Sheila Balls

year in books

Sheila Balls’s Followers (29)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
Julie H...
2,454 books | 356 friends

C.J. Fr...
294 books | 30 friends

Donna
377 books | 6 friends

Clif Ho...
1,404 books | 605 friends

Ann G. ...
989 books | 127 friends

Joan Au...
95 books | 123 friends

Elena G...
4 books | 2 friends

Lynn Wy...
476 books | 20 friends

More friends…

Sheila Balls

Goodreads Author


Born
in North Bay Ontario, Canada
Website

Genre

Influences
anne lamott garrison keillor

Member Since
March 2008

URL


Sheila (Smith) spent her first twenty years in North Bay Ontario and went on to a teaching career which took her to the Sudbury area, Whitby, and finally Owen Sound. Here she met and married Carl Balls in 1971 and they raised two children, Michael born in 1974 and Catherine in 1976.
Sheila wrote through all those years but began publishing material only when she retired from teaching.
Her first book of personal essays, Somebody Move the Cat, was accepted by The Brucedale Press, the first publisher she sent it to, and came out in 2003. In 2005 she self-published Our Side of the Fence while living on beautiful Bass Lake south of Wiarton.
Carl and Sheila moved late in 2007 to Grey Highlands and then, with Carl needing care for his declining hea
...more

Hold hands and move forward

Towards morning but still fully dark I am wakened by the soft pad of a cat stepping carefully across the bed to look into my face: “Are you awake?”

I used to write then, up at the lake, those nights I could not sleep, but it has been a long time since I felt like writing through the dark hours . . . maybe because of the “dark hours” we have gone through in our own life.

In those years we lived in Read more of this blog post »
1 like ·   •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on January 01, 2017 03:38 Tags: health, marriage, memoir, surviving-loss
Average rating: 4.82 · 38 ratings · 18 reviews · 5 distinct works
All Right So Far

4.94 avg rating — 18 ratings2 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Somebody Move the Cat!

4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2003
Rate this book
Clear rating
Our Side of the Fence: Tale...

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings2 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Our Side of the Fence

4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2005
Rate this book
Clear rating
Walk This Way

4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings2 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
More books by Sheila Balls…
The Island of Mis...
Sheila is currently reading
by Elif Shafak (Goodreads Author)
bookshelves: currently-reading
Rate this book
Clear rating

 
The List of Last ...
Sheila is currently reading
by Christina Myers (Goodreads Author)
bookshelves: currently-reading
Rate this book
Clear rating

 
Mad Cow Sees Red:...
Rate this book
Clear rating

 

Sheila’s Recent Updates

Sheila wants to read
Leave Me by Gayle Forman
Leave Me
by Gayle Forman (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
Sheila rated a book it was amazing
I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman
I Have Lost My Way
by Gayle Forman (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
After three young people meet in a most unusual manner, they end up spending the day together. Their backgrounds are filled in by a series of flashbacks during that one day. Freya, Harun, and Nathaniel could not be more different from one another. Bu ...more
Sheila and 61 other people liked Berit☀️✨ 's review of I Have Lost My Way:
I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman
"4 CharacterDriven Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

This was a book filled with amazing characters....Freya meets Nathaniel after falling off a bridge and landing on top of him...Harun is a witness to the fall and so the friendship between the three of them begins... I real" Read more of this review »
Sheila wants to read
Theo of Golden by Allen  Levi
Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
Four Bullets, Four Witnesses, Four Liars by Brian Barrie
" What a small world it is! My husband was raised just north of Wiarton. I belong to a readers advisory group and one of the women has often given suppo ...more "
Sheila wants to read
Caribou Island by David Vann
Caribou Island
by David Vann (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
Saving Michelangelo's Dome by Wayne Kalayjian
"This book is a history focused primarily on the restoration of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica that occurred in the 1750s. The scope of history begins in ancient Rome with the first construction on the site and continues through the dome’s construct" Read more of this review »
Sheila rated a book it was amazing
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Rate this book
Clear rating
This book acknowledges how everyone seems to have their eyes on some kind of a prize whether it is realistic or not. In a tiny unsuccessful hotel, Pasquale lives a quiet life until Hollywood intervenes. Readers will like the characters although there ...more
Sheila and 144 other people liked Perry's review of Beautiful Ruins:
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
" Heart-Stabbing Elaboration of Beauty


I left this book on my shelf for almost four years because I stalled out early. In April nine years ago, with spring coming on, I picked it up again. This time it took.

I get the complaints people make about Be" Read more of this review »
Sheila rated a book it was amazing
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Rate this book
Clear rating
This book acknowledges how everyone seems to have their eyes on some kind of a prize whether it is realistic or not. In a tiny unsuccessful hotel, Pasquale lives a quiet life until Hollywood intervenes. Readers will like the characters although there ...more
More of Sheila's books…
Mark Twain
“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
Mark Twain

Marianne Williamson
“Children are happy because they don't have a file in their minds called "All the Things That Could Go Wrong.”
Marianne Williamson

Mitch Albom
“No story sits by itself. Sometimes stories meet at corners and sometimes they cover one another completely, like stones beneath a river.”
Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Mitch Albom
“All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.”
Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven

John Greenleaf Whittier
“If thou of fortune be bereft,
and in thy store there be but left
two loaves, sell one, and with the
dole, buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.”
John Greenleaf Whittier

1418 Cats — 361 members — last activity May 14, 2023 07:51AM
For those who love cats and reading novels about them, too!
21249 I Love Canadian Authors — 445 members — last activity Sep 16, 2025 10:19AM
Fans of canadian authors and Canadian authors here on Goodreads: This is a group for fans and authors to meet and discuss their favorite canucks and t ...more
1218 The Next Best Book Club — 25962 members — last activity 7 hours, 14 min ago
Are you searching for the NEXT best book? Are you willing to kiss all your spare cash goodbye? Are you easily distracted by independent bookshops, bi ...more
20935 Up and Coming Authors — 107 members — last activity Nov 11, 2017 10:08AM
This is a group for independent authors and readers who are interested in finding the newest talent out there!
31504 Q&A with Lori Lansens — 72 members — last activity Jun 14, 2010 03:54PM
Lori Lansens will be answering reader questions from April 5 to May 5th.
26989 Goodreads Authors/Readers — 55901 members — last activity 7 hours, 7 min ago
This group is dedicated to connecting readers with Goodreads authors. It is divided by genres, and includes folders for writing resources, book websit ...more
More of Sheila’s groups…
No comments have been added yet.