Wow... what a year. 2024.

 

 

Wow!

What a wonderful year it has been for the South Branch Scribbler!

 

Join us today as we uncover a few facts about last year.

125000 visitors

47 guests

 Here's a few of them

Our most popular guest posts of 2024 participating creatives.

Olive Mazerolle of NB, Canada – 711 visits

Please go HERE

 A note from the author: “Over 400 books sold with my goal of helping others obtained many times over. So grateful! - Olive”

Katherine Melanie of Atlantic Canada - 560 visits

Please go HERE

Nancy Cusak of NB, Canada - 501 visits

Please go HERE

Suzanne Casey of NB, Canada - 494 visits

Please go HERE

Sally Cronin of Ireland – 373 visits

Please go HERE

 

This year we even had a visual artist as a guest.

 

Nadine Godin 0f Neguac, NB, Canada – 202 visits

Please go HERE

 

The top pages from the past but visited in 2024.

 

Artist Susan Jardine of Shediac, NB, Canada – 958 visits

Please go HERE

Author Susan Toy of Bequia, Caribbean & NFLD – 783 visits

 

Please go HERE.

A list of creatives who shared the Scribbler pages over the last year.

Ivan Holiday Arsenault. Hollay Ghadery

Susan E. Wadds. Valerie Sherrard

Jon Hurd. SC Eston

Zev Bagel. Brian Francis

Andrew MacLean. Anne Dowdall

Mark E. Shupe. Sally Cronin

A Few More.....

Chuck Bowie. Michelle MacLean

Bea Waters. Gianetta Murray

Chantal MacDonald. Kade Cook

Paige LePage. Stella MacLean

Nicola Davison. Nadine Godin

Olive Mazerolle. Kathy Shuker

Joe Mahoney. D. C. Malcolm

Louise Boulter. Rhonda Bulmer

Sandra Bunting. Tina Lalonde

Angela Wren. Raymonde Savoie

... and a few more ...

Dianne Pennell. Rick Revelle

Joanna Vander Vlugt. Sandra Woods Poulin

Diane McGyver. Suzanne Casey

Katherine Melanie. Em Whelly

Sheryl Doiron-Powers. Joe Powers

Hannah State

 

... and a few more ...

 

Personally I’ve had a great year with the introduction of my latest novel

One Bedroom Ark.

 

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I participated in another anthology with a group of eight other talented authors know as the Seasonal Collective.

Summer Paths

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In the works …

Code Name: Iron Feather 1942

Arriving Spring, 2025.

 

Camp Debert, an army base being built next door to Royal Canadian Air Force Base in Debert, Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada. Thousands of thousands of men and women will pass through on their way to Europe. Units will be mustered, weapons handed out and training for war. The contractors are still erecting buildings as fast as they can.

The new mess on the army base is partially completed until work stops when the foreman finds a dead body hanging from the rafters. Not a soldier, but an airman.

Everything is hush-hush. The commanding officer has asked for the investigation to be handled by Warrant Officer Stefan Kravchenko of the Air Force Service Police. He’s ordered to Camp Debert, immediately. Upon arrival he discovers the scene is all wrong. The medical examiner suggests it may look like a suicide, but …

 

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The Alexanders Vol 3 1926 – 1930

Fall 2025.

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Earth

An anthology from the Seasonal Collective, ten authors joining together with their short stories under the theme Earth. June, 2025.

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The Greater Moncton, Riverview & Dieppe Book Fair was held in July of 2023.

An enjoyable day with curious readers.

50 authors gathered in one place.

Fun!

Planning for the 2025 event is underway and I hope you will join us.

Same place – Riverview Lions Center

April 26, 2025 10 AM – 3 PM.

 Click on FUN! above.

 

Watch next week for the last guest of the year, we are excited to have Suzy Krause of Saskatchewan, Canada. 

 

 

Thank you everyone for visiting, reading and your comments.

The Story Behind the Story with Sally Cronin of Southern Ireland.

 

Another treat for you this week on the Scribbler. 

Sally is back to tell us about her memoir.

 

Sally has been an ardent supporter of her fellow authors and writers. On her popular website, she shares music, reviews, nutritional tips, humour, excerpts, books, author interviews and more!

She has been a welcome guest previously.

Take a peek HERE.

Read on my friends.

 

Sally Cronin is the author of eighteen books including her memoir Size Matters: Especially when you weigh 330lb first published in 2001 which followed her weight loss of 150lbs and the program she designed to achieve a healthy weight and regain her health. A programme she shared with her clients over her 26 year career as a nutritional therapist and on her blog. This has been followed by another seventeen books both fiction and non-fiction including multi-genre collections of short stories and poetry.

As an author she understands how important it is to have support in marketing books and offers a number of FREE promotional opportunities in the Café and Bookstore on her blog and across her social media.

After leading a nomadic existence exploring the world, she now lives with her husband on the coast of Southern Ireland enjoying the seasonal fluctuations in the temperature of the rain.

 

 

 

Title: Size Always Matters: Don’t be part of a statistic, start losing weight today.

Synopsis:

At age 41 in 1994 and weighing 330 lbs, Sally Cronin had two choices when she was told that she was unlikely to live to 45. Carry on eating or get her act together. She chose to study nutrition and change the way she approached the food she ate and her other lifestyle choices.

Her first book, Size Matters, told the story of her weight loss of 154 lbs and shared the programme she designed to both lose the weight and regain her health. Now, thirty years on from the start of that journey, having worked as a nutritional therapist with hundreds of clients as well as acting as a health consultant on radio for several years and on her blog, she shares an updated version of the programme. This also includes the nutrients we require to be healthy and recipes to provide our bodies with them effectively.

 

The Story Behind the Story:

Having followed many diets over my teens and 20s and 30s I reached 330lbs and was in very poor health. I decided I needed to discover more about both my body and my relation to food which led me to design a program which led to me losing 150lbs in 18 months healthily. I studied both medicine and nutrition and then qualified as a nutritional therapist, working with hundreds of clients over the last 26 years and working as a consultant in the media.

Size Always Matters brings both my own experience, my research and work with others together in a program that anyone can follow. It is not a get slim quick approach but one that lasts a lifetime.

Website: Please go HERE.

A question before you go, Sally:

Scribbler: What is the ideal spot for you when you write your stories? Music in the background or quiet. Coffee or tequila? Messy or neat?

Sally: I usually create stories, posts and books in my head first when walking and then sit down at my desktop to put it down in writing. I prefer quiet when working, I prefer tea and I would say I am semi-messy but know where everything is.

An Excerpt from Size Always Matters

Stop thinking like a fat person and start thinking like a slim one.

Start thinking and voicing the ‘when’, not ‘if’, you lose weight. Also there is a six letter word which is your nemesis…‘Should’. We use it blatantly when we want to avoid doing anything. I should lose weight, I should stop smoking, I should save money! Very wishy-washy and not going to get you over the finish line. Start using the word ‘MUST’ instead. Put some muscle behind it and get it done.

Also, stop eating for the size you are. I cannot count the number of times I was told ‘take two you’re a big girl’ or ‘have a second helping you need all the energy you can get’…. No. Actually you need to eat for the person you are going to become, not the one you have become!

 

Thanks very much Allan for having me as a guest today, it is much appreciated.

It’s our pleasure to have you back again, Sally. Thank you for being the featured guest this week. We wish you continued success with your writing.

And a Gigantic Thank You to all our visitors and readers.

Feel free to leave a comment.

We’d love to hear from you.

What a Year it has Been!

 

The last post for 2022.

 

After a three-week break, I’m glad to be back with you wonderful visitors and readers. I won’t ramble on too much about what I did or didn’t do in 2022, nor too much about 2023 other than wishing you only happy things in the future.

 

The Scribbler had a terrific year with super guests and interesting posts.

78,500 page views in 2022.

No statistics on how many stayed.

Some highlights below.

These are the five most popular:

#1 - MJ LaBeff with 1905 page views Go HERE.

#2 – Janet Sanford – 492 page views. Go HERE.

#3 – Christian Brun – 489 page views. Go HERE.

#4 - Darlene Foster – 359 page views. Go HERE.

#5 – Heather McBriarity – 328 page views. Go HERE.

 

Most popular Page views.

#1 – SHORTS with 2270 page views. Go HERE.

    #2 – About Me with 1680 page views. Go HERE.

                            #3 – Father with 1007 page views. Go HERE.

 

 

I’ve had the good fortune of publishing two novellas this year, Father & Shattered Dreams, as well as my newest novel, Code name: Iron Spear 1941. I also participated in an anthology – Winter Paths - with eight other authors. The response to my stories has been overwhelming and I am so thankful to my faithful readers and new readers who take a chance on my stories.

 

For more info, please go here – Father

Shattered Dreams

Code Name: Iron Spear 1941

Winter Paths. An anthology.

 

  THANK YOU

 

There are so many people I need to thank, and I probably missed a few but I appreciate every share, every comment, every purchase of my books.

Gloria

Allen & Gracia

Sally Cronin

Anne Smith-Nochasak

A M Mawhinney

James Fisher

Leonard Shortall

MJ LaBeff

Stephen Shortall and Therese LeBlanc

Angela Wren

Merk Scott Piper

Caleb Pirtle III

The Seasonal Collective.

Debby Geis

 

There is lots of good things to look forward in the new year. Returning guests and New Guests. Some artists as well as authors.

Sarah Butland - Author.

Susan Bernhardt - Author. 

Kayla Geitzler- Author & Poet Laureate. 

Mark Scott Piper - Author.

Sonia Nicholson - Author.

Christopher Sweet - Author.

Margaret Eaton - Author.

Susan White - Author.

Shannon Beers - Artist.

….to be continued with more fun guests.

 

 

What’s coming for 2023!

 

The Alexanders. Vol 2. 1921 – 1930.

I am working on the first draft of I hope to have it ready for summer 2023.

The Roaring Twenties. Flappers and Speakeasys. The good years before the Depression.

Dominic Alexander watches his business grow, itches to be a father but fate works against him and Maria, his wife. In his adventures, he will encounter enemies, questionable friendships. There will be good times and sad times. Dealing with a criminal element trying to disrupt his business. Issues arise which people aren’t prepared to deal with in the twenties.

 

 

Shattered Series with Jo Naylor

I am almost finished the fourth installment in the Shattered Series. Not sure what the title will be yet but I’m leaning towards Shattered Hope. The story takes place in New Zealand. Jo is nicely settled in and avoiding all possible trouble spots, but…

When a new friend explains how her sister might be in trouble, Jo can’t stop herself from getting involved. A young man from Canada is missing and assumed dead. Jo’s not alone this time either. The parents of the boy missing have asked a good friend to intervene. Drake Alexander and Jo Naylor make a formidable team. What they uncover is one of the worst crimes possible.

 

 

Spring Paths

I’m planning my short story for the next Anthology with the Seasonal Collective which is targeted for November 2023. We will have two new members joining the Collective – Gianetta Murray of Great Britain and Eden Monroe of New Brunswick.

 

 

Planned for the future:

Fifth and final installment for the Shattered Series.

A novel based on my short story, One Bedroom Ark. Go HERE.

The next Drake Alexander Adventure which will take him and his team to Africa.

 

 

Other than that, I'd like to go on a trip somewhere with my best friend, Gloria. Maybe Spain.

 

I’d like to volunteer but can’t decide. I’m giving myself until the end of January to make a commitment.

Do you volunteer anywhere? I’d love to hear about what you do and/or some suggestions.

 

Thank you again all you valuable readers and visitors. May you only have happy things happen in 2023.