Winter and gloomier days are upon us. Life’s duller now, perhaps boring so brighten it up with a fun outing!

Why not join me and three other local mystery authors for Dead of Winter: 4 Mystery Writers in Search of an Audience?

Lou Allin, M. Miles Gray, Denise Dietz and moi will be reading from some of our work at the Sidney/North Saanich Regional Library, Thursday, January 26th from 7-8:30 pm. Address 10091 Resthaven Drive, Sidney. Phone 250-656-0944.

Yeah, yeah, you’ll have to go out into the dark but once you get through the Library’s doors, you’ll be enveloped in a warm and mysterious possibly criminal glow.

And it’s free!

And we’re nice!

And there’s gonna be treats!

More info here.  Hope to see you!

• ponder an historical series,
• try out a new biz concept,
• get dirty in the jardin,
• spin along our rural bike trails and…
• indulge in fudge, bien sur!

Enjoy your summer. You can still check out my previous posts, especially if you’re interested in:

• how to write a mystery novel
• my garden
• podcast interviews with published authors
• self-publishing your ebook
• my novels.

Cheers!

For me, it’s also about the love of gardening: the grit of the earth, the snap of secateurs, the fragrance of bluebells.

Well, yesterday I reached another bloomin’ milestone: the opening of my first grown-from-seed Himalayan Blue Poppy. Fabulous!

The pics say it all. Enjoy.

Himalayan Blue Poppy Blossoming

Himalayan Blue Poppy Blossom

Himalayan Blue Poppy Stem

You don’t have to have weird and wacky types like you’d find in Dickens (but bully for you if you do); however, you do want personalities that stand out, that resonate with your readers.

After all, think of any good book or movie. Do you remember the intricacies of the plot? Or do you remember the players?

How about The Sculptress, by Minette Walters, as an example. It’s an award winning mystery novel with a terrific twisty turny plot but what I remember most is the titular character, Olive Martin, as she sat in prison carving human figurines out of wax. Let’s just say she stuck with me.

Now, I’m neither Dickens nor Walters (more’s the pity) but I have written a number of published mysteries and I’ve amassed a lot of helpful materials which I’ll be sharing with the participants of How to Create Memorable Characters.

Course blurb below:

Successful fiction writers are able to create characters that jump off the page with believability, originality and likeability.

In this intensive half-day course, novelist Nicola Furlong offers simple, practical and effective tips and techniques to help you bring your fictional folks to life.

You will learn how to use point of view to your advantage, how to craft dialogue that crackles and how to buff up your characters by fleshing out backgrounds, temperaments, personalities and character arcs.

For more info and to register, check out How to Create Memorable Characters.

Who knows? Perhaps we’ll create another Uriah Heep or Stephanie Plum!

Last year at this time, I created my own little awards, The Nikis, to honour the best of 2009.

So, continuing this tradition, I’ve nominated a new top ten for 2010.

My categories are mostly related to creative endeavours, are arbitrarily chosen and listed in no particular order.

So, drum roll, please; a Niki nod to each of the following:

1. Top Technology of the Year: E-readers

2. Top Multimedia Company of the Year: enkHouse Transmedia Storytellers

3. Top Cool Thing of the Year: iPad

4. Top Food of the Year: my sister’s Microwavable Chocolate Fudge

5. Top Song of the Year: Missing by Glynne Turner

6. Top Plant of the Year: My Phyllostachus Vivax Bamboo

My Vivax Bamboo

7. Top Radio Play of the Year: BBC Radio 4 Short Story Contest

8. Top Photo of the Year: Our new Yorkshire pup, Geordie

Our new pup, Geordie

9. Top E-Book Publisher/Distributor of the Year: Smashwords

10. Top Fun New Effort of the Year: The Novel Experience Podcast

So…what’re your top ten?

Sweet peas

Fall’s here on southern Vancouver Island and the air’s cooler, the ground wetter and my cottage garden’s beginning to fade.

Garden pots

Passion flower

As I strolled around yesterday, deadheading and pondering a new non-fiction book idea, I was struck and delighted at how much blooming colour still exists.

Front garden

Garden Jewel

One season down, another to come…and with it some Himalayan blue poppies, I hope!

Poached eggs

Am always keen to improve my marketing opportunities for my fiction and non-fiction list and finding this book of interest re SEO, blogging strategies and using feeds and email lists.

View all my reviews >>

You may buy E-Riches 2.0 at
Amazon.com

Geordie enjoying blossoms

He’s got an unusually fun posting regime where he asks Canadian mystery writers to answer 10 silly questions.

I did and he very cleverly put it all together using pics from my cottage garden. The results are delightful!

Check it out today at Anthony Bidulka.

Thanks, Anthony.

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-36ee8632873275dbd640afbf42b05186}

I’m fortunate to have a lovely cottage garden.

During the months of May and June, it explodes with orange and salmon poppies spires under a carpet of poached eggs.

Orange Poppy with Flox

Poached Eggs

Until then, I’ll just revel in the incredible beauty in my own back yard.