Where has the Time Flown?

When I checked the date of my last post I couldn't believe that 18 months has passed since I did a blog entry.  Of course, my travel blog gets updated frequently but not this one.  Writer's block is an excuse I could use but to tell you the truth, I have been writing.

I have one more chapter (number 20 for a total of about 200 pages) to write in my Sarah book which I've re-titled The Jade Seal.  Once that is written, I'll get down to editing it.  The cookbook idea is on hold for now.  I'm still collecting recipes but have not worked out how to write it, yet.  I'd also like to resurrect my book, The Mystery at the Fringe, for young readers as I think my grandsons are of an age to enjoy it.

In the meantime, I spent most of last year downsizing our large home and getting ready to move into a townhouse.  I still can't believe I gave away 10 boxes of books to a local book sale.  I've never given away books before.  However, I'm glad I did as I wouldn't have fit them into our new place.  I hope someone found them useful or entertaining.

We moved in December after spending three months living with my daughter, her husband, two cats and a turtle.  We worked out a system so we didn't kill each other but it was a situation which none of us would like to repeat.  I think Thor, the turtle, will hold a grudge for as long as he lives.

This year, my husband is on an administrative leave which has left me not knowing if he's going into work or not.  This makes planning my days difficult.  We're gradually working out a way of living/working in the same house but this takes time and energy.  Plus I'm doing physiotherapy for a painful elbow which eats into my week.

Bottom line is writing blog posts get relegated to 'should do' rather than 'must do'.  I'm hoping that will change this year but do not hold your breath.

Tale of Two Books

Never have I had two books on the go at the same time.  This is very weird and it probably means my blogs will not be as frequent.  Lol!

I got caught up in my gaming book this week when I thought about smallpox and wondered how I could get my modern girl, Sarah, vaccinated.  You may or may not know that smallpox was irradicated as a human disease in the 1970s and no one has been vaccinated against it since.  This led to a discussion with my microbiologist hubby who said why not have my character come in contact with cowpox.  Originally, cowpox was the disease used to vaccinate people against smallpox.

Turns out Europe has cowpox among its cattle but North American herds are free of the disease.  How could I get my Canadian girl exposed?  More digging on the internet led to an article written on the natural host of the disease which is rats.  The last outbreak being among a breeding colony in Germany.   Another stumbling block for me because Alberta, where Sarah lives, is rat-free.  But, rats are used in scientific research so I just had to have her meet up with a lab rat.  I wrote the scene yesterday and I think it will work.

I love learning something new when I research my books.  The fact that rats are the host for cowpox was a gem of information that not even my hubby knew.

So it's back to the books--literally.

New Project

I began a new project last week.  Years ago, my sister, a psychic, did a reading for me using rune stones.  I was working on the Sceptre of Terran-Gayle at the time but her guide suggested I should write a cookbook.  It was a neat idea.  I began collecting recipes and changing them to suit my tastes.  Every recipe book has a theme and I considered and rejected many.   I had thought of a book based on characters from my books (Geri's Bread, Jarvis' Stew), then thought perhaps I could do food for college students.  I even bandied about the idea that the recipes could revolve around my favourite fantasy creatures--dragons.  Nothing seemed to click.

Last week, I created a new letterbox which required buying red duct tape and that's when a character came to life.  I had the recipes to suit this individual but I decided I needed to get to know him better before I began assembling the recipes.  I gave him a Twitter account and we'll see how he runs with that.

Also on my mind is my aboriginal novel.  My hubby promised to read White Crane and give me his critique.  I had the proof copy printed in June and have been waiting for him to finish A Game of Thrones.  He is a slow reader.  He flew to Toronto this weekend for a wedding so I slipped my book into his bag.  He's read the first two chapters and has already decided he hates the word 'roiling'.  I guess I'll have to find some other word to say what I mean.  He thinks it's an archaic word and should never be used.  Of course, it appears in crossword puzzles all the time.

Definition of roil:

1. (tr) to make (a liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up dregs or sediment

2. (intr) (esp of a liquid) to be agitated or disturbed

3. (intr) Dialect to be noisy or boisterous

Best Laid Plans

I just read On the Brink of Summer and realized summer is almost gone and I have yet to begin Sarah.  I had hoped my muse, which seems to flourish in Victoria, would visit me there but I just couldn't get inspired.  Read my travel blog, A Brief Moment in Time, to see what occupied my time.

It's seems ironic my last post was written on my grandson's final day of school and this one on their first day back.  I'd like to say the nip of fall is in the air but we're still enjoying balmy days and warm nights.  The hills surrounding me are green, such an unusual colour in southern Alberta at this time of year.  I hope that come September, I'll feel the revitalization of a new season and inspiration will strike.

I know my problem.  There is a scene which I must write but my vision of it keeps changing.  My two main characters meet my two secondary characters.  These guys are Chinese and I want them to sound authentic when they interact with Sarah.  I've done some research with a Chinese Canadian girl who has helped me understand the culture of the community but I'm not sure if what I know will translate when these two boys begin to talk.  It's a road block I must overcome before I move on to the next phase of the tale which is where the magic begins.  Sigh.  Work before play.

Have I learned anything this summer which will help?  Perhaps, as you never know what you will eventually use in your writing.  So far this summer, I

• got caught up in a spider-web infested rain forest.
• saw mist rolling over hills and farmland
• learn to knit a cipher like Madame Defarge in Tale of Two Cities
• enjoyed dim sum and photographed the meal for the first time
• learned how to make fried rice
• gained insight into the dynamics of a small town's economy
• saw some weird mushrooms
• saw lots of wildlife including black bears, elk, mountain sheep, black oystercatchers, herons, gulls, osprey, bald eagles, cooper's hawks, swainson's hawks, gold mantled ground squirrels, marmots, deer
• met some interesting people while golfing
• was named player of the week by my World of Warcraft guild (not sure how that will help but Sarah is a game-based story)
• witnessed an early morning sailing on the ferry
• enjoyed a busy market day on Salt Spring Island

Will any of these experiences be used--most definitely for fantasy fiction must be based in reality.  The trick is to lure readers into believing in your characters before they use something as unreal as magic.  You do that by making them and your setting familiar.  Sarah is set in Canada in 2012 and she is a typical teen.  Magic happens and her life is changed.  The theme isn't new (no theme is) but I hope Sarah can draw readers into her life but first I must smash my writer's block and write the tale.

On the Brink of Summer

Spring comes late to Alberta and the advent of summer is hard to define.  We can get heavy snow in June or a killing frost in late May.  No one can predict.  But, I've always felt summer began when school ended.  I've been tied to the school system for 55 years as a student, parent, or spouse of a professor.  I've come to think of September 1st as my New Year's Day and June 30th as the beginning of summer.

Today, though, is the last day of school for my grandsons.  They live in Colorado and their springs are earlier and their winters late.  So, today they leave the confines of their school desks and all the rules one must obey and embark on a summer of learning through osmosis.

I use that word because I was once a biologist and it describes exactly how I believe we learn best.  I was a good student, learning from a book came easy but I think it's not the only way to learn.  Summer is the perfect time to absorb knowledge.  Perhaps you learn to identify a bird's song or build the biggest Lego castle yet.  It doesn't matter as you are adding to your knowledge base and who knows when that might be useful.  And if not useful, wasn't it fun to learn?

I spent my summers playing outside as most kids of my generation.  With our dog in tow, we'd explore our world without fear.  Mom was home to treat cuts and bruises and feed us when we were hungry.  I spent many hours high in a tree telling stories to anyone who listened.  There is a certain magic in the forest.  Using osmosis, I absorbed the sounds and smells that I still tap when writing.  And if I weren't outdoors, I had my nose in a book (there was no such thing as daytime TV).  Again, learning through osmosis.

My own kids lived in the city where streets divided neighbourhoods and mothers worked.  Most kids were off in day care so there were few kids to play with.  We created a vacation spot in our back yard where they could wile away the sunny days.  With little money for day/overnight camps, we took our kids to the mountains so they could enjoy the magic of the forest.  Osmosis again at work.

I wrote my first novel, a set of stories based in a land called Katishwa, during the summer I was seventeen.  I wrote on loose leaf paper using a 2H pencil (see White Paper).  What was I thinking?  Yes, we had a typewriter but my typing was pathetic (still is).  I had a part-time job working for the department of education but that didn't fill the long summer days and one could only read so many books.

So today, being the last day of school for some, is the brink of summer to me.  I still find my creative juices flow better when the sun is shining and I'm warm.  I've set myself a goal this summer which I hereby announce.  I will write my Sarah novel this summer.  There I've said it and now it must happen (I can see my son-in-law giving me a thumbs up).  But first, I must finish the edit of White Crane.  Chapter 16 is staring at me so I will end this blog.

White Paper

Before the advent of the computer, most words appeared typed or written on white paper.  Perhaps ivory paper was easier on the eyes but rarely did one use coloured paper.  When I began submitting stories, publishers required pages to be typed in pica (12 point) and a font that resembled today's Courier.  Lines had to be double-space with no more than two errors (corrected with White-out or softly erased).  For someone like me who was a poor typist, it took work to get a manuscript to this level of perfection.  Inevitably, my final proof would reveal mistakes which I would ignore in order to get the manuscript into an editor's hands.

Computers changed all that.  One can choose any font of any size and style, colour can be added to any document and, gone are the days when you submit an entire manuscript to a publisher.  Most still require paper versions but only the first few chapters and some will even consider electronic submissions.  And who reads bound books anymore?  E-readers have changed the book industry as much as computers once did.  I, for one, have embraced the idea that I need only pack my Kindle when traveling.

But, when one is writing even on the white screen of a computer, one misses things.  I always print out my manuscript to edit one version with a pencil.  The eye sees things differently when the page is printed.  You can catch spelling mistakes, awkward phrasing, and even glaring repetitions that you don't spot on a computer screen.  It also gives you a chance to be a reader.  I often take a stack of chapters to a comfy chair and edit them away from my desk.  Just a change of scene and sound of shuffling papers can evoke a different mood and allow for better storytelling.

The eye likes white space around black letters.  Why do you think books with dialogue are more enjoyable than those with solid text?  So the next time you write something, print it out.  See how it looks to your eye.  Opening up passages with dialogue, create single sentence paragraphs, allow 'air' to flow around your writing and you'll be surprise how quickly you will see how to improve your writing.

Travel

My husband and I love to travel but my body does not.  The older I get, the more it complains.  Today, just as I am beginning to recover fro my cold/sore throat, I must embark on an overseas journey.  I'm excited to see new places and experience a different culture but know I will suffer a relapse.  The last thing I want is to be stuck in our hotel room nursing a more virulent bug than what I'm battling now.

The Netherlands has never been on my 'to see' list.  All I ever wanted from the country was a pair of clogs which my in-laws brought back years ago when they visited.  I didn't really need to see windmills or tulips.  Now I find I'm looking forward to experiencing what Bessie and Jim did.  But unlike then, we are going to a conference which puts a different spin on what one does in a foreign country.

I love writing about our travels.  My first article was about our trip to Panama and then in 2009, I started doing a blog on our travel adventures.  Since I have a notorious weak long term memory, these scribblings help me remember the good times we've enjoyed while traveling.  I haven't sold any of my articles and gave up marketing them when I realized they were for my benefit and that of my family.  Writing one blog entry is far easier than sending out umpteen emails basically saying the same thing.

One thing I try to accomplish with my blogs is educate.  Often what I learn while 'in the moment' can be enhanced by doing research.  This means searching the Internet for links to restaurants, museums, art galleries, and stores.  It also allows me to add to my knowledge of the history or environment of an area.  Anyone interested can explore my links and learn as much or as little as they want.

However, the last thing I want is to repeat what can be found elsewhere.  I try to tell a story of our trip, sometimes it sounds like a diary or travelogue but I want others to know how I felt when I was there.  How the sights, sounds, and smells enhanced the atmosphere of the place.  My sister once remarked on the post I did of our photo shoot in Banff saying it was almost exotic and nothing like how she remembered it.  She lets her photos tell her stories but I must use words.  It is how I view my world and blogging allows me to share my experiences with others.  It's also good practice for writing my fiction for it helps me give my characters a world to live in that mimics our own.