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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 snowbank 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 snowbank. 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 snowbank 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 at 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 running flat out, but the timber wolves loped. They have much longer legs than a regular 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.
False Confession
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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Author Profile
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 autoshop 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.
Excerpt – False Confession by Sylvie Grayson
“What’s she doing here?” Alex Vecchio glared around the dim upstairs storage room, which was theirs one night a week for band practice. The bar had cases of wine and hard liquor stacked against the far wall. Barrels of beer had been lugged in and placed near the elevator. A single light bulb illuminated the space, the walls dingy with age and the floor boards bare and unpainted.
He spotted his brother’s shaggy head. “Ryan? What’s going on?” His voice was low and fierce. “What’s she doing here?”
Ryan grinned as he pulled his drums from the case. “Hey, Alex. Have you met Glory?” His sandy bangs fell forward as he motioned toward the young woman on the other side of the room. She was bent over a keyboard, unfolding the legs and snapping the braces into place.
Alex lowered his brows and kept his face turned toward his younger brother, his voice a growl. “What’s going on? Why is she here?”
“Glory!” As she straightened, Ryan waved the young woman over. “This is my brother, Alex. He plays lead.”
Alex turned toward her. “Hi,” was all he managed, his body stiff with outrage. Her smile was sunny as she beamed up at him.
“Hi, Alex. Nice to meet you.” She thrust her hand out, and he was forced to give it a reluctant shake. “I didn’t know you were his brother. What a coincidence!” She was still smiling as she turned to Ryan. “Alex lives right next door at the townhouse complex. I’ve seen him a few times when I go off to work in the morning.”
Alex filed that comment away for further scrutiny. She’d been going off to work? In that getup? At five in the morning, her hair was up in a messy pony tail. She wore purple stretch shorts and a little pink tube top. He’d thought she was leaving fresh from the new neighbour’s bed. It was how her hair was kind of all every which way that had put that thought into his head. Well, and the time of day.
He was suddenly irritated by the idea that he’d rushed to judgement without much prompting. Grunting, he slung his guitar case to the floor and went down on one knee to unsnap the buckles.
“So,” Ryan continued blithely, “Glory is going to try out with the band tonight, she’s thinking of joining us.”
Alex’s head snapped up. “Joining us?” he barked, then felt his face flush. That sounded just a touch unfriendly, even to his own ears.
“Yeah,” said Ryan. “We need a keyboard. Pete plays sometimes but his strength is in the strings. This should round us out the way I’ve imagined the band sounding. I thought we’d give it a try tonight and find a few songs to work on that we can all play.” He waved at the other band members who were busy setting up. Pete nodded distractedly at their new member as he pulled his fiddle from the case and began to tune it.
Alex looked over at Glory. She was chatting with Eddie and laughing at something he’d said. That didn’t surprise him. Eddie loved women, all women. No wonder Corrie had left him. Again.
This woman was trouble. As she moved back to her keyboard, Eddie’s dark eyes followed, focused tightly on her ass clad in a snug pair of jeans.
She positioned her bench so she could see the other band members and settled down to play a few scales.
Alex noted the skinny legs on her pants and the high heels of her strappy shoes. Nothing but trouble. He shook his head and walked over to plug in. The air resounded with strings being tuned and keys pounded. He heard the thud of Ryan’s big drum as he snapped it into place in the harness.
His brother thumped a few drum rolls and silence fell. “Guys,” he said, “I thought we’d try a few suggestions from Glory. She’s got a sheet of numbers she likes to play, and we can just follow along to see how we sound.”
Glory nodded and immediately began the intro to one of Adelle’s old songs, “Rolling in the Deep.” Alex groaned silently. Not a bunch of chick songs! He so did not want to…
But as she played and the others joined in, the song began to hang together. They worked their way to the finale and she struck a chord to finish. Then she started the song again. This time she sang. Alex watched and listened, eyes narrowed as she got to the chorus. We could have had it all, she sang, then finished with— You played it, you played it to the beat.
When they stopped, the other guys clapped enthusiastically and he saw the pink flush on her cheeks as she laughed and waved them away.
Alex didn’t clap, but suddenly he felt like it. She was good, he’d give her that. He looked over at Ryan and saw him flash a smile. Little bugger, he was always trying to put something together, something bigger, something better. He just might have done it this time.
