Linda Browne

Writer, Middle Grade, Historical Fiction and Fantasy

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Bookcase Bizarro

September 21, 2021 / lindabrowne

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I haven’t been posting recently because I’ve b I haven’t been posting recently because I’ve been hard at work revising my middle grade steampunk fantasy, SHADOW APPRENTICE. I’ve just submitted it to @canscaip’s 2022 Writing for Children Competition. Me, I find putting submissions packages together nerve-wracking because they’re so fiddly. That’s why I try to focus on the blooms of the beautiful, yellow forsythia outside to remind myself of the real world I belong to. I work as a writer; I am not my writing. (And I have no idea if I’ve used that semicolon accurately or not.) Aspiring children’s authors have until May 31 to submit their stories. Good luck, everyone!
It’s spring time in Ontario. It’s spring time in Ontario.
Rain-ready new plantings. 30-40mm predicted today Rain-ready new plantings. 30-40mm predicted today. My container-grown plants DO NOT love a deluge. Hopefully, these clear tarps will help to protect them.
A rainy spring day. Although I'm making bread, w A rainy spring day. Although I'm making bread, we also decided to splurge on some egg bread and strawberries for...you guessed it...French toast. French toast and pancakes were a weekly tradition in our house when I was growing up and mainly functioned as a bribe to 'persuade' my brother and I to go to church. French toast was also (I think) the first thing we learned how to make by ourselves (whether to bypass the Sunday church bribe or not, I can't remember) and we deviated from my mother's recipe by experimenting with cinnamon or ginger. We even occasionally made our own French toast recipes for our parents. Today, I'm making my mother's recipe: eggs, milk, a pinch of salt and black pepper. Nothing else. Delish! I'm baking a quick soda bread using a recipe from 'Quick Breads,' a book my mother bought for 13-year old me when we were vacationing at a summer cottage. I think she hoped that I'd graduate to making meals but I was stuck on baking as a teenager. The cover on this book is torn off, the binding is disintegrating and many of the pages are stained. Now that Mom is gone, it's a poignant reminder of her and a touchstone that evokes that far off summer day in cottage country. My partner and I eat our pancakes on the tin camping plates my 20-something parents bought in the 1950s. Another piece of Browne family culinary history, still going strong. This morning's jazz soundtrack is brought to us by Toronto musician @taniajgill
This year’s container arrangement. I’ve got a This year’s container arrangement. I’ve got a few more cages to build but I’m basically ready to plant - lots of greens and herbs this year.
This is definitely the biggest flower my ‘Christ This is definitely the biggest flower my ‘Christmas’ cactus has ever produced... at the end of April, no less. A dear friend of mine gifted me a clipping of this cactus, which belonged to her mother. (They both survived being imprisoned in internment camps by the Canadian government during WWII.) This cactus is a fighter, just like them.
Making French toast while listening to my partner’s banjo improv. Can’t think of a better way to wake up.
Christmas cactus flowering in April. Very cool! Christmas cactus flowering in April. Very cool! I’ve just posted a batch of new Bookcase Bizarro children’s book reviews over at my website. (Click on link under bio.) Our picture book panel tackles a colourful trio of picture books from Jim Averbeck, the Fan brothers and Jillian Tamaki’s wonderfully urban story about community kitchens. We visit a family trap line with David A. Robertson, go up against an evil astrologer with @mahtab_narsimhan, and experience life in a refugee camp with Victoria Jamison and Omar Mohamed. In a break with tradition, I also review this year’s winner of Canada Reads, a -gasp!- ADULT book. Drop by, check out the new post and find your next great read.
This stump caught my eye as I walked by. At first This stump caught my eye as I walked by. At first, there doesn’t seem to be anything special about it. It’s just an old stump. I lean in for a closer look. That plain, old stump is actually a home for all sorts of small plants. Bright, green, fragile. I love spring crocuses as much as the next person but to me, this stump captures the essence of renewal. The sheer strength of it. The way that noticing something can completely change how you see everything.
Glorious spring willow. So glad I looked up! Glorious spring willow. So glad I looked up!
A few of the middle grade books I’ll be reviewin A few of the middle grade books I’ll be reviewing at my blog, Bookcase Bizarro: Children’s book reviews, on April 11th. Click on the link under my bio to go to my website, where you can read past reviews and check out my other writing.
A splurge for Friday night dinner: fresh salmon ch A splurge for Friday night dinner: fresh salmon chowder with sugar dwarf snow pea micro greens. I struggled with revisions today but I’m eating well. Writer’s block never tasted so good!
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