Category: pysanky

I got my first advance copy of my Dear Canada novel, Prisoners in the Promised Land, on Tuesday.

I drove in to Toronto and my editor took me out for lunch and gave it to me. It is beautiful!!! It won’t be officially released until October 1, but the rest of the advance copies should be coming in shortly.

My pencil sketches turned out surprisingly well, and I LOVE the red cover and ribbon and the girl on the cover is so perfect.This novel was the most intensive one I have ever worked on in terms of editing, historical nit-picking, fact-checking, etc, but I am thrilled with the outcome.

On the spur of the moment on holiday Monday, I decided to make a Ukrainian Easter egg for my editor, seeing as they feature in the story. I only had omega 3 eggs, with a stamping in blue saying “omega 3” but I didn’t want to get dressed and go to the store so I risked removing the stamping with Windex. And then I couldn’t find my trusty electric kistka so had to use the old fashioned kistkas with a candle. Halfway through I thought I’d better make one for the publisher too. They both turned out beautifully! I think I’ll stick to the old kistkas and maybe always use omega 3 eggs. Ha!

Here they are:

And here’s one that I did a few months ago: