Snowy Cars, Snowy Cars....

Have I ever mentioned how much I despise winter weather? 

We received our first snowstorm of the season yesterday, and it was not fun at all. The snow started around 7:30 AM yesterday, and it was coming down so fast that the little car was covered before 8 AM, as were the roads.

Schools were going to be closing 3 hours early yesterday, meaning Son's school was getting out at NOON... But after seeing how fast the snow was falling, and how slippery things were at 8 AM,  I made the executive decision to keep him home. 

I'm glad I did. Our road hadn't been plowed at noontime, and I didn't see any plows go by until after 3 PM, it was actually closer to 4 by the time the first one went by. I didn't see it go the other way until after 6 PM, when I was on the phone with my best friend - two hours on the phone with her and that's a *short* conversation! We've gone SIX HOURS before, and probably will again sometime soon. Living across the continent means we become chatterboxes when we get talking over the phone. 

The roads were still nasty this morning, but Son was kept home for another reason. He's sick again, but not as bad as he could be. I think it's just his dust allergy acting up a touch. He's fine, and going back tomorrow even if he doesn't like it....

Things are better with the anemia, but not perfect. My ferritin level (iron stores) came up a couple of notches, but it's not high enough to stop taking the iron supplements. I'm still slightly anemic too. I'm not impressed, but if I want to get better and keep feeling like myself, they are a necessary evil. So... I'm still popping them, and will be until my next check up in March. 

Oh, it's really fun, being sick. /sarcasm

Other than that things are looking up. My lifelong condition has evened out, I'm eating much better, feeling much better, and best of all, I lost a little weight! 

Husband said I'm back to being sunny and positive spirited again. For a while, I was really down in the dumps about certain things, and since they have improved by a thousandfold, I'm feeling more and more like my old self, and I hope this continues. 

There *is* a reason for it, and I will let y'all know when I'm allowed to do so. It's freaking awesome is what it is. ;) 

So.....................

My best friend said something last week that got me thinking. It made me conclude that I've been expecting perfection in my writing in a rough draft, and therefore throwing me way off, which is the probable cause of me skipping from one story to the next instead of just focusing on one only... I should just *write* and worry about getting it perfect in a *later* draft. 

I'm nowhere near the level of some of my favorite authors, and I should stop thinking I have to have a perfectly polished draft from the get go.

So.... Friday, I decided that I should try writing again, and thought that TEN needs to be fully revised, from the start. It was stalling me a lot, and I could not get past certain things with it, and some of it was illogical for a contemporary, Earth bound romance story. 

I started writing it as just a regular story of a small town boy that meets his match on the desire battlefield... The next thing I knew it was after 2 PM, and I had two whole scenes written in rough draft. Over 1500 words.

Dang, that was easy, once I let go of the notion I have to be perfect in a rough draft. 

I keep forgetting exactly *how* much work went into one of my manuscripts, and how long it took me to get it from its initial draft/incarnation to what it is today. 

It took me over five years to get that particular manuscript up to the highly polished work it is today. Five years of writing the initial draft/incarnation, edits, revisions, more edits, rereads, critiques, more revisions, and a full rewrite, and more revisions, edits, critiques, and so on.

That said, it was worth it. Every single minute of it was a lesson on what to do, and what to avoid.

I'm still learning, and thank heavens I am able to talk to others with more experience, and who know what they're doing. Not just in my genre, but others too. 

It's because of their guidance, honesty and experience that I am the writer I am today. I am so grateful for everything they have taught me, and what they will teach me in the future. 

On a final note, WHOM GODS DESTROY has started re-releasing their songs from their 2007 Demo and their 2011 album "Signs Of Life" as videos with lyrics in them on YouTube. It makes it so much easier to learn the songs, or it is for me. *laughs* 

In closing, I give you one of my favorite songs, "Sea of Tears", from their 2007 4 track Demo CD.

Enjoy. 

Namaste, and until next time, dear friends.

"Ch-Ch-Changes"

As the title suggests, there have been a lot changes in the last while.

Before I start, I would like to publicly congratulate ALL students who participated in the Mental Math Challenges and all other challenges held at the regional Knowledge Festival. All of you are winners just for being asked to represent your schools in my opinion.

Son did it again. He was in the Grade 4 division this year and cleaned house with getting first place, another perfect score of 40 correct answers for 40 questions! We were proud of the honor bestowed on him by his school by being asked to be a representative of his grade, and now even more so for his win. :) Congrats, Son!

CHANGES........

It's like someone flipped a switch... Things are FINALLY warming up here in my end of the province, and the amount of snow has went from over 2 feet in spots to barely a couple of inches in the last two weeks. The temperature is now going well above freezing too, and it's nice to open the windows or just go outside into the sunshine without freezing the toes off!

Our driveway, finally clear of snow and ice.

That photo was taken three days ago, and even more snow has disappeared in that short amount of time. I think the melt so far has been a record setting one, just like the amount of snow we got in February of this year!

Another change that's happening is related to something that happened in December.

After 45 years as a physician, our family doctor had to retire due to deteriorating health. We were sad to see him go. He was my son's doctor for Son's entire life, and mine since before I was born - he even delivered me.

He retired so unexpectedly that he didn't have time to get someone to take over his practice for him before he hung up his stethoscope.

Son wasn't happy going over to the one ER to get refills on his meds, which was what we've been doing for the last three months with him. It was at four hour wait at best, and he would get antsy and bored even if we brought snacks, books and toys with us for him.

I was hoping to get on with a doctor - local or otherwise - just for his sake. I didn't care if they didnt' take me on, as long as they took him on.

Well, we hit the jackpot. Back in March, I got a call that we had a new family doctor. She's a brand new one, just establishing her own practice, and started this month. All three of us were taken on.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO relieved. There is a shortage of doctors - family docs and specialists alike - in the province and to get a new family doctor after only a three month wait is almost unheard of these days. I know people who were waiting for *years* to get someone else. Either the doctors were retiring or settling in another spot.

Her clinic is about an hour away by car, but that's okay. We have a family doctor again.

We love her. She's young, with a sunny personality and is very open to a lot of things.

It's one heck of a huge weight lifted off my mind.

It's also a darn good thing we found her. Our old doctor passed away in March.

Someone said what would have happened if he had died suddenly without retiring first?

That was something a lot of us do not want to think about.

I'm glad I don't have to now.

WRITING:

"Hearts Remembering" has been edited and gone over, and is now back into another perk cycle.

It may not be in there for long though.

I'm considering adding a couple of extra key scenes because it seems choppy and skips somewhat in spots. I'm hoping it'll smooth things out.

My best friend and I will probably be brainstorming those parts sometime soon. I'd like to get this one sent out to the rest of the gang ASAP, so I can get a move on with other things related to it and Away to Me, as well as get moving on a new story. I'm not sure if I'll be working on Ten or not. Gotta see how things go I guess!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

It's April? Well, It Doesn't Feel (or Look) Like It!

It's one of those years when I am nauseated each time I look outside.

It's April 7, and we had another four inches of snow come down yesterday into this morning. Our driveway and the road had been finally clear of snow and ice -I saw gravel in our driveway for the first time since December! - and now we're back to the endless blanket of white crap everywhere.

It's sickening. The west coast  has not had a true winter at all, and we got theirs on top of our own, and then some.

I'm so ready for it to be over with until at least November. I just want to open my windows and change the air in my house. Is that too much to ask?

Anyway.............

I haven't had much of a chance to work on editing or anything else writing wise the last couple of weeks... I decided that "Hearts Remembering" could perk for a bit longer and I'm glad I did it that way. I'm starting to see a LOT of stuff that I wasn't seeing before March Break, and I think it's going to be much easier to edit it now.

My best friend got a sneak peek of the ultra rough draft of one of the scenes... And she edited it for me! She and I just click when it comes to something like that. She knows my style (and loves it) and knows what I will like and dislike for editing suggestions. Thank heavens she's only been sending me the ideas/suggestions I'll consider. lol

Except for a few left out commas and one or two parts where she left out a word or two, it's pretty much perfect and will be going into Draft 2 of the manuscript. It took me a while to do because well, she kind of forgot to put in the paragraph breaks and I had to compare her gigantic paragraph to the three pages that scene covered in the manuscript to see where things went. lol

This week, I'm hoping to do a full reread on "Hearts Remembering", while editing and formatting the current draft of it... In between chatting sessions with my best friend on the messengers that is!

As for the weather, I would just like to see my lawn again. I don't care if the grass turns green or not, I just want to see something *other* than a blanket of white in my yard and around the neighborhood.

Please.

*Kicks Old Man Winter in the "family jewels"*

Knuckling Down...

It's been a wild March...

First of all, the week before March Break was a complete SNAFU. Son was sent home sick with a massive chest and head cold on the Tuesday before it started and was home the rest of the week. I had planned to use that Friday for preliminary work on another idea or to see what was salvageable from an older, unfinished manuscript to work on next.

It's okay. I didn't mind him being home and well, I kind of needed to bounce out of the shock that yes, I finished another manuscript draft, without knowing it.

Son rested and watched a lot of TV or movies while I started the process of switching gears to editing "Hearts Remembering" instead of writing it.

March Break went by too fast. Hubby caught Son's cold and he was resting a lot when he wasn't working, and the last going off, I had it too.

It wasn't the way we had planned to spend March Break. We were hoping to get up to the Valley to see my mom, my sister and my sister's family on one of Hubby's days off. Unfortunately that didn't happen between us being ill and the wild weather we had, so the trip is postponed AGAIN. *sigh* Hopefully some time in April, once the snow melts........

We had two very nasty storms during the Break... On March 15, we had an ice storm that made roads almost impassable and coated everything. Our power was out for over 7 hours, much to Son's disgust. Thankfully he was okay once he was set up with plenty of books and his MP3 player. I read that entire day in between doing the housework I could do without power. March 18th saw another storm, over a foot of snow came down. I could NOT see my back yard from the window above the sink. There was a six foot snow drift in between the dryer porch and the attached storage area on the back of the house. It was that bad!

I had hoped to see what was salvageable from one of the older, unfinished manuscripts this week, but I had strict orders to stay OUT of Word and take March Break off, all from my best friend.

It had been awfully tempting to fire up Word and sneak into an editing session, but the thought of her duct taping me to the roof with my son's help wasn't appealing. I do want her to visit sometime, but for more than a goofy prank... Hopefully next year or if I'm really lucky, later this year...

But now that March Break is over, I can get back to work - on editing/proofing/formatting "Hearts Remembering" Draft 2, preliminary work on another manuscript either a revamp or a completely new one, or even the longer synopses of "Away to Me" for publishers that want that kind of thing. Yesterday I started the long process of going over "Hearts Remembering" with a fine toothed comb and hope to continue doing that today in between things. My next "Writing Day" will see me either getting another publisher's package ready for "Away to Me" or trying to get into another first draft of something.

I'm also debating on who to send the manuscripts to when I'm ready... Soooooooo many wonderful and great publishing houses out there for the genres I write..... Decisions, decisions....

Have a great week, everyone! Hopefully your spring is going much better than ours. We still have snow banks around that tower over 20 feet, and in some spots, over 30! I can not wait until all of it is gone... I'm so sick of seeing a blank, white pallet... I need color, and soon, darnnit! *SIGH*

The snow drift blocking my view of the back yard.

Ice coating the branches of our ash tree.

Our backyard with everything covered in snow and ice.

Real Life Happens....

Sorry I haven't been posting a lot, things have been bananas here lately.

Winter has been unkind to my area. We have had at least another 2 storms on top of what I was showing in my last blog entry, along with rain and freezing rain... The temperature plummeted and everything on the ground but the roads are now covered in ice. Towns and cities were running out of places to put the snow that they removed from parking lots and other places, and in some spots around here, the snow banks were over 8 feet high, if not higher. I understand that in our provincial capital, Halifax, there were drifts and banks in the 15 to 20 foot range. It's been nuts!

Son's basketball team had to cancel a couple of more practices and one or two games due to weather, but that hasn't stopped them from winning!

So far their record for wins, losses and ties is currently 7-1-1, with two games left to go in the season, both against the same school - one away and the last game is at home.

Son's been scoring a few baskets too. One game that was at home - both Hubby and I were in the stands cheering on his school - Son managed to get THREE baskets! He was so happy, and everyone in the stands went nuts! It seems the other schools' teams know there's a child with autism on Son's team and do make some allowances for him, even the parents from the other schools cheer when he scores. It's one heck of a great feeling seeing them root for him too.

Twelve's first draft will be finished before Easter at the rate I'm going. I was stalled for a bit but manged to get over it, and I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of that writing tunnel.

If I do this before May 29, that will be two first drafts finished within a year. That's a first for me. LOL No complaints! Hopefully I'm starting to train my brain to be like some of my writing friends' brains, be able to draft three or more stories in a year. That would be rather cool if I could do it like that! We shall see... :)

My reading team has already been alerted they have about a month or so to wait after this one's draft is finished before they'll get their copies of it. The editing will be similar to what I did with Away to Me but within less time. They've already been warned it's going to be a lot faster this time, and I'll be working on something else while this one is in stasis.

What I'll be working on next is still up in the air. I'm not going to worry about things now, that can wait until after Twelve's draft is finished... And I recover for about a week. LOL

Have a great weekend folks, and only approximately 3 weeks to go until spring, although my area won't see anything until mid-May, when the mud and blackflies arrive. Yuck.

I leave you with some photos that were taken over the course of the last month or so...

I'm only 5'2 1/2" and the bank behind me is as tall as I am. I'm by the main road in front of my house.

That @#$%^& snow bank in front of the house.

Our flowering crab tree covered in snow and ice.

Snow banks around the Bridgewater Mall parking lot.

Our driveway after the last ice and rain storm.

Winter: GO AWAY!

It's been another one of those months where we seem to be getting clobbered with a major storm every week, sometimes two times or more in a single week. The last month saw at least four snow days for kids in my son's district, as well as days when the buses were going to be late or not going back the dirt roads. Son wasn't too happy about school being canceled on those days but what can you do? It IS winter and my province is in one of the years that we seem to be getting snow over the fence. I guess it's our payback for having such a warm December? Hard to say.

All I know is that I am ultra sick of this, and I'm ready for spring....

View of our road after the most recent major snowstorm last week.

Son has another reason to be ticked when school is canceled on certain days. This year, he's on the grade 4 & 5 basketball team, and it just happens to be that a couple of their practice days were canceled due to schools dismissing early or being canceled due to the weather being so rotten. He loves playing basketball - odd considering neither Hubby nor myself are fans of that sport, we are hockey fans - and when the team coach asked him if he wanted to participate this year, he jumped on it. So far they have only played two games - against the same team from another school - but they have won both of them. Hubby and I were able to make it to the most recent game last week, and we had fun. Son made two legal steals, forced two legal turn arounds, and even scored a two point basket for his team! The team they were facing is a good team too but had a bit of bad luck both times they faced Son's school. Hopefully this teaches all boys on all teams good sportsmanship, and that even if you do lose, you still did a great job and it's an honor to be chosen to be on the team.

Twelve is progressing nicely. I've been writing a lot when schools are open, and I'm slowly starting to see the story finally come together in its correct, original configuration. I had a part to splice in written up, and it was put into the main file two weeks ago. I've made more progress in the main file, and have started another file to splice in as well. It's been slow but steady by times.

As of right now, there are about 48K into the main file, along with another 2K in the file to be spliced in.

That means I'm about halfway to the goal of about 100K. That said, I'm probably about 5/8 finished this story. So it's probably going to be under 100K, which is the limit for most publishers.

As for other projects, I'm still unsure of what's going to nab me next. I'd like to write the sequel to Twelve before that one is sent out, but I'd also like to finish Ten too. I'll just have to see how things go after Twelve's first draft is done, that's all.

Have a great week everyone!