Summer Breezes and the Ace of Hearts...

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update on here, and a lot has changed over the last six months.

Son and Transition School

Son officially graduated and had his ceremony of achievements on June 19^th, after being at the school for two and a half years. I was fine during the achievements of the other four students who were also leaving, but bawled the entire time Jeff was praising my sweet son, and everything he accomplished while attending the school. Son was always saying he was a Lieutenant Junior Grade, and at his graduation from the transition school, he was promoted to full Lieutenant. That only made me bawl harder. His teachers there are so good with the students, and they understand every nuance, every single quirk and more. To say we’re going to miss all of them next year is an understatement.

This also marks another huge milestone – Son is finally done with the South Shore Regional Education Centre. He had been in the system since he started primary in 2010, and has finally graduated from there too.

He had started attending his work placement program 4 days a week earlier this year, and is happy to be staying there. They are full on Mondays so he’s only attending there Tuesdays to Fridays, which is fine with me. I get three days to sleep in instead of only the weekends. And if there’s a holiday like Canada Day during the week, he gets that off too. Plus any days that it’s a snow day for the SSREC kids it’s one for his crew too. The LL gang (as I call it) does a lot of things, like laundry for various businesses around the county, silk screening, shredding paper, and so much more. These amazing people of all ages (ranging from 18 to elderly) learn a lot of skills at the placement, plus they also go on outings like bowling in Lunenburg, various fairs around the South Shore, museums, visiting horse stables and various farms, selling products that are made in the shop at farm markets and so much more.

They even had their first ever prom for LL participants and full time residents (this is attached to a home for people who cannot live independently who cannot live with family, etc.). Everyone looked so wonderful dressed up, and they had so much fun at the dance. Even Son – who hates any music that’s not classical or heavy metal – loved it and hope they do it again next year.

To say they are awesome is an understatement, and I’m so happy my precious boy is there. They’ve done so much for him, he’s even more independent now, and has matured a lot in the last six months or so.

I’m so proud of him!

Lunenburg Pride’s Third Annual Pride Parade

Another year, another pride celebration in my county! I was going to walk in the parade again this year, after having so much fun last year, but unfortunately, my body decided that it wasn’t going to store iron again, and I’m extremely anemic (no laughing or you’re a horrid piece of shit!). No walking in the parade, doctor’s orders. I was allowed to watch it, as long as I stayed out of the sun, I was sitting down and guzzling water.

It wasn’t as big this year as it had been last year, but it was still tons of fun, with everyone calling “Happy Pride!” and pretty much every part of the LGBT+ community represented.

When we got to Empire Street, we saw someone walking by wearing the lesbian flag, and others wearing the Intersex Progressive Pride Flag, as well as non-binary flags, lots of Canadian flags with the rainbow where the two red panels normally go (I call it the Canadian PRIDE flag), and of course the traditional Rainbow Pride flag (six coloured one) everywhere – and that was just the spectators.

Yours truly went all out in her own flag colours – which are also my signature colours as an author. Black, grey, white, and purple galore, head to toe. Even the sneakers matched, they’re black, white, grey and lavender. Perfect for me! I did wear my PRIDE hat with the word in rainbow colours, and my rainbow bracelet, but that was it. I wore my asexual flag as a cape too. Hubby said I looked awesome and he was so proud to see me having fun and cheering on my fellow LGBT+ community members. I even saw a few people I had made friends with last year… It was so much fun and so amazing.

I hope I’m well enough to walk in it next year, as an author and representative of the asexual community in the area. If not, I’m happy to sit on the sidelines and cheer on my fellow queers again!

Writing Update

Now that the glucose is dropping a mile (almost back to normal!) and I’m losing that brain fog, I am determined to get Thorns of the Rose completed and get on with the other stories in the queue, from His Reasons to Fight to the crime drama Xek and I are working on, and so many more…

With Son gone four days a week, and Hubby working a lot of daytimes at his store (he works for a major Canadian grocery store chain), I’m getting at least two to three work days a week. I’m not always getting 5K days but I’m getting 1 to 3 K days and that’s better than nothing. You can’t edit a blank page, after all… And I’m filling mine up, faster than I thought I would be at this point. Thorns of the Rose is now over 40 thousand words, and I’m not even up to the halfway point yet.

This story will also have a bit more steam/spice in it than most of my other stories do, because I’m publishing this as an Indie published book under my own publishing company – whose name will be revealed in time, when I’m ready. I’m already researching registering it with the province and possibly with Ottawa, so it will be a legit company for my own books, and for selling art, and so much more.

I’m determined to finish draft 1 of Thorns of the Rose as soon as possible. That way I can finally finish the crime drama with Xek and the two of us can get it cleaned up, beta read and either done Indie or by one of the publishing houses we are looking at. It will not be done via Extasy Books due to them not putting many books out (I don’t want to overwhelm everyone!) and it won’t be out via Decadent because they focus on romance, and this one has no romance in it. Xek has one or two she’d like to try, and I have a couple in mind as well. Although I’m with her on her first choice, it’s my second choice, so we’ll probably submit there first.

And no, I won’t be saying when it goes out. That’s between us and the publishing house who receives it. The last thing we need is upsetting anyone else if we get a rejection. And I’m betting on at least one or two rejections before finding the right home for it.

As for His Reasons to Fight, I’ll be plugging away on that in the future. I know, I should get it finished ASAP due to Could Have Been ending on a cliffhanger… but I assure all of you out there, it will be more than worth the wait to see how Joshua and Lauren get their happy ever after. I promise!

Art

I’ve been drawing and painting again, this time using watercolors and watercolor pencils. Watercolor pencils are the bomb! I love how easy they are to use, notably for shading right and more. My only gripe is that they need a LOT of water to dissolve the pigments, especially if you layer tons of colors for shading and more. Otherwise, I love them a lot and I’m hoping to get a huge set sometime when we hit Michaels Crafts.

I just need more white multimedia paper though. I’m almost out and the Dollarama no longer carries it. Good grief.

No, I don't show my art publicly, due to companies like Google and others using it to "train" their generative AI slop without my permission. Plus I know a few people who would love to download it, print it out and use it as toilet paper, just out of spite. If you want to see my art, either check out my Discord (you have to have an invite for it) or certain places online that are not visible to the public eye.

Otherwise, everything is running smoothly and I’m doing my best not to gnaw on the monitor those days that I’m not writing.

Happy International Non-Binary Peoples Day! It’s celebrated every July 14^th, and celebrates everyone under the non-binary (enby or NBi) umbrella. I love enby people! They are so sweet, kind and down to earth. You don’t have to present a certain way to be enby either, just be yourself!

On a final note, due to recent circumstances, Generative AI is completely banned in my writing group, on my pages, on this blog and more. Any author who wants to participate in a takeover in my group must state if they used generative AI in either their writing, their covers or both. If they did, it'll be an immediate access denied and banned from the group.

Writing is not prompting.

It's hard work that takes time. You pound it out word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page until the story is finished. Period. No fucking shortcuts. At all.

If you use generative AI to "ghost write" and then revise it, you are a fraud and not a real author. You are an editor and proofer. Nothing more.

It's a legal form of plagiarism, and I hope it soon becomes illegal.

Besides, you cannot copyright anything "written" or "drawn" using generative AI. 

Period. 

So sick of entitled, selfish pieces of shit who think they're an "author" by typing prompts into generative AI and using what it barfs out as "a story" that they "wrote"...

I have worked my ass off to get where I am as an author and an artist today. I'm not perfect by any means, but there's a reason why two of my books have won awards... And it's not because they were written using stuff stolen from other people's original work. 

To wrap it up, I leave you with a song that’s been running through my head the last while… “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by local classic metal band, Whom Gods Destroy. Enjoy!

Writing, Revising, Creating and Something Blue-Green.......

 Hi everyone. I know it’s been a long, long time since I posted anything that wasn’t a tour stop or a guest post.

I have been busy with promoting Eternity’s Gamble, helping out in the Extasy Books Facebook reader group Book Carousel as a moderator, creating book promos for all of my books, helping my kid with school (he was in virtual learning for a week, sitting beside me at the kitchen table doing his work while I did mine), trying to write and so many other things – including getting some work for my graphics business. I’m doing a lot of takeovers in various groups, and I will be doing another podcast via Con-Tinual later this month, we’re going to be talking about romance stories. I can’t wait!

I even hosted a huge takeover bash in my reader group, V.J.’s VIP Lounge in December, and I’m hosting another in March. The next one is to celebrate the five year anniversary of my first book, Stricken, hitting the shelves at Extasy Books on March 17, 2017. Hard to believe it's almost five years old already!

You can sign up for the takeover here:

Takeovers in V.J.'s VIP Lounge.

Most genres are welcome, but I do not want children's books featured, because my group is for the over 18 crowd.

All of this hard work is getting noticed. I’ve had a few people purchasing Eternity’s Gamble, and the few reviews I’ve gotten for it are screaming its praises. I guess I can write paranormal stories after all. People are liking my contemporary works too, and I’m having so much fun meeting my readers via social media. 

The tour for Eternity’s Gamble went well. I got a lot of exposure with it, and people are joining my group and following my author page. I have had more compliments on my writing than I could have hoped for, and I’ve met so many great people – authors and readers alike – over the last few months.

Feathered Tartan 3 is slow going but is moving along. It’s easier now that I found an English-CANADIAN French translator… Long story short, this one is set on the Bay of Fundy, which is also the Acadian Shore. Canadian French is much different than its European counterpart. Since I want everything perfect – down to the hair on the hero’s head too – I wasn’t including anything outside of “oui” until I could either remember or find someone who knew the language. I’m ready to roll once I get a day to write, which I hope to be next week!

I had my first custom cover client just today. I allow people to pick their backgrounds and if they want, a couple or a second element to add to it. I do the fonts, the colors and everything else – while I talk to the client and see what they like or dislike, and do my best to design something that suits them and their book. If they want something changed, I will change it on the spot, and make sure they are 100% satisfied with it before finalizing. I’m still doing things like premades, but it’s more fun working with someone to make the perfect cover, business card, or something else from scratch. It is such an amazing feeling.

To check me out at Veridian Rose Designs, or to order a custom cover, please click on the dark bluish-green rose logo on the right side of the blog. Thanks!

There have been a few changes though.

I’ve decide to delist what used to be “COVID’s Arrow”. It was a really good lesson on how much work goes into an Indie publication, especially one that goes WIDE like I had mine. I know I wasn’t promoting it like I was with my traditionally published books, but at the same time, they are the ones bringing in the most royalties, and I am required to promote my books as much as possible. It’s also a sweet story, and ultra short. 99 cents USD was probably too much for a 3K story… Considering Sweet Child of Mine is 11K and its regular price is about $2 USD on Extasy Books’ website. It’s a sweet story. I’m known for my spicy/steamy stuff, so seeing a book with no sex in it from me must be odd for a lot of people out there.

I’m guessing the name was probably throwing people off too. Massively so. We’re still in a pandemic. Who wants to read something with “COVID” in the title after seeing it slapped everywhere for the last two-plus years?

So it’s delisted, and I’m scrapping the name. Sure, it was fine for the Together We Stand anthology at the time, two years ago, but now, it’s not a great title.

With some help from D.S. Dehel and Cameron Allie, I have renamed the story and created a new, beautiful cover for it that more suits the genre of the story. I’m doing the cover and name reveal on February 14, 2022 in V.J.’s VIP Lounge, and I’ll be sharing it all publicly on February 15^th.

This story will be given away to people as a gift, for certain things as a reader.

Watch for the reveal later this month!

 

Cover ©2022 Veridian Rose Designs

Health wise, all is good. I’ve gone partially keto to help keep my glucose down and help me lose weight. No fats though, other than olive oil. It's good for you. Most fats are not! I’m working out more too, using wrist weights, and walking when I can. It’s not easy because we’ve had a lot of ice this winter. Hence the wrist weights. I’m able to exercise safely. (They can be used as ankle weights, which is great while I’m writing or doing my graphics design and can’t move for a bit, leg lifts!)

Anyway, I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend… And a great February.

I leave you with one of my favorite songs of all time. “Lady” by Stryper, from their album “Against the Law”.

Release Blitz: 365 Days of Writing Prompts for Romance Writers by Kim Knight

365 Days of Writing Prompts for Romance Writers 

Savvy Writers Book 1 

by Kim Knight 

Genre: Writing, Self Help 

With 365 Days Of Writing Prompts for Romance Writers, there’s no need for additional notepads or places to store your ideas. For each day of the year there’s a dedicated space for plotting your ideas, with a writing prompt to create an outline for a romance short story, novella, novel or even flash fiction. All you need to do is adapt the characters or setting to your sub-genre of romance. For each day of the year you’ll find a creative, engaging, fun and challenging writing prompt, with situations or people to craft your next story. There is also a personal blogging challenge with writing prompts, for romance writers to engage with their readers, grow their following, find new readers and allow their audience to get to know them via their own personal blog or author site. With 356 Days Of Writing Prompts For Romance Writers you’ll never be stuck for a romance story idea, or blog topic again! Each month has a focus and fully adaptable to your sub-genre, dip in and out of each day, week, month as you wish. 

January- New Directions Love

February- Unexpected New Love

March- Fresh Starts and New Beginnings

April- Love in Unexpected Places

May- Historical, Regency and Multicultural

June- Contemporary Romance

July- Paranormal, Horror and Dark Romance

August- Christmas and Holiday Love

September- Mixed Bag of Goodies!

October- December Romance Writers’ Blog Writing Challenge Prompts

Award-Winning Romantic Suspense and Thriller Author Kim Knight, also shares her secrets on writing realistic, page-turning romance. Also her experience with writing prompts, which has allowed her to co-author two novels, and seventeen short-stories to date. So, romance writers around the world, grab your pen and your copy and get ready to write every day of the year and never run out of creativity. Note the paperback version will allow you to plot your ideas all in one space in the book, and let go of your hundreds of different idea notepads. 

Goodreads * Amazon

Kim is born in 1983 and from London in the UK. She's a mother to a beautiful little boy, and a proud award winning author (awarded Best Romance 2017 title for A Stranger In France). Kim started her journey as a traditionally published author and later dived into self-publishing also.

As a reader she's head over heels in love with romance, historical fiction, crime fiction, African- American, suspense and thriller genre books. As a writer, Kim enjoys creating stories with a diverse and multi-cultural line up, within the romance, romantic suspense and general thriller and crime genres. When she's not reading, or writing stories of her own her other passions include practising her French, astrology, fashion, make-up artistry, drawing, spending time at her sewing machine dressmaking, watching make -up and beauty tutorials on YouTube, letter writing and being a mum. 

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Moving Along

Good afternoon everyone. I hope all of you are doing wonderfully. 

YES, the rumor is TRUE.

I am in the middle of writing a series!! *Happy dance!*

The MSIP is Book 2 of it, and I've started the preliminary work for Book 3. What the name is, what's the first book in it, and everything else is between myself, my fellow eXtasy Books and Devine Destinies authors, and a few select friends (authors and trusted friends). I have a name for the series too, but like the name of the MSIP, that is Top Secret until I decide to let the Maine Coon out of the bag (figuratively speaking). 

I worked on Book 2/MSIP last Thursday in between things... I didn't get a lot actually written, but I added just enough to be able to splice in a bunch of scenes I had written back in January. It's a huge revelation for the mains, and it wasn't an easy part to write. 

Book 2 went from just over 6K to over 11k with one copy/paste. I may remove the final scene of what I added, because it isn't working at this point in time. I may take it out and put it back in later on in the story. It feels passive at this point, and may not even go back in.

Detailed updates regarding the series and "Something About Alexis" are in my Facebook group, "Romancing the Maritimes". You HAVE to be a member to get the updates about this and the inside scoop on what's going on with my first series and everything else related to my writing, including an occasional excerpt! My beloved fans should get preferential treatment, after all! ;)

Things are going great with the healthy lifestyle. I haven't been up to going to the track - migraines and neuralgia flare ups - but I'm still walking, up and down the stairs here, and if I run errands, I do a few laps around the store to make up for not going to the LCLC. I haven't had any junk food in over 6 weeks, and I'm feeling great! My jeans and rings are really starting to get loose now. Woo-hoo!!!

That's all for now. I'll update as things progress. Have a great week everyone!

I leave you with my favorite Warrant song, "Heaven". Jani Lane had such a beautiful voice... Gone too soon.

Along Came February...

CONGRATS to my longtime friend and fellow eXtasy Books author, Maggie Blackbird, who is now in the process of getting her second book published! I'm not sure when "Redeemed" is coming out, but I promise to keep everyone updated when she allows it. This is awesome! KUDOS Maggie! ♥ 

As for my own work, it's progressing. I wish it was faster than it is, but some progression is better than none, right? I added 1864 words to the MSIP (code name Fourteen) today, and I'm close to tacking in the part I wrote up a few weeks ago. That will close to double its current word count, which is fine with me. I've also figured out a way to end it, but I'm not sure if I will use it or not. I have to see how things go. I only started CHAPTER THREE today, so I'm a ways from its ending. Hopefully I'll get there before school's out for the summer!

The big news is that I have a working title for it! It's TOP SECRET for now. Only a few of my fellow eXtasy Books/Devine Destinies authors and a few select others (including authors from other publishers) know the title. I'm keeping it quiet for now due to the story line. It may change too, so I'd rather give the formal title once it's finalized than give one now and have to change it later. Look at what happened with Stricken. That one went through two other names before its final one came to me.

Real life continues. We didn't get the polar vortex that most of the continent was getting this week. It's easing, or so I'm hearing from my friends in those areas. Thank heavens. The temperatures were brutal! -32 Fahrenheit - or colder! Yikes! I'll keep the -10 Celsius we get on average over here, thanks...

It is tough to write or see the monitor when you have a Maine Coon cat's butt in your face. Princess Fluffy Butt, aka MARNIE, decided she wanted snuggles right as I was trying to wrap up the final scene of the day, and I wound up getting her butt in my face. I can still feel some of her tail floof on my nose. I love her to pieces, but she is NOT exactly beneficial to the writing mojo, especially with the bum in the face routine. CATS. 

Have a great weekend, everyone! Today, I'm leaving you with the title track from Disturbed's debut album: "Down With the Sickness". Enjoy!

I've Been Interviewed!

My dear friend and fellow eXtasy Books author Denise N. Wheatley asked me to make an appearance on her blog, and it went live today!

I'm the one in the hot seat this time, Denise asks me questions about my writing process and other things that have happened to me on my journey to be published.

Check it out HERE: Denise Wheatley Interviews VJ Allison

Thank you so much for having me, Denise! That was a lot of fun, and it gave me a lot of insight to my own work and how a lot of what I do is similar or different to others out there.

Much love! ♥

The Writer's Tag: Look I'm Legit with Tags and Everything Now!

The Writer's Tag was created by Lorraine Ambers and Ari Meghlen as a fun way to connect with other writers, and help us get to know each other better.

I have been tagged by my friend and fellow eXtasy Books author Lynn Michaels. Check out her blog and website at RUBICON WRITING.

Name one novel that inspired you to write.

Ooh, good question. I've been writing on and off since my grade four teacher, Mrs. Hache, gave me high marks and a lot of praise for my raw skills as a nine-year-old, so it's really hard to pinpoint one book.

One book that is a huge influence on me is "The Handmaid's Tale" by fellow Canadian Margaret Atwood. It's one of my favorites to this day. Another one is "Carrie" by Stephen King. 

What's your favorite genre to write and read?

I love writing romance stories. There's just something about that happily ever after that makes my heart sing for joy. I've been reading romance since I was eleven years old, and it's my favorite genre to read too. Although I won't turn down a great psychological thriller! 

Do you prefer to write standalone or series?

At the moment, I prefer writing standalone stories because I think I need to practice and hone my writing skills a lot more before I attempt a series. I do have one in the ideas file, so I'm not saying I'll never write one... It's just not feasible for me at the moment.

Use three words to describe yourself.

Goofy, positive, and fun.

Reveal your WIP aesthetics or an image that represents your MC or setting.

This is a tough one. Normally I'm pretty closed mouthed about my current MSIPs, or even the finished first drafts, so this is a first for me. 

July 2017, Lunenburg, NS.

That's all I'm saying. 

How long did your first MS take to draft?

The first one I sent out - titled "No Regrets" at the time - took about 2 years from initial idea to actually typing "THE END" in the file, due to real life happening. I only work part time (2 days a week, tops) due to having a special needs son, a husband that works odd hours, and its length - over 207 K. 

However, it was rewritten from scratch in 2015, in less than three months. It was published by eXtasy Books on March 17, 2017, with a last minute name change to "STRICKEN"... So in reality, it was close to 7 years between the first words written and actual publication. 

I wrote another story with the working title "Away to Me" in about 14 weeks from initial idea to typing "THE END" in Draft One, writing one or two days a week. It tipped the scales at less than 90 K, and yes, it got rejections. It's currently in the "maybe publish in the future" folder.

Who is your author idol?

That's a tough one. There are so many amazing authors out there, it's hard to choose! I love so many. I'll have to go with K.L. Slater on this one. She's so bloody brilliant with her out-of-left-field turn on a dime in her psychological thrillers. I love her writing, it's so delightfully twisted!

Share a writing memory that made you determined to carry on.

It was the last rejection for "No Regrets" before it was given its complete overhaul. A kind editor sat down and took the time to tell me what I was doing wrong, and ways to improve my raw skills as an author. By then I had plenty of rejections for it, but could not understand why, until her rejection note. I was going to give up until I saw the line about "unfortunately" being unable to offer a contract at that time - that came with an invitation to submit another, better written and edited story in the future. 

I owe my writing career to that amazing editor (who was one of the best in the business at the time). If she hadn't given me a few tips, I would have probably self published it, and my career would have been over before it started. I thank that woman every time I see someone mentioning my book, or even my pen name. She is one amazing lady who knows her stuff!

Tell us something surprising or unique about yourself. 

I'm a huge fan of the Canadian drama "North of 60" (aired between 1992 and 1998 with 5 made for TV movies).

Share the hardest part of being a writer and how you overcame it.

I have a hard time putting myself out there. I hate being in the spotlight even for a few minutes, because I'm so shy in real life. When you're an author, you have to be in the public arena, no matter how much you hate it. You have to promote yourself. I have a background of promotion thanks to one of my former employers, but I prefer promoting other people's work, not my own. I was taught that promoting yourself is "bragging", and it's tough to get past that part of myself. Thanks to help from a few friends, and everyone at eXtasy Books and Devine Destinies, I'm starting to come out of the shell more, and put myself out there. I had a run of "Meet the Author" last week, and instead of falling flat on my face (as I had predicted), it was a lot of fun, and a hit! It's little things like that which keep me going.

What's your favorite social media, and why? Share your link.

As an author, it's BOOK CAROUSEL, the Facebook group for eXtasy Books and Devine Destinies authors to have fun with and interact with their readers. There are a lot of great people in there, and a lot of silly things happen. I love it in there!

For personal fun, it's mostly cat pages, like Cole & Marmalade, and big cat rescues like Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota. I adore the residents of the Tuxedo Party of Canada Cat Welfare Society - Earl Grey should be Prime Minister of Canada!

BOOK CAROUSEL

Tuxedo Party of Canada Cat Welfare Society, Facebook Page

Share some uplifting wisdom in six words or less.

(For aspiring authors...)

Never stop writing. Never give up.

I hereby nominate:

Maggie Blackbird

Ellen Boyd

(Have a great week everyone!)

Provincials?

Holy freaking cow. So much has happened since March, I don't know where to start...

I haven't been up to writing a lot due to being exhausted from running around so damn much. Doctor's appointments, another round of nerve blocks on May 2nd, physiotherapy (ended May 29, but I can go back if I need to), and two trips to different parts of the province thanks to my crazy now 14 year old son. 

Hubby is healing, slowly, but he is on the mend. Thank you everyone who sent get better wishes, and said prayers for him. That was really sweet of all of you. He's now doing his regular routine, but being ultra careful. I'm still "on deck" in case something else happens. Thank heavens for nerve blocks...

I also had an MRI on May 3, as a precaution. I'm fine, no cancer, no tumors, and yes there IS a brain in there! I'm not allowed taking any more ativan, but that's another story for another blog. LOL 

As for the trips around the province, oh boy....

First of all, my son has the habit of NOT telling me about a lot of stuff he's doing in school. Most of the time, I hear it from his friends, or in this case, his teachers.

Middle of May: I get a text from his Resource/homeroom teacher, asking if I was able to pick up my son after Track and Field practice at my old high school.... And he would be competing in three events two days later, at the same school - shot put, long jump and the 100 m dash.

Um, what? He mentioned doing shot put a few times, but only as part of doing exercises with his TAs, but never anything about being on the track and field team.

Okay... I was early picking him up, and sure enough, he and two of his classmates were practicing all three events, and the rest of the track and field team were cheering them on.

The District Championship was held a couple of days later, thankfully on a day Hubby was home. We coated ourselves in sunblock and fly dope, packed a lunch for everyone, and sat among the other parents as teams from across Lunenburg and Queens counties competed to see who would go to the Regional Championships the following week.

District Championship, Park View Education Centre: All athletes gathered at the announcer's booth, listening to instructions.

District Championship: Part of the "Sea of Red" aka Patriots (Son's Team) rooting for all of the track athletes competing.

Son didn't do well in the long jump. He would run to the line, stop dead, and hop. He is scared of hurting himself, and after watching some of the senior high kids do it, he has decided it's not for him.

The 100 m dash wasn't great either. He placed last in his heat, but everyone still screamed for him.

I thought he didn't do great in Shot Put either, but apparently he did. I thought he placed 9th or 10th in his division, but found out later that week he did well enough to represent the school in the Regional Championship.

May 25, we arrive at Acadia University in Wolfville, an hour's drive northeast of us, for our son to compete in the Junior Boys Special Athletes division, Shot Put event.

Western Regional Championship: Raymond Field, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS.

All of the kids did an amazing job. I saw a lot of the girls and boys from our team win their heats, and even found out a few were going to the Provincial Championships. 

The top six or eight from the Jr. Boys Special Athletes Shot Put would be going to the Provincials.

The winner was a boy of about 14 or 15, and he biffed the shot put over 10 metres (over 32 feet) for the ribbon. That kid is amazing! The second place winner had a throw of about 8 or so metres.

Third place was 3.88 metres - I know the exact number, because it was my son that made that throw. It was his best to date. I almost fainted and Hubby grinned from ear to ear when we clued in what our son had accomplished.

Son's Third Place ribbon for Regional Championships in the Shot Put Event.

His first year on the Track and Field team, and he was off to the Provincial Championships, which was held in Sydney, NS, at Cape Breton University this year.

May 31: Son and I leave for Sydney with one of his TAs, the other special athlete who made it to Provincials (ironically in shot put too), and his mom. I was squashed in the back seat of an SUV with two crazy kids for six hours one way. We left around 11 that morning, got to the hotel around 6, relaxed for a bit while we got organized for the night, and went out for supper with the rest of the team and coaches. Just hanging out with everyone and feeling the camaraderie was amazing. I wasn't athletic in school, in fact, I was the fat girl, a target for a lot of the kids back then. I was in band while in junior high, but I was still a target for a lot of the other participants, because they were popular and I wasn't. So I never experienced what it is like to be a part of something like this. 

Everyone on the team was really supportive of my son, and all of them made an effort to say hi to him at some point, even allowing him to hang out with them at the hotel after we ate. 

Canso Causeway, between the Nova Scotia Mainland and Cape Breton Island.

June 1st: Kids from other schools, including the high school my son will be attending in a few years, were at the hotel, and there were no tensions between the athletes at all during breakfast. Everyone was polite, friendly, and even wished everyone else the best of luck that weekend. My son charmed kids from other schools, it seems that everyone clued in that he has autism and was just a friendly kid who liked making friends. (Thank heavens)

Cape Breton University is almost as beautiful as Acadia. The track isn't set up for Canadian rules Football, and they have an enclosed soccer (regular football) field. It's also a newer campus, so it's a bit more modern looking, and a bit more sparsely laid out right now. It was a great setting to see the best of the best student athletes competing. 183 schools from across the province were represented, some with only 1 or two athletes, others like Son's school had at least 15 to 20 students participating.

Cape Breton University track, just outside of Sydney, NS.

That white "tent" is a covered soccer (original football) field. The athletes can play year round in all kinds of weather!

Shot Put!

Son did his bit in shot put, and even got a new personal record: 4.21 metres (13 feet, 10.75 inches). However, that wasn't enough to get him a medal. The boy that took first place in the Regional Championship got a record too, of 10.91 metres (over 34 feet), and third place was over 7 metres (22 feet, 11 inches). Even the girls were shooting at least 5 to six metres.

Son wasn't happy he didn't place, but his friend/teammate didn't place either. Son took 9th place, and his pal took 10th. The competition in their division was TOUGH, and they did great to get what they did. 

Personally I was so proud to see my son make it on the team... Making it to the Regional championship was awesome, but getting third, and making it to the Provincial championship was just the icing on this ultra fast moving and fun cake! 

We made our way home after the results were announced, after wishing the rest of the team all the best in their events. Some of the boys had already won medals, and a lot of the girls had placed high in their heats, so spirits were high.

We also made a stop on our way home... Rita's Tea Room. This was the home of singer Rita MacNeil years ago, and she converted it to a tea room in the 1990s. After her death in 2013, it has become a beautiful memorial house for her, featuring information about her entire life, musical career, and how much she loved Nova Scotia. It is a gorgeous spot in the springtime as the flowers are in bloom... It's just as pretty inside, with so many things from Ms. MacNeil's career and life on display, and gorgeous decor.

Rita's Tea Room

The boys had cheesecake with blueberry compote with a glass of pop, while the three of us girls had tea (house blend) with strawberry shortcake tea biscuits. The tea was fantastic, and the dessert was out of this world delicious (Yes, I had sugar, I was careful and didn't eat much other than veggies for the rest of the day!) I recommend all who are on the eastern part of Cape Breton Island - Big Pond area - to go there. It's well worth the stop!

We got home Friday night at 10 p.m., less than 36 hours after we left for Sydney. 

I found out on Sunday that the boys took home the Intermediate GOLD, and the girls did really well too (I'm not sure where they placed, sorry). 

The 2017-18 championship banner for Junior Boys Track and Field.

Apparently Son was getting an award on Awards Night this past Thursday... We went, and it turns out he was getting his certificate of participation for competing in the Provincial Championship. He was so excited! All of his friends, including the two students who won Athlete of the Year, congratulated him, and even showed them their awards!

I'd say it was a successful year. If Grade 8 is even half as good as Grade 7 was, it's going to be phenomenal!

On a final note, I am back to work on a manuscript... I'm refitting an old draft I wrote a few years ago. I'm not sure if it will ever be sent out or not, or if it will be a standalone book or part of a series, but I am working again.

It feels good to be back into it, after feeling so crappy for so long. Hopefully things hold off until school gets out, three weeks from now.

Have a great day everyone... I leave you with "She's Called Nova Scotia" by Ms. Rita MacNeil. Read the lyrics HERE.

National Diabetes Day and More

It's time for me to come out of the "chronic illness closet" and announce what I have that's a "life long condition".

In 2015, I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes (insulin resistant or inefficient insulin). It is *genetic* in my case - it was inherited from my Daddy, who is suspected of having it for over 20 years before he was diagnosed... The doctors could tell by the amount of damage to his eyes, and to the veins in his legs.

Daddy passed away less than six months after his diagnosis in 1997... He was only 56 years old.

Since November is Diabetes Awareness month, I ask everyone reading this to get their A1C hemoglobin glucose checked - especially if you have a parent or another relative with type II diabetes. Kids of parents who had/have it have a 50-50 chance of developing it later in life. The sooner it's caught, the better your chances for a longer, fuller and healthier life. 

***Contrary to what some will tell you, there is NO cure for Type I or Type II diabetes. Anyone who claims that is severely misinformed.***

This little accident prone author did something ultra stupid last weekend...

I was slicing carrots using a mandoline slicer, and my hand slipped.... I wound up slicing my thumb wide open. It's at an angle which means there's a flap of skin that's holding the clot in place. Yeah.... I was using the grip but things slipped and that's when I cut myself.

It's healing slowly, but still sore... It is right on the spot that touches the space bar when I hit it. Not fun. In fact, it's quite uncomfortable, and was quite painful during the first day or so after the injury occurred. 

The worst of it is, it's my right thumb. I'm right handed......... *SIGH*

I won't show you the aftermath. It's bloody, and gross all around. I do have photos of the bandages an hour after the accident, and a photo of the wound itself taken a few days later, but it's all too nasty for public viewing. I'll show photos in the "later parts of healing" instead.......

Two days later, at the afternoon bus stop... Bandages galore. 

November 7, 2017.

It wasn't very comfortable then but it was a LOT better than throbbing all of the time like it was on Sunday...

Taken just today. I'm down to one bandage! I'd let it go without, but it is still pretty uncomfortable to hit the space bar..........

November 13, 2017.

It's still pretty gross looking too, but not like it did the day it happened. Yuck!

WRITING...

Even with the injured thumb, I still managed to get some writing done this week... I'm on a roll with this one manuscript again so far, and I hope this continues. If things go right, I hope to have its first draft done by the end of June. Hopefully with a little luck, this one will be off to my beloved publisher sometime before the end of next year. (And if I'm really lucky, I'll have the final companion book at least on the go by then too!)

I've been getting dive bombed by a crazy cat while working too... Or just sitting at the computer. 

Amber wasn't doing well for the longest time. That poor cat had gas galore, and couldn't pass any without "splattering" a bit most times... Plus her feces were not normal. Think runny. She lost a lot of weight, and hasn't been feeling great.

We discussed things, and I remembered that she was on the vet recommended food when we adopted her, Noelle and Angel. We couldn't afford to keep four cats on it - Birdie HATED it anyway - so they were switched over to one of the supermarket brands once the remainder of the food from Nanny's ran out.

Amber started losing weight, which became a little noticeable after we lost the dog in 2011, but it really started showing up once Noelle passed away. She wasn't getting the canned food either, because she didn't eat it. So we kept her on the dye free supermarket stuff, not realizing the cat wasn't going to do well off it.

The bottom line is she is now back on the vet recommended food, and is doing marvelously! Within three days, her eyes had brightened considerably, and her catitude was back to normal. I noticed an increase in dive bombing over the following week, and her energy level has jumped considerably.

Best of all, she *rarely* passes gas, she's no longer having accidents all of the time, and things are no longer messy! AND she's gained a little weight! Her tummy is getting a touch bigger. 

Her fur is a LOT thicker and silkier, she's taking much better care of herself too. 

It's a relief to see our Amber back to being herself. I really thought we were going to lose her, and soon. She's only 11 years old, and has at least a few more years left in her. The longer she lives with a better quality of life the better.

Sure, the food is ultra expensive - think four times what the supermarket brand costs for the same amount - but she's our one and only right now, and she's worth it. More than worth it.

She doesn't eat as much of this stuff either, so in a way it balances out. Instead of going  through a 3 KG bag of food in two weeks like she was before, she's going through one in about five to six weeks. She's been on it just over 3 weeks and there's more than half a bag left. I'd say that is a good thing!

Finally, we had an amazing Halloween/Samhain. Son dressed up in his usual, and I did all black and purple this year. Black shirt and jeans, my black sneakers with the purple laces, and even my black hoodie with my pen name on it in purple (gift from the mom in law and youngest brother in law last year).... Heck even my rings were black and purple for the  most part - the exception being my wedding band, which is plain with gold. I have a gothic style ring that's black with purple stones, and a black band that has purple stones in it, as well as two eternity bands in... you guessed it, PURPLE!!! I also had a black and purple witch hat and even feather earrings... Yeah, I went nuts, but who cares? At least my normal, every day look was actually toned down compared to what else was out there that night!

Witchy metal chick alert!

 

You can see my earrings better in this one:

Left hand:

Right hand!

Normally I wear an assortment of colors from my birth stone (pale green peridot) to the amethyst, but I wanted straight black and purple for the day. I'll probably do something similar IF I ever make a public appearance as an author... Yeah, like that will happen! LOL

I leave you with the official video for "Aces High" by Iron Maiden. Have a great week everyone!