Dragging My Feet into Spring

Wow, a whole month without a post? How did that happen?
Oh, yeah. Vacation. Work. Editing until my eyes resemble red computer monitors...
Lately, however, it seems the muses are not only tapping my shoulder for a little attention, they're smacking me right over the head! Last night I attended a workshop put on by our local library which was led by Richard Scarsbrook, former high school teacher and current teacher at Humber College. Part 2 of a 5 part series. Very inspiring. So much so I itched to get home and at my computer so I could Facebook my friends about it. Kidding.
Last week, I attended a talk at the library by one of my writing friends Jayne E. Self. Jayne has two wonderful murder mysteries called "Murder in Hum Harbour" and "Death of a Highland Heavyweight." The room was packed, Jayne was nervous but did a wonderful job teaching us all how to pick a murder victim.
What do the muses forsee in the future?
Harry Posner's release of "A Softness in Her Eyes" on April 5th at Booklore.
Clare McCarthy's release of "Meandering" on April 11th at Booklore.
The 3rd installment of Richard Scarsbrook's workship on April 22.
Harry's talk "Poetic Notes from a Novelist" at the library on April 23rd about his book "Charivari."
And that's only April!

Very inspiring to see the release of so many new, amazing books, especially while I'm furiously editing mine! Still awaiting word on The Bookstore Lady, which is with 4 publishers. One publisher who rejected it, gave me wonderful insight and an amazing rejection letter. It gave me a the ability to fix a couple points that stuck out and I'd overlooked. Deja Vu is in it's final phase before I send if off to my agent for her to read through and edit.

As for works in progress, I have so many things I'd love to work on! They all wait in the queue. I have one novel to complete before I'll move on to editing some YA pieces.

Right after I update Facebook, do some spring cleaning and....
 

Let it snow, let it snow . . .

We woke up to a blanket of snow and more barking from up the hall. Another day, another sick kid. Seems our family is notorious for the barking coughs around here. I can think of much better things to be famous for!

I had a sudden abundance of broccoli today. No, it didn't appear out of the snowbank, it was from the snack program at school. Can you believe they were going to throw it in the compost? Yikes! I used my creative skills to create two masterpieces: Broccoli Soup and Potato-Carrot Soup. Oh, and some biscotti for my party. I was going to bake buns tonight but my energy is waning. Cooking certainly is a creative endeavor - especially looking at the mess I make of it. At least it turns out edible 99% of the time!

Still doing some edits on Take The Money and Run, my first novel, so that I can start to submit it all over the place again. My lovely editor Laura has both my other books to edit, critique, tear to shreds, etc. Hope she goes easy on me, it is nearly Christmas after all.

Had a lovely evening last night at a book launch for a fellow Headwaters Writers' Guild writer named Clare McCarthy. He published his novel The Hurleyville Taxi: Two thousand pounds of Bacon and Bone. Book Lore hosted a book signing and the place was packed! Congratulations, Clare! You can find out more at www.northwordbound.ca.

We also discovered another of our writers Harry Posner's book Word Bird. Harry graciously showed us his book and posed for pictures. It's on my list for Christmas!

What Colour is your Palette Part Three

Not many art workshops will wring you out like a sponge then fill you back up to bursting. I found that to be the case with Claudia's. A lot of us had more than one afternoon filled with frustration only to be elated to hear the rest of the class ooh and aah over some amazing masterpiece that fled our brushes to appear magically on canvas.

The most common comment about the whole week was the fact that we learned to mix colours we'd only ever seen before in bottles or tubes. My favourite color for the week became a warm black (black mixed with magenta). You can see it on most of my paintings which I will post later. I've had some issues with getting good lighting to take pictures in!

I'm very excited this week for three friends of mine who all have new books released.
Clare McCarthy with The Hurleyville Taxi: Two Thousand Pounds of Bacon and Bone
Anouska Fry with Sebastian and the Spider King
Alyxandra Harvey with Hearts at Stake
Congratulations to you all!

Now that the week of painting and fun has ended, what is next for me? A little Christmas tea and show for friends and more work on writing and submitting novels. And maybe a bit more painting. Christmas is coming after all....