C.K. Kelly Martin’s YA writing is the kind you want to give the teens in your life. It’s written for them, not adult crossover readers, and it meets teens where they live.
— Quill & Quire


I'm massively behind on the WIP so it's time for a social media hiatus, except perhaps for the odd photo on Instagram (undoubtedly rare as I won't be doing much except taking a Carleton U course and writing). Please stay safe out there and by the time I return in a couple of months' time we'll be that much closer to a vaccine and will be able to say "President Biden and VP Harris" and it'll be a reality and not just a fervent wish so many of us are sending out into the universe!
If there's one time of year you want to lose yourself in a book that will make you shiver, it's October, when the light is fading and the spirits raise their voices loud enough that we can hear them.
Enormous thanks to the Ottawa Book Awards and the Ottawa Public
Library for including me! Here's the jury statement for Shantallow: "With its sparring prose, inclusive cast and difficult themes, Cara Martin’s Shantallow is crackling YA. It addresses themes of revenge porn, abuse, drugs and sex, but at its heart is a message all young people should hear: there’s life after transgression, and while it may not include forgiveness, personal amends can be made, behaviour changed and community rediscovered."
Chantel was a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, on Vancouver Island BC, living in New Brunswick with her 5 year old daughter and mother. Her mother and daughter are in need of family support during this tragic time and 6 members of her family are planning to travel to New Brunswick to support her and practice traditional Nuu-Chah-Nulth grieving protocols.Thousands of Indigenous women and girls have been murdered or disappeared across Canada in recent decades. Twenty-six-year-old Chantel Moore should still be with us today, instead she died alone with the police officer who shot her five times. If you can offer financial support to Chantel's surviving family members, please visit the Go Fund Me for family of Chantel Moore. "The funds are for the family travel, funeral costs, and any remaining funds will be given to her mother and daughter. The family has received authorization to travel to New Brunswick amidst provincial Covid restrictions."
Also please sign the Justice for Chantal Moore petition demanding the city of Edmundston hold this officer accountable for not attempting to deescalate the situation.
I see some hopeful signs that's beginning to change but in any case, somehow working on covers always feels like some kind of vacation or escape. When I can't write I can STILL work on cover art. So here we go again, again, again—voila the newest cover of Just Like You Said It Would Be.
If you want to read about messy first love, movie love (God I miss going to the movies!) and falling in love with Dublin, Ireland, this might be your kind of book.