Tumbleweed Skies

A motherless girl, a grandmother who cannot forgive, an injured magpie and a warm prairie summer ...

Tumbleweed Skies takes place in Saskatchewan during the 1950s.  Ellie Stewart, whose home is in Moose Jaw, finds herself having to spend the summer in the fictional town of Weybolt after her father is laid off from his regular job and is forced to take a temporary position as a travelling salesman.

From her first glimpse of the farm that will be her home for the next months, Ellie senses that she may not be particularly welcome.

"I could tell right away that this wasn't a house that wanted me."

The beautiful cover of this book is the artwork of David Jardine. 

This is my first book for this age group, and it was thrilling to write from the perspective of a child this age.  I hope that readers will enjoy meeting Ellie.

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News Updates for Tumbleweed Skies

Shortlisted for the Ann Connor Brimer Award, 2010

Shortlisted for the 2011 - 2012 Saskatchewan Diamond Willow Award

Shortlisted for the 2011 - 2012 Hackmatack Award

Shortlisted for the 2011 - 2012 Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award

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There's a GOLDFISH In My Shoe!

What?  Is it really a whole year since the first picture book came out?

Apparently, yes.  And now the second one is in bookstores.

I like to believe that the story is fun, but it's the off-the-wall zaniness of the illustrations that I think will really appeal to children.  They are wild and crazy and quirky enough to delight kids and adults alike.

In his second adventure, Oscar Ollie Brown tries to figure out why it's not always a good idea to do exactly what his mother tells him to!

For example, when Oscar's mom tires of his endless chatter and tells him to hold his tongue ...

A tongue is rather hard to hold
But boys like me do what we're told
I used both hands and got it tight
And held my tongue with all my might.

Then, as I waited to be praised
My mother said, as though amazed,
"Now what on earth is this about?
Don't put your fingers in your mouth!"

You might think she'd make up her mind!
Not my mom, she's the changing kind!

An interview with Oscar and I can be viewed here, as he talks about his earlier adventures in There's a COW Under My Bed!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_hGC2R5EZ4

Oscar and I hope you'll enjoy it.

Watcher

From the back cover:

Sixteen-year-old Porter Delancy believes he has his future figured out, but his nice, neat plans are shaken when a man he believes may be his father suddenly appears in his Toronto neighbourhood.  Porter knows he wants nothing to do with the deadbeat dad who abandoned him and his sister 12 years earlier, but curiosity causes him to re-examine the past.

Unfortunately, actual memories are scarce and confusing, and much of what he knows is based on things his mother has told him.  As Porter looks for answers, it begins to seem that all he's ever going to find are more questions.
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Watcher wasn't an easy book for me to write.  It deals with an issue that horrifies me, for many reasons - that being, Parental Alienation.

Parental Alienation is a form of abuse involving the destruction of a child's relationship with one parent, by the other.  It is, for the most part, an unpunished crime.

Those who pay the highest price are the victims: the children, who are often programmed to become innocent participants in the attack against a parent with whom they formerly enjoyed a loving relationship.  Their real memories are replaced with stories of abuse and abandonment.

Parental Alienation is a hate crime - a crime of lies and manipulation.

Our courts have been slow to recognize and act to protect the children of divorce who are affected by PA.

We pray for justice to prevail through truth and love.

My First Picture Book

What do children think when they hear an adult tell them they have a cowlick in their hair, or other, similar expressions? In the opening stanzas of my first picture book, There's a COW Under My Bed! we meet a boy who explores this confusing world of invisible creatures:

My name is Oscar Ollie Brown
And there are things that make me frown
That irk, annoy, and puzzle me
Because - they're things I cannot see!

The first one is especially strange
For cows live on a farm, or range
And yet each night when I'm in bed
One sneaks in here and licks my head!

The idea for this story came some years ago, and, while I wrote the original version then, it was a long time before I polished it and sent it to Tuckamore books, along with some sample illustrations by David Jardine.

Sending artwork isn't generally recommended when submitting picture book stories, but it was the right fit in this case. In the fall of 2007, the publisher offered contracts to both David and I and a little over a month ago There's a COW Under My Bed! hit the bookstores.

I love David's richly coloured, zany illustrations, which can still make me laugh out loud.
 
If you'd like to hear a short interview with Oscar and I, please visit our Youtube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_hGC2R5EZ4

We had a lot of fun doing this (and thanks to David for putting it all together!) and hope you'll enjoy watching it.  You might need to turn up the volume on your computer.

A Different Kind of Reluctant Reader

Yup, I admit it. I'm a lousy blogger. (Is there a support group out there?)

So, it's been more than a year since I've been here. In that time I've had one (that's right - one) person comment that she'd read my blog and it was all about cats. For some reason, she sounded unimpressed.

I keep hearing about how I'm supposed to use this golden opportunity to promote my books. Maybe I should give it a shot.

I suppose I could mention that a new Shelby mystery hits the shelves this month. Searching for Yesterday - book 6 in the series. I haven't seen it yet but it should be arriving soon. I actually thought it would be here last week but no such luck. Good luck, as it turns out, for my dad, who actually groaned out loud a couple of weeks back when I told him I'd have a new Shelby for him soon.

Out loud! With me standing right there. "You don't have to read it," I said. I smiled to show him I meant it.

"That's the problem," he sighed. "I have to read it."

I can't persuade him that it's not necessary. I know these are books for teens and even if they weren't they're not the genre he'd normally read. It would be all right if he skipped some of them. But in his mind duty demands that he supports me by reading every book I write.

It's amusing to see the doomed-man look on his face when I pass him a new volume.

The feedback wouldn't inspire a novice to a career in writing either. I've lost track of how many times he's patiently explained that my work is "kind of juvenile."

That's the point isn't it - when you write for teens? I tell him so. He says he knows but I can tell he's not getting it. : )

But then, sometimes he calls me and says something quite different. Like when he read Speechless, and commented, "This book should be in every school in the country." It doesn't take a genius to translate that. He liked it.

And even when he doesn't ... even when he groans and proclaims something 'juvenile' he keeps on reading them. One sentence at a time, if you'll pardon the pun.

And that's something. It's more than something.

Open Letters to my Grandchildren # 1: A Different Kind of Substance Abuse

It's everywhere -- talk of substance abuse. Which makes sense since addiction is a serious problem.

But that's not what I want to talk to you about right now. Today, I want to talk about the prodigal son's particular kind of, "substance abuse."

The prodigal son, as you probably know, pestered his dad to give him his inheritance early. He didn't want to wait for his father to die to get what he figured was coming to him.

Once you know the story, you might think it would have been a good idea for his dad to tell him, "No way!" But that's not what happened.

What did happen, as the Bible tells us, was that the son went off and had himself one big long party. (If you don't know what happened next, check it out in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15, verses 11-32.)

What interests me, and what I want to talk to you about today, is the way the son's actions are described. There's actually not a whole lot of description, although it's easy to imagine what he was up to. What we do find, is this phrase:

he "wasted his substance with riotous living."

(This is from the King James Version of the Bible -- other translations word things a little differently, and may be easier for you to understand, but this is the phrase I'd like you to remember - always.)

He wasted:

Prodigal didn't use what he'd been given the way he should have. He more or less threw it away. He got no real value out of it. That's often the case when something comes too easily. A person often values what they work for more than what they're given.

his substance:

Now this is the phrase that interests me the most, and the one I am asking you to really, really, think about. At first glance, it's easy to think this just means he wasted the inheritance his father had given him. But it goes far beyond that.

Substance, if you look it up, is described as what a thing is made up of. So, yes, the son wasted the substance of what he'd been given -- whatever money and other valuables he had. But there's more to it. Because he also wasted his personal substance.

He threw away his personal qualities, the gifts God gave him. He trashed his own character, his honour and integrity...like it was worthless. Except, it wasn't. It was more valuable than anything else he had.

with riotous living.

This doesn't need a lot of explanation. He was having himself good time. At least, he thought he was. (He also thought he was popular, until his circumstances changed and everyone disappeared.) I wonder how many regrets he had while he was eating pig slop and living in poverty. 

You're smart enough to draw your own conclusions on whether this so-called good time was worth the cost. Because everything has a price.

And finally, why all of this matters to each of you.

As you make your way through life you will have to make a lot of decisions. They won't all involve money and material values, but almost everything you do will involve your personal value. Who you are. How you treat others. How you treat yourself -- your mind and your body. 

Don't waste your substance. 

Open Letters to my Grandchildren # 2: Purpose in Your Heart

One of my favourite stories from the Old Testament is about Daniel.

Not the story everyone talks about though, which is Daniel in the Lion's Den. That's also a great reminder of how God rewards faith, but the story I like the best happened before then. At the beginning.

Daniel was a fine young man. Everyone knew it. And that's one of the reasons he was captured and taken away from his home in Judah to a place called Bablyon. Daniel and the other captives were chosen for their good qualities, and were expected to adapt to the new world they found themselves in and to add value to it. 

So there they were, being treated well and provided with good things, including great food. Except, the foods were not allowed to them. Daniel, and the other captives, followed strict laws regarding the kinds of foods they could eat, as well as the ways it was prepared.

But there they were, looking at tables loaded with food that smelled great. And they were all hungry. What were they supposed to do? Insult the king, who'd provided it? Starve? It was a sticky situation to say the least.

So what happened? Daniel Chapter 1 verse 8 tells us:

"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank..."

As a result of Daniel taking a stand to do what he knew was right, he and the others from Judah were given a completely different diet, one that you wouldn't expect could promote health and strength. Even so, they thrived on it and were stronger and more fit than those who were eating the other stuff.

What I like the most about this story is WHY it happened. It would have been so easy for Daniel to give in, to make excuses, to shrug his shoulders and decide he had no choice but to go along. But Daniel didn't do any of those things because he had purposed in his heart! 

Daniel already knew what he was going to do before he was faced with the temptation. He didn't make up his mind when he sat at the table, hungry and facing platters of delicious smelling food. His heart had chosen the right thing ahead of time.

But why? Why did Daniel purpose this in his heart? So that he would not defile himself! That's a pretty strong statement. He might easily have told himself that eating some forbidden food wasn't a big deal. It wasn't like stealing or killing or any of the really wrong things, right?

Except, Daniel understood that it mattered. That he needed to do what was right in small matters as well as large. And if you read through the Book of Daniel in the Bible, you will see how God blessed him.

Every day, as we go through life, we are faced with choices. Often, we are tempted to do the wrong thing, and when those things seem small, we may tell ourselves they don't matter. But that is not true -- every right choice brings a reward.

And it is easier, so  much easier, for us to make the right choice if we already know what that choice will be, if we have determined beforehand to do what we know we should do, no matter how tempted we may be. 

If we have purposed in our hearts.