Election Day in Canada

overcast, warm, temps 23

Unseasonably mild. Even warm, but the wind has been picking up all afternoon and now I see black/blue clouds heading this way. A storm, I expect.

Great day - relaxing. Heard from Sherise, the UK editor. THE MURDER STONE was reviewed in The Guardian newspaper this past weekend. here's the excerpt she sent:

'The red herrings are expertly deployed, and the solution is ingenious and unexpected’.

So that's very nice.

Had breakfast in Cowansville, dropped Michael back home so he could work on his book while I went into the loft/office to fill the car with stuff to bring home. Then to the post office - had tons of books to mail out - internationally. The went to a local cafe with the manuscript of book 5 and a red pen and went over some sections that needed a little more fine-tuning.

Heard from my brother Doug last night. He'd spent the weekend reading the manuscript and called to say it was the best yet. I know him enough to know he's very kind, but he also knows it's no kindness to not be honest at this stage. So I choose to believe him.

What an amazing thing Doug did for me. Imagine spending the whole weekend reading this manuscript because he knew I'd be worried. Like me, he's a slow reader, so it's work. I'm just so lucky to have a brother like him. Especially since I spent most of our childhood telling everyone he was adopted, and wishing he was dead. I think it was mutual. As is our love for each other now.

I'm very relieved. I'm so close to this book it's very, very hard to know if it's any good. I think it is...but then sometimes.....

So I had a cafe au lait, a raisin scone and made some changes. Then came home. Tony was bringing wood in for the winter, Gary was working on the downstairs bathroom, Michael was writing. So I unloaded the car (with Michael's help) and came upstairs to put the changes into the computer.

Then sent it off to Bob to be printed out. Will mail it to Teresa, my agent, by Friday.

Dear God. This is a terrifying part of the process. But it's also quite freeing. It is, literally, out of my hands.

This is Federal election day in Canada. We have a Conservative government - with a strong Liberal and NDP (social-democrats) opposition, and a Green party that's gaining strength. Here in Quebec there's a separatist party that has been extremely strong for many elections called the Bloc Quebecois.

We voted in an advanced poll a couple of weeks ago. As I drove past the Canadian Legion Hall in Sutton I saw the cars and the long, long line-up. So happy to have already cast a vote. Won't tell you for whom, but perhaps you can guess.

Will make a pizza for dinner and watch the poll results.

Talk to you tomorrow...be well.

A perfect summer day

sunny, gorgeous day, temps 30

Sunny and sizzling hot, but no humidity. Stunning. Michael and I got up about 7:30, went for our 2 kilometer walk, swam in the pool then had breakfast. Halfway through Pat brought the dogs back - Maggie and Trudy. We'd asked her to keep them through to today since yesterday we'd be out so much.

It feels so odd when they're not home. I realize how often I look for them (mostly to make sure I'm not going to trip over them...acres and acres of space and they lie down right beside us - quite endearing).

Spent this morning editing...took 3,000 words out today, most of a chapter, a wrote a new scene involving Ruth. Very fun. But loads of work. The book is much clearer in my head...the superfluous threads are being chopped away, the themes sharpened, but at the same time made more subtle, I hope.

About 1pm I quit, made lunch for the two of us, walked the dogs, went for another swim, then sat by the pool and looked up the fastest way to us from Shawville, Quebec. A friend, Pat, is coming to visit later in the month and needed directions. I'd never heard of Shawville, (she's from Winnipeg and is renting a cabin there for a week or so, then on to us). But I found it and wrote a long, detailed, and I hope accurate email to her.

Then I decamped for the hammock and lay in it, eating an ice cream cone and reading a manuscript someone sent with a view to endorsing it.

Sadly I've had to say 'thank you, but no,' more and more often - no time I'm afraid. I feel horrible doing it, but there is a certain deluge right now. I realize it's a huge honour to be asked, and I feel honoured. I also feel a genuine sense of obligation to give back to a community that's been so generous to me.

But I'm afraid I'm just being worn down. So now I say 'no, thank you' more than I say yes. And I also am quite rigorous about the ones I do endorse when I do agree to read them. have a lower tolerance for things that just aren't to my taste. Doesn't make them bad, of course. Just not my 'thing'.

Michael and I had a BBQ for dinner, and a salad with fresh organic lettuce etc from the young farmer in Sutton who makes up 'paniers' once a week. Need to eat fast because the next delivery is Wednesday.

Aiming to go to exercise class tomorrow morning - 9am. First time in a year. Pray for me.