Greetings ignored followers. I do not ignore you out of arrogance, believe me, but out of a strong sense that nobody really reads my blog anyway. Although, someone must. I sometimes see the graph go up, so that must be proof.

I realized I had not written a thing since summer and it was time to dip back in and write an update of my new book, Picture Me (James Lorimer and Co.). It came out about 3 weeks ago and has had a good review in one of Canada’s biggest book review magazines, Quill & Quire. It was a review that made me very happy, not because it was full of praise, but because the writer recognized that I was taking on quite a challenge with the narrative structure. He called it “bold.” What a lovely word. I don’t think that word has ever been used in connection with me before. He also liked my ambiguous ending, which pleased me no end because many Goodreads people were quite negative about that.

Too bad, I say. If writers always play it safe, what’s the point? We need to experiment, to play, to push the narrative envelope, so to speak.

So that is just a wee little update for now, on the new book front.

On the writing front, Catherine Austen, author of All Good Children, came to my Teen Spirit (YA) course on Friday to speak to my two classes. She is a real artist. I loved the way she spoke about spreading a trail of bread crumbs into a story, ones that could be picked up and used later on. What a great metaphor for building plot. She credits Tim Wynn-Jones with that, but I will always think of her when I hear it. Or when I am writing and wondering why I am putting in this or that detail.

Oh, hearing her speak made me long to write again, but alas, teaching full time right now leaves me NO time for my own writing. Soon, soon, little books harboured inside me like sailboats in a storm. (Oh, that was bad - I AM rusty).

Cheerio for now, Lori