Joy Norstrom's Blog, page 3

Launch Party for my Book Baby!

On November 27th, exactly one month after the online release of Out of Play, we celebrated my book-baby's birth with family and friends and wine. The Smith was our gracious host, and Owls Nest Books were kind enough to be onsite and sell copies.

Thank you to everyone who could make it, and for those who sent well wishes. You support was appreciated.

Top 10 Worst Gifts Ever

Yes, the big day is around the corner. It’s that wonderful time of year where we squeeze as much spending into as little time as possible.

I know. It’s not supposed to be about the gifts. It’s about time with loved ones, celebrating another year gone by, welcoming new life and hope for the future. It’s about giving to others—oops! There it is. Giving. Which means gifts.

For all of you who have managed to defy social norms, and are not conforming to the commercial version of Christmas, I a...

Celebrate Fall with Free Romantic Comedy Reads

Wow, this is kind of cool.

Because winning.

Because free, fun, fiction--60 freaking romantic comedy titles and maybe even a kindle fire.

You should enter. You should definitely enter.

Me? I'd love to, but I'm disqualified because one of those fun fiction titles is Out of Play. Another one of those titles is Better Off Without Him by Dee Ernst, which I'm currently reading myself.

You've got one week before the contest closes, so go for it! Enter right here: bit.ly/romantic-com. And remember, the cl...

Sharing the Goodreads Love

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Tenacious Spirits / Kindred Sisters - Guest Post from the Fabulous Jennifer Wilson

Today is another first for my Unblog: A GUEST! For those thinking I have an ego fixation, I've decided to throw you off the trail. What better way then inviting the fabulous Jennifer Wilson, my Crooked Cat sister?

Jennifer is celebrating the one year anniversary of her own book baby: Kindred Spirits: Tower of London. She's also a very accomplished professional in her field of study, and I certainly admire her tenacity and strength. To celebrate, the book is on sale for .99/99p. (So what are yo...

A Sneak Peek inside OOP...

To celebrate the launch of OUT OF PLAY, I'd like to share a scene with you. Gillian has just arrived at the Larp camp, and is looking for the kitchen where she'll be volunteering for the weekend.

Somehow she gets entangled with a group of elves and requires some rescuing. It was a fun scene to write, and pushed me a little bit outside of my usual comfort zone.

“Hi there, little lady,” a deep voice boomed.

Oh shit. What now? I turned around. One of the sword-carrying manly types had edged up behi...

Best Book Day Ever!

Okay, this happened. I got home to find THE package in my mailbox. The long-awaited physical manifestation of a three year journey. I just knew it was my book, but did I take it out of the mailbox? Nope. Instead I wiped the spiderwebs off the mailbox (we have this insane spider problem, but let's leave it at that) and took a picture.

Then I let the dogs outside and went to pick the kidlets up at school. There was just no way I was opening that puppy by myself.

Thanks to my fan base, I hav...

Guest Post on Sunday Sojourns

I've had another fun first: an opportunity to guest blog on another writer's website. Thank you to Jennifer Wilson and her historical travel-book-blog: Sunday Sojourns. Jennifer's debut novel, Kindred Spirits: Tower of London, was published in 2015 by Crooked Cat Publishing. I'm looking forward to Jennifer's post on my unblog later this month. She'll be telling us about an inspiring character who features in her book: Anne Boleyn...or rather, Anne's ghost!

In my Sunday Sojourns post I take re...

10 Things I've Learned While Launching my 1st Book

10. My mother was right. If I never say it again, I’ve at least said it here. It was six years ago when she first told me I should write a book. And what did I say? “Ya, right. I could never do that.” Yet here I am, less than three weeks before the launch of Out Of Play. Mom was right. That time. But the home-haircut craze in grade two? That was not right. That was horribly wrong.

9. The world is a good place. People you’ve never met will help you. They might even say remarkable things about...

Orange Shirt Day Book Recommendations

September 30th is a day Canadians can practice truth and reconciliation by wearing orange and thinking about Phyllis' story. The date for this annual event was in part chosen because September is the time of year when children were taken from their homes and brought to residential school.

For those who haven't hit the link to Phyllis' story, (and please do! She tells her own story better than I ever could ever re-tell it) Phyllis' shiny orange shirt was stripped from her on her first day in re...