Jacqui Nelson’s North of the Border with guest Sylvie Grayson

Who’s next on my North of the Border guest blog series? Today we have Sylvie Grayson, author False Confession!

Where does Sylvie get her inspiration? How is Canada part of her inspiration? Read on and see...

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I think it’s important to write about what you know. I’ve had a varied background, living in different locations, doing various jobs, and I’ve read many books where the author writes about something they know nothing about. It is disappointing, and draws the reader right out of the story. My best advice is—Do your homework or write what you know.

I was born in southern British Columbia and have lived most of my life here but when I was eleven, my family moved to the North Peace River area, to a place east of Fort St John. BC. We homesteaded, which means we claimed a piece of land and built a small log house on it.

The local school had two rooms, and went to grade 8, so by the time I was thirteen I was doing home schooling, but my older sister and I took turns walking our younger sister the two miles down the dirt road to the bus stop as she was attending the two-room school.

It snowed a lot. One day I had walked my sister to the bus stop with our dog Captain as company. Captain liked to chase rabbits and I could always tell because he yipped his way through the woods as he ran.

The road had been ploughed, so the snow bank was a good eight feet high. I got my sister onto the bus and turned to head home, calling for Captain who had disappeared partway down the road chasing rabbits. I could hear him yipping as he drew nearer and nearer, then he barreled out of the trees and up the snow bank. I called him, thinking he would come to me and accompany me on the road home, but he kept going, down the bank and across the road as fast as he could run, into the trees on the other side.

I soon realized why. Over the snow bank behind him came two timber wolves. They paused at the top of the bank, eying me on the road below.

I thought I was dead. So I raised my arms above my head and waved them, yelling as loudly as I could as I ran toward them. They loped down the bank across the road into the trees after Captain.

What I noticed was Captain was running flat out, but the timber wolves loped. They have much longer legs than an ordinary dog. I didn’t think I would ever see my dog again. I walked the two miles home and Captain arrived about noon. Totally exhausted, he slept on the floor in front of the fire for the rest of the day.

This was not the first time I had seen wolves, there were lots of them up there, beautiful creatures. They hung around our house because we had animals, a cow and calf, chickens, pigs, geese and dogs. We knew they were there from the howling that could be heard most nights. But it was the closest I had been to them while alone.

I used this encounter in my book False Confession. The rock band travels north to play for a friend’s wedding, and some of the band members encounter a wolf on their return journey.

Giveaway

Enter your name in the comments below for a chance to win 1 of 4 e-copies of False Confessions. Sylvie will draw and share the winners' names here on May 9th!

Did Glory fall for the wrong man, or is someone lying?

Music teacher Glory has given up on men, with good reason. Then she meets the handsome lead guitar player in the band she has just joined.

Alex, body builder and construction foreman, is determinedly single because he’s given up on women. But that’s before he meets the keyboard player who just joined his brother’s rock band. Suddenly his interest is revived and he goes on a crusade to gain Glory’s attention.

But when Alex disappears and the police claim they have a confession giving damning evidence against him, Glory must make a decision. Can she trust the man she’s fallen for, or has she been fooled into believing a lie?

Find False Confession on Amazon & Books2Read 

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Sylvie Grayson loves to write about suspense, romance and attempted murder, in both contemporary and science fiction/fantasy. She has lived most of her life in British Columbia, Canada in spots ranging from Vancouver Island on the west coast to the North Peace River country and the Kootenays in the beautiful interior. She spent a one year sojourn in Tokyo Japan.

She has been an English language instructor, a nightclub manager, an auto shop bookkeeper and a lawyer. Now she works part time as the owner of a small company, and writes when she finds the time.

She is a wife and mother and still loves to travel, having recently completed a trip to Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam and Hong Kong. She lives on the coast of the Pacific Ocean with her husband on a small patch of land near the sea that they call home.

Sylvie loves to hear from her readers. You can visit her at her website – www.sylviegrayson.com, find her on Facebook and Twitter, or follow her on BookBub, Goodreads, and Amazon.

~ All pictures (except for the 1st) are supplied by today’s guest with their assurance of usage rights.