Gratitude Archives - Page 5 of 11

We Did It!

November 30, 2018 By JPMcLean 5 Comments

We did it! Thank you to everyone who voted for Secret Sky in the Kobo Writing Life contest.

Thanks to you, Secret Sky has won BEST SCI-FI/FANTASY COVER FOR 2018 with 68% of the votes! I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet. 68%!!! Excuse me while I repeat: “We did it!”

Congratulations to the designers at JD&J Book Cover Design. Secret Sky‘s cover now advances to the final round and goes up against the winners in four other categories for best overall cover for 2018.

As a special thank you for your support, I’m extending Secret Sky‘s special launch price of $0.99 until the contest closes! Get it from your favourite retailer right here. Or click here for more purchase options.

(And keep your voting fingers limber – the final round of voting starts on December 14.)

Heart photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

I could sure use your help!

November 28, 2018 By JPMcLean 4 Comments

Two posts in one day is unusual, I know, but it’s crunch time and I could sure use your help, so I hope you don’t mind.

Ebook cover for Secret Sky Kobo selected Secret Sky as one of the top ten book covers for 2018 in their Sci-Fi/Fantasy category. You can imagine how excited I was to hear the news. This is a huge deal and has the potential to raise the visibility of the book, which is always a challenge.

The winner is chosen by popular vote, and voting is now underway. Secret Sky‘s cover was in the lead for a while, but has slipped behind. I could use your help to push it back out in front.

Voting is quick and easy. Click here to go to Kobo’s website, scroll to the bottom and click on the cover for Secret Sky. The current tally will be revealed after you’ve voted. Voting closes at 11:59 EST on Thursday (That’s 9pm on the West Coast), so we don’t have a lot of time. Let’s do this!

I’d be grateful if you’d help spread the word. Share this post with friends, family, distant relatives, winged and furry friends. If they’ve got a phone, an iPad, a laptop or computer, they can cast a vote! Thanks so much. (And thanks to everyone who’s already voted.)

Book cover designed by JD&J Book Cover Design.

Out of the Smoke and Into the Steam

August 27, 2018 By JPMcLean 12 Comments

Out of the Smoke

It’s difficult to get away from BC’s wildfire smoke these days. If it’s not blowing in from the east, it’s coming down from the north or up from the States. My annual trip to Ontario promised a reprieve, but from 30,000 feet, the smoke swirled around the Rockies and was thick on the ground in the valleys. Sad to think this might be our new summer norm.

Into the Steam

Landing in Toronto didn’t provide as much relief as I anticipated—it felt like arriving in the tropics—stinking hot with humidity that sent my hair into alpaca territory.

Thankfully, a torrential downpour soon took care of the heat, and the cooler temperatures prompted my sister and me to venture out to the Canadian National Exhibition, fondly known as the CNE. Neither of us had been to the annual fall fair since our public school days when a CNE pass was tucked in with our year-end report cards.

Though much has changed at the CNE, so much remains the same. The Sky Ride chairlift still crosses high above the midway, carnival hawkers still draw in players with promised winnings, shouts still ring out from ride-goers, and the scent of corndogs and candy floss still rises above the masses. We even spotted a flag with the Conklin clown logo.

On to Haliburton

The following day, we drove to our cousin’s beautiful home on Paradise Lake in Haliburton. We enjoyed wine and appies on the dock, went for a swim in the lake, and talked for hours sharing memories of our grandparents, summer swims and marshmallow roasts in years gone by.

Family cottage on the Manitouwabing River in Broadbent, Ontario — Family Cottage

The next day we travelled north to McKellar to visit our parents and brother. Here the reminiscing continued, bringing back more memories that often sent us into fits of tear-inducing laughter.

I’m writing this post on a warm afternoon sitting on my sister’s deck and watching the river flow by. The heat and humidity comes and goes, as does the rain, and though I never know which friends and family I’ll end up seeing when I visit, I’m so glad this trip has turned into an annual event.

I’ll soon be on my way back to BC, but while I’m here, I continue to work with JD&J Design on the new and rebranded book covers. It’s taking longer than I anticipated, but we’re making steady progress.

Meantime, I’ll enjoy the peaches and cream corn which is in season and as sweet as it comes. I’ll swim when it’s hot and enjoy my family’s company. I hope you are able to carve out some quality summer time as well.

Have you done something exciting this carnival season?

If you’d like to spend some quality time on an adventure set on the west coast, pick up Secret Sky from your favourite retailer right here! Or click on the image for more purchase options.

Alpaca photo by Greg Lippert on Unsplash

Conklin clown logo used with permission.

Heard it Through the Grapevine

February 8, 2018 By JPMcLean 12 Comments

There is perhaps no smaller community than that of a ferry-dependent island, and most small communities have some type of grapevine. On Denman Island, we have a community newspaper that’s actually called, the Island Grapevine. So if something’s happening, chances are, you heard it through the grapevine. But which one? because here on Denman Island, the newspaper’s not our only grapevine.

My first experience with Denman’s informal grapevine happened long ago before I became a permanent resident. I was in a neighbour’s kitchen enjoying a cup of coffee when the wail of the ambulance’s siren passed by, headed south. The concern on my neighbour’s face was evident as she rushed to the phone and called another neighbour who lived in that direction to track the ambulance’s path. Through a series of phone calls, they quickly found at which residence the ambulance had stopped.

At the time, I thought it quirky, but now that I live here, I realize it was much more than that. It set the community’s wheels in motion. The local Island Grapevine newspaper regularly publishes thank you’s from grateful recipients of this community’s generosity, whether it be emergency pet-sitting, child-minding, meals, chauffeur services or hand-holding.

The same type of telephone grapevine is in full swing whenever a pod of dolphins, or orcas (see photo), or a family of otters swims by. One neighbour will phone the next all around the island following the action. When the herring spawn in the spring, the same grapevine springs into action. And for anyone who has access to Facebook, you can usually follow the local action on one of the Denman Island Facebook pages with photos and videos thrown into the mix.