When you have a bestselling book (2013’s You Might Be From Nova Scotia If …), there is a temptation to write a sequel right away. I didn’t. I thought I said everything in the first book.

But as I travelled the province for the next few years, I kept seeing things I missed. The stuff that makes us unique surrounds us every day.

Whether I was in Bridgewater or Lunenburg in the summer, or taking my kids to soccer or ringette in Berwick or Cape Breton, visiting family in New Glasgow or Kentville, I kept getting inspired by things I saw or people I met. I slowly started accumulating another book.

Like the first book, this book is less about places and more about people, the people of Nova Scotia.

I didn’t want to fall back on stereotypes. Writing a book of stereotypes is easy. Capturing the common experiences of a diverse population is hard. We are not a province just of fishermen and longshoremen anymore, despite what our tourism advertisements might portray. We are a modern society with modern problems that still has a close connection to the sea. And, more importantly, we have close connections to each other.