Some Serendipity & A New Widget

Some Serendipity & A New Widget

Good Saturday morning!

Those of you following my Facebook account know the little bit of serendipity that came our way this week. Ted and I were sitting in my office and I suggested that the room could use a paint. Ted said he’d read in the Globe and Mail about a Canadian company out of Hamilton called Digby Paints that had some interesting paint colours. (He remembered the name because he’s from Digby, Nova Scotia.) I went online, already having in mind that I’d like the room to be a grey tone. Lo and behold, I found a lovely grey called Murder Mystery! I placed an order for two gallons and it arrived lickety split (no delivery fee). Ted immediately went to work.

Previous colour: Dried Moss. Showing its age after 20 years.

We huddled over the paint chart off and on all evening as he painted. “This doesn’t look like the colour we ordered,” we kept saying. “It’s kind of … purple.” We decided to have another look after he put on the second coat in the morning, but nope, we were still seeing the mauve tone.

Ted looked up the company. “Do you know what street they’re on?” he asked. “Dundurn!” And there was the third bit of serendipity since my publisher in Toronto is none other than … Dundurn. Ted took photos and sent them to Emily from Digby Paints. She agreed that we did not have Murder Mystery but instead had been sent Morning Meditation in error. Her solution was to send us two new cans of Murder Mystery and a free can of another colour, Stepping Stones, which Ted wanted for the bathroom. He loves the paint and how it rolls on and dries, and the price is very good. Emily said to donate the extra gallon of Morning Meditation to Habitat for Humanity so that’s another plus in our books. (no pun intended)

My new ‘toy/widget’ came after a Capital Crime Writers workshop this past Wednesday on Zoom led by author Julie Rowe. She shared  some social media tips and tricks, including a program for authors called Book Brush. The program has a lot of photos and backgrounds for us to create ads and such for social media. I ordered the program and am having a great time playing trying it out as some of you may have noticed 🙂 Thank you to those retweeting and sharing. You are now officially part of my marketing team 🙂 And oddly enough, my books sales went way up on Amazon after the first ad.

The next video interview in the series I’m doing for Crime Writers of Canada was posted Monday, and this one features Mike Martin. He writes the Sgt. Windflower mysteries set in rugged Newfoundland. The video is thirteen minutes and change so give a listen before you get your day underway. Notice the dried moss – green wall behind me!

Until next week, stay warm and stay well (and stay out of the woods).