Welcome to Words, Wisdom & Conversation ~ created by award-winning thriller author Karen Sommerville (writing under Karen Dodd) 🎖️
Join 2,500+ thoughtful readers from every part of the globe. We also have a growing community of those of us who are at “a certain age” who want to be part of an intimate and supportive community of paying members.
👩🦳 Who am I?
Hello, I’m Karen Sommerville. I live in a tiny seaside village on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. I’m a full-time writer of international intrigue & suspense novels and this Substack, Words, Wisdom & Conversation. I love writing thrillers but it’s a slow, solitary process. Here, I can write about what I want, when I want, from wherever I want. It works perfectly with my love of travel, combined with an inquisitive mind. Here’s the longer version if you’re interested.1
My second book, Scare Away the Dark won the Chanticleer CLUE Award (2018) and my books continue to enjoy 4- and 5-star reviews. I’m currently revising my fourth novel and drafting a fifth.
Here, I mainly write about how our creativity, our lifestyle, our priorities—and even the books and entertainment we consume—tend to change when we get into our 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond. I write (and invite you to join the conversation) about the joys, challenges, and how to stay relevent as we navigate our senior years. I still feel young and curious. Do you?
How does this newsletter work?
2500+ readers enjoy Words, Wisdom & Conversation. To get the most out of this platform, please consider signing up to be a paying member (for around $1.50 a week, less than a mediocre cup of coffee!) as I only send out one free newsletter a month. I’d love it if you’d come over and introduce yourself here.
If you become a paying member, here’s what you can expect:
— all my deep dives on writing/creativity/growing and nurturing yourself in our “latter chapter of life”
— the full archive of all my past posts
— guest articles from people with whom I think you’ll resonate (people like us:>)
— Sunday's Curation Chronicles: a curated list of pods, links, books and films I’m enjoying
— Wise Wednesdays Unleashed: where we share our collective wisdom
— book giveaways
— exclusive invitations
— discounts on my books
You’ll also be supporting all the work I do and allowing this newsletter to keep going. Here’s 10% off if you’d like to join the community today. See you there! Come and intro yourself here if you feel comfortable. I’d love to meet you!
ps. Any links to book recommendations via Bookshop.org are affiliate links, which means I will earn a commission without it costing you anything extra.
Why did you start this newsletter?
I’ve been sending a monthly newsletter out to readers of my suspense/thrillers since shortly after my first book came out in 2013. I always received a lot of individual replies but as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t keep up with the emails. I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if other people could contribute to the conversation and see everyone’s comments in one place? Then I was introduced to Substack.
I love it here. I’ve always had a bit of a dodgy relationship with social media. As an author, I felt obligated to be on Instagram and Facebook . I still have a presence there, but I got frustrated with who my posts were shown to (or not) and the lack of quality engagement. Here on Substack, it feels like more of a community. Readers are more engaged and support each other. I’ve met some wonderful people and I truly enjoy writing these posts for you.
Why “Words, Wisdom & Conversation”?
As a still vibrant and creative woman of “a certain age,” Words, Wisdom & Conversation allows me to indulge my curiosity and explore how collectively, we navigate the changes necessary to adapt to the world we live in. Our latter chapters of life can be joyful, but also enormously challenging. It can be messy. It can be painful. But together, I truly believe we are all wise in different ways and we can learn from each other—if we talk to each other.
So, that’s why I called this newsletter Words, Wisdom & Conversation. I’m happy to explore many subjects, but I will mainly be starting conversation about books, aging well, joys and challenges we face in our “mature” years.
Can I pitch a guest article for Words, Wisdom & Conversation?
Absolutely! While I’ll assume that you enjoy my writing—or you wouldn’t be here—I think it’s always nice to get someone else’s perspective on issues that affect us. So, if you have something compelling that you’d like to express in a 500-word article, send your idea, title and a one-paragraph description of your piece to krdodd@krdodd.com. Please keep in mind that I only accept articles that focus on the joys and challenges of aging, wellbeing and creativity in your 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. If you read my articles, I’m confident you’ll get a flavour for the type of guest posts I’m looking for.
A bit more about me:
As a fiction author who wasn’t published until I was almost 60 (I’m now 70) I have a passion for encouraging other “older” creatives to pursue their dreams. I would have said “mature” creatives, but I’m not sure that I’ve grown up yet, so oft times I wouldn’t consider myself mature!
My novels allow me to combine my love of travel with a passion for intricately-plotted stories about corruption, money-laundering and of course, murder. My first novel, DEADLY SWITCH: A Stone Suspense, is set in Vancouver, BC and Calabria, Italy. It’s about Jordan Stone, a female investigative reporter who is mysteriously summoned to her estranged father’s home, only to find a stranger’s dead body in his bed. Her quest to prove her father innocent of murder and embezzlement takes her to the beautiful but dark underbelly of Southern Italy.
The feedback and reviews from readers of that book ignited a passion within me of writing the types of thrillers I like to read. Apparently, they also resonate with others—who are always asking, “When is your next book coming out?”
If you’d to find out more about this and my other books, you can:
— Follow my website here; there’s 20% off waiting for you for any of the books there!
— Follow my author’s page on Facebook here
— Follow me on Instagram here.
As the name of this publication suggests, your thoughts and views make this more of a Conversation, so please leave your thoughts in the comments section below. I know your time is valuable, so I thank you for being here and for subscribing!
Words, Women & Conversation by Karen Sommerville is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
And if you’re interested in my always free monthly newsletter, with shorter snippets of my writing life, book recommendations, giveaways, and more, you can subscribe here.
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Longer version: I love writing and I’m also a voracious reader—not just of thrillers, but of many different genres. I always have at least one fiction and one non-fiction book (memoir, biography, self-help) on the go at any given time. I get my money’s worth from my library membership but I’m incapable of passing by the for sale bin that they sneakily place near the coffee bar. Did I mention I’m a coffee addict? I try to adhere to the rule of one book in, two books out (of my home library) but that seldom works. I can do much more financial damage in a bookstore than in a clothing store. Much more!
While I’m definitely an introvert, I enjoy the company of others, but in small groups where I can have real conversations. I hate large parties and noisy places. I love living in a tiny seaside village where we have 42 hiking trails to walk our English Cream Golden Retriever, Gracie. At the same time, I like that we’re close to a vibrant city (Vancouver) with lots of restaurants and cultural events.
A couple of years before Covid, I stopped colouring my hair and found that I loved what was beneath decades of hair dye. I actually had no idea what my natural colour was. With shoulder-length silver hair, I now embrace wearing soft dove greys, winter whites and the occasional pop of pink. I feel softer, more natural than I did when I coloured my hair. I like experimenting with makeup, so I try to keep myself from looking “beige.” I love writing on the first page of a brand new journal. It brings back (mostly) fond memories of starting a shiny new notebook in school. Besides my personal journals, each of my novels gets a different coloured Leuchitturm1917 notebook. I’m on a mauve one for Book 4.
I write every weekday so my weekends are sacrosanct (although I do write a regular post here on Substack on Sundays). Friday is always take-out night (“takeaway” if you’re in the UK). It used to be sushi but as my husband is currently going through chemo and can’t have anything raw, we alternate between Indian, Thai and pizza. All I care about is that I don’t have to cook it! I love reading in the bath with a glass of wine, having friends over for appies and drinks—dinner, if I really like them. While we’re going through a challenging time with my husband’s cancer, I’m content. I love my life and the people in the village in which I’ve lived for 28 years. Much as I enjoy traveling, I’m always ready to come home. I can’t really imagine a better life. I’m very grateful. 🩶
