Weekly Note: Back to work

Plus a mysterious house, hummingbirds, and birthday traditions

Since it’s been a while since my last newsletter I have a lot to say! If you’re reading this as an email it might get cut off as there are lots of photos. So pop over to Substack where you can also leave a comment or a ❤️

My oldest recently turned 13 (how?) so we had delicious Korean BBQ for a celebratory lunch, she painted pottery with friends, and she hunted for her presents around the house in our now traditional scavenger hunt.

Do you have birthday traditions? We started the gift scavenger hunt during covid as a way to make birthdays special without a party and it stuck.

Last week I also waved goodbye to my mum but not before one more adventure. We took a tour of The Winchester Mystery House. Have you heard of it? There was a Helen Mirren movie recently but I don’t think it follows much of the real story of Sarah Winchester and her house (I haven’t seen it!). In brief: Sarah Winchester was the heir of the Winchester fortune and it is believed she felt compelled to keep building work going constantly at to her mansion in San Jose to keep the ghosts of the people killed by Winchester weapons at bay. So there are staircases that go nowhere. A door that opens to the air. And closet doors that open onto a wall. Not to mention all the incredible stained glass and Sarah’s love of the number 13 which is evident throughout the house.

A door to nowhere

A patchwork of roofs

Zoom in! 😂

I’ve also been spending a lot of time in our backyard with May which means I’ve also spent a lot of time watching the hummingbirds buzz around the flowering trees. It makes me very happy to have so many flowers to entice the tiny creatures. Of course photographing them is almost impossible but I did manage to grab this still from a video.

A hummingbird enjoying the orange blossoms

Now, I’m back to work getting ready for upcoming school visits and revising my middle grade nonfiction project. I can’t wait until I can share more about that book. It’s super fun! 🔎

p.s. some of the links below might be bookshop.org affiliate links so I can earn a small commission if you buy from them, but as always I encourage you to visit your local independent bookstore instead. This month I’ll be donating any affiliate earnings to Doggie Protective Services (the rescue where we adopted May).

• Vicky Fang
  and I got honest with our writing weaknesses this week on Kidlit Survival Guide.

• Do you follow

  Jason June
  on substack? I love this honest look at royalties as a midlist author.

• This is some interesting advice on setting up your social media pages. Once I reinstall IG on my phone (do I have to?) I’ll be looking at implementing the advice.

• It’s Independent Bookstore Day tomorrow (Saturday 26th) so be sure to stop by a local bookstore so pick up books (of course), gifts, and more. I know how much it means to bookstore owners and the staff when we shop local.

• Speaking of, I enjoyed this substack post about breaking up with Amazon. I’m trying to use local shops and buy secondhand as much as possible these days but I still have room for improvement so I found the tips very helpful.

• Last week, May got her final puppy vaccinations so now we can get out on walks. Which is a new adventure for both of us! She’s also going to puppy classes and socialization classes. She’s keeping us busy!

  

  

With love,
Christine (and May) xo

Buy my books from your favorite local independent bookstore, my local indie Linden Tree Books, Bookshop.org, or other online retailers.