Category: Personal

Building Relationships

Yesterday, I spent the day building relationships, but not the ones in my book. Real ones. I did write, but not nearly as much as I usually do, and not nearly as much as I probably should have. And I feel like I should have done more for my cp.

On the other hand, I had coffee with my sister, watched my daughter perform in a summer-drama-camp rendition of the Wizard of Oz, and had dinner with my parents. In other words, I made a few deposits in the family-bond account ... where I might add, I'm frequently overdrawn yet they never bounce a hug.

Category: Personal

Confession

I promised pics of Reno but in looking at the ones I took, I've decided I'm not much of a photographer. None of them really turned out. I could blame my brand new digital camera ... but I the truth is, I didn't take as many as I should have and the ones I took are not worthy of posting. If I get any photos via friends, I'll post those or link to them. Sorry.

To satisfy the need for visuals, here's a look at my cat and dog. Lame, maybe, but some of you must be curious, right?

Category: Personal

The Hard Part of Going to Reno

...is leaving my daughter behind. She's a wonderful kid, and was the only one in our house confident that I'd final in the Golden Heart. Her first words upon finding out that I had were, "Told you."

She'll be off sailing with her dad for the week I'm gone, and probably won't miss me too much, but I'll definitely miss her. I'll miss the dog and the cat, too, of course, but it won't be the same.

Speaking of the animals, I never realized how hard it would be to get someone to look after the cat (he's still a kitten actually). My parents are happy to look after Lucky, the dog, but they're not cat people. My two sisters both have people in their households who are allergic to cats, and my ex-husband is also allergic. I might have to board Spooke, but that makes me feel bad because he's only 4 months old and the one time I boarded Lucky he hated it. Ah, the trials of being a pet owner.

Category: Personal

Harry Potter

Ok, I confess. I'm a Harry Potter fan. Not one of those uber-fans who shopped for the latest book starting at midnight, but definitely a fan. I bought Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince on the 16th--the first day it was officially available. Now, I love to read and as a writer I take great pleasure in the written word, but I have to tell you that when it comes to HP books, I buy the CD version.

Why? Well, for starters, I love Jim Dale's performances. It's amazing to me that a guy can have a unique voice for every character in the story and consistently play them so well that you start to hear Hermione's personality and can immediately picture Fudge. But mostly, I do it because my daughter and I used to listen to it in the car on the way to school/work. My daughter has always read extremely well, so I wasn't concerned about stunting her desire to read. And now, at book six, it's become a decadent habit.

So, are you an HP fan?

Category: Personal

Ancestry

I love to write about Scotland. I'm not entirely certain why, but it may have something to do with ancestry. Typical of most North Americans, I'm part many nationalities: Scottish and Danish on my mother's side, French on my father's side. My grandmother was a Grant, and her parents came to Canada from Inverness. She traveled to Scotland in the 1970's to explore her heritage, and I have her notes about what she saw, and how she felt visiting the area where her family originated. Very powerful stuff.

Perhaps not surprising, when I began my second manuscript, and realized if there was jousting in it I had to set it in France, I was excited. Here was my chance to explore my father's side of the family. One of my aunts had traced our lineage back to the 16th century, and I had a bit of fun using some of that research in my book. The story actually takes place in the 13th century, so I took a few liberties.

Maybe I'll have to write a book set in Denmark at some point...