Walk in the woods . . . and a psychological thriller . . .

Yesterday we spent nearly an hour, strolling through the Milner Gardens, just about a 30 minute drive away from where we're staying on Vancouver Island. Billed as "an ancient forest and garden oasis by the sea," I can agree. Even royalty has sipped tea here. 

We took in the views and admired the hidden fountains and rhododendron shrubs so large, their gnarled branches looked like trees.

Old growth Douglas firs stretched hundreds of feet to the sky as we followed forest trails down to the beach, overlooking the Strait of Georgia. 

Feet tired, on the way home, we stopped at the Mykong River Restaurant to feast on a seafood hot pot (shrimp and scallops in a delicious oyster sauce). Nearly a perfect day. OK, it was truly a perfect day.

Update on the writing. Just for this month, I'm working on a side project, final edits on a psychological thriller, not my usual genre. In fact, most of the people I know don't read dark stories, and I'm really not sure what my next step is. 

I began writing Mothers Don't Die when I first retired. Excited to begin serious editing, I took a writing class. On the very first day of class, our teacher warmly welcomed us and said, "Work on any project you wish. Any stage -- prewriting, drafting, or editing. But, please, no violent stories." I set my story aside and said to myself, "I might as well write about mermaids!"

That led to my first book, The Mermaid Quilt and Other Tales. One of those short stories morphed into Standing Stones, and thus began a series of historical fiction set in the 1840s in Scotland, Canada, and Australia. 

Inspired by the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, I then switched genres to write The Seventh Tapestry, an art crimes mystery.

Mothers Don't Die is now ready for your reading pleasure, if you like dark, psychological thrillers. I'd love to hear what you think. Click HERE.

Meanwhile, I'm back to drafting that doggone mystery, Unleashed Pursuit and hope to have a workable first draft by the New Year! 

Happy September and happy reading!