Week From Hades

Last week was brutal. Everything that could have been thrown at me, was lobed my way.
While my husband was away spending time with his parents, I had a call and letter from my oldest son's teacher, a slap on the wrist at work (really long story!), one kid home for 3 days straight, reinjured my shoulder, etc, etc, etc....And it really did go on to the point I was ready to snap and actually did so a couple of times.

Then Saturday I saw a migraine aura while shopping in a local clothing store. That scare alone made everything else
Water under the bridge.

The best things that happened all week were:
1)  I got The Bookstore Lady edits done and back to my agent.
2)  I had some great laughs with my kids.
3)  I had some wine and great laughs with some friends.

The bad stuff, I've decided, no longer matters.
The people who tried so hard to make me look bad, they no longer matter.
The determination to become a writer and get my work published. THAT'S what matters.
My kids. THEY matter.
I MATTER.

I know what is in my heart and on my lips.
To those who believe in me, thank you. I will always do my best not to let you down.
You matter to me as well.
Thank you.

 

Scraping the bottom of the barrel...

The holidays over, Christmas packed away, this year the colds have set in. Yesterday, I coughed so hard I cried. Today, I have no voice. I'm living on a diet of water, ginger tea and soup. So is everyone else in my house. So what does this have to do with scraping the bottom of the barrel? It's all about energy.

We all need energy in our lives. Energy to keep up with our kids, do our jobs and being creative.
Now and then, forces in life conspire to drain that energy and leave us flat and listless.
Without the energy to resist, we get sick.
Funny how when we're at our lowest point, friends will appear to inject a little much needed humour.

Recently, I put out an appeal to my facebook friends to tell me something positive. The bad news had overwhelmed me and I wanted to shut myself in a cave and cry. Within minutes, I had messages about the crime rate being down, school and karate starting Monday and people asking what was going on. Funny how just those few notes made me feel less alone. Less overwhelmed.

2012 did not end on a high note. Someone I love is very ill and may not recover. Someone else I love fell and was badly injured. She will recover. I had a strange massage that brought out damage and my entire back and left shoulder pained me for weeks. Now I'm sick. Of course.

Time to, as Julia Cameron says, prime the well. Sit back and do something that will replenish my spirit and restore my soul. Over the past couple of weeks, I've worked on my collection of short stories. Two more to add then I need to do a good edit before passing it off to my two readers. That is my mission tomorrow. That and clean out my closet. Not that I'm very good at throwing things out, but it makes me realize what I have and what I don't use.

Maybe scraping the bottom of the barrel is where I'm supposed to be. Maybe this year, I'm meant to clean out more than my closet, clear the clutter, and become more buoyant.
 

Merry Christmas

I realize I have been remiss about posting anything here in a few weeks. Life has been a little crazy with sick children, work, Christmas shopping and the crazy ideas that keep popping into my head for a novel I've been working on for a long time. Not that I don't have other projects that should take priority, but this one is part of my Wild Blue Series and is special. It takes place over Christmas, the 12 Days of Christmas to be exact.

I don't know about the rest of you, but this year is a difficult one for me to find even an iota of Christmas spirit. Partly, the weather is to blame. We have had skiffs of snow that are gone before I get the camera out. Partly, the flu that has hit our house and left us all nauseous and achy, but not flat out sick. How annoying is that?

It's interesting to note now that my kids are teenagers (and one on the brink!) how little excitement there is for anything other than cookies and gifts. We did get to take in a great concert Wednesday night. This is my oldest son's last year in Concert Band. He and half the band will graduate in June. I know already that I'm going to cry at their final concert when they ask all the graduates to stand.

My middle son celebrates his first year in Jazz Band. He was shocked on his first day in September to learn he knew nothing about playing guitar. Nothing. He planned to quit. Then he talked to one of the teachers, quite by accident, who told him not to worry. They would teach him the six chords he knew so he could get by for a while. Fast forward two and a half months. He played his first public guitar solo!! Of course I recorded it. Of course I was so proud I could burst.

One of my favourite quotes is "feel the fear and do it anyway." My son has certainly faced his fear even with all the uncertainties ahead.

Writers to that as well. We write on spec. We don't know if our work will sell. We don't know if anyone will ever read it or if we'll have to lay it on the floor for a puppy to pee on. We write because we love to write. We face the fear and submit our work to agents, to publishers and, with any luck, eventually to our readers.

I have one goal for 2013:  to face my fears. To do the things I have held back from doing lately. Painting, writing, putting a nice backsplash in my kitchen (which I wasn't going to do until I get new cupboards), grading for my orange belt in karate (and maybe even my green belt by the end of the year!), going for walks in the woods...you get the idea.

Merry Christmas to you all.
May the spirit find you and nip your heels enough for you to make those changes in your life that you always thought you could.

Diane

 

A New Fan

What an interesting day today.
My husband got a phone call yesterday from a friend of ours named Tim who wanted two copies of Murder on Manitou. He said he would stop by today to pick them up. When he showed up, he had a woman with him, his mom. She had seen my book advertised in In The Hills magazine (http://www.inthehills.ca/2012/11/current/theyear-in-books-2012/) and really wanted to read it. She searched Chapters website, Amazon.ca and other sites hoping to come across it.
No luck.
She showed the magazine to her son who started to laugh and said, "Hey! I know her!"
Today, he brought his mom over to meet me and get her two copies of my book. How fun to meet someone I didn't know who bought my book just because she wanted to buy it. Not because she was a friend or relative. (No disrespect to anyone else!)
I have to say, it really made my day!

What else made my day?

Hanging out with friends for the last meeting of the Headwaters Writers' Guild this afternoon and hearing Nancy's short story that has evolved to the point it evoked tears from nearly everyone.

Going to my friend Amanda's Stampin' Creations Open House and finding Chocolate Strawberry Jam and some lovely gift tags she'd made. Then walking back to my car in the falling snow, jittery from coffee and happy to have spent time with someone who makes me smile.

Coming home to eat chicken wings and watch the 100th Grey Cup game with hubby and kids.

Being this close to having my latest edits done; having already met my challenge for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) last weekend, I'm now at 54,000 words; and preparing to finish off the novel I was working on before NaNo.

Oh, and finishing the Karate Manual for The Orangeville Dojo! Can't wait to get those copies up for sale!

Have a wonderful Sunday evening!

National Novel Writing Month

 

This month I decided to give NaNoWriMo a shot. I'm a first timer and got hooked into a crazy story called The Dance of Women, involving pirates and gypsies and a case of revenge. The goal of NaNo, for those who don't know, is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I completed my 50,000 as of November 18th and am still going. A little slower for the moment, this week has been busy so far, but I do plan to finish my novel and tuck it aside to edit later.

What else am I up to? Editing The Bookstore Lady for my agent and working on a karate manual for work.

HWG Author Day on Nov 17 was a lot of fun. We had local media and many friends in attendance. I enjoyed getting to read Chapter 2 of Murder on Manitou to the crowd and answer many questions. One of which was whether I planned to write a collection of short stories. YES, I've been working on one for ages, but have to spend some time pulling it all together and arranging for it to be printed. I'll let you know when it becomes available.

Once my edits are done, the manual is for sale at the dojo and NaNo is done for the year, it will be time for Christmas. And, of course, Christmas cookies, popcorn and stories!

But for now, I'll write on!

Author's Day at BookLore

BookLore's HWG Author Day

On November 17th, I will have the pleasure of joining some fellow writers from my writing group in promoting our works at BookLore, our local indie bookstore. If you live in the Orangeville area, please come out to join us in our celebration! Included in the list of writers who will be showcasing our works are:

                                                                      Diane Bator

Murder on Manitou

penspaintsandpaper.com/index.html

David Chesterton

My Caravan's a Rainbow: A Mystical Life in Colour 

Ruth Cunningham

Mystical Verses: The Poetry of Self-to-self Philosophy

http://www.Self-to-self.com/

Kelli Curtis

Amber and the Fallen Bridge

Joseph Gilbey

Langsdorff of the Graf Spee: Prince of Honor

Kriegsmarine: Admiral Raeder's Navy: A Broken Dream

www.grafspee.com

Marilyn Kleiber

Short Tales From a Tall Person

makani.mjk@gmail.com

Gloria Nye

Dragonfly One: The Beginning

www.spiralpress.ca

Harry Posner

Charivari

Jayne E. Self

Death of a Highland Heavyweight: A Seaglass Mystery

Author Harbourlight's Seaglass Mysteries

www.jayneself.com

www.christianswhowrite.ca

Hope to see you all there!!!