Author Archives: Shelley Hrdlitschka

Car Shopping Dilemma

I’m ready for a new car. I want to purchase a ‘green’ car that is right for my lifestyle. I know that giving up a car completely is the greenest option, but not really a choice for me as public transit doesn’t quite reach where I live. Smart Car

Hybrid? Electric? Smart Car? I’ve considered each of these options, weighed the pros and cons and right now I’m leaning towards the Smart Car. 99% of the  time I’m alone in the car so I don’t need a backseat. I rarely leave the city. It’s very fuel-efficient. The price is right.  It’s cute. Apparently it’s safe. It’s calling my name…

Jane Goodall’s Message of Hope

chimp motherJane GoodallJane Goodall turns 80 next week, yet she continues to give 300+ presentations around the world each year. She is my absolute hero for the work she has done with the chimpanzees in Gombe, but more importantly with her work as a conservationist. I saw her speak at the Vancouver Orpheum last night. After initially relating the story of her lost luggage that has yet to catch up with her she began to share her stories of living among the chimps in Africa.

When Jane began to speak the entire audience leaned forward, captivated.  In her soft British accent she spoke of the destruction of the chimpanzee habitat in Africa, as well as environmental concerns around the world. She wondered how we can send men into space, spacecraft to mars, but still allow the natural state of our planet to be destroyed. She said, “We have lost our wisdom… there has been a disconnect between the head and the heart.”

A disconnect. How profoundly true.

Continue reading →

Real Men Shoot With Cameras

Photo credit: http://walkingwiththealligators.wordpress.com/

“Trophy hunting is not about obtaining wild meat in a sustainable, environmentally sound way. It’s about killing large predators for the purpose of self-gratification and self-aggrandizement.” (The Vancouver Sun)

I don’t get it. Grizzly bears have a ‘special concern’ designation in Canada, they’re threatened in the US and yet trophy hunting is still legal here in BC. What’s with that? And what kind of ‘trophy’ is a grizzly bear head anyway?

It’s not the economic benefits… bear-viewing draws significantly more tourists to our province each year than bear-hunting.  We recoil in horror when we hear of rhinos and elephants being slaughtered for their tusks, but do we boycott establishments that hang bear or moose heads on their walls?

Let’s show the world that we are a province that treasures our wildlife. Ban trophy hunting now, and promote bear-viewing. Shoot wildlife with cameras.

Most Stolen Library Book

dancingnakedA few years ago a couple teacher librarians in Ontario told me that I ‘won the prize’ for being the author with the title most likely to be stolen from their school libraries. That book was Dancing Naked.

Today I was reminded by a school librarian in Nanaimo, BC, that Dancing Naked was the book most often stolen out of her library too.

I don’t condone stealing library books. Absolutely not.

emarrassed chimpThat said, I’m embarrassed to admit how much this little honour pleases me.

Successful Writers Avoid Crazymakers

drama-queen“To become a successful writer you have to do two things. First, you have to toss your TV out the window. Second, you have to marry someone rich.”

These are the words of my first creative writing teacher.

It was good advice, especially the TV part, but I think he could have added one more item to the list. Avoid Crazymakers.

Julie Cameron, in her book, The Artist’s Way, describes Crazymakers as “those personalities that create storm centers. They are often charismatic, frequently charming, highly inventive, and powerfully persuasive. And,” she adds, “for the creative person in their vicinity, they are enormously destructive. You know the type: charismatic but out of control, long on problems and short on solutions.”

In short, they will sabotage your writing time. Continue reading →

“Chimps freed from medical trials”

chimp motherSo reads a headline in the Vancouver Sun today.

This means pharmaceutical companies will stop using chimpanzees as test dummies to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of medicines and cosmetics, practises that are horribly cruel.

Apparently they are switching to alternative types of testing.

All I can say is…

  Hallelujah!!!!

 And it’s about damn time.

Thick Skin or Stronger Heart?


Following are two Goodreads reviews of my book, Sister Wife.

1. “This is not a young adult book. I was DISGUSTED when I read this. A thirteen year old girl DESIRED to have sex/do wifely things with an old guy with cracked lips and like no hair? If you are like me and imagine yourself as the characters, this is a terrible book to read. I hated reading about how the old guy had sex with Celeste.” (one star)

2. “Unable to put the book down, I read it in a single sitting. Written with superb clarity, Hrdlitschka really delved deeply into the obsessively passionate minds of young girls. After watching Big Love on HBO, I have been interested in intentional communities, plural wives, and what the minds of young women must be when set to marry men the same ages as their fathers. Sister Wife is a wonderfully honest and brave account of the diversity of American life. Overall, I wish that I could read it all over again.” (5 stars)

It’s hard to believe these two readers were reviewing the same book. Granted, these are not professional reviews, and the writers are likely very different ages, but still…

There was a time, early in my writing life, where I took reviews of my books way too seriously. A good review made me smile foolishly for days while a bad one would send me to my bed, my mood swinging wildly between despair at my hopeless writing skills (I’ll never write again!) and anger at the ‘stupid’ reviewer (what did he/she know anyway?)

The first review I saw of my book Dancing Naked was in a professional review journal and got a Not Recommended rating. I really did toy with giving up writing for good after seeing that. However that book went on to earn more honours and sell more copies than any of my other titles. As well, I have a binder bursting its seams with letters from readers who wrote to tell me how much the book meant to them, how life-changing it was. This is when I realized that there was a massive disconnect between what the reviewer said and what my intended audience thought.

There’s a crazy tendency by almost all authors (the ones I know, anyway) to remember – with painful clarity – the negative reviews, or even one negative critique in an otherwise good review. The glowing reviews are forgotten much more quickly in the same way we tend to hold onto personal criticisms longer than compliments.thick skin 3

My advice to new authors would be to read the reviews, decide which comments have merit and disregard the rest. After all, the next reviewer may love exactly what the last one hated.

As well I only review books that I’ve loved, with the idea of promoting books that I think are worthy of the time it takes to read them. As for the books I don’t like? I give them away and quickly forget about them.