Ice skates, rabbit holes & adopting the absurd: 3 small items of great delight
ALSO: Free coaching spots, local workshop, and a Valentine for you!
Hello, friends,
Today I want to write about what lifts our hearts in times like these, so with this edition I bring you my regular feature, 3 Small Items of Great Delight, where I explore where joy, wonder, and discovery have appeared in my life.
I hope you read to the end, because today I am also sharing some updates, like:
12 free spots to experience book coaching in February
my upcoming (free!) workshop at the Greater Sudbury Public Library
how to register for the Spring 2025 Rekindle Creativity Women’s Writing Retreat
my latest article for Book Coaches Canada
You are always welcome to share these posts, by the way! The more, the merrier.
3 Small Items of Great Delight
Noticing delight is an outcome of mindfulness. It comes in moments when we refuse to be led astray by obligation and mundane routine. When we agree to stop and look, taste, listen, and engage. Out of it we can build hope and art. This is what I learned from two artist-friends who taught me to stop and savour these sometimes-elusive moments.
What have you been delighting in? Tell me in a comment below! (Or hit reply if this landed in your inbox.)
1. The sound of ice skates on a sunny day
Delight + Winter
When the dog and I arrived at Bell Park in the late afternoon, the sun was lowering in the sky and the ice path gleamed. The air was cold, the walking path was snowy but packed down, and we cantered along, wagging our tails — the dog literally, me figuratively.
The skaters on the lake were a good distance away, their voices carrying across the ice at times. But I could hear their skate blades carving across the ice wherever I was, and while I likely can’t get on the ice myself this season (too soon out of physio for ankle and foot problems), the echo of the skate blades made me smile. Everyone is happy when they skate.
The cool air and the sunshine were winter balms.
2. Cringe-y Fashion
Delight + Absurdity
My mom and I had been browsing the clearance racks in a ladies’ clothing store when I found it:
Yes, that’s a not-quite-suede jacket featuring clearly unlicensed versions of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
When I saw it, it made me grin. I snickered. Who thought this was a good idea? I put it back.
But then I took it out again and held it up.
Could I?
In the changeroom, I decided no, I didn’t want to wear this jacket: I wanted to adopt it.
I had to give it a home. Who else would?1
It’s not the first time I’ve been tempted by this urge. It was how I felt when I met this ugly fellow.
At home, I barged into my daughter’s room, modelling my new purchase. She cringed, as teens are wont to do.
“Oh my god, Mom…”
“You might want to come shopping with me next time, C,” I said. “Seems I need a babysitter before I bring home more of this.”
Her eyes were wide. “Oh, Mom, no.”
I hooted in response.
3. Getting curiouser and curiouser
Delight + Rabbit holes
Remember the pleasure of flipping through encyclopedias and reading unexpected facts and history simply because they landed next to the entry you were searching for? Editing is like that. I get to learn about ideas and facts that are completely outside of my life and outside of my typical interest areas. These little discoveries are bright spots in a process that asks me to be assiduous and systematic.
Last month, I had to figure out how to represent the word P.U. in dialogue — you know, the phrase we say when we hold our nose to avoid a stench? I dove deep into the internet that day, learning all about the etymology of the phrase. It’s been around since the 1600s, apparently.2 And it’s not actually an initialism of any phrase; the letters help us understand the common pronunciation, pee-YOO. Fun! It was completely worth my time to make this discovery.
Again, earlier this week, I was compelled to find out more. I was reading through a crime fiction manuscript, and I just had to know if it was possible to take a blood alcohol reading from a two-day-old dead body.
I left that Google search pretty much an expert at forensics, and I left many of my digital fingerprints in the search history.
I’m the curious type, I suppose, and it permeates my days. Then there was the time, last summer, when I was watching water bombers on tv as they fought the wildfires. I wondered, Why don’t these planes nosedive into the water during the water loading? Shouldn’t they sink?
I added a P.Eng. degree and a pilot’s licence to my name that day. You wouldn’t believe how many water-bomber pilots are on Reddit!
What wonders there are to be found when you hop down the rabbit hole!
What has delighted your heart lately? Leave a comment below and share a moment where you were connected entirely and suddenly with life.
Other News & Updates
♦ NEW ARTICLE: WHEN IS IT TIME FOR A BOOK COACH?
I was so pleased to share this article with Book Coaches Canada a few weeks back. If you want to know more about what book coaches do and when it makes sense to work with one, I lay it out for you here.
♦ GO AHEAD, WRITE YOUR BIG-HEARTED BOOK.
What if you could write the book you’ve been thinking about? You have the knowledge, the experience, the deep understanding of an issue that needs more attention. You’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to change. Your insights could help other leaders, decision-makers, or those directly affected—if only you could get them down on the page.
That’s where I come in.
I help mission-driven professionals like you turn your expertise into a book that informs, inspires, and makes an impact.
I have 4 spots available for new clients right now and this month, I have 12 free 30-minute coaching discovery calls available. You can book a call right now.
No pressure—just a conversation to explore your book idea and the next steps to make it real.
Get to know me and get a feel for coaching. It might be what you need to get you closer to writing your book this year.
Go ahead... Write your big-hearted book. Ask me how to start.
♦ FREE LOCAL WORKSHOP
“From Know-How to How-To: Plan Your Nonfiction Book”
A 3-session book-planning workshop at Greater Sudbury Public Library
Saturdays, March 22, March 29, April 5
Over time, we become experts thanks to our experience. We have arrived at deep understandings about a particular subject or experience — of life itself — by showing up and doing the work. This book-planning workshop is for people who now want to pass along lessons learned to help others.
There are many ways you can share your message – as a how-to book, self-help, memoir, business book or big concept book. Come imagine your nonfiction book into reality in this 3-part workshop series with me, an Author Accelerator-certified nonfiction and memoir book coach. By the end, you will know whether a book is your best way forward, have a clear idea of your ideal reader, work on a first draft of an outline, and try writing.
This is a registered program with space availability for 8 participants. If you want to register, call Suzanne Leclair at GSPL.
♦ REKINDLE CREATIVITY WOMEN’S WRITING WORKSHOP May 23-25, 2025
Registration is now open for women writers to join me and
at The Lodge at Pine Cove in French River, Ontario. We’re gathering a small group of writers together to write, to gather, and to reconnect to the creative source that burns inside us all. Liisa and I will be facilitating morning mindset sessions and offering all participants an individual coaching session.It’s a spring weekend on the banks of the French River. What better way to reset, recharge and rekindle as writers?
Thanks for joining me here at The Book Case. I’ll be dropping back into your inbox or app again soon. Come join me in the meantime on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Bluesky.
PS. Pass it on! I have openings this month for coaching clients and editing (line editing and copy editing).
When I processed my “adoption”, the cashier told me another customer had bought the same jacket 10 minutes before! Will we meet one day and see each other? It’s a small city, so entirely possible. I laugh when I think of it.
Search for ‘How to write P.U.’ and you get 218,000,000 results, so save some time and go over here to the explanation from Mental Floss.
Hope you run into the other adoptee some day.
Love your new adoptee. Please wear it at our next Rekindle Creativity meeting!