Ground Hog Day....

….is tomorrow.   Does it really matter?  To those of us who are winter-weary, I say we’ll be lucky if all we do get is another 6 weeks of winter! The litany of suffering from this winter season is as endless as the days of snow we’re enduring.  Perhaps we’ve just become accustomed to much milder and drier seasons over the past decade or so.  In fact these past two months are typical of childhood remembrances.  Snowbanks at the end of driveways that were fort-worthy.  Day after day of bulky coats, snow pants and boots.  To this day, the smell of wet wool conjours up boots drying over heating vents and sodden mittens laid out on top of the hot water heater.  Oh and dare I say it, but in those days winter was fun.

As I type the snow continues to fall and squirrels are hunkered in branches of trees outside my window.  At least the grip of bone chilling cold has lessened.  For small things we can be most thankful!

                See how well the grey squirrel blends in on a sunless wintry day

But one thing this hibernation-worthy weather is good for is writing!  Pam and I have been enjoying developing new characters for our latest story.  I recently found a template online to help with character building and we’re using it to good measure.  Really helps us get to know our characters and what makes them tick.  Funnily enough we’ve even found that characters originally created as likeable have become thoroughly distasteful – and we’re excited about that.

Google docs is such a wonderful tool for us and has helped simplify our collaboration because we can work in real time and chat as we go along.  The next best thing to a face to face session.  And that’s scheduled for next Saturday – weather permitting of course.

We’ve booked our hotel room and sent off the registration for Bloody Words 2014 and are excited to be going once again.  Surely by the beginning of June our weather will be more appealing?  

I hope you’ve been enjoying the interviews Pam posts – is there an author you’d like to hear from – or a question you have?  Let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.

On a side note, today I saw a post on FaceBook which I’d like to share.  Truer words were never spoken, and while its probably an old adage, with today’s internet exposure, these words take on a new meaning.  Once spoken, words can never be reclaimed and who hasn’t suffered the sting of a cruel word, intentional or otherwise?   But once in print, the damage can be even more far reaching and lasting.  So……

  

Before You Speak – THINK

T – is it   True

H – is it  Helpful

I –  is it  Inspiring

N – is it  Necessary

K – is it   Kind

Here’s to warmer week and hey, spring is now only 48 days away!

Cheers!  (and good luck tomorrow Mr. Ground hog)

Liz

December First

And of course there is snow on the car this morning; as I write the soft white stuff is gently blanketing the ground with its first winter coat.  Probably won’t last long, but still a foretaste of what is sure to become more abundant!

We received another (very kindly written) rejection note yesterday, but we remain undaunted.  We knew this could be a long process and are not in any way about to give up.  More queries will soon be hitting cyberspace and eventually we will find the right connection.

The Christmas season is upon us – many activities both at work and home are beginning to fill the calendar and so I fear writing, will once again, be taking a back seat.  I mentioned to Pam yesterday that I have taken a week off in February with the thoughts of mild hibernation and devoted writing time.

I enjoyed the company of two of my grandchildren over the weekend – Makenna who is four, and her brother who turned two in August.  It was a sleepover and I had fun with them. Makenna is quite dramatic and creative; her imagination is a wonderful thing to see in process.  During the night she awoke from a nightmare and made her way to my bed; later in the morning she complained, “I don’t like nightmares, Nana.  They are very scary and I’m just a little kid.” This said with arms crossed and bright blue eyes as wide as they could go. 

Max had awoken earlier, wanting mummy and daddy, and so I brought him in to sleep with me.  Why do little ones insist on sleeping sideways?  When Makenna joined us, I found myself sandwiched between the two, soon to be joined by my black fluffy cat, Nitro.  He decided it would be quite fine to sleep spread out over all three of us.  Maybe not so bad, until a hot flash came on with a vengeance!

It was good to be around little ones for a few hours and just observe them, and of course unrequested hugs and kisses were quite welcome too   J

Well, I see the clock ticking towards departure time for work, and I must make some allowance for sloppy road conditions this morning.

Christmas Shopping is on the agenda, again, for this evening.  Oh, and I am working on setting up a website for us; its still in progress, but next blog I will let you have its location and you can check it out.

Enjoy your day – Cheers!

Liz

One Month Gone...

.....eleven more to go in 2009. Hard to believe the end of January is already here (yes I know its tomorrow, but what’s in a technicality?)

Have I mentioned before how much the winters wear me down? This week has been a real drain…earlier this week, the morning commute was affected by yet another strong snow storm, but even though the traffic crawled, it was good to see an absence of ditched vehicles, and a safe arrival at my destination was accomplished. Today however, was another story…traffic was flowing quite nicely, no precipitation and the thoughts of arriving at the office a little earlier had the day off to a good start. Not for long! A mere 5 kms ahead, lay a jack-knifed tractor trailer, across all three lanes of the highway! Almost at the same time as I heard the news on the radio traffic report, blinking red tail lights dominated the road ahead. No time to take the next exit, and so for the next 90 minutes I was able to travel the astounding distance of 2 kilometres and then join the throng of traffic managing to squeeze by on the shoulder. Not an easy task for the multitude of transport trucks either as the space was quite limited. Hopefully the driver of the disabled 18-wheeler was unhurt.

However, that was almost 12 hours ago and now its that most favourite time of the work week – Friday evening! A time to wind down, maybe think about the chores which need dealing with over the next couple of days…or not!

Pam has been industriously drafting mock up letters to agents and publishers…and I have been making my way through the 4th draft of our Madelaine. She and I plan a writing weekend next week here and it would be wonderful if we can actually finish up the draft and get it ready to send out!

No word yet on the “query holidy” submission we sent in earlier this month, although the publisher has extended the date they promise to contact a writer if interested.

We shall see!

Enjoy your weekend, stay warm, stay dry and never take the day for granted.

Cheers!

Liz