail recipes that my husband and I are experimenting with this week. Our first attempt was a success! Cinnamon Maple Whisky Sour will be the signature drink for my protagonist Katharine, a Canadian patriot who supported the Great War.  

Between now and the launch on March 25th, I’ll need to shop for snack platters, lemons for my mixers and twists, and door prizes with whisky, mystery, and/or history slants. I still need to finalize arrangements with my bookseller, Owl’s Nest Bookstore. No doubt myriad details requiring attention will come up. Let’s hope for no last-minute disasters, like a snowstorm – not unusual for Calgary in March – or a key person like me coming down with the flu.  

Is the book launch worth all this time, effort, money, and stress?

I don’t know. 

But it is fun to plan a party. 

Cheers to everyone who loves writing and reading books!