The Hangman

I have finished re-reading Body Perfect and now I am ready to start the revisions. It was exciting to read the story again after about six months hiatus as we finished Madelaine. From the beginning Liz has said that this could be a series. The characters are strong and could just as well move on to the their next case with no problem at all. I did not find much I wanted to change in the story and not much grammar and typo errors. We will see what my partner says and start work on the conclusion with a natural move to the next in the series.

What a learning curve this has been for both of us. I subscribe to oodles of magazines on writing and search the internet. Of course my library is full of help from different authors and editors but I find I learn the most from the books that I enjoy and now try to emulate.

The nominations for the Arthur Ellis Award. (Arthur Ellis is the nom de travail of Canada's former official hangman.) These awards are for the best crime novel in Canada and I am excited about three of them as I have met them personally at one time or another.

Louise Penny who we hope to chat with at the conference. She is nominated for her latest book " The Murder Stone". Wonderful book in the Armande Gamache series.

Linwood Barclay is a former Toronto Star humorist. He has been nominated for his second stand alone thriller called "To close to Home". His previous work was called "No time for Goodbye"and was the best selling novel in Britain in 2008. I will try and read his latest book before the conference. He was a speaker at the Elora Festival where I first met Louise Penny.

The other author is Maureen Jennings. I met Maureen at "Word on the Street". A super festival that they hold at Queens Park every summer where you can listen, meet and greet all your favourite authors and find all things literary. Maureen was manning a table with a slew of books all with her name on them. I bought one that looked interesting and asked some inane questions like, "How long have you been writing". Well it should have been obvious as she was very prolific. I was not familiar with her work. When I was at home that evening settling down to watch some television a series came on I had not seen before. It was the "Murdoch Mysteries".
Maureen is their creator.
Good luck to all of them.

Talk soon,
Pam

Sloughing off Slothfulness!

Slothful says she…well here’s my weekend’s activities.

Yesterday saw me off to the bank at 9 a.m. to take care of some paperwork. Then it was off to work for 4 hours of overtime. Sadly the 4 hours made only the smallest of dents in the volume of work awaiting us tomorrow. On Friday I likened the load to us swimming upstream in quicksand. While others have been loaned to us from various departments to help out, it still becomes so overwhelming to think we may never get on top of the volume of applications which need attending to!

I arrived back home just after 3 pm and without hesitation made my own dent…on my couch, where I drifted off almost immediately into blessed slumber! Awoke, took care of several loads of laundry; some vacuuming and dusting also cried out for attention. And then it was more sofa time. When I finally turned on the TV I realized I had been missing out on a Law and Order marathon day! One of my favourite television series, I catch it whenever I can. So after a healthy dose of the fictional workings of what man is capable of inflicting upon his fellow human (or maybe NOT so fictional after all) it was off to bed.

This morning I attended Church, afterwards went for lunch at a favourite restaurant overlooking the water and then back home. Put my laundry away…and wonder of wonders even ironed! In between, I have been tidying up Madelaine…we will be taking the story along on a travel drive when we attend the conference in June so want it in tip top, ready to go, shape. Because of course, surely there will be a connection made and a full manuscript needed at a moment's notice!

And now as Sunday evening draws to a close, the thought of work once again intrudes on all other thoughts. It will be another very busy week, both at work and personally. Never enough hours in the day to get through it all. At least I have started another of my famous lists to prepare for our Bloody Words Conference – what to take and what needs to be purchased!

Well, do have a good week! I’ll be back again, but probably not before my partner. She may feel she has been slothful, but in reality, we all need a good dose of that at times.

Cheers!
Liz

Sloppy and Slothful

I have been looking for a word that describes my state of being today.The best word to describe me is slothful.The dictionary says...disinclined to work...lazy. Yes, that describes me to a tee.
If it was not so late in the day I would have a nap but then I would never sleep tonight.

Gazing out the window onto a perfectly lovely Spring day just being slothful, watching fat squirrels chase each other up and down trees and loads of birds making a racket and fighting, (I think those squirrels got fat on the walnuts I had left over from baking,) My husband fed them over the winter. Cute little rodents but rodents they are. They had better leave my one and only tulip bulb that has just shown up. They have enjoyed the last bulb as I don't intend to plant any more.

I love gardens and flowers but .....it's so much work. My lilac and forsythia are in bud and my perennial beds are sprouting green shoots. Sounds like I know what I am talking about but that is about the extent of my repertoire. I do recognize roses and pansies and such but I am keen to keep planting perennials as they keep coming back for more sunshine every year.

To go along with the slothfulness, I am wearing....what can I say. I have been praying no one comes to the door or have any unexpected visitors as I am not fit for human edification. Hair needs washed and is pinned back, no makeup and the outfit baggy and ill fitting. I had to go out to the post office so I donned my sunglasses to hide behind, well they are huge, and ended up at the bookstore to read a bunch of magazines. Never met a soul I knew and when I checked my fellow shoppers they looked just like me.

Tonight I will get back to reading Body Perfect. I am now on chapter 10 and really enjoying the story. Seeing it with fresh eyes and don't find much I want to change. We will see what Liz thinks when she gets a hold of it.

Tomorrow is another day and I don't suppose the bank would like my sloppy and slothful ways so I had better pull myself together for another week at the mines.

Talk soon.

Slainte,

Pam

An evaluation

"Bloody Words" received the manuscript today for evaluation. Only three chapters but that is the norm. Roll on June when we will hear if our efforts have been worth it. I have two more to send in the mail tomorrow and then the waiting begins. We may hear in six weeks or six months or not at all. That is the nature of the beast.

This w/e I am starting back at reading Body Perfect to familiarize myself with the characters and the storyline as we have not looked at it for some time. This book is our real baby and we have a lot of fun with the characters. The conference we are attending in June should help us pull some of the finer points of police procedures together and learn some more about forensics and pathology.

The weather appears to be warming up but not quite bikini weather yet. Liz is still extremely busy at work. I am busy at work but... compared to Liz I feel as if I am on a holiday.

Talk soon,
Pam

Easter bunnies and babies

Happy Easter to all. Sunny and bright but still kind off raw. Had a busy w/e with family for dinner Saturday and four of my grandsons. Lots of fun and its always made special with a new baby. Baby Ryan who was born in November and weighed in at 3lb 4ozs is now a whopping 10lb 2ozs and is a delight, although I have heard that he has now found his lung capacity. Maybe I will wait until he goes to high school before I offer to babysit.
The picture on the left was taken quite a few years ago, in fact 41 years ago and just wanted to let you know the hair was not always grey/white.
I think I have the hang of the picture downloading, if that's the word. I won't bore you with anymore.

Today I was busy writing letters and getting the manuscript ready for the mail on Tuesday. Most agents only want two or three chapters. I hope the printers can do them in one day. My printer is on the blitz. We have a deadline of April the 15th for our submission to" Bloody Words" for evaluation.

I heard from Liz this morning and she was off to dinner tonight. She has another new cat and it is best if she describes him for you. LOL He is called NITRO. Oh maybe its a she. How sexist!!!

Lots have tomorrow off as a holiday but we are back at the mines tomorrow. Hope you all had lots of chocolate as no one would let me have any. Hmmp!

Talk soon,
Pam

Spring cravings

When it gets to this time of year I long for plants and flowers, so yesterday I treated myself to some tulips. It is also a time to crave asparagus and strawberries. Not that we can't get them all year round at inflated prices no less, but that they seem to taste different as well.
Yesterday Liz was supposed to spend the whole day with me but the paying job... was calling and she had to work overtime. However when she did get here we had quite a profitable afternoon before we tucked into a slow cooked pot roast and fruit crumble. Nothing like comfort food to...well comfort you.

We decided to go to the conference in June and hopefully the taxman will help us pay for this investment in Jamie Tremain.
Reading the first two chapters we still fiddled around with little words but we are definitely finished and it is being sent out to three agents this week. One American, one British and one Canadian. That will leave us free to go back to Body Perfect as it may be months before we ever hear from them. That is just the nature of the business. An editor will evaluate the manuscript at Bloody Perfect. Will tell you more about the conference when we get an agenda.

Easter next w/e and hope to spend time with a couple of grandsons. Not sure about the weather but as long as the sun is shining.

Talk later,
Pam