From CBC Radio to Kobo’s Top 50

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I love you, CBC Radio listeners. I think you’re my tribe.

Wei Chen interviewed me on Ontario Morning this beautiful Tuesday. If you missed it, you can download the podcast here (the one labeled “Single mom student entrepreneur,” which is someone else. Matt and I are cheerfully married, and I’ve graduated. I’m still a mom entrepreneur, though).

Terminally Ill shot right up and cracked Kobo’s Top 50 e-books. Not per category. I mean, right now, it’s #1 in Mystery, Hard-Boiled, #2 in Mystery, Women Sleuths, and #5 in Mystery & Suspense.

#5 mystery kobo Screen Shot 2014-03-25 at 10.16.02 PM

But I mean in all of Kobo’s books (no idea how many those are, but since Mystery & Suspense includes almost 65,000 books, the grand total must be impressive), Terminally Ill has currently clawed up way up to #27. So if you click here (http://store.kobobooks.com/), you can see my name go by, along with a few others you might know.

#27 Top 50 Kobo Screen Shot 2014-03-25 at 10.18.21 PM

Like James Patterson, Harlan Coben, Jodi Picoult (I’ve read nearly all her work), Joseph Boydon (The Orenda was amazing), Nora Roberts, J.D. Robb, Clive Cussler (“Did you beat Clive Cussler?” said my husband. Yes, actually, I did), Veronica Roth, Sylvia Day, Bella Andre, Christina Baker Kline (I’m a big fan of her anthologies), George R.R. Martin (strong work), Marie Force, and John Grisham.

Total fangirl moment.

Squee! Thank you, CBC & Kobo!

I just have to add that Dr. Tim Heeley-Ray asked me what “Squee” meant, so I explained that it was an expression of extreme joy. And this is a moment of extreme joy.

For a limited time only (48 h), all newsfeed and newsletter subscribers will receive a secret promo code for a FREE Kobo copy of Terminally Ill. The code will arrive in a newsletter on Thursday, March 27th. Thanks! Group hugs! High fives!

Nora Roberts Keynote Luncheon at RWA Nationals 2010 (Orlando)

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My favourite part was her analogy comparing publishing to swimming in a pool.  As a writer, your job is to jump in the pool.  RWA is a springboard to get in.  If you’re spending all your time complaining about how other people have been in the pool longer, or that the water is too cold, you will not learn to swim.  You will drown.  So either get in there and practice your strokes, or get out and whine on the chaise lounge.  It’s up to you.

If you think it used to be easier back when she broke in:  B.S.  (She didn’t bleep herself, but since I’m writing children’s fiction, I’m censoring my blog.  Sigh.)

She said, “People are still people and a-holes are still a-holes.”  She did a signing at a nursing home where an old man told her off because he was expecting Oral Roberts.

The main thrust of her speech was that RWA gave her the friendships that sustained her for the past 30 years.  But for a newbie like me, it reminded me to keep on swimming.