I’m working on a book proposal with war-like themes. So I called up my brother-in-law, a former poli-sci major and an encyclopedia of all things historical. Whew — a few days later I had a deluge of possible topics waiting in my in-box. I simply had to sort through and choose my favourites!

One of the most interesting parts of my non-fiction writing is the opportunity to become an expert in a strange topic, learn everything I can for six months or so, and then move on to the next topic.

I mentioned this to a dad on the sidelines of a soccer game last week and he said the same thing about his job. He’s a criminal defence attorney. He said his wife works on multi-year class-action lawsuits, but he works on a series of small files. So he learns everything he needs to know about one type of crime, then moves on.

I had no idea I had things in common with criminal defence attorneys.

In between my proposal writing sessions this week, I have plans for some strawberry-rhubarb jam making, some library visiting (Jeremy Tankard’s summer reading program illustrations are adorable), and some spot-prawn buying. I’m a little squeamish about that last one. I’ll let you know if I end the week with fingers intact!