I see a comment below about bears. The Nelson CIty police had to shoot a black bear just the other day as it was hanging around a school area. Sad. I saw lots of bears on my trip to Tofino, and I've seen several here (near Nelson).

ONly the little black one is mine. I was housesitting the other two. My own dog was skunked on Wednesday. Ug.

Tess Gerritsen, bestselling author, has been blogging quite a bit about reviews and their impact on authors at her blog: http://tessgerritsen.com/blog/ It's been interesting to find out that even bestselling authors feel the pain of a bad review. But we do need to sometimes step back, get out of our tunnel vision from being too close to our projects, and take other opinions into account. There is value to that.

Sandra, I just wanted to say I enjoyed your comments on the forum regarding criticism. We are all learners and it takes courage to admit that. Thanks for the post.

Sandra, Whistler probably has too many bears. If you come and spend a few days up here, especially at this time of year, you are pretty much guaranteed to see one.

Good to see a fellow Canuck here :)

Hi Sandra
Glad to have found this site via Chel. (I'm not stalking you - honestly!)

Thanks, Sandra! I am thinking I'll have to post a picture of my cat Musetta soon. She is, well, the model for the cat Musetta in my Theda Krakow mysteries. A nd no, not a zombie cat detective. A cat ghost.... more as the book gets written.

Hi Sandra, actually I like both of them, I was intrigued by the fact you'd used a different one for this site. I think you look very nice!!

Oh and by the way... really like the profile picture!

Roger

Hi Sandra.. it's me Rog (Nubs) from the BTZ!

Just found out about this site... looks far better than MySpace! So many people from the USA and everywhere... so many new friends to make!

Speak soon!

Roger

Hi Sandra - the UK info looks interesting - hope to see your thoughts on it. Haven't been there, though ancestors all originated from there, so hope to go sometime and find the name engraved where the Mayflower sailed off - no it wasn't the married name! I went from a family who regularly donated family artifacts to museums and belonged to the Daughters of the American Revolution, to my married family who's lived in Alaska most of their lives and knows little about their family - even grandparents, aunts, or uncles! It's a different life! Anyway, I did know you cancelled B'con - I'm doing the program book and so had to move your bio photo and book jackets into the slush pile (grin)... I am not deleting, I learned with Ken Bruen that once you cancel, you can come back! He registered again! Do you know how many book jackets he had? Because I've been having to convert all graphics for 4-color printing and high resolution, etc., it took me hours to do his book covers, literally hours and hours! Then got them all ready, placed in the program, and he temporarily cancelled! Deleted them all! Then he was back... so now I am back to converting his book jackets again. When you cancelled, I was wiser (ha!). I made a slush pile. If someone makes a comeback, they'll get out of the slush pile. Then the work's not lost to those gremlins Carole Gill and I have been griping about (smile).

Ooh Sandra, tell me about your love affair with the UK. what started you off. with me it was history. just saw ann boleyn's home (after 30 years of wanting to see it)--two weeks ago. It was beautiful. the grounds, everything. all the best.

Yup --- I had to look up pictures but in the end Giles Blunt looks just enough like Colin that I picked him. It was tough - I like Robert Fate and there are a couple of others but I had not read them.

Hi Sandra! We were up at Penetanguishene all week and I am bugged out. Any news? What did I miss?

Hi Sandra - Thanks for the invite, I really appreciate it ... your reputation precedes you, naturally. I am as humbled as it's possible to be in an electronic medium ... Also, consider me intrigued by the Kevin Wignall photo malarkey ... I got an ARC of Conrad Hirst and there was no photo Kuddly Kev on the kover, sorry, cover ... is he so damned handsome he'll distract you from actually reading? Cheers, Dec

I've met you via MWA and nice to meet online

Thanks for the invite!

Thanks Jools!

Hi Sandra - love the story over at Pulp Pusher, very nice work! Cheers, Jools