A quacking we will go!

It has taken me about an hour or more to finally get this picture on the blog. Technology is grand when it works but I am exhausted just doing this. Are they not a good looking bunch of grandsons.?
Riley is 13 ,Westyn is 10 and Aidan is six. They all have siblings. Riley's brother Damian is three, Westyn has a sister Penelope who is 5 months and Aidan has the new guy Ryan who is 3 months.
The boys have been with me since Friday evening and when they were not eating they were playing video games until I sent them out for some fresh air. A hectic game of sword fighting and a hike around the ravine tired them out for a bit. They all enjoy drawing and reading. I asked them to critique Madelaine but I did not get any offers .
Sunday afternoon and the boys have gone so I have some much needed down time before going back to the fray tomorrow. Liz and I gave ourselves some homework this w/e so I must get it done. Will give you the results of that later. It's all about the "Genres".

My plan is to go for a walk in the very welcome sunshine, have a nap,dinner and then spend the evening writing.
It's mating time with the ducks at the pond at the back of our house. Peter was wakened with lots of quacking and fighting amongst the ducks. A conquest was made. Later in the morning he pointed out Mr Duck walking behind Mrs Duck going for a walk. Just as it should be! No idea where they were going. Perhaps looking for a bit of privacy.

Talk soon. I will let you know if we get any baby ducklings.

Slainte,
Pam

March Moanings

The entire month of February flew by and I didn't post once! Not that I didn't have anything to say mind you - but this is a public site after all! I come home absolutely drained mentally most days, but now that the days are getting longer and (hopefully!) spring is in the air, perhaps it will serve as a good tonic for this weary soul.

It's good to have Pam back at work, and even better to know that her vision is much improved...our eyesight is worth so much and to have it impaired doesn't bear thinking about...one of my greatest fears, so let's not go there right now!

Although I haven't been blogging, I have been chipping away at the fourth draft and am into the home stretch. We have decided on no more submissions until we have that polished draft printed and ready to send at a moment's notice! That way we can also more fully concentrate on Body Perfect, which I am missing very much and long to get back to. Ideally the time we have spent on revising Madelaine will serve as good experience when we finally get back to Paul and Dorothy, and may save us at least one draft revision.

Numerous lottery groups at work, and individual ticket purchases, have so far netted us $0 - the result being that we continue our daily trek to our desks and bide our time until we have publishing success.

My oldest grandson turned 6 last week! Seems like only yesterday I was anxiously pacing the hospital corridor with other family members waiting for Michael's arrival. And now Michael has a younger brother and two cousins. A joint birthday party is planned this Saturday for Michael & Noah as their birthdays are only days apart. It's always fun to see them altogether and hope the four of them will continue to grow up as close friends.

Well today is my one day a week late shift...that means working from 11 to 7 pm...which for me is unbelievably hard to adjust to. I have been an early riser for 30 years and so continue to wake at my usual time. By 4 pm I have no more mental energy left and wonder at the value I can really contribute during those last three L O N G hours. I'm not home till almost 8 pm, and in bed less than an hour later, only to be back at work within 12 hours. Wednesdays likewise are almost totally spent in a fog trying to recover from Tuesday's late hour!

This morning, just to add to the fun of the day, I have scheduled a regular dentist appointment. So after being picked, flossed, and polished I'll make my way down the highway to begin my day's work - and more than ready for a good cup of coffee!

So let the day begin - may you have a good one.

Cheers!

Liz

It's looking very shiny!

It has been a long time between posts but we are still here slogging away with the manuscript. Every time Liz and I read a chapter we find something else to correct or change. I read a great deal about submitting. Revise, revise, revise,they tell you until it is polished within an inch of it's life. Well it's looking very shiny now so....... upward and onward.

I have been home from my paid job all week as I had a cataract operation Tuesday. The last six months have been a trial with my hearing and then my eyesight. Now I have the new aids that I am enjoying and being able to see is a great feeling. Treated myself to a new hairdo so I am good to go!!

The weather here has turned positively balmy at 16 degrees. The sun has been shining all day and the large lumps of grey snow are gradually melting. It suits my mood and maybe, I said maybe, I will start walking again tomorrow. Start slow and see how I get on.

Liz has been having car problems but its all fixed now. We will have to sell lots of books if our cars keep costing us the money that they do. They are a necessary evil in Canada and taking public transit, if you don't live downtown is next to impossible. Liz lives nearly an hours drive from work and I have about 30 mins on a good day.

Many years ago when my mother was on a visit from Scotlandand we picked her up at the Airport. We were driving on a sixteen lane highway on the way to our home. Out of the blue my mother asked us where the bike lanes were!! Now, this is one of the busiest highways with a speed limit of 100km an hour. We were speechless as it had never occured to us that most places in the world used bikes. It took many years for bike lanes to be added to the roadways here, but not to that 16 laner.

Hope the w/e weather holds and of course we loose and hours sleep with "Spring Back". I intend to start reading Body Perfect to get into the skin of Delicious Dorothy and the handsome Paul Barrone. I have some ideas for their next adventure but have to finish this one first.

Talk soon.
Slainte,
Pam

Lazy Day

It's almost noon on a Sunday and I am still in my jammies. Just a lazy day and pottering around. The weather is sunny but freezing and I don't do freezing especially with a wind. I have another week to go before my cararact operation and I cannot wait until I can see again. I was thinking of ordering a white cane but think I will wait.

Liz has been through the wringer and is up to her neck in work so when she gets home she is not fit for anything. Lets hope it dies down sometime soon. But saying that she is still managing to format the last chapters. We have found a publisher closer to home that we are submitting to this week. We will continue to let you know when we submit. Different agents and publishers may never get back or take about 6months to answer you so you can be assured we will inform our loyal friends who read this when we do hear.

This afternoon if I can finally get dressed I am visiting my old friend Bertha. Bertha is 92 and a wonder of wonders. Still lives in her own apartment and cleans up after the cleaning lady. Drives her car and takes other oldsters for shopping and appointments. My husband & I love to listen to her stories and when you were born in 1916 there are many. I will take my tape recorder today.
Talk soon.

Slainte, Good health

Pam

The Big Thaw

The big thaw has started and when I was busy slaving away with Liz doing line edits on the book, my house was flooding. Jammed ice from the eaves were melting around the windows and maybe in the ceiling. Plaster had fallen on MY side of the bed and carpets sodden. The downstairs fireplace pilot light was out and water was splashed onto the glass doors. UGH!!. Was I glad not to be at home. I must in all reality leave this to my husband. At the moment I have enough to contend with trying to see and hear, but......
Tonight I was fitted with the latest in hearing aids and they are brilliant. I hardly know I am wearing them. Next thing is the sight and I will be good as new.

The w/e went fast as Liz and I did a line edit of many chapters and are halfway through the fourth draft. It was fun reconnecting with the story and acting it out as we added and subtracted to polish some sentences. This, we have assured ourselves is the final draft!!

I had been working on a list of agents to approach with the manuscript. Lesson learned. What we found was that some were too good to be true. Glad we checked as we could waste a lot of time and get very frustrated. So we have narrowed it down and will work with a few to get us started.

The w/e was not all work as we had dinner out Saturday night and breakfast on Sunday morning after Liz and her friend Rebecca fed a bunch of wild cats they look after.
I will have Liz over here for a w/e as soon as we get the water situation cleaned up.

Talk soon,

Slainte,
Pam

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

Dropped on the head!!

I am struggling with my hearing and my eyesight and if you find lots of mistakes in this blog you will know the reason why. Not that I need my hearing to type but I certainly need my eyesight as I am not a natural typist evn after three years typing class when I was at school. But that was many years ago.
I managed to write one synopsis for an agents letter today with the help of Microsoft. I was able to make the screen black and the writing white to cut the glare. I also have my new wrapapround glasses that are I suppose for those who like to brave the ski slopes and dont light the sun and snow blinding them. Wonder if I can parade around in them at work tomorrow?

It wont be long before I can hear again as I was fitted yesterday for new hearing Aids and a personal microphone and receiver. That should make a big difference. It will certainly make communicateing easier for me but also my family and friends. Liz has always been my interpreter at work especially in meeting and now that she has moved on I miss her stepping in to help me.

I was asked recently if my mother had dropped me on my head as a baby!!!! Wheeese. well she may have but my hearing loss is hereditory and I just have weak eyes. I will be good as new very soon.

Thank goodness I can still write and could always dictate into my tape recorder if necessary. The desire to tell a story is all thats needed and with Madelaine I hope we have accomplished that. Liz is knocking off the chapters and is nearing completion. When it is ready we will send to the printers to have it bound just for us and then I will send queries to hand picked agents.

If my eyes permit I will start reading and revising Body Perfect. We have not done the finishing chapter but it is so long since we looked at it I need to reaccquaint myself and get into the skin of Dorothy and Paul once more. Need to get a few ideas down for the next in the series as well. Will use my tape recorder for that.

With all this technology I use I think shares in a battery company is th way to go.

Slainte,
Pam

What a differnce a day makes!

What a difference a day makes. Temperature wise that is. The Canadian pre-occupation with the weather seems to escalate in the winter. We have to pay more attention to survive and to go about our daily routines. None more so than in our household.

Last week we were experiencing -20 degrees and bitter winds and then more snow to cap it off. Settling in to watch a movie Friday night after a busy week at work we tried to keep warm as the Arctic blast that was howling outside was making our TV room freezing. This room is situated above the garage and is always cold and in summer stifling. I think the builders must have bricked over the vents. Well.....the resident handyman went to the garage to bring in an industrialized sized heater that I had never seen before. "I always knew it would come in handy" says the junk collector of all time.

It came in handy for about five minutes.As Lovely warm air wafted into the room so did all the lights ,tv and computer go out. We sat there in silence thinking it must be a neighborhood thing. It was a fuse of course and it had been overloaded so my "handyman" went to the basement to sort it out. Should be back in a moment and I will move the heater to another plug!!!!

Fortunately only one side of the house was affected and I could still use the kitchen.
While I was waiting on my electrician/husband performing a miracle I made a big pot of Chili and did the chores usually relegated to Saturday morning.

Lots of running up and down stairs to find out if things were working again resulted in a call to a friend who would make it sometime on Saturday to sort us out.

What does one do when the house is cold,(the furnace was struggling as well) no television, no computer, well you just go to bed.

Back in operation by Saturday afternoon I decided to leave the writing until today as we were off for dinner and a 50th birthday for an old friend. I am not a "party girl " any more.I would have been happy to have sat by the fire with a good book or watched an old movie but I always enjoy meeting up with old friends.
Two different venues were planned. After Peter cleared the driveway and the car of the accumulated snow we drove in horrible and messy conditions to a Greek restaurant that was enormous. We had table 94!!. Obviously very popular and new with very nice decor. The two couples we met there had made the reservations and had made it into a celebration for my birthday . The wait staff sang Happy Birthday. Very nice.

Then it was off to our next party. It was nearly 9.30 and it was still snowing. Peter did his" duty"
and cleaned the car again and drove very carefully as the roads had not been plowed yet.
Talk about culture shock. We went from the latest in dining and decor to something out of the sixties. My friend Alice is a pool/snooker aficionado and plays in tournaments. I was surprised there was no sawdust on the floor. A large bouncer met us at the door and stamped our hands for entrance. A live band was so loud I knew it was an evening of just smiles as hearing what anyone was saying was out of the question. It was a beer kinda place and I made the mistake of ordering a red wine.

My handyman/electrician/editor's eyes lit up as he saw at least 12 tables for pool. There was a table of cheese and crackers and a large cake with a small pool table on it for the birthday girl.
Peter is not a handyman/ electrician but is an excellent editor and has done a fine job on Madelaine. His other talents apart from his Art is he plays a mean game of darts and is an excellent pool player so I knew I had lost him for the rest of the evening. Yes he cleaned up.
I danced with a friend and listened to these old rockers play and they were excellent...but loud.

I have had diarrhea of the mouth this afternoon but I find all experiences where I can soak up the atmosphere are great for a future story so I will store away my night at the pool hall.

The editing is done and Liz is busy making the chapters into a finished manuscript. I am tweaking the epilogue and adding a bit more. February should see us start on Body Perfect.

Talk soon,

Slainte,
Pam

Fluffy white snow!

Freezing cold but sun shining on great fluffy mounds of snow. They look fluffy but as I don't shovel it is probably big ice chunks!! This was not forecast and it snowed all day and into the evening. Let's hope the roads have been plowed as we are making a trip to Toronto for a birthday dinner at my son and daughter-in-laws. That is my birthaydinner and I am not telling you which one!

The added bonus is spending time with two Grandsons. Aidan who is six and his new brother the 5lb 4oz Ryan.

Our in house Editor, Peter is finishing the last chapter and epilogue as we speak. Liz has been busy setting up and revising and tweeking and polishing the finished manuscript ready for printing and then...........

Now ,you might be wondering what I am doing as everyone is busy but me. Well I won't tell you how long this blog has taken me as I can't see very well. Even had to give up driving for now and that does not sit well with me. Tomorrow I hope tmy appointment with the eye doctor is fruitful and he will book a cataract operation soon.

Tried to fix mistakes so forgive me for any errors.
Enjoy the rest of the week and hope to be writing again soon.

Slainte,
Pam

Timing is Everything

Good morning :-)

What a great day to not have to drive to work! Another snowfall has been heaped upon us, and although it seems to have stopped for now, the forecast is for more throughout the day. My car is in the shop for $$$$ repairs today and so my first ‘vacation’ day of 2009 (booked before Christmas!) has allowed me to miss another snowy commute!

As well, I’ve arranged for delivery of a new sofa today.

BUT, more importantly! The time at home today allows me a chance to polish off Chapter One of Madelaine – Shadows and Light, as Pam and I plan to submit it to a publisher next week. There is a contest of sorts and the deadline is January 15! As far as submissions go, this one is probably the easiest we may ever come across, so first impressions are critical as I’m sure there will be a multitude of submissions.

Exciting and frightening all at the same time! The publisher promises a response by February 1 if they are interested. Realistically we both know that we are bound to receive our share of rejections, but you have to start somewhere right?

Onwards and upwards!

Cheers!

Liz

Slainte for 2009

Happy New year to all.

Read our horoscopes this morning and by all accounts 2009 is a banner year for both Liz and I. We will certainly be working hard to get Madelaine published in the very near future.
Bitterly cold today,-15 but sunny and dry. Great day to hibernate and do some reading and rest before I go back to work tomorrow. Liz is moving to the 6th floor tomorrow to start her new position. I don't know who will bail me out when I get stuck with the computer now! I will still see her every day but she will not be popping over to sort me out. Oh, woe is me!

Peter has started editing the end of the third draft and should not take him any time. I have pinned down a couple of agents to query so working on drafts of our query letter.

Saturday we are off to Cambridge to a combined beginning of year and birthday party. The group of friends we see a few times a year have birthdays in January and the rest are in May That works out well as then we can have a barbecue with them for the other half.

Most are feeling a little uncertain this year financially, so along with my wishes for good health...the most important and happiness , I wish you all financial health as well. A winning lottery ticket would help.l!!!

Hope no hangovers plague you and don't start your resolutions at least until the middle of January. I personally will be glad when all the shortbread is gone.

Only good things for 2009.

Slainte,
Pam