Hello Friends. I’m Shelley Leedahl, a multi-genre writer in lovely Ladysmith on Vancouver Island, and this is Season 3 of my literary podcast, Something Like Love. 

I’ve always loved to explore, so I’m feeling the pain during these restrictive, pandemic times, and thus have decided to dedicate Season 3 to travel and exploration through poetry, fiction, and essays. 

You’re warmly invited to join me each week on international adventures from my past, and I’ll share some Canadian locales, too. I also promote other writers' work and – because I just can’t help myself – I add a dash of music to the mix, too    

No passports required, no quarantine necessary. You don’t even need to buckle in. Let’s … just … do … this. 

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My work often centres around a strong sense of place, and I’ve done much of my writing at retreats in Canada, the US, Mexico, and Europe. Back in the day, when I lived two provinces to the east, I sometimes used my parents’ former home at Manitou Beach, Saskatchewan, as a writing retreat, and it’s there that I wrote the short story "The Land of Healing Waters."

It’s a fictional story set at the popular mineral spa in that iconic prairie community, and it’s the final story in my collection Orchestra of the Lost Steps, published by Thistledown Press. In this episode I introduce you to quiet, widowed Nona, and her new friend, effervescent Chris.

 My parents now live in Watrous, a few miles down the highway from Manitou Beach. I’ve dedicated  this episode to them, and I kick it off with "The Tennessee Waltz ".
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This show is written, read and produced by me, Shelley Leedahl, but I occasionally have a little help. Huge thanks to Peter Mutafov for his lovely contribution with the violin this week, and equally large thanks to Jeanne Marie de Moissac from Biggar, SK, who reads her prairie-set poem,  "A Mixing," from her book Slow Curve. 

If you've enjoyed this show, please share it with someone, and thank you, from all the corners of my heart, for listening.