Writing...Just because!

 Our next title to launch in the New Year will be Dr. Mark Gilbert's memoir-plus where he shares a look back at a twenty-year collaborative project between Canada and Indonesia. What is a BIG BANG in governance all about? How could two countries as different as Canada and Indonesia start and maintain a twenty-year partnership to improve public services in Indonesia? This book answers these two questions by going back to 1994 when four Canadians representing the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) made their first appearance at the main office of the Indonesian Ministry of Home Affairs. Initially it was all about timing. Indonesia wanted to grow its economy by speeding up its government regulation approvals, Canada wanted to share knowledge and build relationships with nations aspiring to middle income country status. The cooperation began with a focus on administrative decentralization. It evolved quickly in 1998 when fallout from the Asian financial crises led to...

As we celebrate the launch on June 22 of  Where Did i Go? a Memoir Plus by Nova Scotia-based author, Francene Gillis, we're reaching out to reviewers, bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, and avid readers who would like to receive a review copy. Our tour schedule is starting to take shape so wanted to share with you those who have already joined the virtual book tour. Make sure you visit and follow these folks and show the love for those who support authors in their mission to spread the word! As reviews, author interviews and spotlights run, we will be updating the links so come back often :) If you have a favourite book blogger/reviewer, podcaster, BookToker, or Tuber that you think would be interested, add them in the comments below. The Where Did i Go?   T our Line-up: Francene Gillis Sarah Butland's Imagination Captured Author Takeover - Kicked off the tour on May 14 Tea with Francene Gillis on  Toons & Wooden Spoons  with Mary Janet MacDonald - June 8 Lisa Has...

 I am so pleased to announce that the next title coming out from OC Publishing is Halifax, Nova Scotia-based (originally from New Brunswick) Yvette Ward MacDonald's debut novel, Honour Above All . It's an historical fiction/courtroom drama with a dash of romance. " In Honour Above All we peek behind the curtain of the wealthy families and ambitious lawyers of 1960s Ottawa. Mary Clark is equal parts bold and naive in a time when the odds are stacked against women lawyers. How does she come by such an iron resolve? What hides in her murky past? A story layered with family trauma, it builds to a courtroom battle that challenges Mary's ethics at every turn. Can she uphold her client's wishes without losing everything she hold sacred? A legal drama with a dash of romance set in Mad Men-era Ottawa, you'll be transported to a leather chair by the open hearth with a glass of good scotch, reading into the night." Nicola Davison, author of In the Wake and Decoding ...

The next title releasing from OC Publishing will be author, Diann Floyd Boehm's, first YA novel, Rise! A Girl's Struggle for More , an old fashioned, historical family drama, launching on October 20. Set in 1920s Oilton & Drumright, Oklahoma, and Chillicothe, Missouri, it is a sweet, yet edgy (think Laura Ingalls meets the "It Girl"), coming-of-age story based on the real life of the author's grandmother. "When I first heard some of the incredible stories of my grandmother's life, I just knew I had to write about her," said Boehm. "She had watched all her brothers go off to college and when she asked her parents if she could go too, they told her she should get married." As the story goes, this didn't sit well with Ruby Pearl! She felt she was just as smart, maybe smarter, than her brothers. Book blurb Ruby is mature beyond her years, born at least a decade too soon. Growing up in a family of nine children in Oilton, Oklahoma, with...

As we approach launch day for Lynda Faye Schmidt's novel, The Healing , a women's fiction/family drama based on the author's life, we're excited to announce the blog tour schedule and introduce you to the bloggers and book reviewers who have joined the tour. The tour begins on launch day, April 23rd. Take a look, follow these bloggers and make sure you visit on the tour dates indicated (check back regularly for updates): Pre-Tour - March 2 - Thrive Global - pre-launch announcement  April 16 - Fit for Joy - pre-launch podcast interview with Lynda April 23 - IndieView - author Q&A with Lynda April 24 -  Canadian Bookworm  - featuring a guest blog by Lynda, "What Inspired Me" April 26 - Dartmouth Book Exchange - author spotlight April 29 - Storybook Reviews - review May 4 -  Help Me Sara  - podcast interview May 13 -  My Question Life  - review and author interview June 30 - Reader's Favorite - review  As new bloggers come on board we will u...

Amidst travel restrictions and lock-downs, Canadian expat author, Lynda Faye Schmidt, completed her novel, The Healing , that will launch on April 23, 2021. Embracing the forced solitude of the pandemic, Lynda isolated, along with the rest of the world, and committed to completing her novel, a women's fiction/family drama based on her own life, in an effort to heal her own emotional wounds and put an abusive past behind her. Synopsis Based on true events, The Healing is the story of Cate Henderson who, after twenty-six years in an abusive relationship, sets out on a quest to find healing. Cate packs up eerything she owns and leaves Calgary on an odessy westward, to Vancouver Island, where her ever-present journal, and the abundance of nature become the foundation of her self-recovery. She yearns for something deeper and then, when she isn't looking, she finds love with the solid and virtuous Ethan. Cate thinks his stead-fast love is what she is searching for, but soon realizes...

In celebration of Book Lovers Day, Regina-based author, Jackie Arnason, will launch her first children’s picture book, Hambone – Why Pigs Have Curly Tails , on August 9, 2020, partner published with OC Publishing. The tale is one of many that Arnason made up for her children more than 50 years ago. “I started making up stories way back when I was a little girl,” said Arnason. “But when my children were very small I would be putting them to bed and they would ask me to tell them a story. An idea would just pop into my head and away we’d go.” Even though it’s a long time in the making, Hambone’s message is still relevant today. “Hambone, with some friends along the way, shows us that when we work together and show kindness to others we can all help each other on our journeys,” said Laura Shepherd, a literacy/numeracy specialist in Regina. When Arnason was a little girl growing up in Regina in the “Dirty Thirties” she was the eldest of seven children. Author,...

Available on Amazon One of my OC Publishing authors, who splits her time between Houston and Dubai (where we met and became friends) is children’s book author, Diann Floyd Boehm. Diann will launch her fourth children’s picture book, Harry the Camel , on September 8, 2019, International Literacy Day. The book will simultaneously launch in both English and Arabic to honour the language of the main character’s country of origin. “I had been wanting to write a story about a camel for some time,” said Boehm. “While living in Dubai, I had visited local camel farms, experienced the highly regarded camel beauty contests and have even ridden many over the years. One day, inspiration just hit for the perfect story.”  The overarching theme of all of Diann's children’s stories is to embrace diversity and for children to accept themselves and others the way they are. Story synopsis: Harry the Camel will surely pull on the heart strings of readers as he pines for a lif...

--> In December of 2018, I published a #metoo inspired memoir that re-caps the staggering story of sexual harassment and violence that the author, Montaha Hidefi, had endured throughout her life. The abuse began at the hands of her mother and then followed her around the globe from Venezuela, where she was born of Syrian immigrant parents, to Syria, where she lived as a teenager, then in adulthood in The United Arab Emirates, The Netherlands and Canada. We published on December 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. As spring finally arrives, bringing with it new beginnings and fresh starts, I thought it was timely to share the full interview the author did leading up to the launch of her book. Why did you decide to write about your past experiences? I was inspired by the #metoo movement and all the women that came forward and spoke in public about their experiences. My husband was paramount with the support he provided....