Jitters by Julie Christen

Get your copy today!

    I tend to be a Nervous Nelly. It doesn't take much to make my jaw clench or my tummy knot up. I have a special knack for predicting all the potential horrors in pretty much any situation. The What-ifs of my world know no bounds. Just ask my brain from 2:30 AM to about 4:30 AM.

    Case and point: two book signings in Bismarck, ND with Frank Kuntz and his family. 

• What if my car breaks down and I arrive tragically late?
• What if I realize three hours into the 7-hour trip that I brought the wrong box of books? Or worse, I forgot to bring ANY books?
• What if my dinosaur iPhone 5 decides this is the weekend to finally kick the bucket and I can't take credit cards?
• What if no one shows up? You know, like you used to imagine when you were little and had invited all sorts of kids to your birthday party.
• And what if Frank doesn't have a great experience and never wants to do this again?

    As with 99.5% of my What-if scenarios, none of these things happened. In fact, it was quite the opposite! We could not have asked for a better day, from the family-filled Balancing Goat Coffee Shop experience to the busy, bustling Barnes and Noble extravaganza. We drew people in with our winning personalities ;) and our love for the Nokota horses. We signed books. We sold books (sold out even!).  We talked about books and stories and writing and struggling and living. 

    Jitters dissolved early on as we realized our best advertising technique was to be ourselves and let the people see who was really behind the story we peddled.

    We already have plans to do more events together, particularly this coming summer with Chasing Horses at their store right in Medora near the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Who knows how that will go!?

    Oh jeez, here come the jitters again...

    

    

 

Where has my Creativity Gone? by Jay Lang

                                                     

                                               bookswelove.net/lang-jay

                               To purchase: www.amazon.ca/One-Take-Jake-Last-Call

 Where has my Creativity Gone?

Lately, I’ve noticed that the weather here in BC can dramatically affect my creativity. In Vancouver, a rainforest, the standing joke among the locals year-round is, “We don’t tan, we rust.” But not much is ever said about the toll the constant winter weather can take—the dark clouds and endless precipitation can suck the energy out of you both physically and emotionally, which definitely affects your mood and creativity. So, I looked up some ways to combat the winter blahs, and here is what I found. I don’t think I’ll try all of these suggestions but there are a few that I will consider for sure! Here they are:

1.      Get outside, even on cloudy days: Even if it’s just for a short walk, the fresh air and natural light, even on overcast days, can help boost your mood and energy. Exposure to natural light helps regulate your circadian rhythm and improves sleep, which in turn supports creativity.

2.      Bring the outdoors in: Add plants, fresh flowers, or nature-inspired décor to your space. Studies show that being around greenery can reduce stress and increase creativity.

3.      Change up your environment: Sometimes a simple change in scenery can help reset your mind. If you’re feeling creatively stuck, try working from a new location—whether that’s a different room in your house, a café, or a co-working space.

4.      Exercise regularly: Physical activity helps release endorphins, combatting the winter blues. Whether it’s yoga, running, or just a quick home workout, staying active keeps your energy up and your mind sharp.

5.      Practice mindfulness: Meditation, breathing exercises, or simply taking a few quiet moments for yourself can help you reconnect with your inner calm. A clearer mind is often a more creative one.

6.      Embrace the cozy vibe: Winter can be an excellent time to lean into relaxation. Indulge in cozy, comforting activities like reading a book, making tea, or binge-watching a feel-good show. Sometimes, giving your brain a break can lead to fresh ideas when you’re ready to work again.

7.      Stay social: Isolation can intensify the winter blues. Reach out to friends, join a local class, or even just spend time with family. Social interaction helps boost mood and keeps your creative spark alive.

8.      Make time for hobbies: Whether it’s painting, knitting, journaling, or any other creative outlet, spending time on something just for fun can reignite your inspiration and help you tap into new ideas.

9.      Prioritize sleep: Winter’s shorter days can make us feel tired more often. Getting enough quality sleep helps restore both body and mind, which is crucial for creative thinking.

10. Set small goals: Winter can feel like it drags on, so breaking tasks into smaller, manageable goals can give you a sense of progress and accomplishment. Celebrate even the smallest victories to keep yourself motivated.

The trial and tribulations of researching life – and death – in 1734 by donalee Moulton

 

                                                                   Order Conflagration! here.

 

My second mystery novel, Conflagration!, is my first historical mystery. BWL has

a series of historical mysteries than span Canada from coast to coast. I was offered the 

opportunity to write the book and step back to 1734 when the colony of New 

France was ruled by King Louis XV. It was an opportunity I embraced. With trepidation.

 

At readings and book clubs, I joke that the I am not from Quebec, I do not speak French

as more than 80% of Quebecers do, and I do not write historical mysteries. So, of

course, I said “yes” when I was offered me the opportunity to write

Conflagration!. I am grateful I did.

 

What scared me most about the writing the book was getting something wrong.

Misspeaking. Misunderstanding. Misconstruing. The foundation for Conflagration! (and

for all historical mysteries) is accuracy. As a freelance journalist, I am used to writing on

topics that I knew little (and somethings nothing) about. I have written articles on

everything from buying cyber insurance to surviving a helicopter crash to paying the

tooth fairy. I know how to research, how to interview people, how to find people to

interview, and how to find accurate sources of information. For the most part though, the

research I’ve done was contemporary or contemporary adjacent. It wasn’t from 300

years ago.

 

Conflagration! chronicles the arrest, trial, and subsequent execution of Marie-Joseph

Angélique, an enslaved Black woman accused of setting the lower town of Montreal on

fire. When the flames were finally squelched, forty-six homes and buildings were gone.

The quarter, where the merchants lived and ran their businesses, was destroyed.

Fortunately, no one died.

 

I had never heard of Angélique, had never read her story in the many history classes I

took throughout school and university. I was not alone in this lack of knowledge. That is

because Angélique’s story is also the story of slavery in Canada, and for centuries we

have avoided the topic or rewritten the facts to shape the narrative. Fortunately,

Angélique’s story is more well known in Quebec, where a plaque has been erected in

her memory in Old Montreal.

 

As I delved into the events of April 10, 1734, I discovered others had gone before me.

There were books, websites, articles, documentaries, shorts. I embraced them all.

Some of these sources also referenced court documents, meticulously recorded, albeit

in French. One site translated those documents although translations from old French to

modern English are not always clear and understandable. The golden rule in journalism

is you must have at least two sources before you use any information. I also embraced

this rule.

 

As nerve-wracking as ensuring my story accurately referenced the trial transcripts and

sequence of events from the first flames to Angélique’s final breath, I discovered that

the justice system was only one element of research required. At one point, I had my

main character Philippe Archambeau, a court clerk assigned specifically to document

Angélique’s case, get up early and make himself a cup of coffee. Then I asked myself,

“Did they drink coffee in New France in 1734?” (They did, but tea was more common.)

 

This issue of everyday life came up in a myriad of ways. Philippe goes to put on boots.

(Did they wear boots three hundred years ago? What kind?) His wife, Madeleine, is

making supper. (How do you make supper when there are no stoves, no ovens, no

electricity? What do you eat?)

 

The answers to these and a multitude of other questions were answered thanks to

reliable sources on the internet, books written by authoritative sources, individuals

knowledgeable about aspects of the story, the time, the history – and more.

 

I owe them all a debt of gratitude.

 

BWL Publishing Inc. New Releases for January 2025

 Happy New Year everyone. I'm wishing for all of you a wonderful year filled with everything you need and desire in your life. Good health and prosperity, love from everyone in your circle and success in all your set out to accomplish.

A Glimpse into the Past by Eden Monroe

 

 

 https://bookswelove.net/monroe-eden/

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

 

When man invented the wheel, he was only limited by his imagination as to what to what he’d eventually use it for.

Over time horse-drawn carriages became a popular form of conveyance. They are featured prominently in the romantic suspense novel, Bound for Somewhere, Book One of The Kavenaghs, a series set in Eastern Canada during the 1870’s. Garrett Kavenagh was keen to rise above his humble beginnings and find his place in the industry that had long fascinated him:

“He’d seen fine carriages pass by on the road from time to time, pulled by equally fine horses. That had strengthened his dream and the opportunity to realize it had now been unexpectedly laid before him…. Someday he’d help build those carriages he told himself, and he would take great pride in that work.”

But first the wheel….

According to www.citeco.fr/10000-years-history-economics/the-origins/invention-of-the-wheel: “The wheel was invented in the 4th millennium BC in Lower Mesopotamia (modern-​​day Iraq), where the Sumerian people inserted rotating axles into solid discs of wood. It was only in 2000 BC that the discs began to be hollowed out to make a lighter wheel.

This innovation led to major advances in two main areas. First, transport: the wheel began to be used on carts and battle chariots.”

 

Interestingly, there are still chariot builders today, although of course not to the same extent as was practiced in antiquity. We think of chariots in terms of warfare or racing, or indeed hunting, but this open vehicle (two or four wheels) was likely first used in royal funeral processions says britannica.com/technology/chariot: “The chariot apparently originated in Mesopotamia in about 3000 BC; monuments from Ur and Tutub depict battle parades that include heavy vehicles with solid wheels, their bodywork framed with wood and covered with skins. On the earliest chariots the wheels rotated on a fixed axle that was linked by a draft pole to the yoke of a pair of oxen. To the axle was attached a superstructure consisting of a platform protected by sidescreens and a high dashboard. These Mesopotamian chariots were mounted by both spearman and charioteer, although it is doubtful that fighting was conducted from the vehicle itself.”

Automakers would eventually take their place too in the scheme of things, and we must remember who brung it to the dance. As set out in ingeniumcanada,org, that would be Henry Seth Taylor who “beat Henry Ford by about 30 years with a Canadian-made ‘steam pleasure carriage.’ “

So the first automaker in Canada established himself in Stanstead, Quebec in the 1800’s, again according to ingeniumcanada.org:

“Taylor was a skilled artisan and loved to build things, and decided to make a steam carriage after seeing an American model in action. Using his metal-working skills, he crafted the carriage’s two-cylinder engine and driving mechanism while a local blacksmith, Joseph Mosher, constructed the carriage frame. Taylor first drove his steam-powered car in 1867 and demonstrated it publicly on September 24, 1868, at the Stanstead agricultural fair. Powered by a rear-mounted coal-fired boiler, the car used a tiller instead of a wheel for steering. Taylor had no plan to produce his invention for sale: he built it to test his mechanical skill and satisfy his own curiosity. Once he’d accomplished these goals, he put the steam buggy aside and moved on to other projects, leaving the buggy stored in a safe place that protected its metal parts from the ravages of time….”

The invention of the automobile certainly impacted carriage making, but there was an overlapping of the two industries at one point because business was still booming in carriage factories during the mid to late 1800’s. There were once carriage factories aplenty in North America alone, and in some instances fascinating relics remain of this bygone era. Preserved as museums, they provide a tantalizing glimpse into the past. Such as the hugely popular Campbell Carriage Factory Museum (tantramarheritage.ca/) located in Sackville, New Brunswick. It proved to be a treasure trove of important information in the writing of Bound For Somewhere. The (factory employee) characters mentioned in the book are of course pure invention, but a much-deserved salute is in order for this wonderful historical facility.

Campbell Carriage Factory

 

Started in 1855 by Ronald Campbell, this family business would thrive for nearly one hundred years. It was John Beal who undertook the original construction of the building in 1838 and used it as a tannery, before it was purchased and converted into a carriage factory by the Campbell family. High-quality horse-drawn vehicles were the Campbells’ basic stock and trade, but they also made tools, agricultural equipment and funeral caskets. (Subsequent generations included hay dealership and funeral undertaking as part of their business plan.)

A blacksmith shop was added to the Campbell Carriage Factory in 1856, certainly a mainstay in carriage-making with the custom-made metal components for sleighs, wagons and carriages it was able to produce, and much more.

And production was brisk at the carriage factory, by 1870 turning out up to forty wheeled vehicles and twenty sleighs a year. Even that number was improved upon during their time in operation. Nevertheless, like most such factories they eventually had to close shop as the automobile increased in popularity. But back in those halcyon days of the 1870’s, there were many young men who shared Garrett Kavenagh’s dream and found the means to take it all the way to a better life:

“Garrett had a mind that whatever he said the old man would find it amusing. ‘Waiting on tables, finding out what people want to eat and bringing it to them,’ he explained. ‘It’s just for now though,’ he added when he saw Gault winding up for another guffaw. ‘I got a job waiting at the carriage factory. I’m going to be making carriages.’

‘For certain?’

‘For certain, and someday I’ll own one.’

Gault kept his eyes on the road ahead. ‘Sure you will, and a pair of fine horses to pull it too.’

He was expecting that. ‘I will,’ he said with conviction, ‘someday.’”