If you don't have a copy of Hot Apple Cider yet, now is a great time to buy one. Or let someone know you'd appreciate receiving one for Christmas.

And if you do have a copy, now would be a really good time to get copies for your friends and family.

If you live in the US, check out the ridiculously low price at Amazon.com (see sidebar).

And if you live in Canada, you can check out Amazon.ca, Chapters, your local bookstore, or order an autographed copy directly from the publisher.

Check out the Hot Apple Cider website for news. 

There's now a free discussion guide.

And watch for samples of the articles to be posted soon.

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I discovered yesterday that two of my books have been nominated for the Church Library Association of Ontario's "One Book/ One Conference" discussion, which will be held at their Fall Conference on October 3rd at Tyndale University and Seminary in Toronto. The conference will celebrate CLAO's 40th anniversary. Dr. James Beverly, author and professor, will be the keynote speaker.

There will also be workshops, including a panel with at least 4 Canadian authors.

And there will be a discussion time focused on one book, by a Canadian author, that all participants are to have read prior to the conference.

Books nominated for this honour include: 

The Shack (William P. Young)

Christianus Sum (Shawn J. Pollett)

Hot Apple Cider (edited by N. J. Lindquist and Wendy Elaine Nelles)

Broken Angel (Sigmund Brouwer)

Love Comes Softly (Janette Oke)

One Smooth Stone (Marcia Lee Laycock)

Cibou (Susan Young de Biagi)

Shaded Light (N. J. Lindquist)

Mohamed’s Moon (Keith Clemons)

Vengeance (Donna Dawson)

The Book of Negroes (Lawrence Hill)
 
The Cellist of Sarajevo (Steven Galloway)
 

More details about the books and the conference.

No matter which book wins, I think this is a super idea, and I commend the CLAO committee for their efforts to support Canadian authors.

Broken Angel · Canadian authors · Christianus Sum · Cibou · CLAO · Donna Dawson · Fall conference · Hot Apple Cider · Janette Oke · Keith Clemmons · Keith Clemons · Lawrence Hill · Love Comes Softly · Marcia Lee Laycock · Mohamed’s Moon · N. J. Lindquist · One Smooth Stone · Shaded Light · Shawn J. Pollett · Sigmund Brouwer · Steven Galloway · Susan Young de Biagi · The Book of Negroes · The Cellist of Sarajevo · The Shack · Vengeance · Wendy Elaine Nelles · William P. Young

Although my choice of reading material is normally mysteries, I’ve been reading books on writing memoir and memoirs lately, trying to get a feel for what is acceptable or perhaps desirable.

Just finished Who Do You Think You Are? by Alyse Myers. A difficult story of a young girl growing up in a dysfunctional, somewhat abusive home. The greatest strength of the book is the author’s ability to show the complicated nature of perception, and how despite lacking adequate information to make accurate judgments, children are a product of their environment as well as their genes.

Before that, I read the Pulitzer Prize winning Growing Up by Russell Baker. I’d read Russell’s chapter in Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir, edited by William Zinsser, and been impressed with it. I found the story interesting, and the way he told it very enlightening, though the writing felt very plain and easy-to-follow. I guess I expected more literary styling in a Pulitzer winner. Not that I wanted literary stuff – that’s not my cup of tea. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book was very readable.

My choice of these two memoirs was also impacted by the complex relationships each author had with his or her families, in particular the mother. Since my own memoir will definitely have some of that, it’s good to see how other people handled it.

Just before these two books, I read Inventing the truth, edited by Zinsser, and very helpful; and The Joy of Writing by Pierre Berton, which was also quite helpful and ought to be mandatory reading for all Canadian writers, regardless of genre.

I have about five other books to read before I think I’ll be ready to start working on my memoir. Next up is Lawrence Block’s new memoir, Step By Step: A Pedestrian Memoir, which promises an interesting metaphor.

Alyse Myers Who do you think you are? · books about memoir writing · Gowing up · inventing the truth · Lawrence Block · Russell baker · Step by Step · william zinsser · writing memoir

It’s always nice to have Google tell you there’s a new link with your name on it, and to discover that there’s a new review posted for one of your books. This one is about Glitter of Diamonds. You can read it here in the Seattle Examiner.

Actually, Glitter of Diamonds was probably the most fun to write of any of my books thus far. I do like baseball.

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On Saturday, I attended the grand opening of a Christian bookstore about fifteen minutes from my house.

To say the store was crowded is an understatement. There were people everywhere – not a bad feat when you consider that Faith Family Books and Gifts is a 12,000 square foot store.

There was a ribbon-cutting, Jamaican patties and cake being given out, authors signing, musicians playing, people sitting talking at the small cafe and couches in one corner. But mostly there were people looking at and buying books.

The store had a soft-opening a month ago and according to Larry Willard, one of the three owners, has been very busy ever since.

The opening reminded me of an article I wrote for ChristianWeek last fall that I have been meaning to post here. I was asked to write it after posting a number of blogs here whether or not Christian bookstores are still needed. Ironically, I posted the blogs a week or so before R. G. Mitchell Family Books, the largest Christian book distributor in Canada and the owner of a chain of Christian bookstores in Ontario, declared bankruptcy. No, I didn't know that was going to happen. Mitchell's was distributing Hot Apple Cider, so we were never paid for the 1200 books they had sent out. 

You can find my blogs here, including one that talks about my experiences when my first book was published back in 1991. 

Read the article I wrote for Christian Week in the fall of 2008.

What's the Future of Canadian Christian Publishing?

Faith Family Gifts and Books · Larry Willard · new bookstore opens · new Christian bookstore

Sources tell me there’s a new Christian bookstore opening in Pickering on April 25th. The location is the same as the old Mitchell’s store – 2200 Brock Road, Unit 9.  The manager is apparently Brian Reynolds, who was the last manager at the Mitchell’s Bookstore in Willowdale.  I’m told the store will be called Michael’s Family Books.

Brian Reynolds · new Christian bookstore · Pickering bookstore