Sunday, August 30, 2009

To Blog...

...or not to Blog, that is the question.

Another weekend is winding down, with a definite turn in the weather. Selfishly its much more to my liking, no humidity! The clouds in the sky today had a definite autumnal look about them, which seems to match the growing number of trees beginning to exchange their green for yellows and reds. How quickly this summer has passed.

School for many begins a week earlier this year and even though its been a good many years since Labour Day heralded the beginning of another school year for me, its still brings to mind new beginnings. Even more so than January 1 in some ways.

I managed to get a few more pages of "Body Perfect" revised yesterday, but motivation/inspiration seems in short supply right now. So befitting a new beginning as mentioned above, perhaps that will result in a fresh start to writing.

Pam is taking a week's vacation , although she has a lot of things she is dealing with, it will be nice for her to be away from the day to day stresses of the job. Hopefully she will find some down time for herself and get her own batteries re-charged.

I've now read two Linwood Barclay novels, and have to say I am quite hooked on his writing! Right now I'm reading a book I promised myself to settle into: "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. Highly recommended by a fellow book lover at work, and a story I'm thoroughly enjoying; thanks Stephanie for the suggestion to read it.

Well I appear to have anwered my question at the outset haven't I?

Cheers!

Liz

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Hot, Hazy and Humid!

Beautiful summer day if you like humidity. 28 degrees and 34 humidity. Yuk . I tend to wilt in this weather but it seems we are never happy.To celebrate our grandsons
14th birthday we took a sail on one of the tall ships leaving from Bronte Harbour. It was called the Empire Sandy and perfect weather for the trip. Slow to start as of course you need the wind to get up any speed.Never having sailed before it was a lovely experience.

This blog is being created on my new PC. I have not transfered my email over but I am cautiously reading and trying new features I did not have on the other. My files and writing are on the other so.... That's my excuse for not writing this week and as liz is on holiday, well, who would I get to proof my work.

There are lots of festivals coming up in the fall that I would like to attend but one I especially want to go to is the Eden Mills Writers Festival http://www.edenmillswritersfestival.ca/
My absolute favourite writers are going to be there so it will be worth the trip. It is only 12 kms from where Liz lives in Guelph so this is a must.
Peter Robinson, Giles Blunt and Louise Penny on the same panel. I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon, learning from those at the top of their field.

Well my deck chair in the shade is calling me and after I pop in some laundry I am off to finish a book by John Moss . Quite different for me reading about his headless corpes. I will review it when I am finished

Talk soon,
Slainte,

Pam

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Liz whining!!

Wonderful day weather wise. Just the right temperature and lots of sun. Spent the morning pretending to be domestic as I was having problems with the computer. Trying to back up my favourites as I will pick up my new computer on Monday. Yea! Liz sent me explicit instructions but when I started to transfer onto my travel drive the screen sort of shorts and goes black. Hope I manage to get them all exported before it crashes. Seems to come back in the evening.

Spent an hour at my local Chapters bookstore pouring through the magazines and picked up a couple. "Poets and Writers" and one I have not read "The Strand Magazine". Some good interviews and article reviews from Michael Connelly and Ray Bradbury. I was going to buy the new Linwood Barclay novel but I could not justify it as I have a pile of books by my bed to get through first.

Liz has fwd to me the formatted first ten pages to be sent to and agent and now I have to finish the synopsis and get it sent off.
Liz was whining in her last blog about the lack of time.I agree with her, but we all have the same 24hours in the day. I guess its just a matter of prioritizing and deciding what's important to you. You will have to stay out of the casino's and bingo parlours Liz!!
My priority is having a computer that won't keep breaking down one me. I know , we should not blame the tools. I could write by hand!!!I do scribble in a notebook from time to time but cannot read my writing later.

I need to catch up on some emails from friends and relatives and then it's down to business again.
Tonight I just watched a movie called "The Shipping News". Excellent. I read the book years ago by Annie Proulx. Judy Dench, Jullianne Moore, Kate Blanchett and Kevin Spacey. Great cast.
Now who will we cast as Madelaine??

Talk soon,

Pam

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Wanted – More Hours in a Day!

Is it just me, or is 24 hours not enough anymore to get everything done in a day! Ok, deduct 8 hours (if you’re lucky) for a good night sleep, that leaves you with 16 hours. Should be lots of time. Well, for me, deduct another 2 hours per work day for travelling, then another 8 for actually working and that leaves a grand total of 6 hours. Deduct one more hour for getting ready for the day; well there’s still five.

So on an ideal day when traffic doesn’t jam up; and there are no errands to run, there should be a good couple of hours left for writing – but wait. Another meal is needed, perhaps some laundry and minor day to day chores. And, oh selfish of thoughts, a little down time to just unwind? Well as you can see, that’s probably why week days are not productive writing days! No worries, I am not going to dissect the weekend in a similar fashion – doesn’t take a genius to see that the biggest block of time is spent at work, or sleeping (and the challenge is not to confuse the two), and so which one can be sacrificed? Apparently neither right now, so the juggling will continue.

I think both Pam and I feel the frustrations of demands that encroach upon our preferred vocation of writing, but we will persevere. In the meantime, another copy of “Madelaine” is in the hands of a friend. One who is about to go on a week’s vacation, and she is anxious to read our tale, so I will await Anne’s comments by month’s end.

As for the aforementioned “down” time, I am trying to spend more time reading and have recently finished Linwood Barclay’s “Lone Wolf” – great read, and a lot of fun - I love it when a book can make me laugh out loud - even in the midst of serious stuff like a gruesome murder. I truly believe Canadian humour is quite distinct and it comes through nicely in this book. Following up on the heels of “Lone Wolf” is ”The Delicate Storm” by Giles Blunt. Again, another very well written crime story, with enjoyable characters. Characters, who like most of us, are flawed, but yet still struggle to do the right thing.

And now that I’ve spent almost half an hour on this entry (multi-tasking while eating dinner I’ll have you know!), it’s time to turn my attention to the re-formatting of a sample of “Madelaine” we are preparing to send out for review.

So as the allotted hours in this particular day are fast fading, I’ll just close and say

Cheers!

Liz

Monday, August 3, 2009

The Birthday Boy

Posted by Picasa


I could not resist his smiley face. Damian Nicola 4 years old August 1st

First Lieutenant Governor

We are into the third day of a long week end. John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada's first Lieutenant Governor is celebrated.I wish I had a few more days but it's back to work tomorrow. I have not accomplished all I wanted to as I am in a procrastination frame of mind. Now that is not a good thing to be when you write. "Disciplined" is not my middle name. So perhaps I can start off the new week with a better plan. Write at least one hour a day, stop researching or at least research and get out of the site as it leads to many temptations.

I have been struggling with a new synopsis of Madelaine. We are finding that more and more agents are asking for submissions online. Each agent has a different criteria and this particular one has asked for a one or two page synopsis. Must be a secret to condensing a 300 page novel. Maybe I should research that!!! I will send what I have to the other half of Jamie Tremain and see what she can come up with.

Sending out queries online is certainly easier and cheaper than snail mail but if I have to receive a rejection I want a hard copy!!

On Saturday my family drove to Barrie for Grandson #4's birthday. On a normal day the journey would have taken 1-2 hours. 4&3/4 hours later we arrived stiff and hot as my husband is not in favour of air-conditioning!!My argument is that in the cold we would have the heat on. No? Nice lunch and present opening and then back to the car for the drive home. It only took 90 minutes. Go figure.

Saturday evening we visited friends where I picked the brain of our friend Walter. He is sourcing a new laptop for me and giving me a few pointers along the way.
Sat outside sipping wine until the bugs started eating my ankles. Our hostess Claudia had just finished saying that the bugs had not really bothered them this year. Hated to burst her bubble.

Yesterday was reading, napping, some revising and more napping. My kind of day.
Leftovers for dinner, and a good movie at night.

Today the weather is beautiful. Sunny , warm with slight breeze.
We are off to "Art in the Park". The local artists and artisans are showing their wares at the waterfront.

Not sure what JT is up to. Hope she has had a restful and maybe prolific w/e. Should hear from her this evening so look for her blog.

Talk soon,

Slainte,
Pam

Popular Posts Viewed This Week