A New Year Rant

Its been three months since our last post. The Bouchercon conference in downtown Toronto seems like a dream already. Meeting other writers and readers from all around the world and listening to the different panels from authors we admire kept the fires burning with ideas and plans to finish our next book.

But the best-laid plans... I flew off to Scotland for a wedding and Liz was dealing with some restructuring at work. I had started a renovation of my townhouse in June...and its still going on. Not exactly conducive to writing but the contractor says three more weeks!!

To escape the reno from hell this morning ( they started at eight am) banging, drilling, sanding, yelling to one another, I took myself off to do some errands and pick up a few groceries. Now, what does one buy when you have no kitchen? The old fridge is in the basement with the microwave. Meat from the microwave is awful and just getting through the dirt and dust on the main floor puts me off. So, crackers and cheese, fruit and a few prepared things that don't need to be heated up. I made myself a kitchen in my office. Priorities straight of course. Bottle of water, a bottle of gin, a bottle of wine and a case of tonic for the gin. Kettle for my cup of tea in the morning and Nespresso machine for my afternoon pick me up. And all the leftover cookies from Christmas. This way of living is playing havoc with my diet but he says...only three more weeks. Now if I can only find the bread knife to cut the artisanal loaf with walnuts and raisins!

While I sat in the coffee shop this morning enjoying a cappuccino, I do what I always do and people watch. Lovely pastime...usually. I don't want to sound like an old fart, but people, wake up and see what is going on around you. Make eye contact, speak to one another. Stop ignoring your children. You might learn something.
I am of course talking about cell phones/mobiles.

I gave into pressure last year and bought an iPhone. Yes, there are lots of benefits. Like being stuck in the car, taking a photo of whatever takes your fancy. The GPS is my favourite feature as I get lost easily but... and a big BUT, I bought the phone for my convenience, not yours. I am continually berated for not answering texts or the phone. No, I don't walk around with it in my hand like some new fashion statement. I have to rummage around in my bag for ten minutes until I find it or I have left it downstairs when I am up. I have a checklist when I go anywhere now. Fortunately, my glasses are a fixture on my face. hearing aids are put in my ears as I am leaving the house. Extra batteries check.Wallet with money and cards and my lipstick du jour.Check. Tissues.check. Must be something else. Oh yes, my phone. How did I ever navigate life without one?
In the supermarket today there was a guy taking pictures of the fruit and veg. He would hold one up to his camera on the phone and ask his wife's permission to buy it. Come on!! I'm really on a rant here. I wonder where my phone is right now. Oh yes, I remember. It's being charged. You will be able to get me shortly. If I hear that irritating PING.

Back to the writing. Liz was on a roll yesterday and managed 2000 words. We will be back online Tuesday evening so I'd better get busy with the chapter I'd an idea about. The manuscript is finished except for some additions we feel are necessary. Then editing and more editing until she is all shiny and ready for publishing.

Jamie Tremain will be back blogging and moving along with another book we have finished but need to clean up. If you enjoyed the author interviews we did in the past, drop us a line to let us know and we'll start up 2018 with some authors we met at Bouchercon.

My next blog post will be about books I read recently.

Snow is falling as I write this and it's so distracting and lovely. Be careful if you are out there driving.

Slainte,

Pam