Tag: Flint Dog

31 January, 2023

I came close to skipping a post for this crazy month of January, but moving forward is key this year and I can’t let a bit of chaos (eye surgery, physiotherapy, and the horrible cold virus (not COVID) running through our household) hold me back after already taking strong steps in the right direction.

At the beginning of the month, I joined the Forever Writers Club, founded by rock star Chelene Knight. My goal is to maximize my writing time and productivity while focussing on self-care to reduce my self-inflicted stress. I’m off to a good start.

And what a thrill it was when Granny’s Blog went live on the 20^th. Her first post was well received and rest assured, she has a lot more to say. I love the way she keeps me busy.

Another project that will take me into April is SFU’s Continuing Studies course ‘Fiction for the Weekend Student’, instructed by Caroline Adderson.  I am excited that we are using Alice Munro’s book Runaway to explore her style. I’ve been a fan of Alice’s  work for longer than I care to say. The purpose of taking the course is to look at my novel from a different perspective and fine tune it to publishing quality.

Flint will be a main focus of my posts for the next while. He turns 17 on the 12^th of February and every day I wonder how long he will be around. He stole my heart long before  springing into our lives when he was 1½ years old and making himself (and us) at home from the get-go.

March 31, 2022

While I welcome the spring-ahead-time-change, the days can’t get long-enough, fast-enough for me. Maybe I need to spend my summers in the Arctic and my winters in the Antarctic. Who doesn’t love a good warm sweater? And this month, like any other, has had its share of ups and downs.

The biggest ‘down’ was the sudden illness of our sweet dog, Flint. We feared we were losing him and our trip to the vet was inconclusive, but over two weeks of coaxing food and water into him and carrying his limp body in-and-out, up-and-down, wherever it needed to be, he has regained most of his energy but lost strength in his left side. We suspect stroke, but can only guess. Sixteen is a long life for a little dog and with this set-back, we treasure every remaining minute he has so he deserves a photo this month.

I had two big ‘up’ moments in March… The first was the release of Resonance, Essays on the Craft and Life of Writing, edited by  Andrew Chesham and Laura Farina. I am thrilled my essay, Stepping Into Perspective, is part of this inspiring collection.

After completing the last chapter of my memoir and writing the epilogue that terrified me, I sent the draft off to my VMI mentor Mark Winston. His feedback was my second ‘up’ moment. Not only was his response speedy, but most encouraging. And in fact a wee bit overwhelming:

“…my comments are on the manuscript … but as I suspected, this is a very complete and working-well draft. That is, it’s crossed that magic line from a hopeful early draft to . . . a book! Congratulations!”

Next? The business part of writing. Yikes!

IMAGES FOR MARCH

This month’s photograph showcases two eye-catching items over our fireplace. The painting, one of a pair, is done by an artist/friend from back in our GardenWorks days, Kimberly Blackstock. Her beautiful work is now making its way to Los Angeles and New York but I especially love how this specimen in our small collection accentuates the colours of the stunning teak clock my husband, Grant, built back in his theatre days. Together the pieces provide a calming visual landing spot when I need to clear my head.

The dog in my sketch this month is unfamiliar to me in every way but I fell in love with his sweet face and was compelled to do my best to recreate his good looks. A satisfying challenge regardless of my marginal success.

READING LIST

This month’s selection of books I completed comes from a wide variety of genres but each was read for its own specific reason …

1. Bev Sellars (2013) They Call Me Number One
2. William Shakespeare (1595/96) A Midsummer Night’s Dream
3. A, Conan Doyle (1905) The Return of Sherlock Holmes
4. Eric Walters (2020) The King of Jam Sandwiches
5. Andrew Chesham and Laura Farina EDS (2022) Resonance, Essays on the Craft and Life of Writing

February 28, 2022

Despite February’s brevity, the month has felt endless this year. Not that I’m in a hurry for time to pass; there never is enough of that. My problem could lie in the bone-chilling dampness that causes me to crave warmth. (Note, I said warmth, not heat. July and August are another story altogether.)

My memoir project consumes the bulk of my busy-thinking these days. In late January I received great feedback from my Vancouver Manuscript Intensive mentor Mark Winston. Over Zoom, we discussed ways to cull the narrative from 88,153 words to 75,000 (or less) and the need to shorten some chapters.

So, most afternoons I layer up, log in and search for the superfluous bits. I’m happy to say I’ve exceeded my shaving goal and the manuscript word count currently sits at just over 72,000. And after deleting six entire chapters, that number has gone from a total of 21 to 29.

Hmm. Fewer words, more chapters. Looks like progress to me.

February’s  TWS Community Workshop, The Braided Essay, facilitated by Sonja Larsen on Sunday the 27^th was amazing. I found it engaging and relevant to my current manuscript and a source of inspiration for future projects. Thank you Sonja.

This month, I struggled to live up to challenge two: one photograph and one sketch, but did squeak them in with a week to spare.

Number three of my self-imposed challenges, tracking my reading in 2022 can be a scramble. Reading serves different purposes for me and most often I put one book down to immediately pick up another, whether digital or print. This month I found it a small test to recollect the specifics but here goes …

Books in order of completion this year, as of February 28^th:

1. Octavia E. Butler. (1979). Kindred
2. Jason Reynolds. (2016). Ghost
3. A, Conan Doyle. (1892). The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
4. Gurjinder Basran. (2010). Everything Was Good-Bye