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

Lovin’ it!

Six months into retirement and I am lovin’ it. I fought it, whined about it and trod very slowly with the idea of being home each and every day with my beloved. We still have a few kinks to work out but on the whole have reached a place where we each have our own space to work and now when we get together we actually listen to the other. We were always too busy and after forty five years we had stopped listening. Now over a leisurely breakfast reading the papers, (yes we still get two newspapers) we discuss the state of the world. We don’t solve any of these problems but just talking about them makes some of them appear to be not such a big deal anyway.

My husband supports my writing and that’s important to me and he is also a good editor. An artist of pencil drawings and portraits he did one of me years ago.... I haven’t changed a bit! And I don’t smoke. Really!!

The picture is not in a jpg format so.... help!!! I will try later.

As Liz mentioned in her last post we are quite gung ho about things happening this year. We are now members of Crime Writers of Canada http://crimewriterscanada.com/ or associates until we are published. Looking forward to the support of this super organization.

On my agenda today is some research and plodding along with a line edit before we enter a couple of contests for first manuscripts. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Lots of snow yesterday but the sun has been out all day and it is melting away. All the better for driving to meet Liz tomorrow at the office. I suppose she wants to show off her new net-book. The one that she can stick in her handbag. Such a braggart! But seriously it will help us put a few things together as her fingers fairly fly over the keys while I am still a two finger typist. I have other talents but that is for another post!

Talk soon,

Slainte,

Pam

Forecast - Blustery and Productive

Earlier this week I determined to set aside most of today for working on Body Perfect.  And for the most part  I've met with success.   The weather actually helped.  A blustery and snowy Saturday meant it was much easier to stay inside.  Add some freshly brewed coffee and that’s all I need in the way of motivation to sit and write. 

Pam and I are really in a “get her done” mode.  Some major revising of the opening scenes, including a newly written prologue. Name changes as mentioned earlier are not set in stone and are yet to be finalized, although I think we are closer.  We’ve been encouraged to enter a writing contest, deadline of April 30 and also want to have Body ready for a manuscript evaluation at Bloody Words.  The pressure mounts!

As a means to ensure more frequent writing and discussion get togethers, I’ve decided to purchase a web cam (hopefully tomorrow).  That will help give Pam and I more ‘face to face’ time if we can’t actually get together.  All to the good!

As I write, the aroma of a pot roast is drifting up the stairs..thanks to M&M its one of the easiest things going and tastes divine!  Not having to use time in meal preparation is always a bonus for me!

So for now, I’m putting my newly revised thousand plus words aside and will have a good supper.  Somehow I neglected to stop for lunch  - now that’s dedication!

Cheers!

Liz

Robert Burns Immortalized our Liz!

It’s January 25th in Scotland so as I write this here in Canada I can now say' Happy Rabbie Burns' day.

Liz was quick to get on the blower to let me know that a friend had sent her the poem by Burns called “Leezie Lindsay”. My writing partner was quick to point out –“I don’t suppose Burns has immortalized anyone called Pamela!! Well no, that’s quite true but I was called “Jamie” in high school as my maiden name was James. And as the Jamie in Jamie Tremain I did find a song by Burns called “Jamie, come try me”.


Chorus.—Jamie, come try me,
Jamie, come try me,
If thou would win my love,
Jamie, come try me.

IF thou should ask my love, 5
Could I deny thee?
If thou would win my love,
Jamie, come try me!
Jamie, come try me, &c.

If thou should kiss me, love, 10
Wha could espy thee?
If thou wad be my love,
Jamie, come try me!
Jamie, come try me, &c.


Leezie Lindsay
by Robert Burns

Will ye gang to the Heilands Leezie Lindsay
Will ye gang to the Heilands wi' me
Will ye gang to the Heilands Leezie Lindsay
My bride and my darling to be

To gang to the Heilands wi' you, Sir,
I dinna ken how that may be
For I kennae the land that ye live in
For ken I the lad I'm gaun wi'

Leezie, lass ye maun ken little,
If sae ye dinna ken me
For my name is Lord Ronald Macdonald
A Chieftain o' high degree

She has kilted her coat o' green satin,
She has kilted them up to the knee,
An she's aff wi' Lord Ronald Macdonald
His bride and his darling to be .


Many lovely lasses influenced Burns work, none more than his mother Agnes Broun. As Agnes is my middle name I feel immortalized as the lovely Clarinda. (Read below)
Robert Burns was born on 25th January 1759 and, naturally enough, the first of the fair sex to enter his life was his mother - Agnes Broun. It was from Agnes that Robert inherited his love of songs and rhyme as she would sing to him when he was nocht but a bairn on her knee. She had learned these songs while working in the fields as well as at the threshing. Many of her songs were learned from Will Nelson, her old boyfriend, singing them after him line by line until she got the tune right and knew all of the verses.

During Robert's sojourn to Edinburgh in 1787, he met with Mrs. Agnes Craig or McLehose, the daughter of a Glasgow surgeon and the wife of James McLehose, a writer in Glasgow. She was born in the same year as Burns and was living in Edinburgh with her two surviving children, having been deserted by her husband in 1780. They corresponded as 'Sylvander' and 'Clarinda' and their writings to one another could fill a volume on their own. These letters were written in impeccable English grammar and the use of the English language is outstanding. Some of Burns' finest songs were written with Clarinda in mind, the best known being -

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, and then for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee,
Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerful twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me.

You can just call me ‘Clarinda'

Slainte,

Pam Clarinda Blance

The Northern Lights and my whiskey marmalade!

I have returned from a visit to snowmobile country. I am not particularly an outdoorsy kind of person as I wimp out if it is too cold, but when you are wearing those suits just made for the weather it’s great. No matter that I looked like a blimp in an XXL size. I sat around a fire with a group of hardy souls outside hoping to get a glimpse of the Northern lights we were told would appear. After about an hour the kids were getting antsy and the fire was burning down so we took ourselves inside for hot chocolate.

In this part of the world, Kincardine on Lake Huron, there are probably more snowmobiles than cattle. I was staying at a friend’s lovely 1897 yellow brick farm house. No longer a working farm apart from a large vegetable garden, they are surrounded by Soy fields. But they have their priorities straight as they have planted grape vines with the intent on someday making a bottle or two. As we were celebrating four birthdays we cracked some store bought plonk instead. As a surprise my friend set of some fireworks that took us all by surprise, especially the dog. It took a while but we finally managed to coax her back inside.

Sunday morning I decided to write this blog sitting at the most amazing desk. It is a beautiful antique that is shaped in a semi circle. I have designs on this, but ... not for sale. It sits in the bay window of the dining room looking out onto a long driveway and then over fields with fresh layers of snow. I have not had breakfast yet and the sun looks cold, weak and bone chilling. I can smell the coffee and the bacon cooking. We are waiting on fresh arrivals to bring home made scones. Does it get any better than that? Unless it is the sauna I have been promised before we drive home! Nine for breakfast around a large country kitchen table. Bacon, eggs, home fries, toast with my whiskey marmalade, left over steak and onions from the night before and of course the scones warmed and dripping butter. With pots of good coffee and then conversation the guys and the kids were ready to go off again with the snowmobiles.

Not so the women. After eating as if we were diggers of ditches we talked a great deal about what sort of diet we should start...again.

I hope to get back here in February to spend some writing time. Not many distractions unless you count the occasional drive by of Mennonite farmers with horse and buggy. Or the red and yellow finches at the feeder just outside the window crowding the umbrella tree

Sun is up and it is brilliant. It doesn’t tempt me outside today and after helping with the dishes it’s off to the sauna before the drive home. Lovely.

What did I learn about writing this weekend?...Nobody is ever as serious about your writing as you are, so never ask friends to suggest anything regarding your work!

Meeting Liz after she finishes work tomorrow. Always glad to speak to her face to face to iron out any issues and in this instance it is the opening chapters we are attempting to change. And names. They are not agreed on yet.

Our snow is almost gone here as it rained all night but that’s always better for driving.

Talk soon,

Slainte,

Pam

A Plane Weekend

So nice to see the days lengthening – amazing how a few extra minutes of daylight can lift the spirit. Now if only one could figure out how to lengthen a weekend!  


Hopefully Pam has been enjoying her weekend away and didn’t become snowbound in the process.   We are scheduled to have a mid week get together on Tuesday and compare notes on our progress with the changes to Body Perfect.

Yesterday I visited the Canadian War Plane Heritage Museum and spent an enjoyable afternoon there.  They are doing a remarkable job of keeping history alive; maintaining these vintage aircraft to keep them participating in air shows as well as being loaned out for films.  While there I picked up a couple of DVD’s; one of which was lengthy documentary on the Battle of Britain. 

My mother lived through the Battle of Britain and I grew up hearing stories of her war time experiences – spending nights in the bomb shelter, food rationing etc. And the older I become the more interested I have become in that part of history, with a special appreciation for the sacrifices made.  A favourite recounting was of how she and my father met.

He, a Canadian infantryman, was assigned a billet in London, where he was stationed.  The billet was with my mother and grandmother, who were willing to share their home with one or two soldiers, in return for the comfort of having  trained soldiers nearby during these scary, but exciting, times.

Early evening and a knock at the door announced their arrival.  My mother went to the door and was happy to see two handsome soldiers.  As introductions were made, my mother commented on how these two single women were glad to know they would now have a couple of brave Canadian soldiers on the premises.  And then the nightly air ride siren screamed into life – a routine occurrence for residents of the times.  The women prepared to trek to the shelter in the backyard and turned to get the men to follow.  They had disappeared from the doorway! Quickly glancing around the room they were soon spotted – cowering under the dining room table.

He must have redeemed himself at some point as they were married some years after the end of WWII, and he brought her to Canada to begin a new life.

There were countless other stories, most amusing in one form or another. Both my parents often said it was still the best time of their lives, and I wish now I’d paid more attention to the stories they loved to recount. Even my oldest son now has remarked he wished Grandpa was still alive so that he could learn firsthand of a soldier’s experience.

But back to the present and with it another work week.  A week of vacation in February is just around the corner and that helps me stay motivated on those cold and dark mornings when its so difficult to throw the covers back and start all over again.

Registrations are done for Bloody Words and we are excited about that. For my part, I’m still inspired to get the work done on Body Perfect that we vow to complete.  But oh, the distractions – I’ve just started A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny and its promising to be a page turner -  I must be strong!

Have a good week

Cheers!

Liz

No MUSE at 5.30am!

Liz and I have made headway with the changes that we decided must be made before we look for a publisher. We each wrote the opening chapter, or at least the first scene and we seem to be on the same page. Not quite in agreement with the new names of our protagonists but we are agreeing to disagree. Just like any partnership compromise is necessary.

What does happen is like a game of dominoes. Shift one tile or sentence in this case, and things start tumbling. Nothing world shattering and can be fixed. These changes will make the story stronger. So, we are still a work in progress.

Searching for a publisher when all I see on most Websites are, we are not accepting unsolicited manuscripts at this time. can be very frustrating. Jamie Tremain and thousands of others. Perseverance is my middle name so I will keep searching.

Researching yesterday for some information on the place our book is set; I came across some gold nuggets. It was just the thing to add to a chapter near the end and now it makes more sense. Love when that happens.

My partner in crime writing is so busy at work I have not heard a peep from her today except for corrections she wrote at 5.36am this morning. You really do have to just write when the MUSE is with you or you have a few minutes to spare. My MUSE never visits at 5.30am!

I have decided to visit friends in snowmobile country this w/e. Not sure they have enough snow but just need to escape for a couple of days. Lake Huron here I come. I will take my travel drive with me and bang out a few more paragraphs while I am there.

Keep warm wherever you are. Spring is just around the corner.

Slainte,

Pam

New Year - Fresh Start

Happy New Year to one and all!

Enjoyed a very productive day with Pam today – well it was productive after we spent some time organizing files and folders.  Once that was out of the way it was down to business.   Earlier this week we received some writing advice from Melodie Campbell and after some discussion Pam and I decided to go with a couple of her suggestions.  One, and its a major one, is to rethink the names we have given our main characters, Paul and Dorothy.   

Ironically Pam and I had just recently been wondering whether to make a change in Dorothy’s surname to better reflect her Irish background, but a whole new name?  Today we mulled over some names, liking some more than others, but waiting for the one which would jump out at us.  Eventually we decided on ......Caitlin Dennehy – “Cat”.  The more we spoke aloud Cat Dennehy the more we liked it and so as of now we say good bye to ‘Dorothy Del Rio’ and hello to Cat Dennehy.   And as for her partner, Paul?   A fresh start for him seemed appropriate and therefore -  we introduce  Gavin Steele of Steele & Associates.   Of course one name change leads to another – but you’ll have to read the book to find out who else has had some renovation!

As well the first four or five chapters are in for some major revising, not changing the gist of the story, just the layout.  From there we decided it was time to add some more depth to Paul’s, er Gavin’s, character; so we added some more details to the man and his life.  Hopefully once we incorporate some of these revisions the tale of Body Perfect will be the better for it.   We have four pages of typed up notes that Pam and I will be using as we both, individually, go about making some changes to the beginning of the story.  We will compare our progress in a week or so and see how close we are to what we discussed and then merge both sets of revisions into the opening scenes of the next draft.    Sounds like a lot of work perhaps, but I for one, feel totally energized by the prospects of reconstructing what we already have!

As well, Jamie Tremain has decided to definitely attend BloodyWords 2012 in Toronto this year; hotel registration is on my to do list before the weekend is over, and we will apply for associate membership with Crime Writers of Canada – indicators of our intention to continue our quest towards becoming published!  We’ve also received some great comments on LinkedIn after Pam requested comments from other writers who have worked collaboratively on their work with other writers.

And so now it will be time for some disciplined writing sessions; not having the luxury of some retired writers, who shall remain nameless, I’ll need to carve out some precious time each day for Jamie Tremain.   Some upcoming vacation time in February will be spent in front of the computer no doubt – vying for time I want to spend cleaning out closets and drawers.

So the day may draw to an end, but it marks the beginning of a new focus on Jamie Tremain and in particular Body Perfect.  The New Year is always a good time for fresh starts!

Cheers!

Liz