Walking Walrus Cafe: Author's POV

I got the idea for Walking Walrus Cafe from a dream. My kids and I used to get ice cream every summer at this beachfront restaurant called the Blue Parrot which was located on the shores of Okanagan Lake in the town of Peachland. When the kids had grown, the restaurant went up for sale, and I briefly considered purchasing it. I have worked in many restaurants over the years, so I could have done it, but the truth is, I'd rather write about a restaurant than try to make a success of one. In my dream, though, I was the owner of the restaurant, and I was walking on the waterfront with a walrus, having a chat. I knew I had to hurry home because my children were coming to visit, and I had to get my apartment above the cafe ready for their visit.

Not too much of the dream made a lot of sense, but it did give me the idea, the location, and the name of the cafe for my series. That, combined with my personal experiences working in restaurants and my love for the town of Peachland, sparked this series.

So, the town is real, the main street along the waterfront is real, BEEPS is real, the Rubber Ducky Race is real, the band Von Reason is real, the locations in Penticton are real and the Summerland Waterfront Resort is real. The rest is made up. Peachland, for example, does not have its own police force. It is too small. There is no florist shop on the main drag, but there are all kinds of quaint little stores there, so in theory, a florist shop would work.

There is only one character in the story that is 'real.' Well, ish. That is Garry. In the book, Garry is homeless, and Monya makes sure he gets fed. One of my first jobs after high school graduation was playing piano and serving meals at a gospel mission soup kitchen. I came from an upper-middle-class background, but I had socially conscious, caring parents. I have literally seen my father take the leather jacket off his back and give it to a homeless person. Because of those two parts of my life, I've always been concerned about homelessness. I don't have solutions, as homelessness is a complicated issue, but I always want to bring awareness to the issue and remind everyone that these are people with intrinsic human worth.

So, "Garry" really was a man I saw sitting outside the Blue Parrott under some hanging floral baskets. He was sitting on a bench outside of the patio, but he was watching what was going on with the restaurant. He had the blue of the lake to his back, long silver hair, a scruffy beard, and a bright red bandana tied around his hair. He made a stunning picture, so from my spot on the patio, I surreptitiously snapped a photo. This was before the days of cell phones, so I had to have the photo developed, and I no longer have it, but the image is stamped on my memory. That man, who I never spoke with, became the basis for the character I named Garry. I hope his life ended better than my character's life.

I liked writing the Walking Walrus Cafe. The cops in the cafe were a tribute to a group of regulars at one of the restaurants where I was employed. I actually was part of a single mom's meal club -- although I wasn't a teenager at the time, nor did I live on the street. I also grew up with a father who was a painter plus I have a degree in Fine Arts, so I love art. In the book, there is a painting by Benjamin Chee Chee mentioned. I actually have a small print of that painting in my office. So, for this book, there were so many elements that -- with adjustments -- came from my direct experiences. Write what you know. In this case, that made writing Walking Walrus Cafe a lot of fun.

This book has sold the most copies of all my books, and it has been reviewed more than any other book I have written. With the exception of one two-star review where the reviewer freely admitted to not being a fan of romance, most of those were five-star reviews. I've actually read this one a couple of times because I ultimately intend to turn this one into an audiobook, and I have liked it every time. This time, though, I loved the first chapter, then didn't fully get into the next several chapters. I kept being interrupted, so I think that was why, since I never experienced that previously, and none of the reviews mention others having this experience. That said, from a technical point of view, I did notice that there are a lot of long sentences in this book. In theory, the sentences could have been tightened up and shortened in places.

I also noticed that there were a lot of characters to introduce since this was the start of a series, but since the cafe really is designed as a town hub of sorts, it actually became fairly easy to bring them all into the storyline organically. I also had an interesting reaction to writing a story about a middle-aged couple. It felt like writing overt sex scenes for this couple was not the way to go. In the Walking Walrus, we see some of the chemistry between Brett and Monya, but we don't actually have a full bedroom scene between them on the page. Since there are also several twenty-somethings in the book whose stories will be told in subsequent novels, there was a bit of a risque interaction between Nina (Monya's daughter) and a man she picks up in a bar.

Overall, when I reread this book, I felt that it had been well-written, held my attention, felt genuine and charming, was well-paced, and the chemistry between this couple felt satisfying and made me smile. It also, on a small scale, spoke to an issue near and dear to my heart -- homelessness. In conclusion, as an author, this story is a win, and now I'm excited to read and write more books in the series.