April 30, 2006

ROMANCE WRITERS JUST DO IT!

“Winners must have two things: definite goals and a burning desire to acheive them.”

Facing the blank page, knowing the goal, understanding the distance that lies ahead. Putting one foot in front of the other … one paragraph, one scene after another, in an effort to reach The End. Making mistakes. Hitting rock bottom … picking up and starting over. It all takes focus. Dedication. Perseverance. And the steps are the same whether writing a novel or running a marathon — one set more physical, the other more mental — and then not, because at some point it all intertwines in an holistic process. But it is about commitment. It’s about each of us facing our own unique set of challenges. It’s about having the burning desire to go the distance. And it’s about what we learn about ourselves in the process.

It’s a path that cannot but command respect. Which is why I will always greatly admire anyone who finishes a manuscript. Or a marathon. Both journeys are long, solitary, and often tough. And it’s often only another writer — or runner – who can fully comprehend the triumph felt in reaching the finish.

And after achieving that goal, we get up, dust off … and we do it all over again. We face another blank page, another goal. We feel a new set of fears, and we do it anyway.

Because we have a dream.

And this is why I run. It helps me write. Running teaches me discipline. It shows me in a physically tangible way that you can reach a major goal, one baby step at a time. (and it gets my butt off that dang chair )

So today I will go out and run 6 miles (about 10 kilometres). This is D-Day — Day One of the beginner training program (for weenies like me) of the Royal Victoria Marathon. Sundays will be the long run days … getting progressively longer and longer over the next 23 weeks. And on week 24, I will run (barring unforseen acts of nature) 26.2 miles (about 42.2 kilometres) in one of the prettiest cities in the world.

I did it last year for the first time …

… and this year I hope to use a few things I learned along the way. And this year I also have a romance writing buddy going the distance with me!!!! Who better to share the road with than a fellow romance writer? Who better to share the dream? I hope you stick with Meretta and I over the ups and downs of the next 23 weeks as we aim for the finish.

Oh … and I want to lose 10lbs. Hey, don’t chuckle  … it’s a goal

All I need now is a slogan for my T-shirt (I have yet to cajole Meretta into wearing a matching one )

Romance writers just do it!

Romance writers go the distance

I run for romance

We run for love 

Do it for love   ???

HELP … I need suggestions! And I promise to send the winning slogan writer one of the T-shirts when I get them printed.

April 29, 2006

Forget tweaking!

I’m putting some real muscle into it that WIP …..  lovingly, of course. Tough love.

And that goes for the running, too. Time to ramp it up. I’ll explain tomorrow.

PS:- For the uninitiated — do NOT fret about dear husband. W.I.P. = Work In Progress.

Hmmmm  ……. then again …..  *looks at whip*

My Path: Green Lake, Tenderhook.

My Distance: 01:06:37 – however far that took me.

My Music: Biko – Peter Gabriel

Bare Sightings: Two nudies on the Nudie Dock. Sorry, camera battery died. Next time  

I watched that little yellow float plane take off in a howling cross-wind. In this photo the pilot was guiding her craft behind that jut of land where she turned around and powered straight back into the teeth. She snaked like a sidewinder across those swift air currents – climbing higher into the mountains with each twist until she had what she needed to turn around.

Was it a ’she’? Dunno. I like to think it was .

April 28, 2006

TWEAK

1 – To pinch, pluck, or twist sharply.

2 – To adjust, fine-tune

3 – To make fun of, tease.

4 – To completely overhaul, throw away, start over.

Okay, okay, I confess. I added the last one. More of an oversight correction, really. I never knew the little word carried such vast range in meaning until I encountered it in the context of novel writing .

But that’s what I am doing over the next week — tweaking.

I sort of like tweaking, as long as I can find a way to get that annoying little line from Mary Poppins out my head. You know? The one that goes … “Because I was afraid to speak when I was just a lad, me father gave me nose a tweak an’ told me I was bad …”

Any advice out there for getting loopy tunes out your head? Especially ones you learned back … in ages too dark to mention?

My Path: Molly Hogan - Lost Lake Park

My Distance: 49.31mins — however far that took me.

My Music: Mother Long Tongue – Desmond Decker

Bear Sightings: Zero. Hah, they know I’m looking . Saw squirrels, though. And ducks.

 Take note who has to yield to what . Right, like I’m not going to make way for a bruin.

April 27, 2006

THE PROFIT MOTIVE

Demystifying publishing  … or not

Two interesting articles chunk it down: Anna Genoese … and an earlier one by Denise Little

My Path: Purely mental (take that as you will )

My Music: 100 Years - Five for Fighting

Bear sightings: Zero — so far so good.

April 26, 2006

Working … the Whistler Way

My office.

Dan Brown does push ups on the hour and hangs upside down between pages. He says shifting his physical perspective seems to help him work out plot glitches. Apparently gravity boots do it for him (And how!). Elizabeth Lowell says she steps outside and breathes in the energy of nature (And look at what she produces — she’s an autobuy for me both as Elizabeth Lowell and Ann Maxwell. I love, love, love her). Other writers walk. Or meditate. Or hit the caffeine.

Running does it for me. Running with music.

I can have a thousand tenous strings – bits of ideas – swimming around in my brain, I can have a bunch of dialogue stuck in a maddening loop, I could have written myself into an impossible plot corner, or I could be plain brain dead (nothing unusual there ), but if I step away from that computer and take it all out for a run — get the blood pumping to the grey matter, and the mountain air into my lungs — things just seem to sort themselves out.  There’s something to be said about the ‘physical’ side of writing.

So yes. This is my office, and this is work. And I am not complaining

My Path: Along the River of Golden Dreams. Um, yes, it really IS called the River of Golden Dreams That’s Whistler Mountain in the background and at the very top is the Peak Chair — awesome on a good weather day, terrifying on a bad one. And yes, to those who asked, I AM a camera-toting jogger.

My Music: Lady in Red (just kidding, Meretta ). Sinner Man — by Nina Simone (who has the most stirring voice in the whole wide world)

My Distance: Only 5 kilometres.

Bear Sightings: 0

And now I’m wondering … what does it for others?

April 24, 2006

FINALLY FREE

From those prison bars of winter …. and line edits.

Today went from zero to 20 degrees Celcius  in … oh, about an hour  (32 to 68 Farenheit) which called for the annual breaking out of the running shorts and T-shirts. Yay . Today I also wrapped my line edits for HEART OF A MERCENARY which meant I was allowed OUT! To play! … For a little bit.
  

This was my path.

This was my music: Bedouin Soundclash- When the Night Feels My Song

And my spirit soared. No scraping ice off the windshield. No shovelling the drive. No down jacket and gloves. Just the wind whistling through open car windows and tugging at my hair, the air velvet on my skin. Today, life was good.

And I caught up with the laundry