Winter Blahs...

I hate winter ...which is funny since I should be somewhat used to it as a Canadian right? And one who has lived in Canada for *cough* 39 *cough* years.

I still hate it. Yuck. There are baby pictures of me in a snowsuit, crying. It's true.

I recently did 23andMe genealogy tests and I'm a mix of Fennoscandian (Viking basically) & English on my mother's side and Algonquin/Cree and French on my father's side. He's from way, way, up in northern Ontario ...like where the road ends.

Genetically speaking, I was made for winter.

I really hate winter.

However, I love me some Canadian summers. My CP is from Jamaica and she thinks our lakes are too cold in the summer. Even when it's stifling out, she thinks I was nuts launching myself into Lake Huron or Erie. Okay, I admit Lake Superior is cold, but once the numbness goes away it's quite pleasant. LOL

When I went on the Great Canadian Road Trip a couple years ago through the prairies and to Alberta, I fell in love with the west. I said to my husband, I would move here in a heartbeat. I love it.

Then he reminded me about winter. Drat.

I also, in a sad twist of fate, love the north. I'm obsessed with the north. In fact my debut book with Harlequin was set in the winter in Iqaluit, Nunavut.

I write about winter, but I still get the serious winter blahs.

I might also be the only Canadian who doesn't skate, but really you don't want to see an almost six foot woman who is dressed like Randy from a Christmas Story (because I don't like the cold) falling down on hard ice and crying much like Randy did from that same movie.



So like a smart, sunlight deprived, winter complainer I try and write stories set in the south during the winter. Last winter, I got to travel (in my mind only sadly) to Miami, Florida with my newest release Alejandro's Sexy Secret.

There is a method to my madness. My winter books get written in the summer on blistering hot days and my sunny books in the winter, when it's -40 and the wind is howling like some kind of demented banshee and end up sounding a bit like Burgess Meredith from Grumpy Old Men when people come and knock on my door. Actually, the below scene is pretty accurate to me in the winter, fair warning.



Well, I may not be made for winter, but I sure as heck love being a Canadian!

How do you fight winter blahs? Or summer blahs? I know some people prefer winter over summer. I want to know.

Born and raised just outside of Toronto, Ontario, Amy fled the big city to settle down with the country boy of her dreams.

After the birth of her second child, Amy was lucky enough to realize her life long dream of becoming a romance author. When she's not furiously typing away at her computer, she's a mom to three wonderful children who use her as a personal taxi and chef.

@ruttanamy
www.amyruttan.com