Anatomy of a Book

If you're publishing print and ebook, what do you have to include outside of the actual book content? It's called front matter and back matter, and here's a list of things you can (and in some cases, should) include. PRINT Front matter is everything that comes before Chapter 1. So here's a list of things…

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2021

I set a goal (as usual) for 52 books this year (one a week). I buy so many new releases that I don't get to for years and years, so this year I aimed to try and read a few recent releases as well as old ones I never got to. Last year I read…

December 2021 Reads

I start getting more into reading around Christmas. Between Christmas and New Year's I always end up reading a lot more. Fiction Girl Underwater (Claire Kells)I can't remember how I came across this, but the description mentioned a plane crash and a secret. Sounded intriguing. While good, this book was ... quiet. I think that's…

52 Movies

I set a goal, along with reading 52 books this year, to watch 52 movies I'd never seen before. I'm not really a movie person. I prefer episodic things like series books and TV shows. I love staying with characters for extended periods. But I'm almost always saying "no, I haven't seen that" to even…

2021 in Writing

This is usually a post where I sum up what I accomplished writing during the year. This is going to be a short post. Kidding (not really). Self Publishing for Canadians My biggest accomplishment this year was turning Self Publishing for Canadians into an audio book. It was a lot of learning, and I'm happy…

November 2021 Reads

My reading has really slowed down, but I did finish my 52 books this month! Fiction Bad Girls Never Say Die (Jennifer Mathieu)Publicized as a gender flipped take on The Outsiders, I think that description wasn't super accurate. While it does involve the rich vs wrong-side-of-the-tracks and a murder committed to save someone, the story…

What I Learned Doing an Audio Book

I have never been able to get into audio books. I have a huge problem listening to narration and retaining information. I always did better in lectures when the notes followed the lecture closely. I just don't seem to be able to comprehend audio books in the same way others can, so they have never…

Self Publishing for Canadians is now an audiobook

If you are a reader who commutes a lot, audiobooks might be your jam. I have personally never been able to get into them (I can't retain spoken info as well as written), but I'd had people asking, and here it is - Self Publishing for Canadians is now available in audiobook format on Audible,…

October 2021 Reads

I didn't get a lot of reading done this month. Blame it on AMC movie marathons and colouring apps lol. Fiction And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie)I had never read any Agatha Christie books before this. This book basically set the stage for every locked room mystery from Clue to Knives Out. I didn't…

September 2021 Reads

I have 17 unread physical books, and yet I keep buying digital ones. I feel like I'll never get through my TBR list. I don't know if it's having a weakened attention span or needing to think more because of brain fog, but I find I have to read a chapter and then stop and…

August 2021 Reads

I'm so close to finishing my challenge for the year. I recently found my resolution list and I mentioned I wanted to read all of Jane Austen, so we'll see if that happens lol. Fiction River of Lies (B.C. Blues, #5) (R.M. Greenaway)This is probably my second favourite in the series. A baby goes missing,…

Books of my Childhood

From A Light in the Attic to Jessica Wakefield dying her hair black and pretending she's French, I read a lot of books I loved in my childhood.

July 2021 Reads

I read a lot of non fiction last month, so I'm going to try more fiction this time around. I am really, really late posting this up. Blame the sun trying to kill us, forest fire smoke and general lethargy. Fiction First Bones (Temperance Brennan, #0.5) (Kathy Reichs)This novella focuses on how Tempe Brennan ended…

My Big Word Migration of 2021

I am weird with technology. In some ways, I am fairly modern. I have a smartphone, stream TV shows, can use TikTok and all of my calendar is online. In other ways ... I am ridiculous. I have been using Office XP for almost 20 years. Why? The biggest reason was because I had it,…

June 2021 Reads

I'm on track to read more than the 52 books I've set out to read in the year. Fiction Loveless (Alice Oseman)Set at a UK college, we follow Georgia Warr, who is sorting out her sexuality while rooming with a sexually free girl her best friend Pip is crushing on. This was a wonderful book…

May 2021 Reads

At the first of the month I was ahead 4 books and reading a lot more. Nice weather helps. Fiction You Should See Me In A Crown (Leah Johnson)Liz Lighty is a high school senior in the Midwest, whose dreams of attending a prestigious college are in jeopardy when she doesn't get a scholarship she…

April 2021 Reads

I was one book ahead at the end of March. Reading was a bit slow despite all the time I had. I'm finding it hard to concentrate at the moment. Fiction The Sleeping Doll (Kathryn Dance, #1) (Jeffery Deaver)I really went back and forth on this book. I enjoyed Kathryn Dance's character when she was…

March 2021 Reads

At the start of the month I was about 2 books ahead of pace and now I'm just one ahead, but I blame that on a very dense non-fic book this month that took a lot of time to get through. I'm much slower than last year, but I read a lot of short Shakespeare…

February 2021 Reads

I had a really tough reading month in January and only got through 3 books. Here's hoping for a better February. Fiction Covenant (Potomac University, #2) (Rashid Darden)This is the follow up to Lazarus, Darden's debut novel. It follows on Adrian and his relationship with star basketball player Isaiah and Isaiah's reluctance to be fully…

January 2021 Reads

New year, new Goodreads challenge. I've set my goal at 52 again (1 book per week). Fiction   Archangel Fallen (Spectre, #3) (C.W. Lemoine)Book 3 in the Spectre series, it begins where the last book ended. We follow Cal as he's pursued by the police and government and trying to uncover why members of his…