It’s the time of year here in Canada that my mother and grandmothers called the “dog days of summer.”

Between late July and early August, life slows.

Road traffic isn’t as heavy. Email volume is lighter. Even social media engagement drops as life outdoors is more appealing than one via a screen.

It’s also when I usually go on holiday. If you subscribe to my monthly reader newsletter which went out several days ago, you already know I’m going to a lakeside cottage for a week, the same one we’ve rented for the past two years.

Lake life

Although I’m an avid traveller, I’ve come to appreciate quieter holidays too and am looking forward to the unstructured joys lake life brings.

Kayaking is a special delight because getting out on the water for a gentle paddle is one of the ways I refill my creative well.

I also love childhood pleasures like toasting marshmallows over a campfire, mid-afternoon visits to the local ice cream stand and doing jigsaw puzzles.

Vacation is a time for reading too and I’ve got a stack of books, physical and virtual, set aside.

Along with not writing, I go off social media and stay away from the news.

Instead, I watch waves lap against a sandy shore. I watch clouds as well and let my mind drift.

I also spend time with my family. With English Rose at university, the days of family vacations are limited—and precious.

A blog hiatus and writing news

After a busy six months, I need to stop, reassess and regroup. As such, I’m taking a hiatus from blogging until September.

In the meantime, and in case you missed it, I was recently interviewed by British author Paula Greenlees. Paula writes historical women’s fiction and her debut, Journey to Paradise, set in post Second World War Singapore, is a fantastic, thought-provoking read.

I chatted with Paula about why I’m now writing historical fiction (alongside contemporary romance), the best thing that’s ever happened to me, how I’d like to be remembered and more. Read that interview here.

The German translation of one of my backlist small-town romances, The Wishing Tree in Irish Falls, has also just been published by Penguin Verlag. Available in bookshops in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and from all online vendors, I want to escape into this gorgeous book cover!

Eine Mitteilung an deutsche Leser über “Mein einziger Wunsch bist du” (A message from me to German readers).

Wishing you summer (or winter for those in the southern hemisphere) joys of your own.

“See” you in September!