November Newsletter in the Nick of Time

Fall Greetings

Hello and a warm welcome to new subscribers! I see that my neighbour is putting up his Christmas lights, taking advantage of this warm afternoon in late November. I’d better get this newsletter out before the next season gets switched on!

Featured in this issue:

CALGARY WRITESHOP: “Gift of Story – Christmas Recipe Edition”

BOOK SALE: Separation Anxiety special Canada 150 price until Dec 31, 2017

FALL HARVEST: Literary Festival Season 2017

REMINDER: Book me for your Book Club in 2018

Writeshop in Calgary: Monday, December 11

What is your favourite Christmas treat? Is it that shortbread you snitched from cookie tins hidden in the freezer or that pan of buttery almond roca that you “evened out the edges on” until it was gone?

Chances are your favourite Christmas sweet has a story baked right in! Bring that splattered recipe card, thumbed-through cookbook, faded family photo as inspiration for writing. You will be given suggestions to create a gift of story along with tips and tools to tell it in a meaningful way. A special gift for family or friends.

No writing (or baking) experience required. Just life experience!

See A Gift of Story – Christmas Recipe Edition for full details.

P.S. I love leading Writeshops in unique and interesting places like cafés, bookstores, libraries, living rooms – anywhere there is a table to gather around and room to roam on a page. If you have a group you’d like to gather in a special place, I can design a Writeshop experience.

Signed, dedicated, and delivered!

Separation Anxiety is on sale at this special price only through this link until December 31, 2017

Canada 150 Price Link

$15 + $5 shipping & handling anywhere in Canada.

Fall Harvest of Literary Festivals

Literary Festival season began with a road trip east to Saskatoon’s Word on the Street Festival on the last weekend of September.

In the spacious Exhibitors Marketplace, I was able to arrange copies of my book for sale, give people plenty of room to enter my draw for a gift basket, and still have room to display my beloved memorabilia featured in the stories of Separation Anxiety.

The adults were drawn in by my display for various reasons, but the kids were mesmerized by my Etch-A-Sketch. They’d twist and turn those white knobs with fierce concentration, fascinated by those thin black lines. I told them it was our idea of a computer back in the day… flip/shake/delete…

I had a great day meeting people in the sunlight on Broadway Avenue. Well done, Saskatoon WOTS!

In mid-October I was flying west to Vancouver and driving up the Sea to Sky highway for the annual Whistler Writers Festival. Four days of celebrating writing.

I led a Memoir-abilia Writeshop as part of a series of workshops offered during the Festival. I also participated in a writers panel discussion about book publishing options, from traditional to independent to “hybrid” – a combination of both.

My path to book publication was long and storied, but a feature article by Steven Ross Smith in the Fall issue of the Writer’s Guild of Alberta WestWord Magazine is an engaging synopsis of my journey that even I read with fascination and delight. See my blog post From the Sage to the Page for the full text of Steven’s piece “Miji Campbell – Pushing Through Anxiety.”

And finally, the end of October and a festival closer to home. It was north to St. Albert for the culminating weekend of STARFest, St. Albert Reader’s Festival.

I had the pleasure of introducing Cea Sunrise Person, author of North of Normal and Nearly Normal to this warm and appreciative audience at the historic St. Albert Public Library.

Check out my website for complete Festival Season stories and photos:

Going (Book) Clubbing

Belong to a Book Club? This author makes house calls — in person or on Skype or FaceTime.

Visit my website for booking information and to download free resources: G oing (book) clubbing with Separation Anxiety

Writing in Progress

Writing in the Works poster used with permission of Elaine Morin
Underwood typewriter inherited from my grandmother Disa M. Murphy

This Fall, I’ve continued work on my next book project. First job was to convert a bedroom in my house into a dedicated writing space. (Isn’t it great when kids move into their own places?) I spread out all my accumulated notes and photos and hung up wall charts with historical timelines drawn in black Sharpie. This project involves a lot of research as I try to reconfigure places, people, events from decades ago. Some days I emerge from my writing room not quite sure what year I’m in!

The work is still in a “sketching” phase, but remains firmly rooted in family stories and the Canadian prairies. I enjoyed my research travels to Saskatoon and Kelowna in September, interviewing family, friends and acquaintances. I am also thankful for all those librarians and archivists who help me on the phone, online and in person.