Wow, this is another awesome nomination for the little-calico-that-could!

The Manitoba Young Readers Choice Awards (MYCRA) just announced their shortlist for 2020/21 and Pickles vs the Zombies is on it!

I was lucky enough to tour Manitoba in 2016 with the Portia series, and I am so excited to be a part of this very talented list of authors.

Some awesome news for fans of cats who fight zombies, Pickles VS the Zombies has been short-listed for the 2020/21 Hackmatack Award!

Past winners are some of my fav kids books, so I am thrilled to be on the list and honored to be amongst the best in the biz.

In case you didn’t know (as I did not), “the name of the Hackmatack program comes from a tree commonly found in Atlantic Canada, also known as a tamarack or larch.” It’s an annual prize picked by kids who live on the east coast, and there are four categories – English Fiction, English non-fiction, French Fiction and French non-fiction.

WICKED news eh?

I’m looking for some feedback as I start creating my visuals for the next Portia campaign. Can you please vote on the image (via comments) that catches your attention?

Red	Newspaper	Gold

Look at this gorgeous cover for the latest Portia Adams Adventure (thanks to the fine folks at Cormorant!)

In case you’re wondering why it looks so different from the first three books it’s because we’ve graduated to the adult leagues. Portia is 25 in this book, so she’s no longer a young adult.

I’m really excited about this transition, and I hope all my fans will come with Portia and me on this new adventure!

You can pre-order The Detective and the Spy from Amazon or Indigo anytime, but it will hit bookshelves in April.

I’m not much for New Year’s Resolutions, but I read this blog post about the 10 questions to ask yourself to End your year with Intentionality and was inspired, so I went through the exercise. Feel free to do the same if you think it’s a positive way to enter the next decade – and post your links in the comments below so I can read about your plans?

1. What makes this year unforgettable?
This has been a good year in a lot of ways but when someone asks about 2019 in the future I think the thing that makes it unforgettable is my child getting their new birth certificate with their chosen gender and a new name. It’s been a long time coming and this is the year it finally officially happened.

2. What did you enjoy doing this year?
I’ve been blessed with a year of reconnecting with friends in unplanned ways – from meeting two old CBC buddies on the TTC and catching up, to going to homecoming at Western with the best group of women in the world, to finding the joy in attending a wake by hugging and visiting with other friends I hadn’t seen in years. I’m also writing a screenplay with a friend that is way more fun to do together than apart.

3. What/who is the one thing/person you’re grateful for?
Other than my child and my husband, I’m grateful that my parents are healthy and safe (as they get older, this time becomes more precious). I’m also grateful for our new (completely batty) kitten, Champlain.

4. What’s your biggest win this year?
Getting Pickles out into the world, and hearing how much fans are enjoying it is probably my biggest win this year. For a while there it looked like my zombie-fighting cat wasn’t going to find a home, but thanks to DCB and Cormorant, she’s ALIVE and on people’s bookshelves.

5. What did you read/watch/listen to that made the most impact this year? 2019 will forever be the year that a generation of stories came to an end – with End Game, Game of Thrones and The Rise of Skywalker. To be honest, I haven’t read enough this year because I’ve been focused on getting Portia 4 done, but a couple books I did manage to read and LOVE were The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline and my friend Alisha’s book, The Lost Scroll of the Physician.

6. What did you worry about most and how did it turn out?
I worried a lot (probably too much) about my kid this year, and everything turned out really well – better than expected. I worried about not finishing Portia 4 and letting down my fans, and the manuscript is in with my editors. I worried about my cousin who moved to NYC, and she’s flourishing. I worried about my sister in New Jersey, but that was about Trump, and hopefully, that threat is about to be tossed out. I worried about my husband and his sciatica (a new word we learned this year) but he’s recovering – slowly.

7. What was your biggest regret and why?
At this moment I honestly can’t think of one.

8. What’s one thing that changed about yourself?
I actively put aside my resentment for friendships that just aren’t friendships anymore. I think I spent too many years working hard to keep up friendships that to the other person were not a priority. I’m choosing to refocus my energy and time on those relationships where we’re both contributing and working to stay close.

9. What surprised you the most this year?
Learning that the people I thought were flying through life without barriers were struggling too – and that the people I thought were struggling were finding small successes and enjoying them. No one is achieving 100% of the time, and no one is failing 100% of the time.

10. If you could go back to last January 1, what suggestions would you give your past self?
Ooh. Tough one. I’d tell Jan 1. Angela to worry less, and care even less about what people thought or said when making a decision. That includes those closest to me. I go to bed when I go to bed, and I’m not answering any more questions about it. I work out when I work out and that’s no one’s business – I don’t need anyone to ‘solve’ my life. I wear what I wear and I dye my hair crazy colours. All MY choices. Whether they love it, or hate it, Angela you have to care less.

What about you guys?

Sometimes when you’re trying to describe something in words it helps to have a picture in front of you.

This is the tweed hat Portia is sporting in this scene I’m revising.

“I curled up the front of my grey tweed hat, admiring the black cloth underneath before putting it on.”

What tricks to do you use to help with descriptions?

“This could be the time ‘it works,’” I answered, squeezing him tight, hoping against hope that I was right and that he and Irene Adler could find some modicum of peace in their tortured love story.