Still Life special

mainly sunny, hot and humid temps 28

We're all hoping this holds until after the annual SPCA fundraising tea this afternoon. It's over at the Bresee farm - they're also a vinyard and make lovely wines, apparently. We've bought some of their free-range beef. What a difference that makes...wow.

Last year Michael and I hosted the SPCA tea - while of course volunteers like Lise and Kirk and Walter and Cynthia and so many others, did all the work. We just swanned around and got all the credit. it was perfect.

But a nice day makes all the difference...so far, so good.

We got wonderful news from the american publishers, St.Martin's Press/Minotaur - in the lead-up to the publication of A TRICK OF THE LIGHT they've decided they want to bring as many people to the series as possible, and preferably start with the first book. so they've discounted the eversion, to 2.99. Obviously, this is for a fairly short time - probably a month, perhaps slightly longer.

I know many of you, perhaps all of you, have already read Still Life, but if you know someone who hasn't and is perhaps hesitant, this might be their chance to buy in cheap, and see if they like it. What I love about this is that I feel very strongly that the series is better if read from the beginning. It's not necessary - I really try to write each book so that it stands on its own...but I know it's just more fun if you follow Gamache, Beauvoir, Clara, Ruth et al from the beginning, and see how they're changing.

I really appreciate the publishers doing this - I hope it does bring lots of new readers on board.

Had a very fun day yesterday. Got up early and headed the hour or so to Manoir Hovey for breakfast...poached eggs on a bed or arugula and leeks, with a bechemel cream with goat's cheese - and smoke salmon. Dear Lord.

Then we went to Sherbrooke - a city about twenty minutes from Hovey - to pay off the gas fireplace we're having installed in the autumn renovations. The propane supply company made us give them the names and contact info of two close relatives, who don't live in the house. This didn't speak highly of their confidence in their product.

Then we went off to Eastman - which is this lovely village in the townships...there a woman named Nicole nine years ago started one of the most successful French literary festivals in Quebec. It's called Les correspondences d'Eastman. This was the first year i"d been invited because it's the first year any of my books is available in French.

I was on a panel with two other Quebec crime writers - Johanne Seymour and Andre Jacques. It was moderated by a former colleague, and a friend, Anne Lagace-Dowson. I was more than a little worried that my french would fail. I never really know, at these things, if it's a 'good' french day - or a rotten one. I find it's often difficult enough to describe what my books are really about, and my thoughts on writing and crime fiction, in English. In french it's a potential disaster. I felt I should give the organizers the names of two close relatives, not in the audience. In case.

Well, it was terrific. Everyone was very kind and helpful - especially Anne and my fellow panelists. And the people in the audience listened with great patience as I tried to work out what I wanted to say, and how to say it. Before the panel began, I took this photo of the audience. Don't they look lovely?

And then a nice woman volunteered to use my blackberry to take a photo of us. Andre is (obviously) on the left, then Johanne, me and Anne.

Then we drove a neighbor who was having trouble with her car home - and got back in time for a lovely swim....ahh. And then we fell into bed and watched a Poirot while shelling peas from the garden and eating them, along with tiny tomatoes and radishes - and peaches from Ontario.

We woke up to find tiny peas rolling around in the bed. No princesses here - we both got a sound sleep. Am now washing the sheets, though.

I see that Amazon now seems to be accepting reviews of A TRICK OF THE LIGHT. If you've read it, and liked it, please post one! If you didn't like it - never mind.

Thank you! Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Buttercup rules! (and then some)

sunny, warm, temps 24

You can tell that we've slipped over the cusp of summer here. As soon as August starts. We can still get a very hot spell, but for the most part it begins to cool off. We now have a harvest of potatoes. Two.

Our counters have also moved up three two feet or more as all the food has been lifted off the counter and is now piled on top of the fridge. this comes from Buttercup experience. She's the dog on the right of the photo - with her," I'm thinking" look...Trudy is on the left, with her "I'm not thinking" look. They're such great friends. In fact, Trudy completely dumps Michael and me when Buttercup, Charlie and doug are here. she slept with them last night - which means Charlie was the one who got the soft, smelly, toy in the face at 5am.

But there's no doubt that buttercup rules. She wants in. She wants out. She wants all the carbs in the house. She swims on the pond, rolls in skunk poop and eats the goose droppings. She thrusts her head in places that make us jump (and it's often a wet head, so you can imagine what we all look like when we go into Sutton).

But she is absolutely joyous. Doug had warned us that at 8 and a half she was slowing down. We see no evidence of that.

We're having a great time. I continue to edit all morning...have moved a TV table up to our bedroom, along with the laptop. That frees up the rest of the house for Charlie and Doug to play/swim/chase Buttercup. Am finished by one o'clock. We grab lunch, then the guys go golfing (a par 3 close to us) - and today Michael and I are off to meet them in Sutton, for ice cream cones.

Wanted to tell you that on Friday I'll be doing an event as part of a terrific local literary festival called, les Correspondances d'Eastman, in Eastman, Quebec....a pretty village in the townships. I'll be on a panel with Johanne Seymour, Andre Jacques and moderated by Ann Lagace Dowson. It will be in French. the panel is at 1pm. Michael and I plan to start the day with breakfast at Manoir Hovey - then off to make final arrangements (sounds very somber) for the new fireplace for the renovations - then head to Eastman for the panel.

Love to see you there! Les Correspondances is a really amazing literary festival - varied - great balance of genres and between established and emerging writers.

Must run. And still in my pajamas! Best, perhaps, to at least put on my good pajamas for the trip in to town. And still have to put laundry on the line.

Oh - and the third edit is going very well....what a relief! am now at page 155 of 285. And very much liking the book. Changes still being made, but they're superficial at this stage. simplify. simplify. Hope to be finished this edit by Sunday.

Deep breath.

Third Draft

sunny, calm, warm - perfect day - temps 28

A really lovely day....hardly a whisper of wind...not too hot. Not humid. One of those really magical days.

I spent it inside - writing. Or editing, I guess.

Started the third draft today. The plan (it should really be in quotation marks) was to get at the laptop by 8am, do fifty pages, and be finished early afternoon.

But then I had a brainwave. I'd do something I'd never done before. I'd work on the very last chapter first. I'd ben worried that in the two previous drafts I'd rushed it - been just way too tired by the time I reached the end and I wasn't happy with it. the second draft was way closer to what I wanted, but I knew I could do better. so I spend quite a bit of last week quietly pondering it. It's a funny process of not thinking about it, but trying to open my find and hope inspiration drops in. And a few ideas did.

In some cases it was a turn of phrase, in others it was a structural issue. Some stuff I wanted to play with...suppose I did this first, and moved that over there, and placed such-and-such here...God bless laptops, where I can play like that - move things about - and see.

So today, at 8am, I got started. Just the final chapter. And I finished at 5pm. Quite tired....and quite certain I am considerably closer. Might even be there....might have nailed it....but between us, I'm just too close to it now to know. so tomorrow I'll go to the beginning of the book and move forward - as I normally do.

By the time I reach the end again - at the end of the week I hope - I'll know if it works.

but I honestly don't feel stressed anymore. I know I'll get it, if I haven't already. That it's either there, or close.

Lovely day with no interruptions. Saw no one. Perfect writing day. ended with a barbequed steak and corn on the cob - sitting on the porch this peaceful evening.

tomorrow my brother Doug and his son Charlie arrive, along with....Buttercup!!! The hound from Hell. We only call her that because for many years she was totally unmanageable. Uncontrollable. the only consolation was that there wasn't a mean bone in her body, or her ferociously wagging tail. She simply had a surfeit of joy - and an ability to digest entire living room sets, then poop them out in the field. Fascinating to walk Buttercup. It's a sort of disgusting magic act.

They're arriving from Toronto tomorrow. am hoping to edit in the mornings and play with them in the afternoons. Weather's supposed to be very nice. Uncle Michael is really looking forward to it....besides the fact he loves them, we also all go out for soft ice cream in Sutton....and to watch Uncle Michael eat ice cream is something never to be forgotten. I'll try to take a photo - it too is a sort of disgusting magic act, where slowly, over the course of about 15 minutes, he morphs into a huge ice cream cone himself.

Talk to you soon - hope you've enjoyed your weekend.

Harry Potter

Sunny, warm, temps 30

Gorgeous day in Montreal. Yesterday threatened a bit, but turned out beautifully. Some accounting needed to be done, then lunch with friends, then Home Depot, to get some stuff (including in this case the not-proverbial kitchen sink) for the quickly approaching renovations. We went from having no idea what we really wanted - and not much of an opinion - to experts, in about half an hour. Sadly, as often happens, Michael held one expert opinion and I another. But Home Depot solved the dilemma by not having my 'opinion' available...so we ended up with Michael's. And for the life of me now I can't remember what the difference could possibly have been.

We're off to see Harry Potter in about an hour. It's playing all over Montreal, of course. But among the theatres is the Imax - in 3D. So we bought tickets to that and will be going with the three Mounts. We're all extremely excited. Oddly, I read all the books, except the last. Can't explain why I didn't read the last one. Perhaps I didn't want it to end. I also didn't read the last Colin Dexter Morse book. Too sad.

Spent 4 hours today - from 10am to 2pm dealing with Rogers Canada, trying to get Michael a new blackberry, and to fix mine. I could have, of course, simply upgraded. Mine is quite old. But I'm used to it, and I like it, and it just seems wasteful too. So I had to hop in a taxi and find some small office downtown, crammed between two restaurants, where a man fixed blackberries and iPhones. After a couple of tries, he did it! Feels great. Especially given the big book tour coming up...didn't want to be without a blackberry, or with one that only semi-worked.

Off to do some work on the August newsletter (being sent out by Linda August 1st) - then the Mounts are picking us up at 3.

Talk to you soon -

Jack Layton

sunny, then stormy, then sunny - one of those days - temps 25

Cool down continues - very nice. Big storms kicked up, though, with huge winds and rain and lightning. then sun came out. I wonder if there's a life lesson....nah.

Like so many Canadians, I was devastated to hear the news that the leader of the New Democratic Party in Canada, Jack Layton, was stepping aside because he has cancer. He held a news conference yesterday, and looked gaunt. It was thoroughly unexpected - though he'd had prostate cancer a year ago. But he intimated this was a whole other cancer - though he wasn't specific.

Mr. Layton led the NDP to an historic position politically, when he won huge gains in the federal election earlier this year - and became Canada's official opposition. He absolutely stole Quebec's heart - and the voters here rewarded his candor and intelligence, his humour and passion, with an unprecedented number of seats.

The NDP is a socialist party - in as much as they believe in social justice, in a social safety net, in accountability. In providing universal and excellent health care and education. Obviously, there is sometimes a gap between the ideal and the reality, but the NDP has rarely lost their belief that it was possible to be strong, assertive, smart, and compassionate. That there's a place for intelligence and kindness in politics. And that the most fortunate looking out for the least fortunate is a social responsibility and not naive.

Canada is such a fascinating country. Our government is Conservative and the official opposition is socialist. I suspect most Canadians are a mix of both...like I am. In some areas I lean toward the conservative. In many, I lean more toward the socialist. Sometimes I think I believe one thing, but when tested in real life I realize I actually believe the opposite. Or, in theory I lean in one direction - in practice I act another way.

We're all complex. Most people are a mish-mash, a tapestry of all sorts of beliefs. Very few people I've met are dogmatic, rigid.

Jack Layton is not a perfect man, and the NDP is not a perfect party - and their vision is not perfect either. But they believe in the best. And now it's time to believe that Mr. Layton will defeat this cancer. If he stood up for us, perhaps we can now stand up for him. Even those who did not vote NDP and never will. This isn't about politics, but about a good and decent man - and
praying for his recovery. Because, what country can't use good men and women?

Be well, Jack Layton. Be well, all of you.

Finally caught up with the finish line!!

sunny and hot - again! temps 30

Wow - what sizzling days!!! Great to be in the country - but too hot to sit outside. I know many of you are experiencing the same thing. Hope you aren't suffering too much with the heat. I find not being able to sleep the worst. God bless geo-thermal, and our great good fortune to be able to put it in, and to do it before the heatwave.

Finished the second draft!!!! 5pm yesterday. I was determined to do it....but not to rush so fast to the end that I skipped over things that needed to be done. I can do that if I'm not careful - get caught up in the goal and forget that point is a great product. A month from now it won't matter what day I finished the draft - but it will matter if I did a good job.

I'd not sooner finished, though, and celebrated....than I remembered an issue that needs to be added. But I won't worry about that now. Plenty of time to do that in the next draft. I'll take the week off, relax, watch the old Avengers and My Cousin Vinny and the new Poirot movies on DVD....and zone out. Then start the next draft next Sunday.

Each draft gets less scary, as I grow more confident that the book is shaping into what I want. What I'd hoped and dreamed it would be before I started. I aways have a 'feeling' for a book....what I want to feel when I've finished it, and what I long for you to feel when you finish reading....and that's what I'm aiming at. And with each draft, I get a little closer. Actually with the first and second I get a lot closer...and then each subsequent draft is fine tuning...those small but crucial elements. The grace notes. Smoothing, simplifying - getting my fear and ego and need to impress out of it - and make it simply the story I want to tell.

Of course, my ego masquerades as 'brilliant' writing. Turns of phrase that will enthrall and delight the reader. But over the course of drafts they get taken out, if their only purpose is to impress. And what stays is what needs to be there. I hope. But, wow, is it every painful!!! It's an imperfect process, because I'm so flawed. But the books, and perhaps I, get better. As a writer, but mostly as a person, I hope. Happily, I think the two for me go hand in hand.

So the second draft is done....and I'm going to chill out (sort of) this week....and just enjoy. Phew!

Had such a fun week with the Mounts and Trevor. As you can see from one of the photos, we had them over for dinner one night, and Michael spent dinner with them at the cottage while I was in Montreal working. When they came here for dinner we did a barbeque we'd never tried before, but had heard a lot about. Fresh salmon on cedar planks. I found the whole idea so intimidating I wouldn't consider trying....but then we decided that we might as well. Michael and Trevor did the actual barbequing - after we'd marinated the salmon. And it turned out beautifully. though i was a little concerned that when Michael invited them over for dinner he seemed to imply that we were serving them barbequed cedar planks.

but they showed up anyway. We also served fresh corn on the cob and broccoli salad, and tomato, bocanccini(sp?) and basil from our herb garden.

A few days ago I showed you our first tomato...well, the plants have been chugging away, producing more. But we seem to have invented a whole new form of agriculture. Micro farming. Producing micro-vegetables. We started with cherry tomatoes and now they've become slightly larger than atoms. We'll take out the magnifying glass for the next harvest. You can see the photo...the giant tomato is in fact a cherry tomato.

Michael is now off picking raspberries with Trudy.

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday and your summer. and I really hope this heat isn't getting to you too much. speak soon!

Easier near the end...

sunny, hot, hazy - like everyone else in NA it seems. temps 32

Came in to Montreal to concentrate on the final push. No interruptions - I thought. Arrived at 9 last night, driving in from the country. Unpacked, and straight to bed. Woke up at 7:30 to drilling. A screeching so loud I thought it was inside my head. And certainly, and disconcertingly, inside our apartment. I threw on sweats and looked into the hall.

I figured it must be in the apartment above us. So I marched upstairs. I felt like a villager off to slay Frankenstein's monster. Determined. Once up there I quickly realized there was no monster on that floor, so up I walked to the next level. Screeching continuing, but not as loud.

Back down.

I couldn't, for the life of me, track it down. It was like it was in the walls and ceiling itself.

So I went down to speak to the doorman. Sydney. wonderful man. He told me they were replacing crumbling concrete on some of the balconies.

'At 7:30 in the morning?' I asked.

He nodded.

'But why's it so loud right in our apartment?'

'Because it's a concrete building,' Sydney explained, and I realized not for the first time, 'and sound travels. And it seems the farther you are away from it the louder it gets.'

Which seemed both perverse and probably true.

So all morning, while I made cup after cup of cafe au lait in the Vive Gamache mug, I heard the screaming of either the drills or my fellow tenants. But, as you probably know from working on your own projects....a sort of miracle happens and the world fades away. After a while I was completely immersed in following Gamache, Beauvoir and the others through the halls of the monastery, as they tracked down a killer.

And they're getting close. I'm at page 266 out of 285. I started the say at 249 out of 280. I move forward and the end moved back. I may never end. I'll be blogging about this book for decades, and you, poor souls, will be patiently reading about it - or perhaps, like the screeching, you'll simply tune it out.

But i have to say, I'm excited about this book. It just takes a long time to get it right. When I finish this draft I'll take a week away then start at the beginning again. And keep at it until it's right.

Michael and I had the most wonderful day yesterday. We headed to Cowansville for brteakfast at the Station - where jackie served us the best french toast with sliced strawberries and bananas...then did some chores...then head to Hovey manor for lunch. We'd invited our friends who're staying at the guest cottage to join us. Bal, Linda, Bethany Mount and their friend Trevor, who also visited last year.

I've posted a not great photo of Bal and Trevor. Bal's on the left and Trevor's on the right. And one Bal took of Michael and Linda, with me in the middle. As you see, it was a spectacular day. And it gave us such joy to share a place we love with people we love. We sat under a tree and sipped Elderflower and chatted. Then went onto the verandah and had lunch. Duck confit, lobster rolls, grilled chicken salads, steak brochettes....and for dessert, lemon cream parfaits, brownies and fresh fruit and whipped cream.

Dear Lord, take us now.

But the day wasn't over. We hopped in the cars and zoomed off to the nearby abbey of Saint-Benoit, where the abbot, Dom Andre and Brother Charles were waiting. The abbot's preparing for a huge concert he's giving this Saturday as part of the Orford Music Festival....the abbot is one of the leading harpsicord and organ players in North America. He interrupted his practicing to see us.

Well, by 'us' I don't mean Michael and me. Nor do I mean Bal, Linda or Bethany. I mean Trevor. If the abbot is one of the best harpsicord musicians in NA, Trevor is one of the best in the world. Trevor Pinnock is his name. He's also a conductor. Indeed, Brother Charles had seen him conduct Romeo and Juliet in NYC a few years ago, with Kathleen Battle performing.

When the abbot heard Trevor was around he issued a lovely invitation. And Trevor, lovely man, accepted.

Now, we thought it was to say a quick hello, and let the abbot get back to work. But instead, the abbot wanted to show Trevor his harpsicord, so off we went to his private practice hall in the abbey and there it was. Trevor seemed extremely impressed and sat down.

And started to play.

the rest of us slumped to whatever seats we could find...stunned. To have a private performance by a virtuoso was such a gift. It left Michael in tears. Moved by both the music and Trevor's generosity. And then, the abbot took the seat and performed one of the pieces he'll be doing on Saturday. We were agape with amazement. The sounds, the glory of the music, the power of these two men as they played. And their passion. And to be within touching distance - it was a treat beyond imagining.

Then it was time to leave Dom Andre to his work, after many thanks...and wonderful Brother Charles took us on a tour of the monastery...into places he hadn't even shown Michael and me before.

We said goodbye outside the monastery shop, where we went in and Linda and I cleared them out of fresh pies and apple crisps. The monastery makes cheese, but it also has an organic apple orchard, and make their own pies and sauce.

It was pathetic - like a feeding frenzy - probably scarred young Bethany for life - seeing her mother and me in such a state of rapture. Not unlike, now that I think of it, Trevor and Dom Andre when they were performing. Pies are our harpsicords.

Then, back home, a quick swim and into Montreal. Michael stayed behind with Trudy and the pool.

More writing tomorrow...while we were at the abbey Dom Andre told us an old monastic saying that eternity is a very long time, but it gets easier near the end. As someone increasingly familiar with eternity, I hope that's true!

Hope you're not melting!