This is not only the setting in my new middle-grade novel, Loon Cove Summer, but many of our real-life events are chronicled in it such as …
1. The hard work and challenges in managing a campground.
2. Lake life and being immersed in the natural landscape.
3. How quickly my dad realized he’d been duped and the person who sold him the campground used fake tax returns showing a profit (particularly hard for my dad whose career had been in the financial world as a comptroller).
4. To make a living, my dad had to take an accounting job hours away in Albany, New York, where he lived in a motel during the week for an entire year and came home weekends to work the campground—leaving me and my mom to run it during the week (ok, mostly my mom).
In real life, we ended up selling the campground back to the bank for just $1 and walked away with nothing to start over again in Upstate New York. My mom insisted we commandeer the campground’s big old Ford truck with wooden sides and so we drove it to our new home in New York. The sheriff came looking for it—and we hid it in our back field. He was NOT getting that truck after all we’d lost (don’t mess with my mom!).
I’ve never shared this story before, but this book’s journey was so personal to me that I felt compelled to tell it now. In Loon Cove Summer, I conjured a much happier ending for Sarah and her family (one I wish we could have had).
Here are some photos of my dad at the campground on his “working weekends” and fishing on the lake, something he loved to do and shared with me—along with his resilience. From him, I learned that everything will be okay if you decide to figure it out and there is power in starting over. Thanks Dad. I miss you so much and wish you were here now to revisit our campground together.
This quote from Sarah in Loon Cove Summer, comes from what my dad taught me.
You can’t get lost. You take yourself with you wherever you go.
In my older years I found this to be a comforting truth. No matter the journey, there you are. Showing up. Learning. Letting go. Evolving. Finding your way. Trusting yourself. And all the while, you’re not alone. You become the hero you need.
Right now, I’m grateful to be spending a month at my friend and author Kathryn Craft’s lake house in the North Country of New York, not far from Canada. I come here each year to retreat.
The lake is everywhere. Calming and soothing. Everchanging with the weather. Alive and colorful with rich hues, a million sparkles glimmering on it from the sun. The moving water is so much bigger than me. I get lost in it, endlessly drifting in its coves. Lulled by soft waves that tug and pull as I witness, in a trance, the loon and osprey and bald eagle.
I’d just witnessed the magic of my first Snowy Owl.
As a volunteer with bird ambassadors for the National Audubon Society, I’ve been in the presence of Red-Tailed Hawks, Harris’s Hawks, and Great Horned Owls. The Snowy Owl is bigger than any of these other raptors as the heaviest owl in North America.
Snowy owl facts:
- They spend summers far north of the Arctic Circle hunting lemmings, ptarmigan, Arctic hares, mice, ducks, and seabirds.
- Males are mostly white while females have a mix of white and black bars.
- Unlike most owls, Snowy Owls are diurnal. They hunt all hours during the continuous daylight of an Arctic summer.
- They can migrate as far south as the northern United States for winter due to declining prey populations in the Arctic.
- They are heavy due to their many feathers to keep them warm in the far north and have fluffy feather pillows covering their feet.
- Snowy Owls lost 64% of their population from 1976-2016 and are considered vulnerable.
See this beautiful owl up close and learn more in this video:
AND HERE’S SOME BOOKISH NEWS…
AWARD NEWS!
CALLING ALL EDUCATORS!
Please reach out to see how we can partner together to create an engaging and inspirational experience for your students! See my school visit page.
It’s so fantastic to see that my upcoming middle-grade novel The Secret Winners Club is available for pre-order! It’s fun to watch it pop up on bookshops even though it doesn’t release until March 3rd, 2026.
What’s in it?
- 3 kids with visible autoimmune issues (like me!)
- Swim club
- Junkbots
- Theater + a fave musical of mine! hint: it’s used to style a ducktail
- Plotting and secrets (of course!)
1st Rule of The Secret Winners Club: Do whatever it takes …
You can read more here and pre-order here.
Happy fall!
XXOO
Donna