Right here, right now you’re asking: What drivel is this? What are LORI’S STORIES and why am I reading them? Trust me, I’m right there with you.
My answer is entirely honest: No freaking idea. I am a writer and a journalist, I tell stories for a living but also for my well-being. My stories are filled with humor and curiosity, anxiety and melancholy, and if I were you I’d turn back now before, inevitably, you bum-rush outta here in horror of reading more drivel.
Or is it drivel-iciousness? I wonder.
I began this newsletter because I have a book launching soon, a work of fiction—more on that below—and I want to share its evolution. How did it come into the world? What has been the process? What are the stories it’s based upon? And most of all, why is this fictional story (of love and loss and funny stuff) so captivating to me, and hopefully to others?
“If I were you I’d turn back now before, inevitably, you bum-rush outta here in horror of reading more drivel.”
My goal HERE is to tell you a story or two, never too long, one or two paragraphs. I’ll link them in with my fiction, or whatever I might be working on. And you, as creatives, can share your thoughts, humor, curiosity, whatever. I hope you do. Because, for me, it’s our stories that weave us together.
Now, the Novel
It’s titled Summers with Miss Elizabeth. Coming soon, it’s set on a blue Canadian lake in summertime—over many summertimes—and it’s about a boy called Colin and his guardian, Miss Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Wynward is a wealthy American industrialista, a champagne-swilling iron lady, a force-to-be-reckoned-with, who spends every summer in a big, old, beautiful cottage on a lake in Muskoka, Canada’s equivalent of The Hamptons. She takes Colin under her wing when he’s orphaned, and she raises him along with her own two equally beautiful-but-lost, achingly lovely grandchildren…
Until…
Until tragedy strikes, the Wynward family is devastated, and Colin, the boy, is left to pick up the pieces. In short, the story is this: The Wynwards were meant to save the boy. But in the end it’s the boy who saves the Wynwards.
Sound good? I hope so. It’s a summertime read filled with sailboats and parties and swimming, like the kind written by bestselling authors Elin Hilderbrand and Carly Fortune. Summers with Miss Elizabeth is meant to make you laugh and cry, all in the same novel. And its essence will be right here, in LORI’S STORIES.
So please, read along. Sign up or this free newsletter. I’ll be gratefule and glad to have you with me. STAY TUNED. Up next from Lori: The Origin Story.
Lori Knowles is an journalist, author and co-editor of Ski Canada magazine. Instagram: @LoriKnowles_Author
I was fortunate to be an advanced reader for Summers with Miss Elizabeth. The story, with its twists and turns, is a delightful escape. The characters are alive on the page and for days after, I couldn't stop thinking about them.
I know I’m going to laugh out loud! Anything I’ve read of yours is so funny!