THE NED

Sunny, unspeakably lovely day. Hot and humid - temps 32

Wow - a scorcher! But so beautiful. We're VERY glad Trudy got her puppy cut. We dropped in to Brome Lake Books to hang around and bother Danny and Lucy this morning, and their dog, Jessie (Trudy's mom) also had her puppy cut. Adorable.

Well - it's done!!! On Monday night I lay in bed, thinking of the writing for Tuesday, and I thought - I think, if I work really hard, I can finish the book tomorrow (Tuesday). So I awoke yesterday morning with that intention. Even, I said to myself, if it takes until midnight!

So by 8:30 I was in front of the laptop, with a coffee and breakfast....stayed there through lunch...had burgers on the porch with Michael and the fellow who is doing our geo-thermal - Phil. He was here to paddle around the pond and see if it's deep enough (it isn't). but we all broke for some of Michael's great burgers.

then everyone, back to work.

Midnight came and went. Michael went up to bed. Trudy curled up and started snoring. And I wrote and wrote and wrote. Determined to finish. I could see the end...though as always, it was a tease. Showed me its well-turned ankle, and then slipped further and further away. But finally - at 2am - I caught it. Oh, my God. What a feeling. So few words more satisfying to write, at least for me, than THE END. though by then I was so punch-drunk, and had hit so many wrong keys and had to backspace and re-write it felt as though I was writing each word, each sentence, each paragraph twice! I reached the stage of such exhaustion that I just wanted the murderer to stand up in the middle of a scene and give himself up! (safe to say "him" since this book is set in a monastery and they're all 'hims' - and some hymns ((forgive me, I'm still a little tired))

Normally when I get to 'the end' I made a ceremony, a ritual, of it. To mark this momentous and joyous occasion. But at 2am this morning all I wanted to do was spell THE END right.

I am thrilled to be finished the first draft. I turned out the lights and hauled by achy body upstairs. But not before noticing all sorts of weird sounds about the house at that hour. Including a huge thudding on the window that kinda freaked me out. I went over there and the world's largest moth was trying to get in. It reminded me of that B-grade Japanese horror monster, Mothra. Mothra was trying to get into our home.

I went back to writing. Bookzilla was waiting for me to wrestle it to the ground.

Upstairs I found Michael reading...waiting up for me. Isn't that amazing. He asked if he could save my work and I thanked him, but let him off that hook. Normally after each writing session he saves the work on his 'stick' then down loads it to his computer. I'm always afraid my old clunker will finally clunk its last - and die. And the book will be trapped inside. But I couldn't ask Michael to go down and save it, so we rolled over and went to bed.

When I woke up at 8am Michael was already up. He'd saved the work and had even done a final word-count, since he knows I can't really relax until I hear the 'bad' news. But it wasn't so bad! What a relief. Still needs 10-15-thousand words taken out, but I think I can do that without too much blood and shrieking.

We celebrated by going to cowansville for eggs, bacon and french toast, and all the coffee in chipped white mugs we could drink. And that amazing creeping realization that I don't have to hurry home. I don't have to think about that day's writing, or tomorrows.

I can relax. it takes me a while to really 'get' that - and totally unwind. But it begins.

I plan to take a week off - maybe more. Probably more. But hard to tell right now. I love the book, but I'm so pooped I can't think about it. But I'll know when its time to do the 2nd draft. It's so important for me to step back, detach, get some distance and perspective. Breathe. And then plunge in again.

Thanks for holding my hand through all this. You make it even more fun!

Scotland and Quebec - separated at birth

snow, snow....snow. windy. temps minus 6

A blizzard suddenly blew in. Completely unexpected. some snow, as you know, was falling yesterday, but no one expected the two feet we've had since last night. Here're a couple of photos...of Michael and Tony digging out Michael's 'real' car, and Trudy sitting in front of my beetle, in it's convenient snow garage.

Now, you might wonder why we were bothering to dig a car out, when clearly the blizzard was continuing. Well, one clue is...it's Tuesday. And, as heroic readers of this extraordinary blog know - every tuesday is shrove tuesday for us. Well, if not pancake day, it's french toast day. At The Station restaurant in Cowansville.

I barely slept last night, for the howling outside and the dread that the storm would keep us from our french toast, with bananas and stawberries, and bacon, at the Station. And certainly when we woke up to two feet on the ground and more falling - sideways - it seemed unlikely and even unwise - to leave the property. But a call to Tony, and Michael suiting up, fixed the problem.

Nothing would keep us from our goal. Indeed, on the drive to cowansville, we wondered if that's what propelled the pioneers. Did someone whisper in their ears....'There's French Toast in California.'? Is that what motivated Lewis and Clark? The Franklin Expedition?

It sure motivated us. And wow, did it taste great after an hour of digging. Came home, lit the fire, fried up a couple cafe au laits and got back to editing. Fed the birds. Took Trudy out. snowed all day long. And heaven knows what we'll find tomorrow.

Had a great email from Linda in Scotland - Glascow actually - with a photo of her children, jennifer and Christopher - her husband Kevin and her snowman. In Glascow. Scotland!!! Here's an excerpt from her letter...

Thought for fun I'd send you one I took over the weekend of our back garden and one of a snowman Kevin made with the kids, the snowman has been part buried in a fresh fall of snow yesterday we had another foot or so of snow on top of what we already had, it, for some reason took the Scottish government by surprise and the whole road network in and around Scotland came to a total standstill, it's all over the news here, hundreds of motorists were trapped in their cars overnight on the untreated motorways, there were stories of car drivers being stuck in vehicles for up to 12 or so hours, can you imagine! Kevin spent 3 hours in the car trying to get back from work last night (this journey normally takes around 30 minutes) but we consider him lucky to get home. His work closed today as did all schools. Our day time temperature was -14 today) the temperature is supposed to rise on Friday and Saturday to above freezing (this will be considered tropical) but it's to drop down again next week with yet more bad weather forecast. Just hoping to get out for some supplies soon. Christopher asked me today if we are running out of sweets, he has is priorities sorted!


Sure makes what we're going through seem easy. And it is. Sure makes a difference when we don't have to go out for work. Only for French Toast.

More editing tomorrow...but it's moving along nicely, thank you.