Do you remember having to write about your summer vacations when you went back to school each year? I always wondered if others had spent a summer more exciting than mine, which was mostly about swimming, fishing, boating, and catching frogs. Back when I was a kid, my parents had a cottage (some places call them camps) in the Kawarthas in Ontario. Our place was on Gull River between Norland and Moore’s Falls. I use a very loose interpretation of the setting in my Glass Dolphin series and call it Miakoda Falls.

Fast forward to 2021 and my summer at our place on Lake Superior (many hours north of the Kawarthas). Most people ask if I write a lot while I’m there and I probably should.

I don’t. Because for three months of the year, I take time off. Oh, I still sit on the dock of the bay and make notes. But I’m not sitting at my computer, hour after hour, looking for the perfect word, sentence, paragraph. In other words, I’m on a much-needed vacation.

This past year has been a tough one for me and I’m not talking about COVID (though it has definitely impacted my life as an author and a person just trying to get through). I’ve been Chair of Crime Writers of Canada, a great organization but…a lot of volunteer hours. I’ve released Where There’s A Will in e-book and paperback Nov. 2020, and in audiobook in May 2021. Selected the stories and edited Moonlight & Misadventure: 20 Stories of Mystery & Suspense (June 2021). Started working on not one, but THREE novels. And I had no idea what direction I was going to go. Because (here’s a head’s up), you really need to pick the novel you’re going to take to the dance. Unless you’re Stephen King (and maybe not even then) you have to pick your poison.

So…this summer I dabbled with all three. Wrote notes in pretty notebooks (supplied by my hubby, who loves to supply me with same). And I decided to go with Book 4 in my Marketville series. I love Callie. I have a great premise. And, God willing and the creek don’t rise (hubby likes old westerns and we rely on DVDs in the north) it will be out in Fall 2022.

I’ve released a book a year since 2015. This will be my first year of missing that (beyond the anthology). But you know, I’m okay with that. Because I’ve always believed in quality over quantity. So…if you’ve missed any of my books, please check them out now. And if you haven’t…hey, stick with me…Patience is a virtue. It’s never been one of mine but I’m learning. One word, one book, at a time.