Life's Messy Contest

In The Remains of the Dead my heroine, Sadie Novak, spends a lot of time cleaning messes. She cleans up after the CSI team is done and the coroner removes the body. We're talking some grotesque mopping here.

As a mom I can tell you there are times I wish I wore a hazmat suit. There's all those diapers and let's not get started on the projectile stomach viruses. However, even before I had children there were messes. Natural disasters involving plumbing problems. The messes that accompany having friends who over indulge. Oh and pet messes.

I'll never forget the time a couple decades ago when I came home from work to find streaks of blood all over my walls. I freaked! My dog wasn't looking well so I rushed him into an after hour emergency vet because all that blood meant something was terribly wrong. Except it wasn't. My dumb dog had sniffed a bug up his nose and had given himself a nose bleed trying to get it out. He'd rubbed his darn nose all over my house. The blood still had to be cleaned up and I didn't get a your-dog-is-stupid discount from the vet either.

I'm having a Life's Messy contest. You can enter by posting your comment to my blog or adding yourself to my mailing list here. Winner will get a signed copy of Remains.

So tell me about your big messes :)

Thanks to Rachel for pointing out I'd forgotten to mention a deadline for the contest. Get your comments and/or emails to me by December 1st.

Review!

I've been a fan of Allison Brennan's books since The Prey. When she gave me a fab blurb for Remains I just about fainted with gratitude. Now she's posted the full review here on WritersareReader.com.

My favourite part of the review:
"And Wendy Roberts makes us not only care about Sadie and the dead people she helps, but takes what could have been a gruesome story and made it fun and light. The breezy voice and self-deprecating humor keep the story moving, the mystery is compelling, and the ending provides a twist that I didn't see coming. This is a fast, comfortable, solid read from a gifted storyteller."

Honest, I did not pay her.

I just can't say how wonderful it is to have a big hitter like Allison take the time to give me a review. Makes me all verklempt.

By the way, Allison's got a new book out next month - What You Can't See

Mother Nature can be a real ...

Mother Nature had a temper tantrum this weekend. She huffed and puffed and created 100 km winds to knock down trees in my area and *bam* no power for days.

Last night when the power was finally restored the children were thrilled and I hugged my computer. It's interesting trying to live a modern life without the benefits of electricity. We all read a lot which is a good thing but everyday things still needed to be done. Laundry had to go to the laundromat. Meals were brought in, eaten out or eaten cold. One day I made grilled cheese sandwiches on the barbeque.

The tree in our front yard was a mass of red a few days ago but the wind stripped it bear, except for three leaves. I laughed at the tenacity of those leaves. They hung on for dear life refusing to go on someone else's schedule. They wanted to do it in their own time and would not be bullied.

Mother Nature blew the cobwebs out of my head. Today I'm ready to get down to work. How is the weather where you are?