Category: Uncategorised (Page 1 of 17)

All Canadian Girl

April 30, 2026 / Alice Valdal / 2 Comments

I’ve been reading Margaret Atwood’s Book of Lives–a memoir of sorts. I’m familiar with various of her books and have listened to a number of interviews with her over the years, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what would be in the memoir. Wrong!

So many things surprised me. Here are a few:

She’s an all-Canadian girl that others of my generation would recognize as “normal.” She spent her summers in the North (her father was a biologist who did field work there) living in a tent or a cabin, running free along the lakeshore with her brother or neighbour kids if there were any within walking distance.
Her public school (grades 1-8) experience was similar to mine. There were games and contests. School plays and dance recitals. “Mean girls” and and best friends who could be fickle.
Loved working at a summer camp.
She learned to sew. I think an apron was her first endeavour. Later, in university, she used her skill with needle and thread to earn a few dollars to help with the rent.
She had a brother and a sister with the normal ups and downs of family life. She loved her parents.
She shopped in second hand stores even after she was a “success.”
She often lived in less than ideal housing — leaky pipes, damp basement, steep stairs, sketchy heat.
She planted vegetable gardens and harvested them–a main source of food for the family.
For many years she lived on a small farm and did farm stuff like tend sheep, and keep bees.

Other parts of her life were as I would expect — academia, the publishing world, awards banquets, and travel. The memoir also details how and when she wrote her major novels as well as stories, poems and magazine articles. I was struck by how much she wrote. It seems she was always scribbling at something.

Another aspect of her life that surprised me was her investments in property. Whenever she moved and couldn’t find suitable rental accommodation, she would buy a house –usually run down, sometimes derelict — fix it up to make it safe to life in, and get on with her writing. Sometimes she’d rent out a spare bedroom or two. Being wealthy did not seem to be a goal in her life, but a place to live and write and enough cash for food and ink were important. I couldn’t help but compare that acquisition of property to today’s stories of young people finding it impossible to get into the housing market. Different times! As Atwood reminds us, she was 86 at the time of writing. She lived in Yorktown in Toronto when it was a Bohemian hangout for artists, writers and musicians, long before the developers “gentrified” it.

Atwood’s sense of humour, her willingness to try something new even in her later years, and her love of adventure reminded me that “you can’t tell a book by it’s cover” and you can’t “know an author by her writings alone.”

Margaret Atwood is an icon of Canadian literature, she’s also an interesting person, always pushing the edges of her imagination. I’m glad I got to know her a little through this book.

April Fool

April 1, 2026 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

April Fool’s Day! Have you been pranked today?

The best April Fool I remember from childhood was running to the barn, at my mother’s behest, and saying “Daddy, where are the pigs?” My dad did not like pigs and they were always breaking out of their pen. He muttered something blue — little pitchers were not supposed to hear that language — and took off running toward the pig sty, where he found all the pigs happily rooting about, just as they were supposed to be. Mom giggled all day. It wasn’t often she got one over on him.

On a less fun note, I feel as though all last week was a bad joke. I began three different novels, and gave up on all of them. One was two boring, one was too smutty, and one was so predictable I didn’t even need to skim the last page to figure it out.

Although last week’s experience was particularly irritating, I’ve noticed a trend over the past several months (years?) The books I most enjoy are by debut authors. When I pick up a second or third book, I find it just a retelling of the first one. They also seem “dumbed down.” What is going on? I have my own theories.

Publishing Houses are running scared. I’ve been reading Margaret Atwood’s memoir and been amazed at the number of choices she had when it came to publishing. Small presses abounded and many medium sized ones challenged the big ones for new authors. They also helped authors build careers beyond the first sale. Now we have “the big five” and self-publishing. Small and medium presses have nearly disappeared. The big five are the most significant players in the game. They still pay substantial advances, put some effort into publicity, and, most importantly, place their offerings in bookstores and libraries. But they are constantly looking over their shoulders fearing another merger, or worse.
Because the big guys are worrying about the bottom line, they are afraid to take risks on authors who may be “original.” For many years now, the marketing department has had more say than the editorial department in acquiring books. These sales people are more invested in the “how” of the sale than in the “what” of the sale. They want books that will fit neatly into a category. They want books that will mimic other profitable works. Why bet on a “new” idea when the old ones are a sure thing?
Amazon is the most important platform for self-publishing. Amazon asks authors to select three categories and seven key words when uploading their book for sale. If your story doesn’t fit within those parameters, you are pretty well sunk. It seems readers of e-books like to search for very specific tales. A quick glance at the romance genre shows searches for “friends to lovers,” “enemies to lovers” “firefighters” and “fake dating.” There are ways to discover which of those many tropes sells the most books. So, authors are tempted to set aside their imagination in order to produce, or reproduce, a popular narrative, over and over again. No wonder I experienced such ennui with the books I picked up last week.

From ancient times, story-telling has been an essential part of the human experience. It is how we discover ourselves. The purpose of fiction is to: entertain, –-tired plot lines lose the ability to entertain unless given new vision.

inform, — matters of fact in history, science, philosophy, religion, any topic really, can be made meaningful in the context of a good story. Readers who would never crack open a geography book, may be enthralled with the tale of a perilous hike, and learn about the mountains or the desert or the coast through fiction.

reflect — the world we live in. Not many of us care about the slums of Victorian London, at this date, but in Dickens’ time they were a blight on the nation. Through fiction, his stories illuminated the reality of life for thousands of children.

challenge– Just as Dickens’ challenged the society of his time to take action, so too did Sinclair Lewis, Tony Morrison, Margaret Atwood and many, many others. By holding up a mirror to our times, authors can provoke, challenge and illuminate the society of the day.

Stories are immensely powerful. Religious writings are filled with stories to teach the faithful how to live. Humourists like Stuart McLean use story to evoke laughter and compassion. Propogandists use story to instill fear of “the other.” In South Pacific, the lyricist explains how bigotry is “carefully taught.” Even a tale as old and as simple as Cinderella carries a powerful message of empathy– Especially important when the audience is a child.

Let us embrace stories that carefully teach empathy.

But please, can we have stories that are fresh, well-written and original.

In my last post I talked about re-reading. That is one antidote to worn out tropes, but not a complete answer. If you, dear reader, can recommend a tale that will entertain, inform, reflect or challenge (doesn’t have to do everything) please drop the title into the comments box. (top of page)

5 Reasons to Re-Read

March 18, 2026 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

I enjoy checking other people’s book recommendations, so I browse the blogosphere with that goal in mind. Lately, I’ve been struck by the number of people who are re-reading their favourite books — not just the classics, but popular fiction as well. I’m curious about what may have spurred this surge in re-reads.

I offer five suggestions.

1. Comfort

Re-reading a favourite novel is like meeting up with an old friend. You already know you like each other. You have interests in common. There will be no unpleasant surprises. You are at ease in each other’s company. No need for lengthy explanations. Just enjoyable time together. You don’t have to put on make-up or do your hair.

Taking a favourite off the shelf is a bit like that. I think a re-read epitomizes the decision to “curl up with a good book.

2. Craft

The first reading of novel focuses primarily on the “what.” Whodunnit? Will love triumph? Will the quest be fulfilled? These are the main plot points and the reader is drawn into the story through them. However, on a re-read, we already know the answer to those broad questions. This time we might be more interested in “how” the writer accomplishes his/her ends. Why did this book merit a second or third reading? Was it author voice? Was it setting? Intriguing characters? As writers we might study these questions and use the answer to hone our own craft.

3. No AI

Artificial Intelligence has burst into our world with shocking speed. Every bit of data that comes across our platforms must be questioned and assessed. Is it true? It this a real person? Is this an AI image? Reading has become an exercise in fact-checking. With a previously read book, there is no such danger. We are free to explore without fear. This old friend is an “open book” giving us permission to wander in the story and wonder about the human condition exposed between the pages. And it is the “human” condition.

4. Discovery

Even though this book is your old friend, you are a different person from the one you were when you read it last. You may find that you’ve outgrown this relationship. You may find instances of bigotry and hatred you missed the first time around, because your senses weren’t attuned to them. Perhaps you are just “older and wiser” and this story no longer speaks to you. You may, with regret, consign this old friend to the “donate” pile.

Or you may discover that the author had challenged societal norms before you were aware of them. You may find the writer discusses love and life in a way that went over your head years ago but reflects some of the lessons you’ve learned since your last reading. You finish your re-read and thank your old friend for opening your eyes. You put it back on the keeper shelf with a murmur of approval. You’ll talk again a few years down the road.

5. Enlightenment

Our modern selves are bombarded with an ever-increasing storm of information.–some of it incomplete, some of it biased, some of it downright false. Sorting the wheat from the chaff can be exhausting. We might ask, “how did we come to this?”

Books written in an earlier age can throw a light on our present dilemma. We are so close to the issues of today, it is difficult to separate fact from emotion. When we read about events from Jane Austen’s point of view, we can be more dispassionate in our judgement. Women still trade personal preferences for security in marriage but we mustn’t rush to judgement.

Why does Shakespeare have such staying power? Because he speaks of universal truths, even when rooted in a particular history. While we may not recognize the folly of our current leaders, we can readily recognize overweening ambition in Macbeth, or the hubris of King Lear who cannot tell appearance from reality.

We likely studied these works as teenagers or young adults. Re-reading them as mature adults, with years of life experience to draw on, presents us with a “new” reading experience.

I’ve had a browse through my own bookshelves and discovered some old treasurers. Lloyd C. Douglas and Taylor Caldwell wrote about good and evil, in a way that was true for them but may feel dated today. Yet, good and evil continue to plague humanity. There is still something to learn from these books.

The Loon Feather, by Iola Fuller was the first book I ever read that featured an Indigenous heroine. (She was called “Indian” in that time.) Long before I knew anything about residential schools, this story made me angry that the proud daughter of Tecumseh was pressured to throw off her buckskins and the freedom that went with them, and don the restrictive corsets and heavy dresses of White society. I think it’s time to give that one a re-read.

What are your favourite re-reads? Why do you go back to them again and again?

Tap the “comment” button at the top of the page to share.

Touchstones in Life and Fiction

March 4, 2026 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

tree ornaments

I’m a week late with this blog because I was away from my desk while visiting family.

Over forty years ago I moved five provinces away from my home, leaving behind all of my relatives. It was a wrench to leave, but I was young and hopeful and soon settled into a new life in my new home. Like other transplants, I sent back bragging letters to brothers still negotiating snow drifts while I revelled in cherry blossoms, (a common symbol of early spring).

Of course, as time went on babies were born into my immediate family “back home,” babies that I didn’t meet, sometimes for years. Then, those babies grew up, got married and had more babies and my connection to the expanding family grew more tenuous. As an antidote, I created handmade Christmas ornaments to send to all those babies. My plan was that each child would get an ornament a year for eighteen years. (When I started setting up my own Christmas tree I had to start from scratch, so my plan was that each child would have at least 18 ornaments of their own when they set up their own tree.) I hoped that these small tokens would remind the next generations that they had an aunt “out west.” Christmas angels

Imagine my delight when I met great nieces and nephews last week who immediately identified me as “the ornaments!” and recounted how much they enjoyed putting them onto their tree every year and the stories that were told around them. My little “remember me” plan had succeeded beyond anything I’d imagined.

In the market, those little mementos would be worth mere pennies, but they symbolize family and kinship and generations of shared heritage. Their value as a symbol, or touchstone, is beyond price.

Symbols can hold that kind of power in our writing, as well. Consider “Rosebud” in Citizen Kane. The monetary value of a child’s sled would be nothing to a man as wealthy as Kane, yet the memory of it shapes his whole life. It is the last word on the lips of a dying man.

In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the green light at the end of the dock to symbolize Gatsby’s hopes and dreams.

The wicked step-mother from fairy tales e.g. Cinderella, is so pervasive the mere mention of a step-mother in fiction conjures up all kinds of mean and nasty characteristics.

Touchstones aren’t always objects or people. In my book, The Man for Her, the gold rush is a touchstone for Lottie, not as a means to riches, but as a symbol of all she has lost. She refuses Sean’s love when he decides to join the hunt for gold.

My short story, “The Man Who Loved Christmas” the phrase “what a beautiful mess,” is a touchstone for a grieving family.

In Writing the Breakout Novel, Donald Maass says symbols “pack a powerful lot of meaning into a small package.” As writers we want our prose to be powerful and meaningful. If a symbol can do that in a small package, so much the better.

I’ve taken dozens of workshops on writing, read volumes and volumes of “how to write” guides and studied literature at university level, but there is nothing like lived experience to drive home the lessons. Symbols are powerful. Touchstones shape our family stories. They can be just as impactful in our stories.

Have a look at your current writing project and see if you have already included a symbol unintentionally. If you have, give it a little more space, repeat it here and there and you’ll find it enhances the emotional grip of your tale. If there is no object of phrase or landscape that symbolizes a theme in your book, try to incorporate one, without forcing the issue. It’ll add “polish” to your prose.

What is your favourite example of symbolism in a novel or movie? Click the comment button at the top of this post to share your answer.

Who Do You Write For?

February 12, 2026 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

chatting with a friend

Any beginner’s writer course will tell you to know your audience and to write for that audience if you want your work to be a commercial success. Most writers want to attract as many readers as possible in order to sell lots and lots of books. This post of six tips from Ingram Sparks is a prime example, of this advice and a good place to start when considering your market plan.

As many readers as possible seems axiomatic. I was surprised, therefore, when I read the author’s notes in the latest Jan Karon book, where she says she writes “to just one person: you.”

Huh? Just one person? A letter is written to just one person, usually, but people who write (and sell) books want thousands to read them. Even Jan Karon admits that she hopes for many readers. Yet she targets her writing to “one.”

The idea of imagining the one person who will read our books can be scary. How many authors have you heard worry that “my mother might see it” and tone down their bawdy heroine? How many authors use a pseudonym to avoid that “one person” who insists that a work of fiction is an autobiography? There are good reasons why an author might want to write to a huge but anonymous audience.

Still, writing for only one reader raises intriguing possibilities.

While we’d all like a wide audience — “anyone can enjoy my book,” may be true but it won’t get your story into a publishing house or find readers through independent publishing–in order to sell your book, you need to appeal to a reader’s particular taste. Anyone can enjoy a story that features a unicorn, but only a certain segment of the population will make that the sole criterion for purchasing a book.

So, if I’m considering the “one” person I write to, who would she be? I say she, because I expect my audience to be largely female. The first choice she’ll make before buying a book is between fiction and non-fiction. Since I’m a romance writer, I aim my work toward readers of fiction. Now, I choose between literary or genre fiction. In my case, I write genre fiction, specifically romance, and even more specifically historical romance, set in Canada. Each of those choices I make, narrows my audience, but it also allows me to visualize the “one” reader I’m writing for (to).

My books will be shelved in the “romance” section of a book store, or on-line retailer. If I consider I’m writing for “anyone,” I’ll have a hard time getting my book to market. Sadly, there is no section of a retail outlet that says “anyone.” Even shoppers who like to browse a variety of shelves, have certain biases. A reader who wants a Scottish setting, might try my book because she also wants romance and historical. The reader who wants a thriller will probably never see my titles. After all, if I want new shoes, I won’t shop in the grocery store.

Some publishing advisors recommend creating a profile of your ideal reader. For me, that reader is likely female, likely middle-aged or older, likely of European extraction, likely a history buff. But even with those broad strokes in mind, I can write to a more specific reader. Maybe she’ll have a soft spot for cats. (There are millions of cat videos out there so clearly cats are a big seller!) Since I’m a cat owner of many years standing, I’m speaking from experience if I write a cat into story.

So now I’m writing a letter (book) to an old friend who shares my culture and my love of cats. As I imagine myself talking to this one person, my story-telling becomes deeper and freer. I don’t need to over-explain everything, because I’m just writing to a friend. I can uncover secret longings and confess to failures, because I’m writing to a friend. All of this will shape the story, colour the character of my protagonist, and make the story connect more on a personal level with my one (hopefully many ‘ones’) reader.

Early in my career, the “elevator pitch” was a hot topic. Many writers obsessed with packing as much of the story as possible into one short paragraph that could be recited at top speed to an editor or agent as they rode the elevator together at a conference; in other words, a hard sell. But if you think of pitching your story to one old friend, the “sell” part diminishes. You want your friend to like your book, so you tell her the stuff that will interest her. And that’s the stuff the editor wants to know, too.

Maybe this writing to one reader isn’t as odd as it sounds. I note that Ms. Karon uses “to” instead of “for.” I find that word choice interesting. If I write “for” a multitude of readers, it feels like throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks. If I write “to” you, I’m forging a relationship. We’re partners in this book. I put down my vision of the story, and you read it through your experience.

I’m not suggesting writers should ignore all the marketing advice about building a brand, or the craft advice about voice or character arcs, or any of the many, many skills that go into building a profitable career. But I think the idea of writing to “one” friendly reader is worthy of consideration.

What do you think? Click the comment button at the top of this post to share your opinions.

Writing Motto for 2026

January 28, 2026 / Alice Valdal

According to the puzzle page in my daily newspaper, today is world daisy day. Daisies have a day. Who knew?

According to the encyclopedia Britannica, plants called daisies are distinguished by a composite flower head composed of 15 to 30 white ray flowers surrounding a centre consisting of bright yellow disk flowers, though other colour combinations are common.

Whatever the botanical characteristics of a daisy, their happy faces always make me smile. I guess it is that “bright yellow disk” thing. I have several clumps of Shasta daisies in my flower beds. They can be a bit of weed, but I can always count on them to survive a hard winter, to thrive on neglect, and to nod in gentle greeting whenever the wind passes by. Reliable, cheerful, resilient — those are the characteristics I’d list if I were writing a text to define “daisy.”

Those same characteristics describe my reading choices this month. I don’t want edgy, or dark, or mafia, or several of the other categories the book stores list. I want books that read like the daisy, — reliable, cheerful, resilient. Another blog I follow has a segment called “Good Book Thursday,” I’ve noticed that many of the comments are from folks re-reading their favourite novels and authors. Maybe it’s the daisy-effect. Whatever their personal taste, readers are looking for “reliable” reads.

I’ve just finished two books from my Christmas haul that land in that category. The authors deliver a reliable story, told in a predictable style with characters the reader expects. Re-reading means the book-lover is not reading for story alone, but for voice and style and comfort. Louise Penny’s readers love “Three Pines.” They want to go to that imaginary village and just hang out with the characters they’ve come to know. Alexander McCall Smith’s readers find themselves in Africa or Scotland so place is not so significant, but they can anticipate long rambling passages that discuss life and philosophy — a slow read. Considering Smith’s legions of fans, we can assume that “slow” is okay in the right hands.

As writers, finding fans who love to re-read our book is like getting a gold star — and a cash prize at the same time. Those loyal fans will talk about your books, promote them to book clubs, give them away as gifts, and generate new readers for you.

As I consider the authors I read again and again, I try to pick out the elements that I might use in my own writing to please my fan base. Penny’s mysteries are edge-of-your-seat exciting. I know that is not my forté, but creating a village where readers can hang out — that is more within my grasp. Prospect, the town in my gold rush romances, has potential along that line. The gold rush town has a frontier appeal, there are recurring characters who have distinct personalities, the geographical setting in the Rocky Mountains has a romantic appeal. These are elements I can build on, either in another Prospect book, or in a new series.

I’m afraid I’d put readers to sleep if I spent page after page philosophizing but there are topics — like love and family — that I could develop as recognizable themes in my writing. My Christmas short story, “The Man Who Loved Christmas” is an example of family and the bonds that hold it together.

As I ponder a new chapter of writing in 2026, I’ll make “reliable, cheerful and resilient” a motto, just like the daisy.

What about you, dear reader, how do you plan to approach 2026 both in your writing and in life. Click the comment button at the top of this page to share your thoughts.

Health and Happiness

January 14, 2026 / Alice Valdal

I just looked at the date on my last post here and realized I’d missed the whole month of December. Although, I missed posting here in December, I was very engaged in “life.”

As usual, Christmas came too early. I like to have my presents for mailing done by the end of November, but in 2025, they weren’t ready until the second week of December, and that required some marathon sessions with needle and thread, not to mention sweat and tears. The cause of my angst is pictured above. Every year I make tree ornaments for the “greats” in my family. Usually I crochet, cross-stitch or quilt a small item. This year I embarked on hardanger embroidery. Although the actual stitching goes fairly quickly, there is one stage of the process where you have to cut away the backing, in the middle of your stitches. That is where the sweat and tears come into play. Anyone who has ever done hand embroidery can understand the near panic I felt when taking scissors to the inside of my work.

Anyway, the project did get finished and was delivered in time for Christmas Eve. Whew! And, I learned something new. Learning something new is cited as important for health and happiness by numerous experts. Here is one example.

Another key to health and happiness is gratitude. I know this one from personal experience. Several years ago I committed to keeping a journal that listed three things I was thankful for at the start of every day. I embarked on this adventure by following Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts. I had a great year. Even on the gloomiest mornings, I could conjure up gratitude. Our earth is so full of blessings, if we only look. Seeking and naming the things I was thankful for, made for a great start to the day. Once the year was over (I made it to 923 gratitudes) I looked around for something else for a morning exercise, but nothing was as successful in leading me to health and happiness.

Now it is another year. The world is still full of abundance and blessings, but I’m aware of a miasma of fear too. While I’m resolved to start the day with gratitude, in the back of my mind there is a “but . . .”

All is not well in the world at large, or in my particular corner of it. I hope that gratitude will overwhelm my fears, but they are still there. Hiding what disturbs me is a form of lying, and study after study confirms that lying is bad for our health. Lying is stressful and puts strain on the heart and lungs and brain. We live in “fight or flight” mode when we tell lies. The bigger the lie, the worse the stress.

Fiction writers often joke that they tell lies for a living, but creating a novel is not the same as lying to the teacher, or falsely accusing a friend, or cheating on a spouse. Those kinds of lies damage us both physically and emotionally.

The Sunday sermon at my church urged us to be honest with God and with each other. “Tell the truth,” the preacher said. If the answer to “how are you?” is not “fine,” then don’t say you are. Admit to loneliness, or fear, or pain, or want . . . By being honest, and naming that which is not “fine,” we reduce the stress on our own bodies, and we make ourselves available to receive help from others.

So, in 2026 I’ll continue to learn something new, I’ll start each day with gratitude, and, in my journal, I will name one thing that causes me distresses. That is my recipe for health and happiness in 2026. Petting the cat is a proven stress reliever.

How about you, dear reader? Please click on the comment button at the top of this post to share your hints for making the most of the year ahead.

Danger, Reader Ahead

November 20, 2025 / Alice Valdal

Reading

The books that have resonated with me this past two weeks are books about reading. In one an important “personage” discovers reading later in life. Of course, she has always read — letters, recipes, documents, assignments– but at this stage of her life she discovers books as a window to the world. She reads indiscriminately, taking whatever volume the librarian hands her. She has not planned what type of book is worth her time. History, fantasy, travel, romance, classics, foreign language — all are equally welcome on her bedside table.

The more the “personage” reads, the more she explores her own feelings. Because, that is what books do. They invite the reader into the world of another person. They help the reader to experience the events and feelings, of that person’s life. Our “personage” finds her values, inherited and always unquestioned, begin to soften as she gets inside the mind and heart of the characters in her books.

In the beginning, reading was a guilty pleasure for our heroine. As time goes on, and more books are studied, she looks on the people she meets in the real world with more understanding. She hears their comments from a place of vulnerability. Through the reading of books, our lady of position becomes more human.

The second book, I referenced in my last blog. In this case, the heroine of the story works with words and books all the time, but is forbidden to read them. Over and over she is told her job is “to fold the pages, not read them.” But she has a longing within her to know what the words mean, to know what knowledge they impart, to read the complete thoughts of another. She knows that she is missing something. Every time she folds a book, gathers the sections and sews it together, she wants more. She wants to know what the author said, what aspect of humanity is laid down on the written page.

Without giving away too much of the plot, I will say that, by the end of the book, she is allowed to read the books, not just bind them.

Unlike the protagonist in the first book, who discovered humanity through reading, the second heroine discovers herself through reading.

AI

In between reading these lovely books, I read several articles about the rise of AI (Artificial Intelligence)in the world and what that means for writers and artists and other “creatives.” The forecast is not hopeful. The potential for AI to replace real people in the arts is enormous — and disheartening.

AI is not human. AI can sort and regurgitate inputs at a tremendous rate of speed. A reader can order up a book in the style of Nora Roberts, set in Australia, and featuring a blind protagonist and get a readable result in minutes. What they don’t get is Nora Roberts’ understanding of the human condition. They don’t get insight — they get a distillation. They don’t get real, human emotion, they get a simulation of emotion. Remember when intellectuals scoffed at the “Reader’s Digest” version of books? They held that these condensed books missed out on the value of the writing and merely presented a summary of the story. Well if a condensed book was unworthy, AI is even worse.

Give me books that plumb the heights and depths of the human experience. Give me books that enlighten. Give me books that create empathy. Give me books of original characters that will live in my mind for days or even years to come. Only a skillful, human writer can produce Tom Sawyer, or Elizabeth Bennet, or Cinderella. Characters that have become part of our collective conscience.

AI can mimic them.

It cannot create them.

I hope that we readers, are like the characters in the two books I described–folks who explore the human condition through the imaginings of a human author. The world of the individual will improve and the world of our collective society will benefit.

Please drop a comment here.

The Art of Book Binding

November 5, 2025 / Alice Valdal

My book club choice this month is The Bookbinder of Jericho. The story concerns a young woman who works in the bindery in Oxford in the WWI era. The first few pages of the book confused me because they talked about “folding” and “gathering” and “sections” and “text blocks.” In order to enjoy the book, I needed to learn something about book binding.

I scoured the internet and my own book shelves and learned about a whole world I hadn’t known existed. As writers we spend so much time thinking about the story and the use of language, that we may overlook the craft of the book binder. However, when I open a cheap mass market paperback and the margins are so narrow I can’t read the text without turning the book on edge, or I get a cramp in my hand from trying to hold it open, I start to appreciate a well-made volume.

In the early 20th Century, text was printed on large sheets of paper, 19 inches by 24 inches, using movable type presses. These sheets were then folded, once, twice, three times or four times, each fold at right angles to the last. The job of the typesetter was critical. He (it was always a man) had to arrange the type so that, when the page was folded and bound, the text ran in the right direction from left to right, the pages were in the right order and everything lined up evenly. Many experienced pressmen could read upside down and backward because the type had to be a mirror image of the finished product. What a skill!

sections on sewing frame

The printed sheets were taken from the presses and sent to the folding tables. This is where the women worked. They had to take each sheet and carefully line up the printers marks, then make the folds, using a “bonefolder.” It was a tool, kind of like a ruler, that helped to make the folds sharp and straight. Each folded sheet was called a section. When the book was ready for binding the sections were gathered in order, and put onto a frame for sewing. A cloth tape was applied along the spine. Then the book was sent back to the men’s side of the bindery to be trimmed, covered and finished, sometimes with the thinnest of gold leaf applied to the embossing in the leather cover. The gold leaf, as describe in the story, is so thin the craftsman cannot pick it up. Instead, he blows on it gently so that the top leaf floats into the air, where he can catch it on a spatula and transfer it to a working surface.

Today a writer can produce her own book at home with a computer, a printer and some trimming machines. Certainly cheaper than the old-fashioned bindery of Pip Williams’ story but I love the craftsmanship and skill of the book binder portrayed in her book.

A search of my own books turned up this newish volume (pictured at the top of this post) that was produced with sewing and tape. You can sort of see the tape at the inside top of the spine.

When I hold the book open, with the pages hanging down, I can see that they naturally separate into sections of four leaves, meaning the original printed sheet had been folded four times, to produce eight printed pages.

In my library, I also found an old book that had been read so many times the threads holding the sections together had loosened, giving me a good look at how the volume had been put together.

This was a children’s book and not of the highest quality, but even so it is easier to open flat than most of today’s volumes.

One other prize I discovered was an old, leather bound book of poetry. The leather is so soft it feels like doeskin in my hand. The book falls open with no effort, it’s weight and texture inviting the reader to explore the text. The physical characteristics of the book are a work of art all by themselves, even without the poetry displayed on the pages. It even has that thin gold leaf nestled into the embossed cover.

In my youth, I occasionally came upon a book where some of the pages were uncut — meaning they weren’t properly aligned when they were put into the trimmer. I considered these prize volumes because it proved that no one had opened the book before me. 🙂

The world of books is endlessly fascinating, opening our minds and enlarging our understanding with the words and worlds of the author’s imagination. They are also works of art — treasure for humanity.

Pip Williams exploring the book binders trade.

Drop a comment here.

Choosing Your Story

October 21, 2025 / Alice Valdal

My book club selection last month was a book I loved and hated. I loved the writing. It was brilliant. Word choice, syntax, voice, clarity, emotion . . . they were all there in shining splendour. But the story! Oh my goodness. The story was horrible. The main characters were depraved, the weak were exploited and the innocent defiled. Even the ending felt hopeless. I searched and searched for one redeeming quality in the MC’s — after all the “experts” say even a villain should have a soft spot somewhere. Not in this case. I tried to find a better tomorrow from the sacrifice of the ‘good’ characters, but couldn’t find it. The story left me depressed and feeling besmirched.

I’ve turned to one of my favourite “gentle” reads as a palette cleanser. I need to read about moral people. Characters who act on high principles. Story-lines that encourage and enlighten. A book that lets me sleep at night without bad dreams.

But, the experience made me wonder how authors chose their stories. How does a person sit down with a pen and a blank sheet of paper and decide I want to write “this” story. In genre fiction there are certain reader expectations that must be met. e.g. romance needs a “happily-ever-after,” mystery needs a solution, murderers must be brought to justice . . . But, even within those parameters there are millions of stories that can be told. What makes an author choose the one that goes onto the page? Or what makes a reader decide to enter the world of “that” story?

Author’s are often advised to “write what you know,” but the author of the book I hated is not a bad person. He has not killed, he has not unleased immorality on a town, he has not exercised unbridled power to destroy his rivals. In fact, when asked why he’d written this book, he answered that “it just came to him.” And once he had the idea, he went with it.

In my own books, I wanted to tell a story about my country and it’s history. I also wanted to write a romance, so the Prospect Series was born. Jane Austen must have taken delight in exposing the foibles of her society. But Emily Brontë? What made her want to explore the darkness in Heathcliff’s soul? She was the daughter of a clergyman, brought up in gentile circles and surrounded by loving siblings. Was it the wildness of the moors that inspired her to write Wuthering Heights? By the way, the book was ill-received upon first publication. It was considered too wild and savage. Only years later was it added to the list of great English novels.

Readers have diverse tastes, and I rejoice that there are books to meet every need. I’m glad my book club presses me to explore different books. And I’m really happy that I have the freedom to read the books I like and set aside those I don’t. What a sad and straight-jacketed world it would be if everyone had to conform to my idea of a good book.

The Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest book fair in the world, just wrapped up. The five day event included 1000 authors from 92 different countries and around 200,000 visitors. Three cheers for authors and publishers! May we all continue to thrive and find our happy place between the covers of a good book.

How do you choose a story? Drop a comment here.