Everyone Is a Character by Julie Christen

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 Everyone Is A Character

By Julie Christen

My life is full of people. Every single day, so many people. They come and they go. Some hang on a little while, or a long while, then they ripple away in time. Some stay, always. Some mark the beginning of an era, others mark the end. Some are a blip, others leave a permanent impression. Some are good. Some are not good.

I watch them all. Quietly, from the sidelines. Everyone is a character.

A subtle look, a quirky habit, a predictable reaction, I tuck it inside my mind, saving it for later. From hairstyles to hand gestures. Material. A cadence in gate, a clever comment, an obvious tell. Material. Memorable expressions, weird hobbies, hokie one-liners. Material. Scars, tatts, piercings. Material. Ticks, oddities, obsessions. Material.

Everyone is a character.

Sage advice, words you live by, modeling by example. Material. Bad choices, risky choices, indulgent choices. Material. Weak moments, moral dilemmas, fatal flaws. Material. Youngest child, middle child, oldest child, pedestal child, forgotten child. Material. Troubled background, mysterious origins, silver spoons. Material. Kind, evil, weird. Ornery, timid, benign. Sturdy, frail, oxen. Material.

The list goes on. 

Endless material. Maybe from you. And for that, I thank you.

Everyone is a character.

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A missing woman, a chatty dead girl, and a detective who’s running out of time by donalee Moulton

 

Cardinal has landed. 

This is my newest book, and the most recent in BWL’s Paranormal Canadiana Collection. Set in Nova Scotia, Cardinal follows private detective Em Montgomery as she hunts for a missing woman. She expected dead ends. She did not expect a dead girl who refuses to stay buried. The detective finds herself knee-deep in fog, small-town secrets, and the uneasy sense she’s being watched by more than wildlife. 

I thought I’d share the opening pages with you.

 

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 PROLOGUE

Thorburn Exchange, Pictou County, Nova Scotia

Tuesday, April 23, 1889

 

Catherine McIntosh kicks off her blankets. Again. She’s hot, and in the whirl of a restless sleep, her body seeks cool air. Any relief from the overwhelming heat. The eight-year-old doesn’t understand why it is so hot. Why she is so hot.

Her mother gently pulls the blankets back over her daughter’s feverish body. Catherine is sick, has been sick for days and days now. This started so simply, so normally. A sore throat, a mild fever. Catherine is long past that. Now her entire body aches and a red rash has spread across her little arms, legs, torso. Her fever fills the room with an anguished heat.

 

No one is saying the words every parent dreads to hear, but in her heart, this mother knows those words to be true. Scarlet fever.

Catherine’s mother refuses to hear the whispers consuming her daughter’s bedroom. Defiantly, she makes plans for Catherine’s ninth birthday a month from now. There will be cake. There will be games and songs and a present. Something special. Perhaps they can afford a doll. Catherine loves dolls.

At some unknown hour, Catherine’s mother falls into a fitful sleep. When she wakes, she faces the cruelest of realities. Her daughter will never turn nine.

 

Catherine has stopped tossing and turning. Her fever has vanished. The red sandpaper that covered her body has disappeared. Soft white skin remains. A smile spreads across Catherine’s face. Then she sees her mother crying. Catherine goes to comfort her. To hug her.

There is no hug. There is no comfort. Catherine does not understand what is happening. She is, after all, only eight years and eleven months old. Catherine sits beside her mother. Sees the rumpled quilt on her bed. Sees someone lying in her bed. Catherine wonders who it might be. Tries to hug her mother. Again.

She hears someone calling her name. It must be her father, but it doesn't sound like her father. It doesn’t matter. Catherine is not leaving her mother.

Ever.

 

Greenvale Road, Pictou County, Nova Scotia

Thursday, April 23, 2026

 

Yellow birch trees bend a welcome in the wind. Balsam firs wave a needled hello. There is a lilt in Nell Gillis’s step, a half-smile on her face, a lightness in her being. Nell feels at home. She is not sure why. This is not her home.

The granite headstone looks its age, and ageless. Moss has nestled in the carved letters and ridges that give the memorial its foundation. Nell stretches out her hand to caress the stone, a prayer ready on her lips. Her hand stops inches from the stone. There is a brightness to the mossy granite as if somehow sunshine emanates from within.

Nell withdraws her hand. She reaches instead to the ground and gently places a ragdoll at the base of the headstone. It settles alongside dozens of other offerings: a stuffed elephant and a cuddly teddy bear, bouquets of artificial flowers, dolls of all hairstyles and attire. Someone has cut a small spray of mayflowers. The sweet, spicy scent tickles Nell’s nostrils. Nell made her gift back in Halifax more than one hundred and seventy kilometers away. She wanted to replicate what a doll might have looked like when plastic and assembly lines didn’t exist. When Catherine McIntosh was a little girl.

This is Nell’s fourth visit. It will be her last. Nell raises her head from the gifts spread on the earth before her. She realizes she has not been paying attention. She has been inside her head. She has forgotten that where there is sunshine, there are shadows.

The last thing Nell Gillis remembers is a loud, unearthly growl.

Catherine McIntosh's grave in Nova Scotia today. 

 

 

BWL Publishing New Releases March, 2026

https://sharonmcinnes.com/ Few things can change a mother-daughter relationship as quickly and profoundly as a diagnosis of dementia. Walking Each Other Home is the true story of how one daughter’s life was changed—and ultimately enriched—when her mother was hit with vascular dementia. Editorial Review by S. Peters Davis, What a heartfelt, interesting, and informational story of personal caring for a parent with Vascular Dementia. Sharon McInnes shares her experiences and care through all the stages of her mother’s dementia. She explains much of her research and where she went to find it. The honest feelings when dealing with and caring for each stage of this illness really offer good guidance on healthcare, the places available for that care, and how to provide care and safety to a family member living with you. Few things can change a mother-daughter relationship as quickly and profoundly as a diagnosis of dementia. Walking Each Other Home is the true story of how one daughter’s life was changed—and ultimately enriched—when her mother was hit with vascular dementia.

https://www.amazon.ca/Road-Tripping-Southern-Alberta-Donaldson-Yarmey/dp/0228639352 Many people think of Alberta as mountains, Calgary Stampede, and West Edmonton Mall. They don’t realize there is so much more to see and do in the province, so many adventures to be had. Road Tripping Southern Alberta will: take you to out of the way hamlets, villages, and towns; get you exploring hidden gems of the province; and tell you about the history, the people, and the sights of this portion of the province. It covers the area from Edmonton south to the USA border and from British Columbia to Saskatchewan and you can do day tours, weekend jaunts, or spend as much of the summer as you wish on these roads. And while active travellers will enjoy the journey, armchair travellers will also relish the creative imageries and colourful observations of the author. Come, discover, and experience this unique part of the world.

https://www.amazon.ca/Cardinal-Nova-Scotia-donalee-Moulton/dp/0228639425 Private detective Em Montgomery is hunting for a missing woman. She expected dead ends. She did not expect a dead girl who refuses stay buried. Now Em is knee-deep in fog, small-town secrets, and the uneasy sense she’s being watched by more than wildlife. Cardinal mixes a sharp wit with sharper danger to get under your skin. And follow you home. Vernon Oickle, author of Ghost Stories of Nova Scotia and the award-winning Crow series Wrapped up in a popular ghost story, donalee Moulton has crafted a breathtaking mystery full of suspense and intrigue that takes you to the rural reaches of the province. Real or ethereal, the story steeped in a Nova Scotia legend involving the apparition of a little girl who died more than a century earlier, moves forward at a riveting pace as, layer by layer, it peels back the secrets until the compelling and satisfying conclusion. Moulton is a master storyteller who captures the small-town mores that are the “real” Nova Scotia, and Cardinal is truly a unique ghost story that will keep you eagerly turning pages until the end.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Wide-Mark-Indomitable-Spirit-Book-ebook/dp/B0GM2CZFCZ Assisting with the capture of a military doctor who kept a dead woman in his house is a thorn in Colonel Amelia Matheson’s side compared to the devastating news of her daughter Hope’s disappearance. On the hunt for the perpetrators who kidnapped her deaf daughter from the groomed trails during a solo biathlon training session, Amelia enlists the help of Morgan Anchor, a local sheriff who once sold her out. To find Hope, Amelia and Morgan must untangle a web of secrets, including their own, and trust each other again. Held captive in a remote cabin in the mountains, Hope fights the storm of her life using her wits and her skills. Scared but unafraid, she sets out to escape and save the man that her mother sent to rescue her – a man who is not who he appears to be. EDITORIAL REVIEW by Victoria Chatham Teenage biathlete Hope Matheson, known as Quest, does not return from her solo training run. Her mother, Colonel Amelia Matheson, joins forces with Sheriff Morgan Anchor in a frantic search for her. As clues emerge, more questions arise, particularly about how a dangerous kidnapper and an unsavoury senator are linked to Hope. Throw into that mix a pregnant deputy, a coach with his own agenda, old wounds and new revelations. This fast-paced story unfolds against the backdrop of magnificent mountains, blizzard-blown snow, and killing cold. The characters are engaging, the descriptions vivid, and the narrative cannot fail to catch the reader’s attention from start to finish.

Do Your Hobbies Find a Place in Your Stories? (Author Confessions) By Connie Vines #BWL #Author Hobbies #RoseGardens

FACT: Authors often engage in unique, active, or intellectual hobbies that enrich their storytelling.

Ernest Hemingway’s big-game hunting and Agatha Christie’s archaeology, to mention a few. 

Do you, as an author, include your hobbies or your personal culinary choices, etc., in your stories?  Or, as a reader, are you drawn into the story because of the sensory details and "realistic'' tone?

I know my choice of location/setting is from personal experience. While the name of my city may be fictitious, it is based on a 'real-life' place. 

What about your hobbies?

As a writer, do you find your heroine/hero likes to cook, play chess, or tend to a garden?

I like to include my pursuits. I find it enriches the characters of my stories. The reader will gain insite to a character. One pursuit will highlight a character's patience; another will highlight a skill, creativity, or impatience. 

From a reader's perspective? 

Care must be given not to "over tell" or to convert my readers.

I dislike green peas. It doesn't matter how the peas are seasoned, hidden, or blended. I will 'gage' when I try to swallow them. 

There are certain 'troups' that will not follow; certain 'historical periods" I have no interest in reading.

I recognize this to be a universal truth.

Do not be discouraged. I know a "great teaser", book cover, or promo can/will entice a new reader to purchase a book.

However, dedicated fans are really purchasing "your voice".  The 'author's' voice.

The way you weave your story, the tone, the humor/emotional intensity. 

It is the unique way you add bits of reality into your 'fictitious world.' Making your story a reality for your reader.

This post focuses on my rose gardens.  

The vivid colors, the scents, and, yes-- the thorns!

Authors, what bits of yourself do you add to your stories?

Readers, what draws you into the stories by your favorite authors?

What plot would you like to see? What hero do you adore? 

Your favorite novel?  

What story heroine is most like "you"?

Hobbies?

I have many. 

Today, I'll share my rose garden(s). 

While many of you are shoveling snow to melt, I'm dealing with a heat wave of 91 degrees / 32 Celsius. 

Happy Reading and Listening,  (Lynx is now an audiobook!!)

Connie 

Links:

books2read.com

https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=connie+vines

Amazon.com Search: Connie Vines ebook or audio

https://books.apple.com/us/author/connie-vines/id624802082 (audio and ebooks)

Also available at your favorite online book seller!

Where's Connie?

Instagram/Twitter (X), Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and my website: connievines-author.com 

Valentine’s Day weekend signing books for the Glendale Chocolate Affaire - by Vijaya Schartz

The shirt says: I write books, what's your superpower?
Glendale, February 14-15 2026 - Chocolate Affaire
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I forgot how much fun it is to do an impromptu book signing.

Glendale AZ is always sponsoring special events. One of the most popular is the CHOCOLATE AFFAIRE, a long tradition which started with the local Cerretta Candy Factory, and taking place around Valentine’s Day.

2013 - old covers tell the story. Chocolate on the table, of course.
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Before the pandemic, this event was held in Murphy Park, on the lawn around the old library, with vendors, food trucks, climbing towers, chocolate of course, live music, dancing, late night activities with glittering lights, and local romance writers signing their books for the duration.

2014 Chocolate Affaire Glendale, AZ
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As a member of a local authors group, I had been signing at this event since my first book was published, and I did it for many years. Then the pandemic changed everything. It became a small indoors event, geared for children, with none of the hoopla that attracted so many people, no night activities… and no authors signing their books.

2018 Chocolate Affaire, Glendale AZ
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This year, although it was still indoors and small, a well-known Antiques store (2 Share a unique boutique) decided to take advantage of the special event’s traffic and organize an author signing during these two days, in front of its entrance. The owner happened to be with us when we met with Jude in Arizona in late January, and she asked Dani Petrone and me to be the signing authors. We enthusiastically accepted.

2017 Chocolate Affaire - Glendale AZ
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After rushing to order the new titles, and Jude being wonderful as usual, making sure they would arrive on time, Dani and I filled our long table with our books. Only my latest books, to be sure (I have too many to display them all – It would take more than one table).

January 2026 Meeting with Jude (BWL), Dani Petrone, and John Hovey and his wife

On Saturday, we had a big draw and a little competition, as the window behind us was filled with lovely doggies for adoption (part of the 2 Share rescue program for working K9). Five were adopted that day. Yay!

Saturday, February 14, 2026, ready to go, with chocolate on the table.
The puppies have not arrived yet.
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We stood there, outside, from 10-11am to 5pm both days, talking to people about our books, selling a few, handing out postcards, bookmarks, and answering questions about where the Chocolate Affaire was happening, which was a few blocks away.

My latest book, CHI WARRIOR, was available there.
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Some friends came to visit and chat and buy my latest book. Dani and I were so excited, we totally forgot about lunch and survived the whole day on a single can of Coke. These two days were exhausting, but we were happy with the experience.

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The good news is, it looks like next year the Chocolate Affaire will be back in Murphy Park in all its splendor. Looking forward to the outdoors fun.

Happy Reading

Vijaya Schartz, award-winning author

Kick-butt Sci-fi Heroines, cats, romantic elements

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