Meta tags:
description=An old-school blog about life, family, & publishing.;

Headings (most frequently used words):

2025, tuesday, the, 2026, september, monday, wednesday, november, blog, of, buy, think, we, ve, been, here, before, on, sale, 08, thursday, july, 09, march, 10, december, 22, 26, 18, friday, october, 03, 24, august, 19, june, 02, may, 27, hey, frequently, mentioned, things, archive, search, this, reporting, live, from, emotional, basement, calgary, airport, everything, is, like, something, else, time, traveling, with, neuroscience, abcs, goodreads, choice, awards, update, wrong, turn, backstage, under, floorboards, one, year, straight, to, zebras, quiet, month, letter,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (462), and (386), that (189), was (171), you (142), this (126), for (98), but (96), like (73), book (72), one (64), not (64), share (57), there (52), with (51), about (50), here (48), all (48), out (48), know (42), very (42), think (41), just (41), had (41), been (40), have (40), more (38), from (37), time (36), who (36), #before (35), they (35), really (34), when (34), which (33), may (31), what (31), because (31), your (30), thing (29), were (29), people (29), are (29), said (29), little (28), then (27), first (26), something (26), even (26), get (26), did (26), things (25), would (25), year (25), them (25), november (24), where (24), went (24), how (24), writing (23), facebook (23), got (23), also (23), she (23), pinterest (22), maybe (22), could (22), going (22), december (21), books (21), 2025 (21), didn (21), much (21), her (21), can (21), june (20), say (20), will (20), september (19), october (19), too (19), off (19), day (19), august (18), march (18), publishing (18), email (18), don (18), read (18), story (18), right (18), house (18), back (18), way (18), some (17), july (16), january (16), february (16), has (16), now (16), barclay (16), thought (16), than (16), his (16), well (16), else (16), into (16), april (15), other (15), myself (15), see (15), three (15), awards (15), gala (15), goodreads (15), suzy (14), friend (14), person (14), why (14), only (14), kind (14), weird (14), letter (14), family (14), whole (14), night (14), okay (13), good (13), sent (13), new (13), fun (13), krause (12), lot (12), after (12), made (12), every (12), month (12), calendar (12), being (12), mom (12), through (12), live (12), blogthis (11), posted (11), pin (11), twitter (11), friends (11), feel (11), actually (11), wanted (11), down (11), probably (11), sound (11), kids (11), anyway (11), someone (11), brain (11), find (11), round (11), home (10), next (10), long (10), life (10), old (10), nothing (10), everything (10), end (10), two (10), regina (10), again (10), felt (10), ethel (10), choice (10), 90s (10), blog (9), stuff (9), sorry (9), author (9), these (9), last (9), love (9), tell (9), thinking (9), each (9), along (9), nice (9), reading (9), yet (9), put (9), few (9), might (9), work (9), anything (9), guitar (9), happened (9), around (9), still (9), without (9), their (9), five (8), comments (8), single (8), ever (8), working (8), left (8), days (8), mind (8), week (8), gone (8), making (8), full (8), most (8), another (8), award (8), table (8), came (8), same (8), since (8), make (8), comes (8), months (8), took (8), labels (8), over (8), dream (8), music (8), almost (8), published (8), best (8), many (8), want (8), enough (8), write (7), hey (7), need (7), told (7), open (7), head (7), place (7), sitting (7), kitchen (7), always (7), wouldn (7), quiet (7), coffee (7), second (7), novel (7), invited (7), never (7), those (7), later (7), least (7), away (7), piano (7), room (7), idea (7), anyone (7), fact (7), category (7), list (7), sci (7), scissors (7), sarah (7), missed (6), keep (6), goodbye (6), wait (6), funny (6), post (6), quite (6), trying (6), send (6), tuesday (6), school (6), bought (6), saskatchewan (6), different (6), having (6), buy (6), take (6), alone (6), great (6), wall (6), both (6), mean (6), real (6), any (6), agent (6), behind (6), finished (6), experience (6), reviews (6), come (6), done (6), between (6), saw (6), thank (6), happy (6), film (6), freezie (6), show (6), 2026 (6), instagram (5), guess (5), coming (5), important (5), world (5), often (5), set (5), comment (5), years (5), saying (5), side (5), exciting (5), hours (5), play (5), yes (5), guy (5), band (5), won (5), hair (5), our (5), big (5), social (5), onto (5), events (5), looked (5), such (5), floor (5), floorboards (5), asleep (5), sure (5), minutes (5), bed (5), heard (5), sometimes (5), bad (5), standing (5), front (5), questions (5), possibly (5), glad (5), prison (5), voting (5), vote (5), page (5), deal (5), early (5), tim (5), part (5), wrote (5), lake (5), excited (5), edits (5), subs (5), goal (5), hundred (4), extra (4), words (4), able (4), meant (4), found (4), sully (4), meet (4), learned (4), written (4), clicked (4), moment (4), loved (4), though (4), knew (4), text (4), figure (4), kept (4), doing (4), instead (4), known (4), better (4), opened (4), morning (4), sad (4), dress (4), spent (4), summer (4), ended (4), finally (4), public (4), feeling (4), city (4), eyes (4), cool (4), true (4), let (4), fancy (4), sweet (4), asked (4), mostly (4), releases (4), fall (4), party (4), fly (4), dark (4), happen (4), question (4), fell (4), living (4), zebras (4), look (4), straight (4), threw (4), basement (4), either (4), sat (4), began (4), try (4), completely (4), does (4), recently (4), scenes (4), feels (4), farmer (4), farm (4), asking (4), win (4), nominated (4), four (4), ones (4), care (4), denver (4), sold (4), doesn (4), hard (4), hidden (4), under (4), wild (4), called (4), link (4), below (4), overly (4), past (4), while (4), ask (4), happens (4), clap (4), 2024 (4), literally (4), data (4), news (4), store (4), plane (4), lovely (4), globe (4), random (4), started (4), radio (4), offer (4), editor (4), hallway (4), foursquare (3), mentioned (3), posts (3), thanks (3), forget (3), example (3), beautiful (3), point (3), looking (3), scrolled (3), bottom (3), specifically (3), save (3), ago (3), texting (3), ridiculous (3), already (3), surprised (3), near (3), suit (3), times (3), fine (3), supposed (3), empty (3), field (3), toronto (3), reunion (3), musical (3), sask (3), ashley (3), texted (3), clothes (3), saskatoon (3), hadn (3), half (3), vacation (3), itwbhb (3), launch (3), pub (3), entire (3), conversation (3), dead (3), bounced (3), middle (3), its (3), hear (3), except (3), hoping (3), loud (3), dying (3), girls (3), worked (3), smaller (3), together (3), trust (3), wonder (3), interesting (3), definitely (3), losing (3), continue (3), especially (3), aware (3), process (3), honestly (3), goes (3), inbox (3), talked (3), speaking (3), podcast (3), start (3), number (3), 100 (3), copies (3), favorite (3), sit (3), top (3), getting (3), talk (3), generally (3), answer (3), enjoy (3), stupid (3), ironically (3), canada (3), secret (3), attic (3), isn (3), houses (3), someday (3), members (3), agnes (3), update (3), become (3), delinquent (3), makes (3), yard (3), beginning (3), screen (3), sale (3), accidentally (3), turn (3), barely (3), works (3), phone (3), pulled (3), account (3), super (3), money (3), own (3), possible (3), click (3), release (3), longer (3), means (3), baffled (3), wasn (3), moose (3), jaw (3), mine (3), meeting (3), grocery (3), tried (3), vancouver (3), taken (3), scarlett (3), blue (3), tour (3), case (3), couple (3), pair (3), gets (3), mic (3), cure (3), met (3), union (3), finish (3), talking (3), walk (3), space (3), certain (3), neuroscience (3), media (3), basically (3), 2020s (3), sing (3), physical (3), canadian (3), emotional (3), blackstone (3), developmental (3), riddle (3), career (3), knowing (3), quickly (3), calgary (3), airport (3), blogger (2), archive (2), journal (2), valencia (2), valentine (2), dollar (2), name (2), soon (2), special (2), safe (2), including (2), silly (2), short (2), strange (2), stories (2), across (2), message (2), chance (2), realize (2), should (2), listening (2), fifty (2), yelling (2), outside (2), turned (2), south (2), latte (2), office (2), dear (2), busy (2), moving (2), amazing (2), wore (2), readings (2), plaque (2), bunch (2), signed (2), carpenter (2), hate (2), parties (2), arrived (2), telling (2), runner (2), ceremony (2), believe (2), renewal (2), haha (2), bring (2), third (2), use (2), medicine (2), hat (2), announce (2), parents (2), weekend (2), releasing (2), move (2), newer (2), christmas (2), realized (2), adelle (2), everyday (2), taking (2), battery (2), monday (2), leave (2), imagination (2), bench (2), stop (2), striking (2), strings (2), bedroom (2), sleep (2), finest (2), holder (2), tired (2), gotten (2), acoustic (2), stopped (2), halfway (2), stairs (2), scary (2), bathroom (2), heart (2), walking (2), rooms (2), jump (2), noise (2), woke (2), sounds (2), realm (2), unreasonable (2), laying (2), watching (2), obviously (2), likely (2), becomes (2), sell (2), far (2), lived (2), starts (2), thinks (2), problem (2), realizes (2), bigger (2), journey (2), downhill (2), reflecting (2), daydreaming (2), easier (2), ahead (2), successful (2), blurbs (2), glorious (2), call (2), hands (2), dreams (2), magical (2), extremely (2), conversations (2), strangers (2), death (2), fewer (2), positive (2), interviews (2), longlist (2), marissa (2), stapley (2), evergreen (2), sales (2), trade (2), lists (2), million (2), metrics (2), reader (2), internet (2), private (2), forth (2), surprisingly (2), constantly (2), reflection (2), pressure (2), whatever (2), possibility (2), haven (2), today (2), wednesday (2), secrets (2), hid (2), uncover (2), previously (2), newspaper (2), children (2), circus (2), monkeys (2), immediately (2), yeah (2), built (2), nosy (2), discovered (2), apart (2), begins (2), course (2), renovating (2), gorgeous (2), cliff (2), progress (2), 2018 (2), grandma (2), rather (2), square (2), closes (2), sunday (2), announced (2), stand (2), wrong (2), using (2), states (2), rules (2), drag (2), grounding (2), rights (2), drowning (2), eat (2), song (2), romance (2), thrillers (2), self (2), attention (2), indigo (2), local (2), context (2), everyone (2), etc (2), winner (2), check (2), zero (2), milk (2), inside (2), memory (2), voted (2), break (2), prank (2), clubs (2), via (2), zoom (2), event (2), screening (2), panel (2), ticket (2), fellow (2), peopley (2), center (2), pomelos (2), therefore (2), stayed (2), air (2), travel (2), everywhere (2), sports (2), theatre (2), retreat (2), monastery (2), comfortable (2), galas (2), bit (2), nuit (2), blanche (2), garbage (2), kingdom (2), slightly (2), park (2), cat (2), meow (2), visit (2), per (2), artesian (2), playing (2), cover (2), hit (2), creative (2), festival (2), willow (2), town (2), knorks (2), fork (2), knork (2), used (2), liked (2), dye (2), sucked (2), shock (2), relieved (2), filmmaker (2), arts (2), speak (2), die (2), eunice (2), college (2), group (2), appeared (2), seasons (2), hang (2), flew (2), shop (2), jennifer (2), whiteford (2), abandoned (2), train (2), abcs (2), mail (2), theme (2), rabbit (2), loudly (2), interested (2), rest (2), neighborhood (2), brainstem (2), filter (2), noticed (2), print (2), heels (2), bits (2), reality (2), goals (2), beliefs (2), state (2), famous (2), curious (2), mountain (2), edge (2), simon (2), schuster (2), gut (2), line (2), until (2), help (2), note (2), date (2), obsessed (2), strategy (2), game (2), somewhere (2), solve (2), weirder (2), alicia (2), penguin (2), ideas (2), speculating (2), wondering (2), applause (2), liminal (2), yourself (2), publishers (2), 2027 (2), bored (2), boring (2), waiting (2), basementy (2), terminal (2), cup (2), powered, designed, fashion, templates, search, weirdness, frequently, website, subscribe, atom, older, wish, taught, lesson, listener, talker, encourager, motivator, cheerleader, him, born, openness, helpful, publish, light, reminding, scotland, yesterday, 2011, jumped, simply, smiled, synchronicities, stumble, fourteen, recognized, impossibility, usual, quick, dishwasher, birds, window, lights, blinds, dreading, grinder, thankful, processing, sadly, pace, stops, vibrant, wears, gave, acceptance, speeches, certificate, cheque, caught, relatives, total, car, namely, jes, battis, dave, margoshes, iryn, tushabe, simple, calendars, imply, overwhelming, yours, wheat, clear, cloudless, somehow, bustling, street, bikes, cars, pedestrians, contained, fair, performance, unfinished, hotel, wedding, vow, curled, perfect, charity, door, society, buying, double, awesome, doable, happily, winners, sounded, ordinary, solid, 2013, shortlisted, concentrated, actual, tapering, exist, shinier, relief, blessing, hurts, feelings, winter, trickle, ontario, officially, hook, professionally, personally, naps, recharging, worried, permanently, overstimulated, adults, strongly, dislikes, during, wussy, nerves, grow, adjusted, adult, directly, keys, skittered, amidst, din, hammers, echoing, instruments, thin, sleeping, fitful, purely, unlucky, timing, nights, anchor, hangs, above, terrifying, seconds, hoofbeats, horses, logic, ghost, stared, unexplored, normal, lying, tip, toed, upstairs, confronting, objectively, scariest, nope, shower, fast, amiss, pounding, fizzing, relishing, awful, listened, ten, peep, doubt, surely, screaming, bloody, murder, crash, chest, strangely, dissonant, ugly, echoed, reverberated, hollow, frightening, otherworldly, describe, breaking, falling, decided, unrecognizable, unfathomable, suffering, midnight, encroaching, gilmore, distract, drifted, inevitably, intruder, ease, offense, promise, hopefully, decides, nerve, racking, sending, thus, worth, yikes, foolish, weirdest, vanished, however, material, earlier, observe, easy, guaranteed, managed, introduced, circle, publication, imagined, wildest, talented, coolest, lost, palliative, nurses, jehovah, witnesses, quantum, entanglement, deja, berlin, grief, overwhelmingly, credit, helping, fear, brought, announcement, optioned, television, incredible, paul, davidson, lowest, 000, novels, metric, kirkus, booklist, library, nearly, bestsellers, simy, understand, deciding, numbers, feedback, various, places, experiences, communal, earn, advance, negative, reflect, provoke, reflective, nature, talks, enjoys, analyzing, initial, anxious, distracted, anxieties, fullest, observing, reliving, disaster, embarrassment, failure, present, marks, among, dreamed, stay, themselves, woman, destroying, cross, humans, understood, sense, member, dug, clipping, phillipsons, england, seven, married, died, young, luckily, type, launched, scale, investigation, interviewing, driving, grave, yards, calling, intake, records, findings, relative, original, addressed, jail, period, pages, sender, implores, catholic, tells, mothers, miss, return, address, priory, manitoba, reformed, 1920s, engaged, criminal, activity, mother, neurodivergent, juicy, mention, rip, burn, hide, construct, purposefully, tucked, 1929, safely, lena, scottie, hospital, sick, diptheria, dad, decade, fully, floors, landscaped, planted, massive, garden, garage, master, vibe, computer, tempted, sucker, hanger, letting, added, pictures, updating, rectify, pics, auction, buggy, 500, 1000, foot, eaton, catalogue, farmhouse, fixer, upper, drove, gravelbourg, promptly, arduous, painstaking, friday, shortlist, following, john, scalzi, concert, goer, stage, taylor, swift, sabrina, confused, believed, sort, united, english, translation, significant, rereleases, eligible, eligibility, fleeting, adrenaline, spike, lingering, sleepiness, listed, tech, glitch, evidence, elation, realization, vivid, booker, six, hollywood, wants, movie, lawn, throwing, heroically, producers, national, hero, jimmy, writes, occurred, mutual, navigated, paused, lit, fic, poetry, racked, annoyingly, deprecating, pay, gcas, magazine, bookstagram, feed, hardcover, stock, neither, amazon, prior, inexplicably, cancelled, preorder, listing, stephen, king, emily, henry, richard, osman, fredrik, backman, terminally, plugged, puts, popular, previous, based, categories, fantasy, shortened, chosen, slowly, fry, awake, hijacked, spam, nominee, backstage, foggy, sky, looks, tea, drinking, aka, milky, graphic, forever, counts, knows, crowned, fond, tbr, recommend, according, understanding, high, apocalypse, trip, validating, surprising, skeptical, messaged, final, low, afternoon, peopled, bushwakkers, visited, baltimore, tomorrow, discussion, afterward, info, introverts, batteries, differentiate, non, expend, energy, abcsof, further, ado, zipped, birthday, extended, fruit, rambutan, lychee, prickly, pears, others, mildly, allergic, xxxviii, xvi, celebrated, marriage, hopped, joined, crew, sister, lives, upset, baseball, canadians, normally, iota, invested, jays, toured, downtown, fiction, neat, courtney, bates, hardy, deserved, unpublished, quieter, lots, gigs, occasions, continues, surprises, scared, dare, enjoyable, precise, attended, fundraiser, shoes, makeup, stressful, giving, free, freezies, sheepish, asks, hot, thirsty, tearing, teeth, plastic, strong, couldn, carried, gnawing, rodent, exasperated, carrying, sighed, ugh, unbelievable, guys, walked, victoria, guessed, manifested, tattoos, honour, hourglass, rosemaling, wolf, existence, wolfs, challenge, promised, once, mercury, ritchot, textiles, moonrunners, black, thunder, robyn, choir, performed, knox, tiny, played, perform, favourite, restaurant, biker, memorial, grand, coulee, hockey, rink, rpl, swampfest, diy, island, elliot, brood, swimmers, darke, hall, fail, swap, exchange, 28th, usually, breakfast, utensil, picked, brother, invented, knife, bennie, ordered, requesting, songs, dyed, purple, whim, reflex, moments, reached, ran, glove, ends, scratching, itch, delighted, faded, within, blonde, color, hasn, impulse, control, lacking, receive, russian, finals, heavy, burden, imposter, syndrome, weeks, screened, winning, premier, artists, visual, artist, interactions, lenko, directing, shot, funeral, irreverent, hilarious, closet, 70s, thoroughly, enjoyed, grant, colorado, billion, importantly, online, ann, noel, article, melissa, payne, brownlee, surreal, den, class, folks, blast, acting, classes, hope, shocker, compared, gulp, takes, arcs, upcoming, audiobooks, shelf, organizations, writers, guild, fresh, fries, bar, gift, shopping, mackenzie, art, gallery, river, spa, purdham, tacos, interviewed, annual, exercise, becoming, notice, blur, decembers, kid, metal, merry, speeding, passed, acknowledge, existentially, dizzy, marketing, advice, publicity, interview, ctv, location, opposed, column, 2004, hole, featuring, beta, remy, wheatus, teenage, dirtbag, crowd, peers, pretend, act, community, itself, fan, qcib, accompanied, walks, pandemic, recorded, station, cds, gig, posters, hour, chair, enormous, face, sitcom, ragtag, vibes, humor, dry, movies, hosts, theaters, soda, fountains, queen, improvement, bureau, immersing, dressing, daphne, moon, era, films, pause, typing, anger, bands, sudden, essay, excerpt, village, voice, friendly, system, plays, speakers, secondly, finding, newspapers, immersed, literary, loss, available, spots, authors, delightfully, carrie, bradshaw, minus, toes, whenever, wear, law, attraction, network, neurons, filters, determines, enters, conscious, awareness, receives, millions, processes, seems, minuscule, amount, beg, experiencing, favours, information, aligns, greatly, shape, believes, singer, favour, align, opportunities, enter, competitions, avenues, fruition, run, steam, pathways, selecting, less, mystical, psychological, 00s, coded, traveling, truly, remember, metaphor, bracing, inevitable, history, minor, details, pre, empt, legendary, diana, gill, fame, slewfoot, burst, tears, imagine, painfully, uncertain, nick, subject, element, wanting, needing, external, affirmation, sign, track, coincidentally, major, bite, close, hearts, mattered, anywhere, timeframe, ending, deadline, answered, satisfying, sacrifice, sake, arbitrary, personal, ultimately, sweating, hurry, tend, math, edit, submissions, conceivably, purpose, closed, laptop, flipped, decision, biggest, verifiably, correct, prove, operates, man, timeline, chapter, submitted, contest, disappeared, faster, badly, essentially, changed, wanna, agonized, flip, flopped, weighed, pros, cons, recite, opportunity, wiser, give, crossroads, publisher, job, wonderful, trajectory, followed, obsession, running, risk, decide, path, whether, road, lead, spend, harvesting, farmyard, disappears, stands, explanation, bizarre, needed, explain, showed, vein, acquiring, leaves, contract, stating, handed, imprint, chapters, option, project, chat, shortly, leaving, clancy, acquired, aww, small, granted, changing, documenting, attest, holes, solving, escape, invaluable, clues, sporadically, meted, aunt, barbecue, faraway, mansion, son, nightmares, affected, weather, patterns, til, american, spot, harder, gives, star, exists, wrung, word, document, harbour, delusions, hilariously, touch, daydreams, proud, ashamed, cherish

Text of the page (random words):
much like the fact that we had a relative who went to prison luckily this person is kind of like my mom and me they are also not a not my circus not my monkeys type they immediately launched into a full scale investigation interviewing other family members driving to grave yards even calling the office of st agnes asking for intake records you can read all of their findings as well as the full letter here and an update here it s wild isn t it to think about old houses about how some secrets stay hidden and some make themselves known it s wild to think about this woman ethel who hid this letter instead of destroying it did it cross her mind that someday someone might find it and care enough to uncover her story that members of her family might get to know her that way where previously she was kept a secret i always think about how important it is to us as humans to be known and understood and in reading ethel s story i don t get the sense that she was i mean one of the things this family member dug up was a newspaper clipping that told the story about how the phillipsons came to canada from england it talked about all seven of their children where they ended up who they married where they worked but when it got to ethel all it said was ethel died young so i don t know i guess i m glad for all of this is what i m saying glad for ethel and her family glad for my mom too who among us has not dreamed of the day we might find a secret letter hidden under the floorboards in the attic of a 100 year old house just me i think not share on facebook share on twitter pin on pinterest posted by suzy krause at october 03 2025 4 comments labels a story five hundred dollar foursquare email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest wednesday september 24 2025 one year today marks one year since i think we ve been here before was published in canada and what a year it s been i m a reflective person by nature the kind of person who talks about a party the whole way home from the party who possibly enjoys analyzing things after the fact as much as or more than i enjoy the initial experience of them maybe it s because i m so anxious i find that when i m living through something i m very distracted by my anxieties by the pressure to do it whatever it is right to have fun to not say something stupid to ironically enjoy it to the fullest but in reflection the pressure is off i m just observing reliving the nice things without the possibility of disaster or embarrassment or failure and maybe there s something to be learned there is this what people talk about when they say they want to be more present but i haven t learned it yet the experience of releasing a book is no different there is so much to reflect on after the fact and people are constantly asking questions that provoke even more reflection questions like how did the book do and was it successful great questions surprisingly hard questions let me try to answer them something i didn t understand before getting into publishing world was that there are a million metrics for deciding if a book did well or not there are sales numbers obviously there s reader feedback trade reviews and goodreads reviews and other various internet places where people talk about your book there are the experiences that come out of publishing said book both private and communal did you earn back your advance are the reviews generally positive or negative and so on and so forth there are a lot of metrics to start i think we ve been here before has the lowest number of sales out of all of my books which is funny to me because i think it s my best but as of right now it has sold more than 100 000 fewer copies than sorry i missed you which is don t tell sorry i missed you my least favorite of my three novels so by that metric it didn t do very well it also didn t get as many trade reviews as v v or simy nothing in kirkus or booklist or library journal it doesn t have nearly as many goodreads reviews as either of my other books it didn t sit at the top of any important bestsellers lists but this book took me to toronto and denver and evergreen and saskatoon it introduced me through the process of asking for blurbs to marissa stapley who then invited me into her glorious circle of author friends and honestly if this was the only thing that came out of this book s publication i d call it a win because these people are the best and i get to keep them even after the book stuff goes away it was optioned for television by the incredible paul davidson and found its way into the hands of people i would never have imagined in my wildest dreams would ever read my work it was nominated for four saskatchewan book awards and won in one category and that was a completely magical experience from the longlist announcement to the awards gala where i sat at a table full of new and extremely talented friends and it opened up the coolest conversations with strangers in my email inbox i heard from people who d recently lost loved ones palliative care nurses a very sweet family of jehovah s witnesses and so on and on and on and we talked about death and life and quantum entanglement and deja vu and berlin and music and grief and writing the reviews though fewer were overwhelmingly positive i even credit this book with helping me get over my fear of public speaking because it brought about so many podcast interviews and book events so how did the book do not well but was it successful yes so what s next something i love almost as much as reflecting is daydreaming however reflecting is easier because the material is all there you just have to like i said earlier observe it daydreaming in the publishing realm is not quite so easy especially now that i ve been in it for so long i feel very aware of the fact that nothing is guaranteed that just because you managed to get a book or two published that definitely does not mean the journey ahead will be all downhill or downhill at all or that there will continue to be a journey it s been an interesting year behind the scenes i m not going to go into the whole story just yet because it feels like a foolish one to tell before it s finished but i will say that i recently sent a new book to my agent it s weird definitely the weirdest one i ve ever written it starts out with a farmer standing in his field looking at a big empty place where not five minutes ago there was a farm at first he thinks the problem is that he s losing his mind but then he realizes that he s not losing his mind a whole farm really has vanished in front of his eyes and that s actually a much bigger problem so my agent is reading it and hopefully she decides it s something we can sell together it s is a very nerve racking thing sending off a book that has thus far only lived in my head i mostly trust myself to know when something s worth writing but sometimes i wonder yikes what if this was a really bad idea what if i just spent two years working on a really bad idea i guess we ll see and i promise you ll be the first to know if that book becomes you know a book share on facebook share on twitter pin on pinterest posted by suzy krause at september 24 2025 no comments labels i think we ve been here before learned things publishing stuff email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest tuesday august 19 2025 straight to zebras so i m one of those adults who really strongly dislikes being alone at night leave me alone during the day fine great even i love you night no my imagination is too good the dark is too dark and what if something like this were to happen again when i was home alone with the kids it wouldn t be good for my wussy nerves but sometimes inevitably i do find myself alone at night it happened again recently when barclay went away for a few days for work obviously the kids were here with me but they re smaller than me and likely smaller than any intruder is going to be and they do very little to put my mind at ease no offense to them so i was suffering is what i m saying i was laying in bed at midnight and the dark was encroaching as it does and my imagination was going and i was watching gilmore girls trying to distract myself from being alone it worked i drifted off to sleep and woke up only a few hours later to this sound this unrecognizable unfathomable unreasonable sound i had no idea what it was i felt sure as much as anyone can feel sure about anything at three in the morning that i had never heard this sound before in my whole life it was completely new it was not the sound of someone breaking in or of one of the kids falling out of bed it was too loud and too weird it was not a real sound i decided not something from this realm if you know what i mean i don t even know what i mean i will try to describe it for you it was a crash so loud i could feel it in my chest but it was strangely musical but not nice music it was dissonant and ugly and it just kept going it was a sound that echoed and reverberated it was hollow and frightening and otherworldly i thought i am dying this is what dying sounds like because it didn t sound like anything else then it was just over and i was sitting straight up in my bed having sat all the way up before i even woke all the way up and i began to second guess myself had i heard anything at all was it a dream could you dream a sound like that i sat there and listened for probably ten minutes nothing nothing at all not even a peep from the kids rooms and that made me doubt myself even more surely if this noise was even half of what i thought it was they d be up and screaming bloody murder but my heart was pounding and my brain was fizzing and i knew i could not fall back asleep without at least walking through the house and making sure everything was okay i was not relishing the thought of walking through the dark rooms hoping something wouldn t jump out at me hoping i wouldn t hear that awful sound again i went and looked at the kids first fast asleep both of them nothing amiss in either room okay i looked in the bathroom in the shower nothing i tip toed into the kitchen where everything was fine and then down into the basement nope i stopped halfway down the stairs too scary if there was something down there it would have to meet me upstairs because i was not confronting it in what is objectively the scariest place in the house the last room left unexplored was the living room it was quiet and mostly normal except for one thing my acoustic guitar was lying on the floor in the middle of the room i stared at it this was weird i was still much too tired to work it out how had it gotten here i know i know when you hear hoofbeats think horses not zebras look around use logic i know but i went straight to zebras i always go straight to zebras i thought there is a ghost in here and it threw my guitar on the floor like i only thought that for a few terrifying seconds but i did think it but okay here s what actually happened my guitar hangs on a holder above the piano need i say more probably not but i ll say more anyway the anchor for the guitar holder came right out of the wall at three in the morning on one of the five nights of the whole year that barclay was not home with me unlucky timing at its very finest it came out of the wall and fell along with the guitar directly onto the piano keys the guitar then bounced off of the piano and onto the piano bench it bounced off of the piano bench and onto the floor and then it bounced across the floor where it skittered to a stop in the middle of the living room amidst the din of piano hammers striking piano strings and guitar strings striking the floor echoing through both instruments and through the floorboards and through the thin wall into my bedroom on the other side where i had been sleeping the fitful sleep of someone who just knew that something was going to happen purely because barclay had gone away for work my question is how am i supposed to grow into a well adjusted adult who can be left alone at night if things like this keep going on share on facebook share on twitter pin on pinterest posted by suzy krause at august 19 2025 1 comment labels a story email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday june 02 2025 a quiet month i m sitting in a quiet kitchen listening to the sound of the dishwasher and fifty birds yelling at each other outside my window i ve turned all of the lights off and opened only the blinds on the south side of the house i m thinking about making a latte but dreading the sound of the coffee grinder i am overstimulated may was a lot which is funny because i had been telling people it was going to be a quiet month releasing a book comes with a lot of social things mostly concentrated in the month of the actual launch and then tapering off as people forget you exist and move onto the shinier newer releases such a relief such a blessing but it hurts your feelings every time anyway itwbhb had two launch months because it had two different pub days so it took up the entire fall and most of the winter there was a trickle of events after christmas but one day in march i looked at the calendar and realized that there was only one thing left my friend adelle s launch party in april she would fly in from ontario we d do a little in conversation thing at everyday kitchen and i would be officially off the hook there was nothing left on the calendar not professionally not personally may was for working on my next book taking naps and recharging my social battery which i worried at that point was permanently dead but then okay what was the first thing right i found out happily that itwbhb was shortlisted for some saskatchewan book awards there would be a gala in saskatoon on may 9 where they d announce the winners okay that sounded fun and i hadn t been to a gala since 2013 i was going to need to buy a fancy dress barclay would need a suit this was so out of the ordinary for us we re not fancy people so i put that on the calendar and it was the only thing in may one big fancy thing sweet we asked my parents to take the kids for the whole weekend after all we didn t have anything else going on that month and it had been a solid half a year since we had a night away from the kids might as well make it a little vacation right oh but then my mom texted to let me know that we were having a family reunion in medicine hat when may 17 19 okay doable the very next week oh but then barclay came home from work and said hey we ve been invited to a gala and i said i know it s on the calendar and he said no a different gala this one is on may third and i said well at least that s not on the same day as the other gala or the family reunion and he said true and i said and we can get double the use out of our gala clothes and he said awesome oh but then barclay texted me a few days later and said haha so what do you think about going to another gala it was a charit...