Summer's End

I can't believe there's a week till school starts!  Mental!  I didn't accomplish much of anything this summer, sadly, though I guess, given all the stuff going on I shouldn't be surprised.

First, we had Bolerama, which was awesome this year.  The kids are now at an age where I don't have to spend all my time yelling at them to stay off the road.  Then again, I did spend all my time untangling fishing line from the trees around our camp site...they were practicing casting.  They did catch a few fish when their daddy took them to the lake, so all that practicing came in handy.

Next the kids were in art classes for a week, which should have netted me some good writing time, but I was having a mild panic attack about my own course and the upcoming "having to read outloud to strangers" thing.  

Obviously, the next week was my own workshop...AWESOME!  I won't go on and on about it again, but it did have my hyped up to write like crazy...except...

My aunt died the next week.  It was really devastating for everyone because she wasn't very old and it could have been prevented had she not been so afraid of going to the doctor in the first place.  I spent a lot of the next week scanning old pictures with my brother to help put together a slide show for the memorial.  She was a great woman, one of the best teachers in the county, and a wonderful aunt.

Anyway, the rest of the summer we did a bit of swimming, went on a canoe trip to Bottle Lake (Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park) and spent a night camping at Balsam Lake.  Next week, we're going to try and hit Algonquin, do some hiking or maybe camp one night if it isn't too cold...it's been getting down to almost 0 at nights!  How nuts is that?

Excuses

Four months of 2009 gone and I've done...no writing! Bad me! I could say there were legitimate reasons, but that would be a lie. I've been reading fan fiction, and doing other pointless things. I have found some cool ways to procrastinate though...

Delicious Library - a mac platform inventory software that lets you use your iSight (or other web cam) as a UPC code scanner. Very cool and soooo much fun. I've been scanning books, movies, and video games.

SousChef - another mac program that is for organizing recipes. I have HUNDREDS of cookbooks and magazines full of recipes and I can never find what I want. I've spent hours sitting on the floor in the kitchen, with magazines scattered all over the place, and by the time I find the recipe, I'm either too damn tired to cook, or I don't have all the ingredients. I've spent a week wittling down the pile though. Most of the ones I've done are from Canadian Living magazines...which is cool cause all the recipes are online on their web site...I just copy and paste. I hate having to type out the instructions for a long complicate recipe.

Bento Lunches - weird way to procrastinate, I know. It started with my daughter being so picky. She won't eat sandwiches, or wraps and because of loose teeth, won't eat apples in her lunch either. I was having a hard time finding things that I could give her until I got the may 2009 issue of Canadian Living (Yes I love this magazine) and saw the article on Bento Lunches and the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. *light bulb* The kids love Naruto, and so I thought, why not do bento lunches for them? Beats buying prepackaged snacks all the time. So I've been researching, compiling lists of ideas and trying out things on the kids to see if they like it. They LOVE rice balls. In my searches, I found an amazing thing...people post pictures of their lunch online! I was shocked. I mean, yeah, some of them are pretty damn artistic, but it was still odd...helpful though! I got lots of ideas for things to feed my kids. My son LOVES steamed asparagus, cooled, and cut into bite sized pieces. Not to mention there are some beautiful bento boxes for sale out there. I'm using containers from the dollar store, but I think for Christmas I might get them each a nice one.

So yeah, that's how I've been wasting my time. There's also the leaking roof, the broken hot water heater, and the frantic cleaning rush that preceded a home inspection so we could get a loan to fix the roof. I did manage to almost finish making myself a real office though, so I can get the desk out of the living room and have so privacy when I write. This is handy because the kids are starting to get really good at reading and I don't want them peeking over my shoulder as I write sex scenes. Bad enough when the hubby does it.

High speed

Yay! Finally! High speed internet is here. We had weather problems for the installation guy, then he got sick, then car trouble! But now, I'm all speedy and stuff.

Writing news.... I'm working on a couple of new projects. I feel bad about not working on the sequel to Dragon's Birth, but I'll get to it. Right now I'm working on a 4 part series that involves camping and canoeing...my favorite all time thing to do. I'm hoping to do short webshows from the routes that will be used in the books. Should be fun.

Back to surfing!

D'Arc Side Challenge

It's a new year and in an effort to get more writing done, I've joined Bianca's writing challenge. 2500 words a day, with 2 days off because of the hubby. Oh and some Wii fit each day.

To keep up with all the other challenge participants, check out Bianca's blog: biancadarc.com/blog

Something Sweet is DONE

ANd subbed. So that's one item off my list for the PWC. I can practically taste the whiskey...*shoves shot glass behind computer*

Next up is Brazen's Army and Enemy of the Heart. I'm thinking I'm going to do a massive rewrite on Enemy though. Brazen was left at the start of a sex scene, stupid me.

I'm hoping I'll get a celebratory season of Smallville for submitting something *grin*

Personal Writing Challenge (PWC)

Okay, so Kim and Dawn started this thing, and since I'm not getting too far on my own, I figure why not.

So, my goal for December 31 at 11:59 is to have done 2500 words a day, which, if I start tomorrow (since today is almost over) is 182500...sweet Merlin. I'm insane...Well, we'll see how we get. My story goals will be listed below, though some of these are Piper stories...just so I don't confuse myself later on.

Something Sweet (m/m) PIPER

Greg isn't the same cheerful guy Alex remembers. After ten years of estrangement, he's now faced with a quiet, twitchy shadow of his old friend. He's only got a week or so to get to the bottom of this, overcome their past and claim Greg as his own.

Forgotten Heir (m/f)

Sequel to Dragon's Birth

Vander has a secret and in the wake of war, he may have no choice but to reveal his true identity even if it thrusts him back into the political arena and an old betrothal agreement.

Twilight Witch (m/f) PIPER

Captain Hilary Burke is living under a curse that prevents him from returning to his homeland. Sophie needs to find her dead fiancee's brother in hopes he'll honor the marriage contract, that will save both their families from scandal. In the sin-filled city of Port Royale, Sophie finds the new Lord Burke living the life of a pirate, but is everything really as it seems?

Brazen's Army (m/m) PIPER

Lt. Col. Brazen Malone's assignment was simple - assassinate Ridley Sikes, pretty boy scholar and supposed threat to the Atlantic Rim Alliance. In a war torn, post-apocalyptic future, it's two men against the world, and powerful, unimaginable threat.

K, I'll edit this post later and add more...need to think about this some more...
**edited to add**

A Cache of Bones (m/f)

When a group of hikers comes across a bone in a geocache leading the local sheriff and a forensic anthropologist on a state wide search for clues.

Enemy of the Heart m/f

Okay, this one has been on the go for ever...I want it done before I start screaming

Black Star Conspiracy m/m/f/m (also known as SF4 = Sci-fi foursome) PIPER obviously

A space opera menage with lots of action (both of the naughty and the bloody kind)

Okay that puts me at about 110K so lets continue....

Flirting with the Sandpiper m/f

not sure where I'm going with this except it's got an assassin...I came across the title in a bar guide and loved it....

7 Days to Darkness m/f

The Oakcroft family has been charged with guarding the gate to the demon realm, but when all but four are slaughtered, it's up to one man, bitter from his years fighting a Holy War, to prevent all out invasion. (This is the beginning of a series that spans centuries with about 6 stories set in regency period, a few in modern times and then a few set about 400 years in the future)

Golden Cadillac m/m PIPER
Blood Ties m/f PIPER (sequel to blood Bonds)
From the Ashes of War - m/f third in the Dragon Wing series (and then it's all done!)

That's about 205K I'd be happy to get even a few of these done

My Brain Hurts

Okay, so had forgotten just how hard it is to be in school. After a week of sitting in a room full of artsty people who could all wax poetic about the latest Oprah Book Club selection, I wasn't sure if I should make a run for it. But the class, and all the students were awesome.

I hadn't thought about the possibility of travel writing since my ill fated year in college studying Travel and Tourism, and when my mum signed me up for it I thought I'd be lost because I've never gone anywhere. In a way, I was lost. Everyone else seemed to be well travelled, from India to China to well pretty much everywhere, but I did learn a lot. First and foremost, I learned that pretty much every experience can be turned into an article if you put yourself into the midset to view things a certain way. There are sooooooo many magazines out there, and there's a good chance one of them will be interested in your story.

Apart from the mechanics of writing for magazines, query letters, marketing and the rest, I learned it isn't quite as daunting as I'd thought. The teacher, Kate Pocock, is both a writer and an editor, and she didn't have horns or growl. She told us a lot of things from the editors point of view as well as from the writers, and it helped to reduce the anxiety of sending a query to a big magazine.

Will I attempt to write travel articles? Probably. Did I have fun? Yes! I'm already planning what writing courses to take next year. The Haliburton School of the Arts is being asked to include more writing and photography courses. When next years course guide comes out I'll post the selections.