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If this is your first newsletter, welcome! If we’re reconnecting after a long spell, welcome back!

Warm words and weather at the 2017 Whistler Writers Festival! The festival began in founder Stella Harvey’s living room 16 years ago and remains a warm and welcoming celebration of inspiring and aspiring Canadian writers.

Write in time for Christmas! It was a dark and freezing December night (-35°F) but inside Second Cup Café, warm memories and stories were shared.

Article published in the Red Deer Express, December 14, 2016. Link to full online article inside.

I was pumped to be part of filling station Magazine’s November Flywheel Reading Series at Pages Books on Kensington in Calgary. This is a free monthly event featuring emerging and established writers of all kinds of literature. Terrific community support!

The recipients of the inaugural awards recognizing self-published Canadian authors were announced at the 15th annual Whistler Writers Festival Oct. 13–16. Separation Anxiety won in the non-fiction category.

I enjoyed hanging out at Words in the (Sherwood) Park celebrating Alberta Culture Days.

I hit the streets on this sunny Saturday in September, celebrating stories and writers with the Lethbridge Public Library. The non-profit The Word On The Street celebrates Canadian reading, writing, and champions literacy primarily through a free, annual outdoor festival.

I love Winnipeg! Not only does it have history, art, culture and great restaurants, it has the most wonderful independent bookstore that celebrates words and writers from across Canada!

I was invited to the historic Frances Morrison Central Library for a reading and book signing on a lovely June evening. I spent the afternoon in their Local History Room digging up details for my new writing adventure.

I was honoured to be part of this dynamic and worthwhile event for women that builds awareness and understanding of mental wellness. Hosted by CMHA Kelowna.

On a warm spring afternoon in May, I led this Jane’s Walk down the memory lanes and streets of Kingsland. A wistful and nostalgic wander.

Books make the best gifts for Mother’s Day. I was impressed with Signal Hill Indigo Books and their support of local authors! I shared space at the front of the store with Calgary author Laurie Beattie among others.

Wine and words: a perfect pairing. We celebrated local authors and not-so-local wine at En Vino Novellus  at Canmore’s Rose&Crown Restaurant and Pub.

Reader’s Digest was our family magazine. While there were other magazines in the house, Reader’s Digest was the one magazine we could share: that magical sampler of the best bits of grown-up books and periodicals.

Reader’s Digest excerpt from Separation Anxiety entitled: Here I Go Again on My Own, published March 2016. Full article inside.

We enjoyed some rants from the past at Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club in the Elbow River Casino. Thanks to the “Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids” for organizing the evening, and all the other grownup readers and audience.

Thrilled to be reading at the new Timberlands Branch of the Red Deer Public Library. Sharing a gift of story this Christmas!

Featured article published in the Red Deer Advocate on Nov 30 2015.

On Saturday November 21 at 2:00pm I read at the Fish Creek Branch of the Calgary Public Library. Books were available for purchase, courtesy of Owl’s Nest Books.

On Saturday, November 14th, friends & family got together with Separation Anxiety at Mahony & Sons Public House, Stamps Landing, Vancouver.

On Friday November 13 at 7pm I was reading at Mulberry Bush Books.

It was a cold and rainy night, but there was a warm welcome from friends old and new at the Courtenay Library.

Welcome to the “Femme-Memoir Hour” at Edmonton’s LitFest. I was honoured to be part of this panel discussion.

You can read the review of Separation Anxiety, and countless others, on the “So Misguided” blog.

Celebrating Alberta Culture Days at the Penhold Library. Shout out to Penhold’s amazing library staff – and libraries everywhere. Read Local!

Part of the fun of this book has been sharing it with my teaching colleagues. These photos show their studious yet silly selves.

When I heard bestselling Australian author Brooke Davis was going to be in Olds reading from her latest book Lost and Found, I zoomed down the highway to meet her.

Listen to the complete Separation Anxiety Book Review; CBC Radio One, “The Homestretch,” air date August 31, 2015.

An Ordinary Life, in Focus – Vancouver Sun Interview Q & A, published August 1, 2015

I enjoyed meeting friends old and new at my book signing at McNally Robinson Books in Saskatoon.

It’s inspiring — and calming — to read at events with other authors. Reading at Shelf Life Books with Trisha Cull and her memoir Death of Small Creatures was so fun that we decided to share a book event in her hometown of  Victoria!

This has been my go-to bookstore in Kelowna for over 20 years. It seemed only fitting that I bring my book by for a visit!

Listen to my interview with hosts Kate Wheeler and Christine Bentley about how I veered off the teaching path to become a writer – and many other things in the book!

Landed on Story Planet to share their “universe of story making” with students. Out of this world!

Went to Toronto in June to celebrate with friends and supporters on this writing journey, along with the Dream Team who helped create the book and the buzz.

Happy to visit Café Books where I was all set up for sidewalk sales. The best bookstore in the Bow Valley. So supportive of local artists!

No book launch is complete without a stop at Audrey’s Books in Edmonton. Caught up with my past there, too!

Owl’s Nest Books was the perfect place for my Calgary book launch, practically in the neighbourhood where I grew up.

It was fitting that my first book launch event was at Sunworks in Red Deer. I began writing Separation Anxiety in a little writing studio above the store in 2004. This evening felt like a homecoming!

I took part in the Sunday Market in Old Town La Quinta to spread the word about my soon-to-be-released book. Met several avid readers from Alberta on this beautiful morning.

The woman in this book is not famous. The events of her life are not tragic. The setting is not exotic. This is an ordinary story. Which makes it an extraordinary memoir.

My books arrived on an auspiciously warm November morning.  A friendly driver in a big truck made the special delivery. My hands were shaking as I opened that first box.