Summer is a season best recognized by its scents and sounds. Sunscreen, chlorine, fresh-cut hay, french-fries, lake water, campfires. Cicadas, lawnmowers, seagulls, thunderstorms, waves crashing, bagpipes at sunset. Those hazy, sun-drenched days of endless light and freckles and floating and letting things slide.
If my absence has been noted, consider this my excuse: I’ve been savouring.
Summer is such a fleeting thing here in Canada that it simply must be seized and squeezed for everything it’s worth. Writing can be consigned to the long, cozy evenings of autumn, already about to knock at the door. It’s not procrastination. It’s time management.
Rest assured, stories have been on my mind as I’ve been soaking up the sun. There are exciting things to come here at AlyWrites.
- Sneaking Suspicions: an Amber Jenkins Mystery is entering the querying stage. Imagine that! After all these years, I’m actually finally on the hunt for someone to publish my novel.
- The Library of Borrowed Lives, the fiction series I’ve been publishing on the first Tuesday of every month, is due a few installments. Look for Part 4 on the first Tuesday in September.
- I’ve got a few new recipes to share this fall, as well as some writing tips and book reviews in the pipeline.
- November, as always, will be spent wildly drafting the next novel in the Amber Jenkins series. Write 50,000 words with me as part of #NOVELmber, or just follow along as I attempt the crazy feat for the sixth consecutive year.
And in case you missed it, my winning story, Lionel Wexelbaum Will Not Wake Up, was published in the June issue of Blank Spaces magazine. The judges had this to say:
This winning entry by Alyssa Bushell captivated our judges with its darkly whimsical tone and masterful atmospheric storytelling. The author creates an unforgettable character study that begins after the protagonist’s death, weaving a rich tapestry of details about Lionel’s life through observations of his apartment and neighbourhood. The story’s distinctive voice immediately pulls readers in with its blend of morbid humour and poignant observations about a life that will go unmourned.
I won’t apologize for the weeks of silence here at AlyWrites. Instead, I encourage you to go sit by a body of water with a fancy beverage and savour the last drops of summer yourself. Back to our regularly scheduled programming soon!
Aly Writes 