Letter from Joy
November 12, 2025
Hi, everyone,
Well, I’m actually a little early this month. It’s the day after Remembrance Day and I hope everyone took a few minutes to silently honour the veterans of the last world wars and to remind ourselves, not only of their sacrifice, but of the horrors and futility of war. Can we not all please just try to get along? And to remember that it’s one thing to protest and another to demonize people you don’t like or agree with.
Climbing off my soapbox, after a truly glorious fall, winter suddenly hit Toronto liked a closed fist, bringing snow, cold winds and near-freezing temperatures to the area. It’s getting milder now, but we had a rough few days. Already it feels as if winter will never end. Looking forward to heading down to Florida next month. Hopefully the air traffic controllers will all be back and flights will resume without unnecessary delays and cancellations.
And I just finished the Canadian part of my book tour for JENNY COOPER HAS A SECRET. It involved a number of radio and TV show interviews, as well as traveling to cities around Toronto. Unfortunately, due to the sheer volume of traffic and the omnipresent construction in and around the city, drives that normally used to take an hour are now taking more than double that! Luckily, I wasn’t doing the driving, or I would have been a complete basket case. Just getting out of the city was a nightmare! But once in Hamilton, Muskoka, Burlington, and Paris, Ontario - not France - it was great. The audiences were large and enthusiastic, and lots of books were sold. So, all in all, a successful venture. It’s always a treat for me to meet the people who read and enjoy my books. So, I thank all those of you who came out to see me, and hope we get the chance to do it all again when my next book comes out.
And speaking of my next book, I’ve completed the first draft and am waiting word from my agent and editor in New York as to what revisions I should consider making. As I always tell would-be writers, the draft you submit to publishers should be what you consider your final draft. It never is, of course. Virtually everyone who reads the manuscript will have an opinion on how to improve it, and it becomes your job to listen to their criticism and figure out how to incorporate what you agree with and discard what you don’t. But never submit anything you don’t think is perfect and expect an editor to look past that or fix it. They won’t. And if you can’t take criticism, then you should consider another career.
We went to the movies recently and saw the Bruce Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere, which frankly, I felt like shouting out about halfway through the film. Where was the story? Where was the plot development? Where was the music??? Instead we got 2 I/2 hours of Bruce being depressed. It was as one-note as what little music they chose to emphasize. If you want to see a truly great musical biopic, watch A Complete Unknown, now available on TV, about Bob Dylan. We saw it originally in the theatres and watched it again the other night on television, and it is just fantastic, as are all the performances. And it is filled to the brim with Dylan’s fabulous songs. You shouldn’t miss it.
I used to love going to the movies, but frankly, it takes quite a lot to get me to an actual theatre these days. COVID changes everything. As did Netflix, etc. It’s hard to work up the energy to leave the house to see a film that you know will be on TV in a matter of weeks, especially since TV screens are so large now. And I have to admit that I love streaming. It took me a while to climb on the bandwagon, but I’m loving being able to watch all the episodes of a show whenever I want. I just finished watching the first two seasons of Tulsa King, which I loved, and am now all caught up with season 3. I’m particularly enchanted with Sylvester Stallone, whom I think is absolutely terrific in the role. Im really looking forward to the start of Landman next week, although I’ll have to watch it weekly. And I’m planning to watch “Frankenstein,” which I hear is terrific. Tonight is the season finale of the Golden Bachelor, which seemed to have a much shorter season than most. I think he should choose Pam, whom I think is a much better fit for him. Cindy is too sophisticated for him and I can’t imagine that union lasting. But Peg is fun and they seem to have a great time together. If he’s smart, he’ll choose her. But then, these bachelors aren’t always known for their smarts.
And that’s about it for now. Stay well, buy somebody a book for Christmas, and I’ll write again next month.
Warmly,
Joy