Into the Holiday Cheer!

A lot has happened since last Saturday. Those of you following along the Olympic Curling Trials know that my daughter Lisa is on the winning ladies team Homan, and they're soon off to South Korea to represent Canada at the Olympics. Ted and I were at their games all week cheering them on and couldn't be prouder. We will be continuing the journey with them as plans are in the works for us to go to South Korea too! Parents of a soon-to-be Olympian :-)

Photos taken by Mike McKinnon - Lisa warming up before a round robin game

And our youngest daughter Julia's team won the Trophy tournament last week and they've made it to the Ontario provincials in January! Their final game was last Sunday morning before the Olympic play down final so my nails are about bitten to the quick. ... who knew where this sport would take us when I got our family into the sport so many years ago? Absolutely amazing.

I've managed some time writing the latest Anna Sweet novella, now about a third of the way through the first draft. These little books are so much fun to write once I get an idea, and I'm a big fan of the publisher Pat Campbell at Grass Roots Press. She's doing such good work for adult literacy and she's always supportive and collaborative.

A few little uplifts this week. Jim Napier, a Canadian author and crime fiction reviewer, selected Shallow End as one of his top picks for 2017 - and such a great recommendation! Also, Publishers Weekly featured Bleeding Darkness in its upcoming spring book list. This is one of the book industry's flagship resources so I'm thrilled to make their list.

I received a message from my publicist yesterday that the Cold Mourning and Butterfly Kills audio books are available lots of places, including iTunes and now Kobo. Kobo has a 30% off deal going so a great time to upload them.

Are you set for the holidays? We've been busy getting set as we're hosting a Christmas dinner tonight. Decorations, tree, presents, food ... check, check and check. Christmas tunes on the stereo combined with the snow is putting me in the holiday mood. Prime rib on the barbecue heads up the menu and I'm about to tackle a chocolate raspberry bundt cake. Tis the season to eat.

Nine more sleeps until Christmas. Enjoy the moments, everyone :-)