Issue #32 - May 2020

Dear Readers,

How has your last month gone? How have you been navigating these strange, uncertain times?

Often Luke and I and Ori go for walks in the woods around our house, and we talk about some of the things we miss. These include, in no particular order:

-Going into work and seeing our friends

-Eating out (though we have been ordering some in to support local restaurants)

-Going to a movie theatre and ordering popcorn and twizzlers

- Ori hanging out with Hiro, his best friend

- Us hanging out with OUR best friends

- Inviting people over in general

- Birthday parties

- Not being afraid

- Not worrying so much about all those people we love and can't help

On the other hand, there are a few things we don't miss:

- Being SO busy driving and running around to try and fit everything in (ie. taking the ferry, in the city trying to get around traffic, and fit all the tasks in to see everyone)

- driving in general (I've only been driving VERY little)

-our apartment and especially the elevator (we are very grateful for our space here)

Something a little extra tough that happened the past month is that Luke's Grandma, one of the most fiery people I knew, at 92 years old, passed away. A bit about Irene: she continuously wrote books, she lived in a farmhouse build in the 1800s in Ontario, and she had relatives that fought in both wars and she kept all their correspondence. Last time we were out to visit her, for her 90th birthday, she actually gifted me a FIRST edition of Anne that was just randomly lying in one of the rooms of the old, creaky house. We all are going to miss her very much.

So there's that.

How is writing going, you ask? Not TOO badly. Every day is really full of all the things I have to do. I am grateful to be busy however. And extra thankful that my parents have been isolating with us and have been able to look after Ori, who is just growing smarter and more wonderful every day. He can say full sentences, sing along to songs, and loves loves loves books. His favourite movie is Bambi. He loves to play hide and seek, although his hiding is the WORST. He just stands with his back to you in a corner and thinks he is invisible... Of course, he LOVED Easter and searching for chocolate.

And I just HAD to include this one because he is SO cute!

Back to books, one of the other things I miss right now is being able to properly celebrate new releases with my friends and families. For example, as you know recently my own Colt of the Clouds came out, and it was sad that I wasn't able to have a launch for it.

And, this coming month, a picture book I wrote, inspired by Anne of Green Gables, and illustrated by Genevieve Godbout comes out called If I Couldn't Be Anne.

Book Birthdays are funny things in the best of times. It's the day when you celebrate your book being published. After so much work to make a book, at last -- there it is! Able to be read and shared with the world. But, sort of like real Birthdays, book birthdays can feel really exciting leading up to them, but sort of anti-climatic on the actual day, unless you prearrange a party, like a Book Launch or something like that!

Of course, right now, we can't do book launches.

I will be doing some virtual tours with If I Couldn't Be Anne, and so stay tuned on my Instagram account for details of when you can tune in.

But I really wanted to share other books that I would have loved to celebrate a Book Launch for. The first book is possibly the funniest book this whole year, and written by one of my best friends, Tiffany Stone, who I've had on my newsletter before, talking about editing and poetry. She is a phenomenal poet. This particular book, "Knot Cannot", is a fun packed--PUN-packed--book about a little knot that wishes he was a Snake, because Snakes are SO awesome! Luckily, Knot finds out that he is pretty awesome too.

First THIS PICTURE!!!!

This is the snake that inspired the book....!!!

I have actually played with this snake. It is surprisingly relaxing to be with a snake. No joke.

I wanted to ask Tiffany and Mike a few questions about the book:

Where did the inspiration for this book come from?

Tiffany: My daughter’s pet snake, a ball python named Banana. (I even give him a shout-out in the dedication.) I’ve always liked snakes but never realized just how cool they are and how much personality they have until I got to know Banana. There are lots of stories where snakes are the bad guys. I wanted to write a book where a snake was the role model for a change. What kind of character would have a snake as a role model? A piece of string, of course. But what if that piece of string is tied permanently in a KNOT so he CANNOT do the things his hero can?

Mike: I was immediately drawn to the wordplay in the book. It's really funny and smart. I'm a sucker for great wordplay like this.

What is one thing you'd like to share about the process of this book with everyone?

Tiffany: How much and how well the words and the pictures work together to tell the story. My original manuscript was only 175 words long and REALLY depended on the artwork to bring Knot’s tale to life. So it wasn’t until I saw Mike Lowery’s fabulous illustrations that I truly knew the story worked.

Mike: I had a lot of fun drawing this bizarre connection between an animated piece of rope and a snake. The wording left lots of room for great facial expressions and action, which is always great to get to draw out.

I love your book--what is one thing YOU love about it?

Tiffany: I’m going to repeat my answer to the previous question here: How much and how well the words and pictures work together to tell the story. This magical combination makes me smile (and even laugh) every time I read the book. I hope readers have the same reaction!

Mike: One thing that I decided to do really early on, was to set the scenes in a desert. I like drawing cactuses, and I'd never really had a chance to set a book out West before. That was a lot of fun.

Here's a place to order the book~

If you made it to the end of this VERY long newsletter--yay! I am actually offering 3 giveaways of Colt of the Clouds, which I will mail to you, as soon as I'm able. The first three to email me will be the first three to get a copy :)

Lots of good wishes and love in these times!

xx

Kallie