Angela Shaeffer's Blog

What do you like to do when you are not writing? 
I exercise every day--road bike or hike three or four times a week and Barre or Pilates on two other days. My husband and I travel a lot–either to visit our children who live away, to our cabin in the San Juan Mountains, or to see a new place in the world. Within the last two years we took a cruise to Antarctica; toured Croatia and Prague; and spent a week in the Cotswalds and London. 
When I’m home I always have some volunteer responsibility or or...

Two days in San Diego with one of my best friends
culminating in joining her book club to talk about The Things They Didn't See!
 We started the morning hiking the beautiful sandstone cliffs at Torrey Pines State Reserve.


We didn't get a picture of the landscape, but here's a stock image.

Meanwhile, I got a text from my mom in Portugal. Look how similar our two vistas are on either side of the planet!

After our hike we went to Coronado Island and rode bikes,then had lunch at the Hotel Del.


Dinner at s...

How did you come up with the title, The Things They Didn't See? 
My first chapter was an assignment for a Novel Writing class. I dashed off a title: Finding Paradise (it couldn’t be Paradise Lost, obviously), never thinking it would be permanent for the next six years. I liked the idea of alluding to a broken family finding happiness again. 
Years later, the first time I thought my novel was finished, I hired a developmental editor who (among so many very helpful critiques) said she didn’t think t...

 Do you have a favorite morning spot?

With the addition of new bookshelves, my sunroom is now complete.

 What had been missing, was a place to put all of my sunroom books. 
While the world outside the windows is just becoming light, I start my day with a blanket,
a cup of ginger honey tea, and a stack of books that are inspiring, hopeful, or thought-provoking. 
Books that are so uplifting, you need to keep them close, even after the last page.

What made you write a book about grief? 
Two reasons...When I started writing The Things They Didn't See, my dad had recently passed away and the different ways everyone grieved impacted me. (He had adult children, young teenage children from a second marriage, a youngish wife and many, many close friends and we have a large extended family.)  I was putting myself in everyone's shoes which made for a very compelling narrative.
Additionally, two of my four children were in college and my two other ...

In the last couple of weeks I went to Portland with two of my four sistersto see Benson Boone. One of my children is a "flipper" which made Benny B'snumerous back flips off the pianos even more endearing.
He's a fantastic performer!

We spent a day shopping and window shopping in Burnside's furniture district,but really it was late afternoon because we spent the entire morning in our hotel room talking and talking and talking.
Do you have sisters?

The end of the week my husband and I and our friends ...

It's been a dream come true hosting and "guesting" atbook clubs this summer and fall!  
Jill, Jake, Matt, Henry and Grandpa are now out in the world and known and loved by friends, family and even friends I've never met. Thank you!
I didn't get a photo with my church book club or with the Zoom book club with my dear friends' family book club.But I adore hearing about scenes that resonated with you and sharing about my writing experience and influences!!

  When we designed our home, I imagined a crouchy attic, because isn’t that what all attics are?

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With more headroom than expected, two rooms originally designated for storage became my office and a…library! If you can’t find me, I’ll be sleeping amongst the books. 

Ten minutes from home and I'm in the mountains.Every red tree is a treasure, every colored leaf a jewel.Just as I put my camera away, I'm pulling it out again.For ninety days we partake of a spectacle,a wonder that never grows old year after year.
When the last leaf falls, and the skies flatten to gray,a white flake whispers, drops,and a new feast begins. 

Over the last six weeks I've been enjoying a vacation from social mediaand have focused on my family!
 I've spent time at our cabin with friends,
discussed The Things They Didn't See at four book clubs,
spent a wonderful week back at the cabin with my daughter, son-in-law, their baby,
a few of their friends and a surprise arrival of another son and his girlfriend!


And topping it all off, I was in New York for ten days holding my newest granddaughter and playing with her big sister.


Each night I made d...