May I recommend
Celebrating Milestones
Before we get to that, however, I want to welcome all the new readers who have found this newsletter via the lovely Kerry Anne Schafer and her great, chatty writing newsletter OR through Amber Petty and her informative and funny freelancing newsletter. I think most of you joined for my Christmas romance advent event, which will be kicking off December 1st. If you don’t also want to receive this twice-monthly newsletter, please go to your settings and unclick Méli-Mélo. That way you’ll only be getting the romantical stuff.
It’s a little confusing, so I created a cheat sheet for anyone who wants to manage their settings and subscribe/unsubscribe to parts of this newsletter. You can find that HERE.
Welcome new readers!
A bit about me — I’m a late-blooming novelist, who after two decades of rejection, published my first book, The Honeybee Emeralds — in 2021. Honeybee is a Parisian mystery about a magnificent diamond and emerald necklace and how it changes the lives of the four women who find it. Since then, I have had the incredible good luck to have two other novels published as part of the Dominion Archives Mystery Series. A third book in the series, Honor the Dead, will be out this April. These are about murder and mayhem in a fictional national archives.
I emphasize fictional, because I’ve been working in the archival field for twenty + years, mostly at Canada’s national archives, Library and Archives Canada, though I did a stint at the International Criminal Tribunal for War Crimes in Yugoslavia in the Hague. I love the world of libraries and archives, and I love the quirky, passionate people who work there.
In fact, I love them so much, that I married one of those nerds myself. I have one daughter who emphatically does NOT want to be an archivist when she grows up. I also have a fluffy, easygoing dog named Daffodil. We live in Ottawa and while it is not as cold as you might think, there are definitely a few January days where your eyelashes freeze together when you’re walking the dog and you question every single decision you have made in life that has led up to that point.
I’m from the Eastern Townships of Quebec, which is a little rural slice of heaven just north of the Vermont border — It’s Vermonty, but French and with less (but not zero) hippies. Louise Penny and her best-selling Gamache mysteries have really put the region on the map. I was lucky enough to have Louise Penny blurb my first mystery , The Foulest Thing. She called it a “literary joy ride” which, as you can imagine, thrilled both my publisher and I!
On to MILESTONES — I recommend celebrating them. There are so few moments of joy, excitement or spontaneity in the drab march of our infinitesimally small existences that when there is an occasion to celebrate — a birthday, an anniversary, a Taylor Swift “Taylor’s version” album release — we need to grab them with both hands and rejoice, preferably with cake.
Today I’d like to celebrate the 100th edition of this very newsletter!
Way back in January of 2021, I decided that now that I was a “real” writer — i.e. had a publishing contract — I was finally allowed to do a thing I’d been wanting to do for years, which was have a regular blog/newsletter.
Of course, that kind of thinking was very silly. I could have had a newsletter at ANY point before I actually had a publishing contract, but I was balled up with imposter syndrome and so needed some nonexistent fake societal permission in order to put my writing out there. I now realise that if you are writing, you are a writer and you don’t need anyone’s permission to think of yourself in that way. Anyway, that’s not the point of this already too-long post.
The point of this post is that it was scary to throw something out onto the internet and hope someone would pay attention, but I’ve now managed to do it 100 times! I am very very thankful for everyone who has found this newsletter and liked it and hung in there! I’ve had fun writing this thing and I plan to keep writing this thing, despite the fact that the cornerstone of my newsletter is me recommending something, and I literally can not spell “reccomend”. It’s kind of like how I wrote Honeybee, which is all about a necklace and I misspelled “jewelery” every single time.
In celebration of the big 100, here are a few of posts that seemed to resonate with readers. One of my “May I recommends” earned me actual money, when it was published as relationship advice in Chatelaine (I got the courage to pitch Chatelaine by taking one of Amber Petty’s courses, btw). Thanks to this newsletter I was also able to write about re-reading Bridget Jones with my 13-year old, which was a blast.
I really appreciate you reading and commenting and participating. It means a lot to be able to connect with people about all my very stupid and not so stupid recommendations.
Onward to the next 100!
Article Roundup
These baby names were everywhere in the 90s and now they’ve vanished
How different the world would look if Neanderthals had prevailed
A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time
America’s plan to make Daylight Savings Time permanent has stalled
Everything I thought I knew about nasal congestion is wrong
Wild pig-like animals are tearing up Arizona golf courses. The internet is delighted.
Book Stuff
Thanks to everyone who emailed or commented for a chance to win an Advance Reader Copy of Honor the Dead. I’ve picked two winners, and will be popping those in the mail shortly. Hurray!
In that same vein, would anyone be interested in getting a DIGITAL version of Honor? I’d be happy to fire a copy off to you, though I would ask in return that you either post about the book on your social media (ideally tagging me) or leave a review on GoodReads or Amazon. Let me know in the comments, or email me at amytectorwrites@gmail.com if this is appealing.
As I’ve said before, reviews (either on social media or on GoodReads) are MASSIVELY helpful to authors.
If you’re in the Ottawa area there will be two chances to come on out for a chat and a signing. I’ll be at Perfect Books on November 19th — 1pm-2:30 pm!
And will be at Coles Bookstore from 10-noon on Sunday December 2!
Buy my books!
TikTok
Unself-aware colleague
The etymology of “Tea”
Nicaraguan sign language
Metallic River of Blood
V. good facial expression
A good working theory
I remember someone knocking on our door in a snowstorm because of an accident
Holiday love story
Posh children
Can confirm
I do believe this
Welcome to Hell
Thanks for reading my weekly newsletter.
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You can follow me on Threads here and Instagram here and Facebook here. Also, check out my website
Hi Amy. We just met today at Perfect Books. Thanks for letting me know about your Substack musings.
FYI, I read and review over 100 ARCs each year. I would love to get a digital copy of HONOR THE DEAD, and would gladly post a review.
Late blooming? Tell me about it!