by Annette | Jun 2, 2014 | Annette's Blog
If you’re a writer struggling with plot, read Gillian Flynn’s novel Gone Girl. You will be inspired! Flynn knows how to hook the reader, lead her down the garden path, only to reveal that all the assumptions she has made so far are false. Flynn’s...
by Annette | May 25, 2014 | Annette's Blog
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a brilliant, funny, tragic story about a couple of dying teenagers with cancer. What? you’re probably thinking. I wouldn’t go near that kind of book with a ten foot pole. Who wants to be depressed? Who wants to...
by Annette | Apr 7, 2014 | Annette's Blog
The War on Wolves This winter, my husband, Michael Sather, and I saw three wolves cross the frozen lake in front of our cabin in the Cariboo. It was one of those special moments when time stands still, when you are grateful to witness something rare and beautiful. ...
by Annette | Jul 5, 2013 | Annette's Blog
Ed King by David Guterson is a deliciously clever and brilliant page-turner that impressed me with its sheer audaciousness. Guterson is a superb storyteller who will hook you almost from the start and deliver surprise after surprise as his characters head for...
by Annette | Jun 9, 2013 | Annette's Blog
Signs and Wonders, Alix Ohlin’s collection of short stories, is a beautiful book. Ohlin makes the art of writing short stories seem like a cakewalk. Her writing appears effortless; her choice of wording so perfect that you think to yourself ‘of course that’s the...
by Annette | Mar 18, 2013 | Annette's Blog
My Stand-up Desk Unless you’re like Hemingway who is reported to have stood up while typing his novels, the writer’s life could kill you. Too many writers (me included) and social media types spend too many hours sitting in front of the computer. I enjoy physical...
by Annette | Mar 12, 2013 | Annette's Blog
Review of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle I can’t say enough about David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. It is a strange and wonderful novel that hooks the reader in a myriad of ways. The passages in which he describes nature are so lyrical and beautifully...
by Annette | Feb 12, 2013 | Annette's Blog
Our luggage was lost on a recent vacation to Costa Rica. If you think this is unusual, think again. According to Barbara S. Peterson on the Conde Nast Traveler 26 million suitcases go missing on international flights and an amazing 1 million suitcases are never...
by Annette | Jan 7, 2013 | Annette's Blog
My dear friend, Wilma Robinson, died on December 18, 2012. She was 89. I admired Wilma as a woman, a pioneer of the Pitt Polder and a conservationist. Wilma was the inspiration for Miracle at Willowcreek, my novel about a community that rallies to save the wetlands...
by Annette | Oct 19, 2012 | Annette's Blog
Amanda Todd: In Memoriam To show her vulnerability, To open her heart, to say ‘I’m hurting,’ I need someone, Was an act of bravery. Most of us live our lives Hiding our hurts, fearful. We grow old and die, Allowing few people to know us. We pretend to be strong, But...
