June 30, 2006

GETTING THINGS IN A ROW …

Pardon me if I’m scarce around the blogosphere for the next few days. I have another set of edits and author alterations to get done — due right after the long weekend.

I’ve also taken on some magazine articles again. Blame it on the Surrey International Writers’ Conference. I have just GOT to get there!! If we had paper routes in this town you’d see me there in a flash, too

I get to profile three Whistler chefs, and do a piece on wine. Think they’ll feed me?

Later ….

June 29, 2006

BIRTHDAY BOUNTY

The gift of summer — what more could a birthday gal want? I went north and picked strawberries in the sunshine.

Thank you so much for the wishes, everyone. And Ruby, please tell Cecelia “Happy Birthday” from a fellow Cancerian!!

Don’t listen to Toni, by the way ;). She is short. Okay, granted Suz is tall, too. But not as tall as I — you should see me and Toni together.

And yes, the SHADOW SOLDIERS trilogy is being published by Silhouette Intimate Moments. More to follow here, so please stay tuned …. I will be giving away copies as part of a contest as the release date draws closer. I can’t wait :).

*Special wave to Irene*

Ain’t she a pretty farm? That’s Mount Currie in the background and the paler green sections are fresh deciduous growth in the avalanche chutes. I love this place. I’m going back for raspberries in two weeks. Then blueberries. Then pumpkins and harvest fare for Halloween and Thanksgiving …

June 28, 2006

AND THE WINNER IS …

Peggy, contact me with your mailing address and I will have a brand new hardcover copy of Jack Canfield’s THE SUCCESS PRINCIPLES shipped to you ASAP.

I honestly hope you get as much as I do out of it — this one’s a keeper And here’s to your dreams ….

Thank-you to DD#2 for doing the official drawing.

Watch for my next contest July 1.

YES, THERE REALLY IS A HAT …

And I will draw a name out of it tonight :). Still a few hours left to enter the Contest >>

I’ll announce the winner here tomorrow ….

June 27, 2006

LAST SIGHTING …

Can you see it? Down the road, between the trees? The YELLOW BUS. Alas, this shall be the last sighting I will get from my deck before it goes into hibernation for the season. And this in turn signifies the end of an era for me  —  DD#2 graduated from elementary school at a celebration last night, and that means no more kiddos at the little school for us. The notion feels strange. We have had someone at elementary school for the last 16 years of our lives, and it’s been part of the fabric of my existence to wave someone down the hill — ski hill as the case was with our previous abode — come rain, sleet, snow or shine.

The YELLOW BUS will come again in the Fall, but it will be different.

Howevah, please allow me a proud mum moment when I say DD did fantabulously again this year — walking off with this – the school citizenship of the year award:

And I swear I should be taking goal-setting lessons from my kid. At the end of last school year she said: “You know that big statue thing, mum, the one no one got last year because there was no one good enough for it? Well, I want to get that one next year.” I said, “Sweetie, you can’t always plan for a thing like that. Someone else could come along who … yadda, yadda, yadda ….”

Well … she just gave me that look of hers, and blow me down if she didn’t get the thing. I am one proud mamma :)

In fact, I am proud of all those very dear and special children in her grade, and the teachers who so generously gave of themselves to see them through to this next phase of their lives. It’s a noble task, teaching. Seriously. I know I couldn’t do it justice. (You listening, Meretta? :))

And, just to stay on track, check out this AWESOME line-up (just announced) for the Surrey writers conference. I have GOT to find a way to get to this ……

June 26, 2006

CHALLENGE

It’s 98.6 degrees (37 Celsius) in the shade. I’ve run out of water. It’s already 57 minutes into my run, mostly uphill. Which route do I choose?

That’s kinda how I felt about my WIP today, too. I picked the black route. The rough road. The steep and less travelled one. Why? Lord only knows why I keep doing this kind of thing. I think it’s challenge — pure and simple. And the fact that the steep and rocky road, once you finally do get to the top, affords a special personal triumph and somewhat unique view — even though your lungs are burning with heat and the sides of your throat are stuck together with dust. You get to smile anyway

Soooo, while I know my current hero is a tad risky for my target market, and that my setting is, well, different — I’m picking the black diamond. Because I want to believe that the view at the top is going to be fresh, and the breeze brisk :) 

Um, this is not exactly what I had in mind. And … DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME. Running uphill at high altitude with no water can make one somewhat … dizzy. Especially when peering through a viewfinder. I nearly became tomorrow’s headline That’ll teach me to take the black road, eh?

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