A Hard Day's Work

Finally, Pam and I had a full day together for writing and other catch up time today.  She arrived just before 9:30 and with less than an hour’s break for lunch, we kept working until almost 5:00!   Believe it or not, we only managed to complete two full chapters.  Thorough is as thorough does I suppose.  It may have only been two chapters, but we packed a lot of changes and corrections into them.  She has already reviewed the next ten chapters or so, and now I need to work through and make changes she has noted.   Is there no end to revising?   Don’t answer that!

As noted earlier I took the long weekend off – thank goodness for our fairly ‘new’ holiday in February – Family Day -  and did some sight seeing in Toronto.  It made a nice break and change of scenery.  The ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) was packed on Sunday, not so much there for the little ones to be interested in, but the Science Centre was a different story. Lots of ‘hands-on’ activities for them.   A birds of prey exhibit with magnificent live birds was quite interesting.  Turkey Vulture trivia – their mode of defence?  Projectile vomiting!  Or as the handler stated, “I’d rather be sprayed by a skunk”.  

An Imax film was playing  at the Centre – Tornado Alley.  Boy, talk about being the middle of a storm..wondered at times if the chairs would lift right off the floor!  Incredible film footage of nature at its most violent and unforgiving.

Yesterday I helped my son set up his own blog for movie reviews.  "UNeducated, UNexperienced,  UNestablished - Movies Reviewed Anyways"   A passion of his, he is now excited to see his opinions online and I wish him reels of success!

Tomorrow I need to tackle a long delayed chore – reorganizing closets and drawers.  Perhaps a burst of spring cleaning is in the air?  And then Friday I plan to devote entirely to Body Perfect.

The weekend is reserved for a sleepover with two of my grandsons – fun and energy will be the order of the day! 

So I’m grateful Pam and I had today because you can see how easily the days are filled.  We didn’t schedule another day but surely one won’t be too far in the future.  By then we should be closer to being ready for submission – keep your fingers crossed.

Cheers!

Liz

Dreams vivid and wild!

While Liz has been seeing the sights of Toronto on a much needed break from work I have been at the computer for three days revising until my eyes are burning. The sun is shining and it is a cold crisp day but it does not interest me. We are at the point in this journey of having the book ready for sending out to publishers where we eat and sleep the story. My dreams are vivid and wild. I wonder what Paul and Dorothy would be up to if I used my dreams for some of the action. Unfortunately they disappear too fast and I am sure I have lost a few good plots along the way.

A trip to Guelph is on the agenda this week to format the chapters and make some changes. I have finished Chapter 15 and may finish this afternoon.

I love this LOGO of the Bloody Words conference. We are booked to attend at the beginning of June. http://www.bloodywords2012.com/ We are looking forward to meeting other authors and readers and learning more about the craft.

I have had a notion to get a dog lately with lots of nagging from my grandson Riley. I am not motivated to go walking at all and I know that with any dog you certainly need to. Does anyone know anything about Portuguese water dogs or has one? This breed I find rather attractive, not too big and does not shed.

Did I mention that Liz is a quarterly winner in the Centre she works in at the bank? Well deserved. I am not sure how she gets it all done. What with the commuting, publishing a monthly newsletter for work and Jamie Tremain, she still finds time to see her four grandchildren. The busiest people get the most done it appears.

Managed to read a Harlan Coben book this week, “Gone for Good”. A master of the fast paced book .

OK, blogging does not count in my writing goal.

Talk soon,

Slainte,

New Word: Skypeing

Quoting Burns is becoming a habit of mine but it is so fitting.

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley." Or in plain English (The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go often askew.) I am sure I have used the quote before so forgive me. Liz and I were so looking forward to a day of rewrites as we have been on a roll of late. Getting some advice from friends who are knowledgeable about the business has put a spark in both of us and the writing is flowing much better.

Friday evening came dire warnings from my husband about the snowstorm that was imminent. Snow, ice, freezing rain and cold. Yes, it did snow and it was about -13 in the morning, but what has happened to us? Canadians I mean. We are turning into a nation of wimps. I never used to have this fear of driving in all conditions. I learned to drive and received my license in December so it has never fazed me. Now before you say it... It’s an age thing, well I think maybe it is the age of the car my husband is worried about. Ten year old Hyundai with 300.000 kms and no snow tires!! Time for new wheels.

I called Liz first thing Saturday morning. Not to worry, we can Skype she says. Not quite the same but it helps. Then she had the cheek to eat all the treats in front of me that she had bought for us to nibble on while we worked!!

We did accomplish quite a bit and I left Liz to make the corrections of my editing. By 2pm the sun was blazing and it turned out to be a beautiful day but I did hear the hwy's were icy and slushy so I was actually grateful to be inside to finish the latest from Peter Robinson. www.inspectorbanks.com/

His new book is a departure from the Inspector Banks series. I enjoyed the way this book changed from the main protagonists point of view to a journal kept by a woman who was hanged in the 50’s when she is accused of poisoning her husband. The journal was written when she was a nurse during WW2. His descriptions of time and place were very familiar to me and I always enjoy his references to music which are a recurring theme in his books. Very enjoyable.

Liz and I are always on the lookout for other writing collaborators whom we can learn from. My Writers Digest magazine www.writersdigest.com/ this month has just such an article. They feature an interview with the best selling thriller writing team Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. http://www.prestonchild.com/ It was very reassuring to find that others work as we do. It is not for everyone but it has been successful in their case.

Liz and I have a tentative date for the 22^nd of the month but in the meantime we will be Skypeing. Don’t suppose she kept me any of those chocolate cookies!

Talk soon,

Slainte,

The Weekend Approaches

And so is a day’s worth of writing with Pam, if all goes well.   She will come my way this time and we plan to have a good session of revising.  We've received some expert advice and input, on the first thirty pages, which will be heeded.   We really want to make this book as good as it can possibly be and have it ready to enter into a writing contest before the end of April..we think we can..we think we can...we think we can.

The non-winter we are enjoying (apologies to snow enthusiasts!) continues.  Beautiful, but cold,  sunny and one day closer to spring.  No commuting delays or shovelling – what more can you ask of this time of year.

Work is busy, and my manager asked me to show a comparison of my duties from a year ago and how they stack up today...well no wonder I’m tired. I’m averaging 60% more of reports and other duties than this time last year!  And still somehow it all gets done – not quite sure how.   But oh..how much more I would love to spend the day writing!  

Pam and I are now “Skype-ing” two or three times a week and its a great help when we can’t have face to face get togethers. Hoping to get some time for that this evening.  But after supper and clean up, it takes real will power to force the brain to focus, when so often it would be great to veg in front of mindless TV chatter.

Saturday will be a busy day.  Badly needed hair cut first thing, then Pam will arrive around 10:00.  And later I’ll be having dinner at my oldest son’s home with his family.  Sunday will have to be a true day of rest – but some vacation time is just a week away.  Its a long weekend (Family Day on the 20th) and a weekend getaway in Toronto has been booked.  Great tourism deals this time of year – hoping to take in the Science Centre and perhaps Casa Loma..its been years since I’ve been to either.   And then the rest of the week I will be home – WRITING!

But for now its time to find something to satisfy the hunger cravings and keeping it healthy to boot.

Cheers!

Liz