Sheila Balls

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Sheila Balls

Goodreads Author


Born
in North Bay Ontario, Canada
Website

Genre

Influences
anne lamott garrison keillor

Member Since
March 2008

URL


Sheila (Smith) spent her first twenty years in North Bay Ontario and went on to a teaching career which took her to the Sudbury area, Whitby, and finally Owen Sound. Here she met and married Carl Balls in 1971 and they raised two children, Michael born in 1974 and Catherine in 1976.
Sheila wrote through all those years but began publishing material only when she retired from teaching.
Her first book of personal essays, Somebody Move the Cat, was accepted by The Brucedale Press, the first publisher she sent it to, and came out in 2003. In 2005 she self-published Our Side of the Fence while living on beautiful Bass Lake south of Wiarton.
Carl and Sheila moved late in 2007 to Grey Highlands and then, with Carl needing care for his declining hea
...more

Hold hands and move forward

Towards morning but still fully dark I am wakened by the soft pad of a cat stepping carefully across the bed to look into my face: “Are you awake?”

I used to write then, up at the lake, those nights I could not sleep, but it has been a long time since I felt like writing through the dark hours . . . maybe because of the “dark hours” we have gone through in our own life.

In those years we lived in Read more of this blog post »
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Published on January 01, 2017 03:38 Tags: health, marriage, memoir, surviving-loss
Average rating: 4.82 · 39 ratings · 18 reviews · 5 distinct works
All Right So Far

4.95 avg rating — 19 ratings2 editions
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Somebody Move the Cat!

4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2003
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Our Side of the Fence: Tale...

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings2 editions
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Our Side of the Fence

4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2005
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Walk This Way

4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings2 editions
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Purgatory Ridge
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Sheila’s Recent Updates

Sheila is currently reading
Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger
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Sheila rated a book really liked it
The Names by Florence Knapp
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When Cora (literally the core of the story) goes to register her son‘s birth, she struggles with the choice of a name. Three names suggest three varying life paths. But to me, Coras decision whether or not to stay in a dreadfully abusive marriage is ...more
Sheila and 358 other people liked Emily May's review of The Names:
The Names by Florence Knapp
"3.5 stars. I decided to round up on this because I did find it compelling, but with three separate parallel timelines I felt the stories and characters never quite got the depth and attention they deserved.

I also misunderstood the premise somewhat— " Read more of this review »
Sheila and 740 other people liked Stefanie's review of The Names:
The Names by Florence Knapp
"I liked the book, but I was disappointed because I believe it is being marketed erroneously. The subject of the story is misleading in so much as the summary states that it is about how the impact of your name can change the course of your life when " Read more of this review »
Sheila and 30 other people liked Christopher Febles's review of The Names:
The Names by Florence Knapp
"Cora and her daughter Maia are on the way to the registrar’s office to complete the birth certificate for their new addition, a baby boy. The instructions were clear: Gordon, the abusive and domineering husband, wants him named after him. But on the " Read more of this review »
Sheila rated a book liked it
Still Life by Louise Penny
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So Far Gone by Jess Walter
" This was my introduction to Jess Walter and I quite enjoyed it. I then read Beautiful Ruins. Liked it but not as much. Because of the road trip elemen ...more "
Sheila rated a book it was amazing
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
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There have been no wolves in Scotland since the 18th century when our main character Inti brings a team of scientist to re-introduce them. This should rebalance the ecosystem but locals see only danger to their sheep and cattle and are in varying deg ...more
Sheila rated a book it was amazing
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
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There have been no wolves in Scotland since the 18th century when our main character Inti brings a team of scientist to re-introduce them. This should rebalance the ecosystem but locals see only danger to their sheep and cattle and are in varying deg ...more
Sheila wants to read
The Astral Library by Kate Quinn
The Astral Library
by Kate Quinn (Goodreads Author)
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More of Sheila's books…
Mark Twain
“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
Mark Twain

Marianne Williamson
“Children are happy because they don't have a file in their minds called "All the Things That Could Go Wrong.”
Marianne Williamson

Mitch Albom
“No story sits by itself. Sometimes stories meet at corners and sometimes they cover one another completely, like stones beneath a river.”
Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Mitch Albom
“All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.”
Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven

John Greenleaf Whittier
“If thou of fortune be bereft,
and in thy store there be but left
two loaves, sell one, and with the
dole, buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.”
John Greenleaf Whittier

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31504 Q&A with Lori Lansens — 72 members — last activity Jun 14, 2010 03:54PM
Lori Lansens will be answering reader questions from April 5 to May 5th.
26989 Goodreads Authors/Readers — 56245 members — last activity 1 hour, 45 min ago
This group is dedicated to connecting readers with Goodreads authors. It is divided by genres, and includes folders for writing resources, book websit ...more
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