Boring is in the Eye of the Beholder

My dear and supportive friend (you know who you are) , the one who said she would wait and buy my book when it is on the Discount table at Indigo, made a remark about my boring blog entries the other day. She is funny and delightful and such a kidder.(I hope) No really, I don't mind having boring blog entries just as I don't mind having a boring life. I take great pleasure in the boring, mundane and ordinary things in my days. Thank you for the ordinary day is a quote I embrace. There is more to the quote but essentially every day that is ordinary is a day to be celebrated. Yesterday I heard from my publisher that "The Memory Chair" will be released in Spring 2015. I am thrilled .My goal of a book a year for 20 years may seem to have a glitch but not really if writing a book a year is my main goal. I am on book 6 so I am ahead of myself. So today on this wonderfully, ordinary day I will write, do my household chores,take my walk and enjoy the boring. *-No sarcasm was used in this blog. I really think my friend is dear and supportive and find her sense of humor delightful.I found her remark funny and not the least offensive.

Research With a Wedge of Gouda

Today I drove in the rain to meet Hetty of Armadale Farms in Roachville. She very generously gave me a few minutes out of her busy day to talk to me about her family's immigration from The Netherlands , their dairy farm and the art of cheesemaking. She answered all my questions as I worked through the facts I needed to know to realistically write how my character Jen evolves from a city girl with no knowledge of a cow except that the milk in a carton comes from one somewhere, to a passion for farming and a desire to begin a business she can proudly run at home while raising her four children.I will now take what she told me and try to write that into my story in a believable way. This aspect of the plot is just a small part in the book's big and complicated story which goes back to 1945 up to the present day telling the story of the lives of a family; lives intertwined with sadness, dysfunction, anger, resentment, heartache and blame which finally comes full circle to bring them back to the farm which could possibly be the place to bring healing and forgiveness. I am anxious to get to the writing as I work through how best to tell the story that keeps unfolding as I write it.That is what I love the most about writing, starting with the seed of an idea and letting it grow ,the many sprouts vining out and reaching in so many different directions. My mind is definitely heading to the gardening mode. The rain will stop, the ground will dry and the tilling and planting will get done. I will spend countless hours weeding, then harvesting the bounty of 2014.But today I write. Thank you Hetty and Armadale Farms for the help and for the Peppercorn Gouda .

Computers, Writing and Cheese

I have my new computer and the learning curve has not been too treacherous. I did have a bit of difficulty getting back on to my blog but it seems that I figured it out or simply kept trying until something worked. I had to change my password and maybe that had more to do with privacy issues than it being a new operating system. I am talking like I know what I am talking about but I really don't. All I know is I am back on my blog. I am quickly writing an entry before heading out for my walk. I have been writing like crazy for the last two days. I would really like to keep at it but my dogs are waiting. I will stop for the day but let my mind wander on my walk to keep the story moving. On Thursday I am going to Roachville to meet with the owner of Armadale Farms. I am interested in hearing of their experience in starting a cheese making business. Part of the storyline in the book I am working on involves a young woman who starts her own cheese making business. I look forward to the research and the cheese.I will write a longer entry next time Megan(my blog coach)

Cenotes,Sinkholes and New Computers

I have been away.First of all I finally bit the bullet and addressed the computer problems that have been frustrating us for quite some time. Time for a new PC so I am waiting for it to arrive and I hope the transition will not be too difficult. In the meantime I am without a computer and am using my daughter in laws to catch up a bit. I have also been away literally. Burton and I spent a wonderful week in Mexico. We went to the Yucatan Peninsula to attend our friends Cheryl and Sheldon's daughter's wedding. In the words of their adorable granddaughter, Layla ,we were at "Shelley and Nick's lovely wedding".It was certainly lovely, as was the setting. We enjoyed swimming in the Carribean Sea several times a day as a warm up for our Walton Lake swimming. (it was much warmer and a lot wavier) and also took a dip in a Cenote or sinkhole. Our guide warned us that it would be leg numbingly cold but in comparison to my first lake swims and last lake swims of the year, it was nothing.After returning home I ventured up the wood road and experienced sinkholes of a different type as the deep snow melts. It is a challenge to navigate the wood road right now, watching for mud holes and knowing at any moment your foot could break through the crust and as happened yesterday you find yourself with one leg in a hole up to your knee.I am reluctant to give those walks up and will take my chances until the road finally dries up.Then of course it will be planting time. In the meantime I wait to get my new computer up and running and will get back to work on book #6 while waiting to hear from my publisher about book 4&5.