Barbara Emodi | Updates

How to be an Older Woman for Beginners

Barbara Emodi — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 06:29:47 -0500

I also write a Substack on the positive and contemplative benefits of life as it advances. It's free to subscribe. Check out my latest post.

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Article published in Threads magazine #233 : "Sew a Versatile Capsule Wardrobe for Travel."

Barbara Emodi — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Two weeks, One carry-on. All handmade.

https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2026/01/02/sew-a-versatile-capsule-wardrobe-for-travel

Really enjoyed sewing for and writing this and good to be a contributor at Threads again. Simple patterns, new age fabrics and a sense of humor and adventure required!

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Why I wrote this book

Barbara Emodi — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Published in the Miramichi Reader February 21, 2026

https://miramichireader.ca/2026/02/why-i-wrote-this-book-issue-57/

Barbara Emodi, author of Crafting a Cold Case (C&T Publishing, October 2025)

I write cozy mysteries set in Nova Scotia. I try hard to make the characters and setting real and representative. The best compliment any local reader can give me is “Oh your book made me laugh. So true.”

The funny thing though is that most of my readers live outside the country. Europe, the U.S., even Japan and South America. For some reason, my Gasper’s Cove Crafters books have even found readers in Australia and New Zealand. My publisher says the rest of the world thinks Nova Scotia is “exotic.” That appears to be true. This past year, I even heard from Southern Hemisphere readers who wanted more snow.

This got me thinking. The Canadian winter is part of my life story, as it is my characters’. As a result Crafting a Cold Case is about aspects of the season that are normal for us, but unusual for those who don’t live here.

Pipes that freeze. Snowplows. The bread bags my mother put in our boots to keep our feet dry. The girl in high school who had her nylon stockings freeze right into her skin. How we plan trips around the weather report. Anti-freeze in the car. Letting it warm up before we leave the driveway. I had so much material for this book, and I love the idea that some reader in Queensland, Australia, will write to tell me what exciting lives we live here.

And we do. Which is why of all the books in this continuing series, Crafting a Cold Case might just be my favourite.

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About writing

Barbara Emodi — Fri, 8 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The first rule of writing is not to try to sound like a writer. Sound like yourself. I learned this from teaching creative non-fiction at a university. The students who dashed off a quick couple of paragraphs to get an assignment done produced far more authentic work than those who tried hard to do "real writing."

What does that look like?

If you don't use a word in your speech, maybe it is not a natural, and therefore the best choice, for your text.

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Barbara Reading the first chapters of the Gasper's Cove series

Barbara Emodi — Fri, 8 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My YouTube channel. Sewing how-tos and readings from my cozy mysteries.

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Pre-order alert! New Release

Barbara Emodi — Fri, 8 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

October 25 is a big day for me! The release of Crafting a Cold Case. Book 6 in the Gasper's Crafters Mysteries

The long, frigid winters of Nova Scotia are perfect for crafting—but when a once-in-a-lifetime snowstorm cuts off Gasper’s Cove Island from the mainland, Valerie Rankin and her group of crafters settle in to weather the isolation with needles, fabric, yarn, and determination. As they stitch their way through the dark days, the storm unearths more than snowdrifts—long-buried secrets resurface, and an unsolved murder comes back to haunt the tiny community. With no one else to turn to, the crafters must unravel the threads of deception before the past traps them in its deadly grip.

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