Monday Interview with #1 Internationally Acclaimed Thriller Writer Linwood Barclay

It gives me great pleasure to welcome, award winning author Linwood Barclay to Jamie Tremain’s blog. I have long been a fan from his days as a humour columnist with the Toronto Star. I faithfully followed the exploits of his wife Neetha and their two children. He is also an Oakville neighbour. No, no, he doesn’t pick me up in his Porsche and take me for coffee to discuss all things literary, but it’s nice to have such good company in the neighbourhood. Sit back and enjoy reading about a master of the thriller genre.

Pam:

Welcome and thanks for being here. Congratulations on winning the CBC’s bookie award for best Canadian Thriller A TAP ON THE WINDOW. What do these awards mean to you?

Linwood:

It’s always a treat to get some recognition for your work from readers and/or colleagues. You can be desperate to win an award, and miserable when you don’t get it, but aside from maybe the Booker or the Giller, I’m not convinced winning an award sells you one extra book. But they’re nice.    

Pam:

 A TAP ON THE WINDOW is by far your best. The circumstances your protagonist gets himself involved in would be the worst nightmare for most folks. Do any of the events happening in your books have a true element? Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation of picking up a teenage hitch hiker?

Linwood:

No, nothing like that has happened to me. On occasion, a plot element in one of my books may be inspired by something that has actually happened in the news. But I give it enough of a twist that it probably won’t be recognizable.

Pam:

What is a normal writing day for you?

Linwood:

When I am in the thick of writing a novel, which I am now, I tend to get to work by nine, and go until about two or three, or until I have at least 2,000 words, whichever comes first. But there’s a lot of getting up and wandering around and getting coffee and maybe going to the basement to play pool for ten minutes. I don’t like sitting at the computer for too long without a break.

Pam: Praise for Trust your Eyes

“Riveting, frequently scary, occasionally funny, and surprisingly, wonderfully tender. I could believe this happening to people living two streets over from me. Great entertainment from a suspense master.” -StephenKing

TRUST YOUR EYES came out in 2012 and had a technology theme. Without giving away any of the plot, its undertone of where we might be headed with technology is fascinating .i.e. the program WHIRL360.com  Is technology your thing, and if so what is your favourite device?

Linwood:

I like gadgets, but I’m not a real techie. I still need help to update my website, and I still have no idea what Instagram is, but I’ve embraced Facebook and Twitter (LOVE Twitter) and also use them as promotional tools. I like thinking about how these new social networks, and things like Google Street View, can be employed in modern crime fiction. As for my favorite device, I think it would be our MacAir, a super light laptop. Although my iPhone is surgically attached to my hand, for checking emails and playing Scrabble.

Liz:

 Is there a topic you would never write about? If so, why?

Linwood:

A critical analysis of the novels of Jane Austen is probably beyond me. I did a stint at Trent University recently as writer-in-residence and was asked if I’d like to do something different, like academic writing. “That’s where you’re looking at the really big movie options,” I said. I think there are plenty of topics I’d avoid for lack of interest. But if something came up in a book I was writing that some might find unpleasant, I don’t know that I’d say, well, I can’t write about that. 

Pam:

Do you have a work in progress? Can you give us a clue?

Linwood:

The book that will come out in August, No Safe House, is all done and put to bed. It’s a sequel to No Time for Goodbye, a big hit for me a few years ago. And right now I am writing the book that will come out in August, 2015, the first in a trilogy about my mythical Promise Falls.

Pam:

You have a big following in the UK and other parts of the globe. Would you say, although your books are situated in the US, that the genre is universal?

Linwood:

Absolutely. Take the aforementioned No Time for Goodbye. That book has done probably a couple of million copies around the globe. It taps into the fear of being abandoned by your family, and that’s a pretty universal fear.

 Pam:

You were recently honoured by the Royal York Hotel. They named a cocktail after you. Linwood Barclay’s Negroni! Tequila, Campari and sweet vermouth, with a grapefruit twist. You were certainly in good company. Margaret Atwood, Robertson Davies to mention a few. Have you tried it yet or do you prefer a beer?

Linwood:

I’m more of a white wine guy, if anything. When I heard about the drink, my wife Neetha and I dropped by to try it. The manager of the Library Bar is a very nice, and well read, guy. He treated us to the drink and it may not be the best metaphor for one of my books because I wasn’t quite able to finish it. But it was a lot of fun. I’ve never been much of a drinker. My idea of living on the edge is a Mike’s Hard Lemonade. 

Pam:

TOO CLOSE TO HOME won the Arthur Ellis award for Best Novel in 2009. Give us your thoughts on conferences, book tours and all the social networking authors are expected to do.

Linwood:

They’re fun, and they’re exhausting. As publishers’ promotional budgets have shrunk, there’s been more pressure on authors to tweet, and post things on Facebook, to engage with readers directly. That can be effective, and the direct contact social media allows is rewarding, but it all takes time away from the writing, too. As the audience for my books has grown, there’s been greater pressure from my editors to make them even better, so I do much more rewriting than I did in the past. So I do the more important conferences, and the book tours, but beyond that I am pulling back on appearances. I have a book to write.  

Pam:

Do you have a favourite author and what are you reading now?

Linwood:

My favourite author is Ross Macdonald, whose novels I devoured when I was young, and whom I was fortunate enough to meet and correspond with. These days, I have a great many favourites. Right now I am reading Joe Hill’s NOS4A2, and next on the pile is Wayne Johnston’s A World Elsewhere. His recent novel, The Son of a Certain Woman, was terrific.

Pam: Your life and your books are well documented. Was the switch from journalist to author an easy transition for you?

Linwood:

The hard part was giving up the Toronto Star dental plan. It was not a major adjustment. I wrote five novels while still doing three columns a week, so when I went to books full-time, the workload lightened. Briefly. I find now I am busier doing one book a year, and no columns, than I was eight years ago doing a book and 120 columns annually. The thing is, I was writing novels in my teens and early twenties (none of which, thank God, were published) so I’m just going back to what I was trying to do in the first place.

Liz:  In your early days as a writer were you ever given advice you didn’t follow and now regret, or vice versa?

Linwood:

Ross Macdonald told me my writing was “too spare,” too quick. I needed to slow it down, work in my more detail. It’s why, when I go back and rewrite, my books get longer, because I’ve skimmed over the surface a bit too much. I think I’m always in a hurry, even when I don’t need to be.

Pam:

When you’re done for the day and scaring the living daylights out of us I believe you play with  trains. Tell us about this occupation? It looks more than a mere hobby.

Linwood:

I’ve loved model trains since my father made me a layout when I was around five years old. My layouts are slightly more ambitious now. It’s a great balance to what I do for a living. You create these entire worlds in your head, and then can unwind by heading to the basement and creating one with your hands. I go in fits and spurts working on the railway. It’s more a winter hobby, when you don’t feel like going outside. For a really good look at the layout, and why I build it, go here: http://vimeo.com/85803307

Pam:

This is my standard question. Have you ever considered collaborative writing?

Linwood:

My experiences with it have not always been rewarding. I like to work alone. But if the right thing – and the right partner – came along, I would consider it.

Liz:

Writing certainly appears to be in your blood - could you see yourself making a living following other pursuits?

Linwood:

Well, I have done other things. I’ve been a newspaper columnist and a reporter (still writing) and for 12 years I was an editor at the Star. And years ago, I ran a trailer park and cottage resort in the Kawarthas, which was fun at the time, but would not want to do again. I think, if this writing thing goes south, I’d like to cut grass all day with a lawn tractor. It’s one of the few jobs where you can instantly see what you have accomplished.

Thanks Linwood for letting us peek into your daily life as an author. I’m sure I would like a Linwood NEGRONI , so Liz and I will push to get our book published. When the Royal York come a-calling, with a Jamie Tremain whatever, be sure to try it out. Oh, maybe we would need more than one book published !!.

About Linwood

Linwood Barclay was born in the United States, but just as he was turning four, his parents moved to Canada, settling in a Toronto suburb. Linwood’s father, Everett, a commercial artist whose illustrations of automobiles appeared in Life, Look and The Saturday Evening Post, had accepted an advertising position north of the border.

As the major car accounts switched more to photography for their magazine advertising instead of illustrations, Linwood’s parents bought a cottage resort and trailer park in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario. But when Linwood was 16, his father died, and he essentially took over running the family business (an experience he wrote about in his memoir, Last Resort).

At the age of 22, Linwood left the resort and got his first newspaper job, at the Peterborough Examiner.
In 1981, he joined the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper. For twelve years he held a variety of editing positions, then became the paper’s humour columnist in 1993. A few thousand columns later, he retired from the paper in 2008 to write books full-time.

After writing four comic thrillers featuring the character Zack Walker, Linwood turned to darker, standalone novels, starting with No Time for Goodbye, which became an international hit. The novel has been translated into nearly forty languages, was the single bestselling novel in the UK in 2008. Since then, all of Linwood’s novels have appeared on bestseller lists, and two of them – Trust Your Eyes and Never Look Away – are in development for film and TV.

Linwood studied English Literature at Trent University. He was fortunate to have some very fine mentors; in particular, the celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence, whom Linwood first met while she was serving as writer-in-residence at Trent, and Kenneth Millar, who, under the name Ross Macdonald, wrote the acclaimed series of mystery novels featuring the private eye Lew Archer.

It was at Trent where he met his wife Neetha. They have been married more than thirty years, and have two children, Spencer and Paige.

 http://linwoodbarclay.com/home/.

International Thriller Writers
http://www.thrillerwriters.org

For readers in Canada, here are several ways you can find my books.
http://randomhouse.ca/catalog

Next month I’m off to Nelson, British Columbia to have a word with author Deryn Collier. Her debut novel Confined Space was a winner. Check back here March 31^st to find out what her main guy Bern Fortin confronts in her new book Open Secret that launches April 8^th 2014.

Photo by Laura Wilby

Talk soon,

Slainte,

Pam and Liz

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

Monday guest Interview with author Gloria Ferris.

Today it’s our pleasure at Jamie Tremain’s blog to introduce fellow writer Gloria Ferris.

We take these skulls seriously.

Winner of the 2012 Bony Blithe Award for"Cheat the Hangman"

                        Winner of the 2010 Unhanged Arthur for "Corpse Flower

Thanks Gloria for agreeing to be our first victim of 2014. You have been given lots of press time  and featured in a few blogs these past few weeks leading up to the launch of you latest novel “Corpse Flower” published by Dundurn Press. 

Liz reports from yesterdays launch of Corpse Flower in the Shakespeare Arms, Guelph.

Despite ongoing nasty Ontario winter weather, the launch of Corpse Flower went ahead and was well attended.  Pam was wise to not to chance the drive from Oakville to Guelph, but I was fortunate to be only 10  minutes away so could safely get there.   Nice to see Melodie Campbell and her husband, along with Alison Bruce.  Gloria was appropriately tricked out with her trademark skull and bones jewellery and an appropriate hat to complement.   Lots of munchies, and of course – CAKE!

Pam:

What are the steps you took, getting from finished book to the launch of Corpse Flower?

Gloria:

In the months and weeks leading up to the release date of Corpse Flower, my publisher,     Dundurn Press, was busy posting ARC files to review sites, arranging press coverage and reviews, filling bookstores with print copies, delivering electronic files to online vendors — and dozens of other tasks.  While all that was happening, I did my best to raise my profile on social media - Facebook and Twitter – and arranged a blog tour for the weeks leading up to, and following, the release date. At author readings and other events, I read excerpts from Corpse Flower before it was even available for sale! In short, I did anything and everything I could think of to promote my book. I’m not a professional marketer, so my strategy is: try everything and hope some of it is effective!  Needless to say, the sequel to Corpse Flower had to be put aside for the time being, but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to get back at it soon. Like, any day now …

Pam:

I recently read “Cheat the Hangman”. Your attention to detail I attribute to your many years as a document writer for the Bruce Nuclear Station but it’s your sense of humour I loved and the story gave us a great feeling for small town Ontario. Have you always had a humorous side? Is this something you will bring out in all your books?

Gloria:

Well, Pam, I started out writing snarky essays in high school that, strangely, my teachers didn’t call me on. I progressed to sarcasm when I worked in Records Management and was forced to write long reports on the documents entombed in abandoned buildings. I found that, if you put a satirical spin on Hanta virus-carrying mice nesting in the paper, people paid attention. I snicker every time I think of those reports, which I designated as “Permanent” records, still filed in another crumbling warehouse somewhere.

I loved my stint as a technical writer at a nuclear power plant, but there was no opportunity for creativity or voice! The experience did strip away extraneous words from my fiction writing, and I am grateful for that. Now, I have to consciously write in an occasional adjective or adverb, or small paragraph of description.

I tried to suppress my natural voice when I wrote my first book (I think I called it Family Secrets or something equally boring) because I wanted it to be serious writing. When I finished it, I knew there was something really wrong. The words were stilted, and my protagonist just wouldn’t stay in the mold I set for her. That manuscript reads like a battle between “bossy writer” and “recalcitrant character”. The character won, and I started another book based on the same characters, beginning where the first manuscript ended. “Cheat the Hangman” is the result. Serious situations written with humour and (I hope) compassion.  Lyris is a rather classy young woman, so she worked with me and didn’t often stray outside her boundaries. We understand each other

With “Corpse Flower”, I just set my natural voice free. I wrote it for fun, allowing no phantom reader to look over my shoulder. I let Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall lead me into choppy waters with only one provision. Stay real. Bliss has a lot of hurdles to clear, but she never gives up. Ever. She smart-talks her way through it all and comes out a winner. She’s a little more stubborn than Lyris, but we’ve formed an alliance which I hope will continue for many more adventures to come. She’s the woman I wish I had been at her age.

I do see the pain, the sadness, the grief, the hurt – all the dark aspects of life. My protagonists come out swinging and, if they find themselves in amusing situations during  the journey, well nobody says you have to cry your way to success. Laughing will get you there just the same, and you might not need a therapist.

I guess I just could have said, “Yes, Pam, I have always written with humour and, to some extent, always will!” 

Pam:

You have many irons in the fire. How do you keep a balance between family obligations and writing?

Gloria:

With great difficulty, plain and simple!  Before I was published, I was raising children and holding down a full time job. Time for writing was a luxury, minutes stolen on weekends and vacation days. Now, those children are adults with families of their own, and my full time job is writing. Everything should have fallen into place.

I have two published books, another almost ready for submission, a sequel to “Corpse Flower” to finish, and an abandoned sequel to “Cheat the Hangman” which I would dearly love to complete. Then, there’s the marketing – social media, bookstore and library appearances, conferences - the obligations never seem to end. I can truthfully say I have never been so busy before.

Where does this leave family? Priority One, that’s where. If a family member calls to talk, I listen. If a grandchild needs a few hours of my time, I’m there. I host holiday dinners, go shopping with my daughters; show up for dinner when I’m invited. I have to say, I love texting. I can carry on conversations with two or three people at the same time on my iPhone.

I think most authors are faced with this same quandary. Some block out periods of time when they are inaccessible except for emergencies, i.e. when a deadline looms. I tried that, but it doesn’t seem to work for me.

I juggle madly, but my priority will always be my family. 

Pam:

Corpse Flower is a different series from your last book. Do you find it hard to switch roles and characters when you start a new book?

Gloria:

It wasn’t hard to switch from “Cheat the Hangman” to “Corpse Flower”. I see Lyris and Bliss in my mind as I write about them, and they are very different people. Even though both books take place in Bruce County on Lake Huron, their home towns are different, as are their circumstances.

At one point I was working on sequels to both books simultaneously. I would switch back and forth at whim. I think this caused some brain damage. So, I’ve set the CTH sequel aside for now to finish the second Bliss Moonbeam adventure. I know authors who can work on several manuscripts at the same time. Clearly, I can’t!

 Liz: 

Is there a question you’re itching to have asked in an interview?  Now’s your chance to answer it for our readers.

Gloria:

Well, most authors say they are continually asked where they get their ideas. Nobody has ever asked me this! I’ve had my answer ready for years, so here it is.

I have no idea. My head is full of so many things that the trick is to pull two or three out and try to make a story out of them. Sometimes I have to discard a couple, and reach back in again. It’s quite a scary place, actually, my head I mean.

Once in a while I’ll read an interesting item on the internet or in a magazine or newspaper. I print it or cut it out and file it in my reference folder. The exotic, erotic, jungle plant in “Corpse Flower” began as a tiny snippet from that folder. Ditto the “surprise” Lyris found in the tower room in “Cheat the Hangman”.

Pam:

We've discussed writing a number of times. I know what Liz and I hate doing more than anything, and I suspect you and other writers feel the same. Synopsis writing. Why do we find it so difficult?

Gloria:

Ah, the dreaded synopsis, bane of writers everywhere. Writing a synopsis is an art form, a craft that must be learned and honed, through trial and error. The result must read like a short story – an exciting, can’t-put-it-down story, with a beginning, middle and end.  However, LOTS of information must be left out. Most sub-plots and secondary characters can’t appear in the synopsis. If you try to work everything in, you’ll usually end up with a mess. I know; I’ve created many synopsis messes.

It gets worse. A writer will generally need to write two or three synopses for every book, especially if she is submitting a manuscript to more than one publisher. Because every publisher wants a synopsis with a specific word count – anything from 100 words to a chapter-by-chapter.

I’d rather write a short story from scratch than a synopsis. And, I’m not fond of writing short stories.

Pam:

What do you love about the writer’s life the most?

Gloria:

I love the moments when I’m in the zone. When my fingers are flying, and the words are flowing. That’s the best.

I also love the social aspect of writing – becoming part of the community of writers, meeting them on FB and Twitter for the first time, maybe. Then, in person at readings and at conferences. I think writers – and readers – are the most interesting folk in the world!

Pam:

In today’s publishing world, promotion and marketing are essential. Maintaining a website and blog and attending book signings and readings must cut into your writing time. Do you like this part of the process and the building of a ‘platform’ – or is it a requirement that goes with the territory?

Gloria:

I guess if you’re famous enough, you can bypass social media and personal appearances. I can’t hang around for that to happen, so I have a blog and a website. I maintain the blog myself, and my sister-in-law, Donna Warner, keeps my website updated. Left to myself, I would have to drop the website. I just couldn’t keep up with both.

I hated Twitter and Facebook when I first started with them a couple of years ago. Twitter still makes me a little apprehensive because it just seems to fly by at a dizzying pace. But, I’m getting used to it and rather enjoy kibitzing with people from all over the world. I kind of like Facebook now, as well. I’ve “met” many other writers, and readers. I may never meet some of them in person, but I’ve learned a lot from them. It’s like a community hall. Of course, I have to behave myself since many family members are also lurking on the site.

Personally, I find public appearances such as readings and book signings difficult. I’m not an outgoing person and don’t like people watching me or, horrors, listening to me. However, in this business, it’s “Suck it up, Buttercup”. It goes with the territory. 

Pam:

Your work in process is collaborative. Can you tell us how you deal with the letting go to your writing partner’s wishes? What do you enjoy about this way of writing?

Gloria:

My sister-in-law, Donna Warner, has been my front-line editor from the beginning. Donna wrote a short story I really liked, and we kicked around the idea of expanding it into a novella. We came up with extra characters, and changed the plot to include a few more bumps in the road. Donna wrote the first draft, and then handed it over to me. I edited it, added some additional scenes, and gave it back. I can’t remember how many times we went back and forth before we were both satisfied with the bones of the story.

If I saw something I didn’t like, I just deleted it before re-writing it and handing it back. I suspect Donna did the same, although we never spoke of it! We did have to compromise many times but, luckily, we never came to blows. This week, we sat down with a paper copy and did the final edits together. Next step - asking the third member of our writing group to read it.

Oh, one last thing. Donna is writing the synopsis for this one!

Pam:

Book clubs and conferences are great vehicles to meet your readers. Do you find this a beneficial way to spend your time?

Gloria:

Absolutely!  Last spring, a book club in Oakville read “Cheat the Hangman” and invited me to one of their meetings to discuss it. I was terrified since the book club has at least 12 members, many of them retired teachers. I ended up having the nicest time with these people and came away feeling a lot more confident about my writing. This was time well spent for me.

Conferences are great places to meet up with other writers, and attend workshops on every subject imaginable – and writers can imagine some very weird and wonderful topics for discussion. I’ve attended every Blood Words Conference since I joined the Crime Writers of Canada in 2008. So far, I haven’t attended a crime/mystery conference outside of Canada. That can get pretty expensive but, some day, I’d love to attend one in the UK.

Liz:

If you could interview, or pick the brains of, any writer, living, dead (or even perhaps in between), who would you like to spend time with?

Gloria:

I heard Kelley Armstrong (Bitten, Omens, and at least two dozen other titles) speak a short time ago. She generously shared some of her writing tips, but I’d love a one-on-one talk with her. She’s a prolific writer and mentioned she usually writes about 3,000 new words in three hours. She’s disciplined, certainly, but how does she get “in the zone” and stay there for three hours at a time, every day? I could SO benefit from knowing how to do that!

I'm sorry to have missed the launch of Corpse flower yesterday, but I'll make sure to make the launch of the sequel. Looking forward to sitting down to read all about Bliss Moonbean Cornwall. Thanks for a peek into the writing life of Gloria Ferris.

You can contact Gloria @

www.gloriaferris.com

www.gloriaferrismysteries.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/gloriaferris

Follow me on Twitter @GloriaFerrisp

Gloria Ferris

Her paranormal suspense novel, Cheat the Hangman, was shortlisted for the 2009 CWC Unhanged Arthur Ellis contest and was published in 2011 by Imajin Books. It won the inaugural Bony Blithe Award in 2012, and Gloria is working on a Lyris Pembrooke sequel, Beneath the Asphalt.

Her second mystery, Corpse Flower (Dundurn Press), went the distance and won the 2010 Unhanged Arthur Ellis Award. The second in the Cornwall & Redfern Mystery series, Shroud of Roses, is in the works.

"Last Roll of the Dice", Gloria's first short story, took second place in the 2011 Bony Pete contest. Although she doesn’t consider herself a short story writer, Gloria just can’t pass up a contest.

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Tune in  Feb 24th for an in-depth interview with Linwood Barclay.

Slainte,

Pam and Liz

.

The Winter of our Discontent

"It is so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone”

John Steinbeck, The Winter of our Discontent

                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now is the winter of our discontent                                                            

Made glorious summer by this son of York

And all the clouds that low’r’d upon our house

In the bosom of the ocean buried                       

 Shakespeare’s Richard 111

                                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think John Steinbeck’s quote is more appropriate to our winter of discontent.

Winter is not my favourite time of year and especially so this past few weeks with heavy snow and freezing rain. Ice pellets rained down, and southern Ontario where I live and was blanketed with an ice storm most of us has never experienced. It caused untold misery to thousands of people who were caught in the blackout and cold for days on end. The damage to the trees is heartbreaking.

My writing group met at a tapas bar going into the New Year with some trepidation as it was -15 and freezing, but the seven of us enjoyed each other’s company with good food and drinks and swapped war stories of how we survived the ice storm of 2013. We stayed until midnight so we did talk writing as well.

Personally I was spared the power failure and was not affected when all around me was in the dark. Both sons and families and many friends were not so fortunate. I heard stories of courage and acts of kindness from many. The service workers were wonderful and what often happens in a crisis; the community pulls together.

We are still in the deep freeze along with the rest of the country. Roads are treacherous with ice and the cold is unrelenting. Lives have been disrupted from flights being cancelled and travelling to work Nye impossible for some.  The economy has to have suffered greatly and resources to cities and towns at an all time high. The cost will have to be passed on somewhere, most likely the taxpayers.

As I write this the news reports of good Samaritans who are waking up the homeless who sleep on grates over the subway are trying to coax them inside as they hand out toques and cups of coffee.

I was going to write about Jamie Tremain’s plans for the New Year, but I need to get my head around the changes that have taken place around me. I’ve always believed that change is good, change is inevitable. And as soon as we all get back to normal... what’s that?..I’ll start nagging at Liz again to send me some more of our manuscript to edit or revise, and I’ll do the same for her.

Interview Mondays, 2014 line up

               January 27<sup>th.</sup>Award winning author Gloria Ferris.

Winner of the 2012 Bony Blithe Award for

"Cheat the Hangman"

                             Winner of the 2010 Unhanged Arthur for "Corpse Flower"

                        February 24<sup>th</sup> #1 International bestselling author Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay is a Canadian humorist, author and former columnist. He has published books of autobiography and both humorous and dramatic detective fiction. 

Nominations: Barry Award for Best Thriller, Shamus Award for Best Original P.I. Paperback

Please be safe when your driving and keep warm. This is going to be a Jamie Tremain year, if I can just get started.

Slainte,

Pam

Brrrr........

Winter, although not officially arrived, has certainly settled in.  We are in the deep freeze, with a good layer of snow on the ground and more falling as I write.  Can we say “White Christmas?”….how nice that will be for a change.   Christmas is fast approaching, and the hustle and bustle is increasing to frenzied proportions.

With so much activity in these weeks and days leading up to Christmas, both Pam and I find it’s hard to concentrate on much writing.  However, I’ve recently discovered “Bit Strips” on FaceBook and am using them to poke some fun at our writing world.   We plan on a writing day early in January to get back on track and see what the New Year will bring for Jamie Tremain.

I don’t often get to the movies, but have seen two in the last two weeks.  Philomena with Judi Dench (love her!) and Steve Coogan, is a heart warming tale based on true events.  A gentle movie that could require Kleenex, and one I’d watch again.   And last night my oldest son, William, and I met at our local theatre to take in  The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug.   Even though we had to sit quite near the front, it was a fast paced adventure.  More enjoyable than the first instalment and now am waiting for the third.   Since watching The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey last year, I’ve become a huge fan of Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch through  the BBC series “Sherlock”.   So that added an extra layer to my enjoyment of the film last night.

On the home front I’m looking forward to experiencing Dickens’ Christmas Carol with two of my grandchildren next week at the RiverRun Centre and then later in January it will be Peter Pan for the other two.   My daughter, Christine, will come along as well, and I’m really looking forward to both productions and hope that it will ignite a love of live theatre in the younger ones.

With Christmas comes expectations, family gatherings, excesses of all kinds, and stresses.  This year in particular I am sobered by the thoughts of friends and co-workers who are battling serious illnesses.  There is never a good time to be ill, but Christmas time seems to really tug at the heart, especially when there are little ones involved.  My thoughts and prayers are with one family in particular and it’s put a different perspective on what’s truly important.  Not just at this time of year, but every day. 

I hope you’ve been enjoying the series of interviews which Pam has done so well.  Don’t go too far away, because there will be more in store for 2014!

We’re looking forward to Bloody Words in 2014 and becoming more involved with this amazing community of writers and authors we’re fortunate to be part of – a more encouraging, educational, and fun group I’ve never known.

So from this half of Jamie Tremain I wish you a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas, Happy Holidays and all the Best for a Healthy and Happy New Year.

Cheers!

Liz