Beetle

Mainly sunny, mild, temps 23

Lee Ann was, as you might remember, going to post about a very important Memorial Day event for her - the re-dedicating of their local library into a 'memorial' library - to commemorate the war dead, including her son Thomas, who died in Iraq.

the re-dedication was this weekend...and, she'd still going to write something soon, but it seems the weekend was sort of overwhelming with family and unexpected events (her too! - sound familiar?) that she hasn't been able to put pen to paper and give it the time and thought it deserves.

So I told her not to worry and to just send it when she's ready.

My day was beautifully quiet, except for the regular Monday avalanche of emails - even more as we head into the launch of Bury Your DEad and try to coordinate tour schedules. And we're booking into next year as well. Events always sound like a good idea when they're 12 months away.,..and then as they get closer I scratch my head and try to think why I ever thought that was a good idea. So, am trying to be more respectful of my writing schedule and not encroach too much into next winter and early spring.

However, it looks as though I have managed to book an event in Pittsburgh next April. Will keep you posted.

Writing/editing going well. More of a re-write than an edit, as I adjust scenes, and characters...and even names. My first drafts and final drafts are often unrecognizable as the same book.

Exciting news...as some of you know, I've been thinking of getting a new car. We sold both of ours in the winter, with the thought of simplifying. going, perhaps, with only one. N ow that seems not very workable. Being in the middle of the country, with touring, I can't just take our one car and leave Michael and Trudy marooned. Well, I could, but I probably couldn't come back.

but we hate the thought of two cars. Until we realized if we got one with low gas consumption and used it everyday it would make more environmental sense. At first I was thinking of a Smart Car...I just adore the design. But the more we thought about it the more restrictive it seemed. Wouldn't want to drive it in winter. Or on our highways.

But our friend and neighbor, Walter, has had a series of new beetle convertibles and swears by them. Indeed, my very first car was a VW Rabbit convertible. I adored it.

so, we got to thinking about that...and then I saw a powder blue one...VW beetle convertible. 2006. The only year they made powder blue, apparently. and we wanted a used one...for the country roads, seemed to make more sense.

We've looked and looked. Walter's looked for us. I've made phone calls, followed them up...but nothing.

Until today. Walter called to say the local VW dealership in Sherbrooke as one! So I called, made an appointment, and Michael, Walter and I will pop over at 7 tonight for a test drive! Yippeee...

Can't remember when I've been more excited about a car...except, perhaps, that very first one, thirty years ago. Wow.

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Hope you're enjoying the long memorial day weekend. we've been so moved by the coverage, by the interviews. On all the wars and all the lost.

Tea Party

cloudy, some sunny periods, cools and windy...temps 15

We can smell the smoke from the forest fires way up in Northern Quebec, so huge are they. Disconcerting. Not because we're in any danger, but just knowing how much is being destroyed. And the threat to people's homes and way of life - most of whom are native. Terrible. Apparently the burning can be smelt as far south as Maine.

Very frightening for the people. I remember well the wild fires in Australia a year ago.

Had a fun board meeting this morning, organizing the SPCA tea. Going to be a great event.

Spent the rest of the day editing nd writing...until seven pm. Then made dinner. Writing/editing going well but much slower than I expectd. The first draft is close to right - but not quite...so to get it right I actually have to do alot of writing. i'm enjoying it, and very pleased with how the second draft is reading. But wow is it a hard slog.

Still, the job now is to get it right. Quality, not quantity, I keep reminding myself. Even if this draft takes until August, if I get it right it's much better than being finished in June, but needing yet another severe re-write.

Feel like the blog is dull - not much energy or creativity left by the time I blog these days. Sorry! But I do think of you.

Lovely, quiet day tomorrow. Just writing. Yay.

Memorial Day

bit cloudy, cooler, temps 20

Still a nice day...watered the annuals in the pots that Lise planted a few days ago. She also asked us to water the broccoli. All watered. Then it started to rain.

But not for long. We actually haven't had rain for a couple weeks...now everything's really dry.

the second draft is going slowly - but well. As I mentioned earlier, the beginning is always the most labour intensive, always needs the most work...but I think the big re-direction is done and now it's more fine tuning. Or not. We'll see.

I feel I can now set a goal. The manuscript is 264 pages, single spaced. I'm on page 20. I'm hoping to get to page 100 by Friday. And then 100 pages a week after that. At that rate I might be finished by about June 20th. So that's the goal...allowing for some days away to do events...I'll be in Orangeville, Ontario next weekend for the culmination of the One Book, One County events, at the Grace Tipling hall in Shelburne. So that'll be a few days away for travel and the event...and other things.

Meeting friends for coffee today at the Cafe International in sutton.

Tomorrow morning we're hosting the board meeting for the SPCA tea. Michael and I have agreed to host the big fundraising event this summer. It's a tea at our home, outside in the garden. Last Saturday of July. So there's an organizing meeting here tomorrow morning. God bless, Lise...she said she'd come and help out. We have to decide where the tents should go. Of course, as we walked the property earlier and I'm making suggestions, Lise, always patient, listened, then gently pointed out that if they put the tents where I suggested they'd all be underwater if it rained. I chose the low land.

Tomorrow should be fun, as we have coffee, muffins, and ten of us walk the garden deciding what to put where. Well, we suggest and Lise decides.

Then more writing. Feels good to breakthrough to a point where I feel it's fair on myself to set a goal and goal-posts.

Have noticed, yet again, that the letters on the keyboard of my old laptop have worn off. Just little flecks of white are left. Every now and then as I write I forget where the 'h' is, or the 'p'. And then I have to hit keys at random. So words come out like 'larty' - 'oarty' - 'tarty'...and finally - 'party'. So, if Peter and Clara suddenly have a tarty gathering you can guess what happened.

I'll let you know how the meeting tomorrow morning goes.

this is the Memorial Day long weekend in the US...the time when there are tributes to men and women in uniform. yesterday was also the day when the Library in Lee Ann's neighborhood was renamed...a 'memorial library',,,it's a campaign that first brought Lee Ann and I together, when Still Life first came out and a specific quote moved her to write me. We've been in contact ever since. At the time her son Thomas had recently been killed in Iraq. And she'd started the campaign to have the library re-named a 'memorial libary' - in memory of all the men and women who have died. Years and years she and others in her community have fought, argued, asked, begged, cajoled.

And finally, it has happened.

I've asked Lee Ann to blog about the experience on Monday. I just wanted you to know.

Be well.

Sleuth of Baker Street

sunny, cooler, temps 24

Another gorgeous day. Gad - how long will this torment last??

Writing went much better today. We started with breakfast out - as a treat - then back home by 9am and at work until 3pm without breaks except to walk Trudy around the pond. Unspeakably beautiful out there.

I think the new idea has worked...what a relief. got tired at the end and sort of did a short-hand end to this scene. but will read it all over tomorrow morning and see what I think. It's important at this stage that each word have a reason to be there, and if possible each scene and conversation serve several purposes, propelling both the plot and deepening the characters.

I think this new approach has worked. Wow, what a relief. Yay.

Had a very fun email from Marian Misters of Sleuth of Baker Street in Toronto. At the Arthur Ellis awards in Toronto last night, The Brutal Telling won the Sleuth award for the best selling Canadian mystery of 2009!

How wonderful that feels.

Thank you for all your supportive comments after yesterday's post. It helps!

ugh

sunny, slightly cooler, temps 25

Cold snap...now we're just five degrees above normal. Another beautiful day. Michael swam and I was about to, but other things popped up, so didn't.

Spent most of the day editing...then realized it was wrong. I just wasn't happy with it. So I read the original version, from the first draft...and there were some sections - turns of phrases really - I liked. But even then it didn't gel. It was OK - perhaps even good. But not perfect. I know when it's bang on. I just feel it. And this scene isn't. It's quite early in the book and quite complex and needs to be done with a light hand, which means getting the POV right, the dialogue right, the small strokes filling in character needs to be invisible...to happen so naturally you don't even realize. But the character just fills out.

So I went for a walk. And sat on a bench. And imagined the scene. This way. That way. I saw it, and followed it. And all hit a wall. Then, as I showered and was thinking of it - an idea came. A POV that hadn't occured to me before...but might also solve another issue. I'm quite excited about it.

Right now I don't want to over-think it...it just feels right now. So I want to approach it fresh tomorrow morning.

I know if this doesn't work something eventually will. I worry, but I don't panic. It's more of a pain...to work so hard and know it still isn't right...but I also know all this is necessary, before I can get it right. But it's much more fun when I get it right the first time! Or the second.

Oddly, when it's a real pain, and I fight and fight - it feels even better when the solution presents itself. And I know the book is even better for the struggle. It forces me to go to places I might have been resisting. To see things in myself I didn't want to see - and needed to put on the page.

But most of the time, it's about being more subtle.

Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's just really hard. But it's always worth the effort. Cause when I finally get it right...whoooppeee!!! Joy.

lupins

Mainly sunny, hot, temps 30

Another stunner. Gorgeous. Spent the morning on the screen porch, writing. I wish I could say I was editing, but the truth is, I'm doing mostly original writing...doing new scenes at the beginning of the book.

But I really like what I'm doing, and don't feel at all badly that all the writing I did months ago to start the book will never be read...will in fact disappear. Because I know two things....what I'm doing now is better. And I needed to write what I did before to be able to write this.

It's all a process...building on itself. And the beginning of my books are almost always going to need re-writing because when I start a book the themes and direction are never as clear as when I finish. So the second draft is done from a whole different perspective.

I'm actually very excited about this stage...not at all afraid anymore, even though it looks as though the editing is really more of a second draft than an edit. And will almost certainly take longer than expected. But I'm now hoping to have this draft finished by the beginning of July. We're going to NY for a few days early in the month to celebrate a friend's birthday so I'm aiming to have it done then.

Lovely life. To sit on the porch, looking over the gardens, and writing about Three Pines, about Clara and Ruth and Gamache.

when I'd finished for the day I took Trudy for a walk - and found that the lupins by the pond were out.

Did I mention that a duck is nesting on the island? Trudy and I scared it by mistake a few days ago and it flew away...then I worried it wouldn't come back - but I didn't want to check, and scare it again. But Victor and Michael reported it was back. So we're expecting a brood of ducklings any day now.

My Assistant Lise dropped by with the flats of annuals. She'll put them in tomorrow. And Kirk came by with a suggestion for a wall colour for the Montreal apartment.

Nice, nice day. I feel at peace.

2nd Draft, first swim

sunny, hot, temps 30

Gorgeous day. slight breeze - brushing away most of the black flies. Started with breakfast in Cowansville. Then home to start the second draft of book 7.

There are two terrifying days in my writers calendar. The first day of the first draft...I hate first drafts. Very scary. And the first day of the second draft - or the first edit.

that's today. I love editing, but the first day is terrifying because I've just spent 3 months fighting to keep the big, fat, stinky critic at bay. Behind the bulging door.

And now I have to let it out. I need the critical eye and thoughts for the editing. But by now the critic has grown mighty bitter and pissed-off and full of bile. It's just mean. And it's in the room with me. Venting. Screaming that I've just wasted 3 months. That the entire first draft is the worst pile of skunk poop ever dropped. That the characters are cardboard, the story confusing, the conclusion cliched. and, while we're at it, I'm fat and stupid and ugly. And, are you really going to wear that???

Yikes.

You can see why the first day of editing is pretty gruesome.

As it approached I kept reminding myself to stay in the day, in the moment. Don't think ahead. Just write down ideas as they came and don't listen to the critic warming up in the background.

As I went for walks I tried to open my mind for inspiration, and ask for help and guidance, and courage.

this morning, the first day of editing, I lay in bed and opened emails...and there was a message from a woman I hadn't seen or spoken to in 40 years. In her long email she was describing a mutual acquaintance...and her description was exactly what I was trying to do with the book. I wrote her back and thanked her - and asked if she minded if I used some of what she wrote as inspiration. And she said not at all.

It was so strange. Like waking up to an email from the gods of inspiration. It was thrilling. As I read her message so much of what I had to do became clear. Often it's just a turn of phrase...as it was in this case.

So I sat down and re-wrote the whole first chapter. Using what I already had as a base...but coming at it from a different angle. It feels right and good - and calming.

The first day is always the hardest. But when it was over Michael and I celebrated with our first swim of the season in the pool. The kids swam all weekend - the temperature in the pool was 70! Since the forecast was for continued hot weather through the week we put the heat pump on and it's now in the low 80's.

Back to editing tomorrow. It gets progressively easier. And more exciting, as the fear slips away.