Island Life Archives - Page 8 of 12

Battling Weeds and Plot Holes

April 25, 2017 By JPMcLean 18 Comments

Yesterday, I gathered my knee pad, gloves, and garden tools and set out to dig in the dirt. With a mind to battling weeds and plot holes, I crawled under one of the dwarf apple trees. A regiment of weeds had settled in during the winter.

Weeding is one of those chores I do on autopilot, which frees up my mind to wander where it may. Normally, it wanders into the book I’m writing and combs through plot and character tangles.

Yesterday, however, it didn’t wander that far. Across the road I heard the bleat of new lambs, the drone of a neighbour’s lawnmower, the sputter of a chainsaw. Overhead, birdsong competed with the distant clang of metal as someone worked on farm machinery.

These are sounds I hadn’t missed until I heard them again—sounds of spring and the promise of summer. It reminded me how fortunate I am to live in the countryside. I’m grateful I’m able to enjoy it.

After a few hours of weeding, I felt refreshed, recharged. I’m now ready to tackle James, a character who is causing no end of trouble in the next Gift Legacy installment.

Is anyone else hearing the sound of spring?

Now . . . back to writing!

Pick up your weed-free digital copy of the book that started it all: Get Secret Sky from your favourite retailer right here! Or click on the image for more purchase options.

February Has Lost its Mind

February 18, 2017 By JPMcLean 12 Comments

Last month when I wrote An Uncommon Winter, I had no idea that February would charge in and dump a 20-year record snowfall on us. Clearly, February has lost its mind, or at least its bearings.

One of our ornamental trees fell over and couldn’t get up (below is a photo of it in better days, and after the tumble). Many large fir branches waved their final adieu, and at least one of the neighbourhood boathouses is out of business.

On the plus side, the extreme weather gave me all the excuse I needed to stay home and spend some quality time indoors. I’ll happily write by the fire all day. I’m well into the next book in the Gift Legacy series, as yet untitled, which will continue on from Lethal Waters (formerly Penance), and I’m continuing to make notes on the new Dark Dreams project.

Being in creative mode is nirvana for me. I carry a notebook around like a security blanket when I’m away from the laptop. I love the surprise of the story going off script with a new plot twist!

If you had snow this February, I hope you were better equipped for it than we were! Hang in there, spring is just around the corner.

Until next time . . .

And if you find yourself snowbound, curl up with a good book. It takes just a minute to download Secret Sky from your favourite retailer right here! Or click on the image for more purchase options.

Crawling into the Twenty-first Century

August 31, 2016 By JPMcLean 17 Comments

Cell phones are like leaf blowers to me: convenient, but obnoxious as hell. Call me Cro-magnon, but I’ve never seen the appeal of being reachable 24/7. However, I am slowly crawling into the twenty-first century.

I resisted having one until a road-side breakdown in 2000 convinced me I should. I have to admit, the flip phone’s come in handy since moving to a ferry-dependent island. Some months I rack up five or six minutes.

I’ve watched the smart-phone revolution from the sidelines, fascinated and horrified by pouting selfies, thumb-obsessed diners and throngs of commuters with bent necks and dropping heads.

On the upside, it’s hard to argue against the convenience of an e-reader, a GPS and the Internet, portable and at my fingertips.

So, I finally broke down and bought one. I haven’t yet figured out how to get my contacts into it, and I still prefer talking to someone over doing the thumb dance, but give me ten years – I’ll get there. I’m already enjoying the convenience of catching up with Twitter and Facebook while on the ferry, and I love being able to share “in the moment” pics from live events, like when I attended When Words Collide in Calgary.

But be warned! Pic-sharing convenience has a dark side. Last week I shared a piece of art I wish I hadn’t. Okay, it felt like art at the time, but it was my lunch. I’ve since crawled back up that slippery slope, but I have nightmares of making fish lips and snapping selfies in the bathroom.

Have you taken a slide down that slippery slope?

Need something to read when you’re not on the phone? Pick up Secret Sky from your favourite retailer right here! Or click on the image for more purchase options.

The Freight Train Called Summer

July 26, 2016 By JPMcLean 10 Comments

A freight trained called summer is thundering by, leaving backyard parties and BBQs in the din of its wake. Thankfully, it still has a full head of steam with miles of summer track yet to travel. And what a glorious summer it’s been so far, with good company, an abundant fruit crop, and plenty of fresh salmon.

Living on Denman Island with roadside produce stands and a thriving Saturday market, we mark the passing season by which fruit crop is ripening. First came the cherries, then the loganberries and blueberries. We started picking blackberries a week ago, about the same time the transparent apples started falling from the trees, and yesterday we harvested the apricots.

Happily, the abundance doesn’t stop there. In book news, I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Karen Oberlaender. Check out our conversation in her short and snappy “Ten Statements” format. It’s a crafty cheat sheet for authors. And yesterday, I learned of two new five-star reviews. One for Hidden Enemy (formerly Revelation) here, and another for Burning Lies (formerly Redemption) here. The next book in the Gift Legacy series, The Gift: Betrayal, is currently in the hands of Nina Munteanu, editor extraordinaire, and while I await its return, I’ve started on the cover.