Montreal

clearing skies, temps 20

Getting warmer - poured with rain briefly today - and now looking better.

Am in Montreal to get some quiet time to write. And need to do the newsletter too. Writing going well, I think. At that stage where things start to be revealed, and that's always thorny. When to expose things, in what order. How.

not totally sure I'm doing it right, but the best way to know is to keep writing and see if I get into trouble later. We'll see.

Not much to report. That's the purpose of coming into our small apartment. so that nothing else happens. No phones ring. No lunches or dinner with kind people. No conversations.

Just my own schedule. I eat when I want. Sleep when I want. Write almost all the time - but it somehow feels less stressful. I guess I'm not always worried about being interrupted. or have something else to do in the afternoon.

I feel the hot breath of time on my neck. As I mentioned, I need this book written before I leave on tour with A TRICK OF THE LIGHT. And I know I'll need at least three drafts. The first is the longest...the second can be difficult - often a lot of re-writing as I struggle to get the structure right. Then with the third I begin to work on the details, the fine points that are so fun. Ideally I like to have four or five drafts.

We'll see. I'd rather leave on tour with it not yet finished than send off a half-assed manuscript. But people look at how long I have before I have to hand it in, and it looks like a lot of time. Except that I know how much distance needs to be covered. It's like a chess game, in some ways, where you might be many moves from the end, but you already know if you're in trouble, or not.

So far, if I keep my head down and working I should be OK.

Happily, I, for the most part, like what I've done. But, honestly, I'll only really know when I start the second draft.

Nice weather ahead, apparently. that's wonderful!! Hope you're well.

The End!!

overcast, windy, rainy = Oh, who cares!!!

I finished the first draft!!!!

All that light from your candles worked - yay! Thank you. What a relief. But what a long day. Finally finished just before midnight. I was determined to finish yesterday, or bust. Almost busted.

I started at 8:30am and without breaks for lunch or dinner (ate beside the laptop) - only to walk Trudy a couple of times - I finished at 11:38pm.

The end is often very difficult to write...not only are there loads of red herrings and mis-directions and sub-plots to address, but there's also the issue of how and when everything is revealed. You've invested any amount of time reading the book - spent money - invested emotionally as well, so the end needs to be perfect. Fitting. Believable. Satisfying. Right.

So over and over and over I went. The same territory. One thing became clear...one of the subplots needs to go. It's not necessary and it just makes the ending all the more cumbersome. Indeed, a whole lot becomes clear once I reach the end. What is clear is...I've Finished!!!! Well, the first draft, but for me, that's always the hardest. I actually like editing. My first drafts are always messes too...there're a lot of names I need to change, stuff to streamline...everything is much clearer to me now.

But I sure wasn't going to sleep until I'd written The End, even if I had to pull a Hamlet and kill em all off...to be resurrected in another edit. I didn't - of course. And I know the end still isn't right, but I trust now that by the time this book gets into your hands it will be as it should be. Perhaps not as everyone would want it, but the book I meant to write.

phewww...

Will now take 2 weeks to de-stress. Though the next day or so, including today, is packed with stuff that's piled up and been left undone. Emails to answer, things to mail, all sorts of details that need attending to. Drove across to Vermont to do a mailing this morning. And realized something, as I waited at the US customs line - I'm very hurt that not once has anyone failed to recognize me from my passport photo. I look like Mussolini, on the meat hook, and the guards always look at it, look at me and wave me through. Damn.

Visited Markus briefly today...he's fitting in well, playing with the other horses. Jana is taking great care of him. Just need now to find him his permanent home. We have a home all picked out, with a great rider and terrific woman, but haven't got the okey-dokey from the rescue network.

Thank you again for all your support through the last couple months. I began the book in snow - and now the lilac are out...and you've stuck with me through it all. I figure when a first draft is finished I'm about 2/3rds done. A second draft, then edits, then smoothing...then off to my agent...

Phew.... I wish I could explain how this feels. A relief...an amazement...trying not to worry that it isn't right yet...I know it will be. Mostly I'm almost sick with excitement at the thought of sitting in front of the fireplace tomorrow, with a newspaper, a book and a cafe au lait....and just reading. What could be better?

Snow! Snow!!

snow! More snow. temps slightly above freezing

We've had over a foot. More whacking away at the bushes and trees. Driving back from Sutton last night there were all these trees bowed down over the road...so we had to weave around the trees. Again, very pretty, if it wasn't in danger of hurting the trees, and us.

Power went off and on all night long. Kept waking up to things clicking and whirring back to life. Though, that actually might have been Michael. Or me. I do whirr a lot.

This morning it continued to snow - more than 14 inches in total. Tony came by with more bird seed for the poor birds. Then a wonderful thing happened...it started melting. Fast. Now almost all the snow has come off the trees and bushes...phew.

Wrote lots today. Wrote good. Well, wrote lots. But didn't finish the first draft and now I'm too pooped. Will take the computer with me and see what happens. Off to Washington tomorrow - for Malice Domestic.

So looking forward to it. Busy, busy time - but I just love this readers and writers conference. it focusses on traditional mysteries. the readers are deeply intelligent and very supportive of everyone.

Might not be able to blog tomorrow - but will try.

crazy talk

sunny, chill, but warming up temp 10

Frost warning last night! Honestly, what is it with this spring? No snow in March but a frost warning when it's almost June. Lise was very wise not to put our annual or vegetables in yet!

Lovely day now, though. Warmer, and sunny.

Just exercised - not pretty. I think some people do all sorts of things and look adorable. Cry, eat, exercise. I just look like a maniac, a glutton and a slimy lunatic, in that order. Of course, if I didn't eat so much I wouldn't have to exercise so much, and that would look after two of the three. Though there would be a lot more crying.

Two more big scenes to write and the book should be finished. Well, the first draft anyway. Then going out and doing promotion etc in June...then back in July in time to do the first edit, or revision. This one, though, isn't feeling as though it needs too too much editing. Too many characters - some will have to go...but I know which ones...and some characters change names partway through, and some change physical appearance and sex. My first drafts - now there's a mystery.

Some promotion stuff just arrived from the US publishers...needs work...and we're reading the proofs for THE BRUTAL TELLING. One thing that has definitely surprised me about the writers life is how much of it doesn't actually involve writing. Indeed, in my life, the writing is the easiest part. And God help me if I ever get behind. I feel as though I just get my head to the surface and a bunch more work drops. So if I didn't keep up, I'd drown.

Or - maybe nothing would really happen. I have a sense this is all crucial, but maybe not. Not - that's crazy talk. (put that in in case one of the publishers is reading this.)

Off to hose down. Yes, my days are that attractive.