I’d like to welcome Jennifer Sommersby to the blog this week for some of her favorite (and not so favorite) summer things!

Favorite summer treat: Peaches and nectarines! I love all the delicious summer fruits (not watermelon) that come from the Interior region of BC. The biggest, juiciest peaches you’ve ever sunk your teeth into. (Make sure to have paper towels and/or wet wipes on hand for after.)

A summer treat that makes you gag: Pretty much the only thing that makes me gag is broccoli, and that’s all year long. Oh, and spaghetti squash. Any squash, really. My mother used to make this nasty spaghetti squash with a rosé-style sauce and just thinking about it … *gulp*. Let’s not think about it.

Favorite summer beverage: A deliciously cold lager or ale from a local brewery, condensation on the can or bottle, best gulped down after doing yardwork or moving furniture or something laborious that makes me sweaty and gross.

A drink that gives you a pickle face: OMG, a few weeks ago, I went to the VIP movie theater with my husband (saw the last Mission Impossible film, not realizing it was part 2—I gotta hand it to Tom Cruise—that man is nuttier than a walnut tree, but he gives EVERYTHING to his films. Really, the Last True Movie Star)—and I ordered this whisky concoction with ginger beer and a sprig of basil and a splash of berry … and it is the first time I have ever sent back a drink of any sort because I couldn’t force myself to get through it. Utterly nasty.

Best summer memory: Playing with my kids at spray parks, beaches, the local pools … their lemonade stands and “sleepovers” when they’d pile into the living room with blankets and popcorn and watch movies together. Good times.

Something you’d rather forget: Big fight with my mom that ended with a concussion and ruptured left eardrum (mine, not hers) and I drove away with my three young (and thereafter traumatized) kids. We drove five hours north on I-5 until I couldn’t go another mile and found a crappy travelers’ motel where we stopped for the night to regroup before restarting the trip home the following morning. Turns out the motel was right in the heart of cattle country in the San Joaquin Valley (VERY stinky)—I didn’t know that because we arrived in the dead of night, and I was kind of out of it. Big horseflies everywhere. And my youngest (just turned 7) tripped on the sidewalk en route to our room and ripped open her knee … that made me cry the hardest.

Your favorite thing to get from the ice cream truck: Mint chocolate chip and espresso flake, two scoops in a waffle cone. We have a local ice creamery AND a new specialty ice cream/pastry shop at the park a few blocks from our house. Talk about dangerous.

Some dessert that you wish you’d never bought: Anything lime. *shudder*

Most favorite place to write/edit in the summer: My husband (film industry sculptor of 35 years) repurposed a gazebo in our backyard into a writing shed/office for me, complete with double-paned windows, a door, a heater, the works. We also have a “catio” attached to that side of the house, and our three tuxedo cats can see me through my office’s glass-paned door from their various perches. They take turns yelling at me: “Meeeeeooooowwwwww!” Because they want me to come inside and give them cookies and love. Alas, they are in their secure catio, and I am in my office, thus dubbed the Howling Cat in their honor.

The worst place to try to write in the summer because of all the distractions: Pretty much anywhere inside my house. My three (adult) children still live here + my granddog (Canadian Grand Champion miniature longhaired Dachshund, Pippin Took + three cats + my noisy husband who is currently building a space station for some indie film in our backyard, right next to the Howling Cat, so the whole place is total chaos right now).

Favorite thing to do on a summer evening: Sit outside when it cools down and read, sip a beer, and prop my leg on my husband’s chair so he will rub my foot.

Least favorite thing about summer: I hate being hot. Also, wasps. But autumn is the Best Season Ever and we can’t have autumn without summer, so I grin and bear it (and complain the whole time).

The thing you like most about being a writer: Living countless lives through my characters and their adventures.

The thing you like least about being a writer: How hard it is to make money in publishing. It’s bullshit that the world turns to the arts for solace, comfort, entertainment—movies, books, music, etc.—during the hard times (COVID, anyone?), but then there is SO little funding available for arts programs and so much piracy, as if people are entitled to art without compensation to the creatives. I could rail on about this for days.

Things you will run to the store for in the middle of the night: Advil or other fever reducer. Ice cream. Chocolate. LOL, and before last year, feminine hygiene.

Things you never put on your shopping list: Broccoli. (Also liver. Or pork chops. Pigs are smart. Oh, and no crab because, although I am a good Oregonian who once enjoyed Dungeness crab during summer camping trips, my husband, early in our marriage, casually mentioned that crab and lobster are basically giant insects of the sea and now I can’t get past it.)

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life: People reading and ENJOYING my work—like the lady at an in-person book signing who told me Must Love Otters and Hollie Porter Builds a Raft got her through her husband’s months-long cancer battle. Wow.

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over: Accepting the Random House US offer for my YA debut instead of waiting for the Canadian publisher to finish edits before looking for a US home. Huge regret. OH, also trusting the wrong people. Snakes everywhere, people. Pay attention.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Moved to Canada with my Canadian husband and two young children, moving into a house we’d only seen online and had friends vet for us before signing the lease.

Something you chickened out from doing: Taking up Dr. Faiola when he offered to sponsor me through medical school. I wish I’d had more confidence in myself back then. I would’ve made a great doctor. Now I just play one in my books.

About Jenn:

Jennifer Sommersby is a freelance editor, devoted bibliophile and Superman freak, and author of thirteen books and three novellas (written under Sommersby and Eliza Gordon), including award-winning YA and rom-com titles. Through her company SGA Books, she supports indie authors with editorial services, publishing resources, and hands-on teaching, as well as branding, design, and custom merch through Bard & Bloom. In 2025, she joined Pulp Literature Press as Head of Novel Acquisitions to revitalize their fiction line, focusing on edgy and emotionally resonant commercial and genre fiction. Trans rights are human rights.

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