Monday, February 24, 2020

How Books Get Written

Books get written very much like life is lived.Slow and steady, mundane and monumental, poetry and pain. Highs and lows, days that stand out and days that fade.Books are measured in words, paragraphs , pages and chapters and life in seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years. Choices are made to enhance or make books and life better.Twenty six letters begin the process of writing a book and breath and a beating heart begin a life lived.What we do with the simple start is what really matters. Every book, as every life is special and unique with its own story to tell.Don't take the simplicity of it for granted. Don't spend all your time looking for the spectacular but embrace the everyday, a story well told.Value the important parts and the connections. Feel the emotion, the tension the small victories and blessings.Write the book and live the life. It is this I get to do on another Monday, my grandson's birthday, a day to treasure and pay attention to.Word by word and breath by breath on this February day.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

When I Take to the Woods

A day without the woods is a day... There are days I don't get to walk or snowshoe. Some days I let the cold or icy conditions keep me inside. Some days my schedule does not allow it. Some days I have to leave home and attend to other things and I don't have the luxury of a wood road walk. Those days leave me wanting. Those walks are possibly the main reason I love being home and resent having to leave.The effort is always worth it as I have stated so many times. A transition from whatever state I begin the walk in to how I feel when I return always happens. I return to the comfort of my house refreshed, renewed and grateful.I do not take the opportunity , the physical ability and the privilege of living here for granted. To not take to the woods is squandering all those gifts. The last two days I have had the pleasure of inviting others to take to the woods with me. On Monday Harley's former master and his mom came to visit Harley and accompanied the dogs and me up the wood road. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were all the better for the few minutes we spent on the trail. Yesterday a friend came and we snow shoed a zig zag path to the top of the hill. We stopped often to appreciate where we were in so many ways and to reflect on where we've been . The gifts of companionship, fresh air, open skies and snow covered tress combined to make the time there magical. I love my solitude in the woods and my prayerful meditating as I spend the time in my beloved sanctuary but I also am happy to share and to offer others the chance to see what I see every day.

Sunday, February 16, 2020

What My Dogs Do

This morning as I gather my thoughts and begin my day my dogs come to mind. When I think of my own routine and the things I love about the predictability of my days my dogs are front and center in that. They are pretty predictable in their own habits and possibly drive some of mine. It is a good night when Harley sleeps through and doesn't ask to be let out when it is still dark. Often Disco sleeps with his master and does not spend the night in our room but he finds his way upstairs first thing and begins his lazy laying around day. Right now Disco is sprawled out on my office floor and Harley is curled up on Paige's bed.I try not to disturb them too much and if I have to go downstairs I assure them they can stay upstairs and I will be right back. Sometimes they listen. We put the day in staying quite close in proximity. It is toward late afternoon that they perk up watching for signs of a walk. If I sit down to put heavy socks on or happen to open the basement door to get my walking coat they lose their minds. They begin barking a very distinct bark/howl combination and pace wildly until I let them out the door. Then they run to the back door and bark foolishly until I come out the door. Then they frolic like young puppies until we head out up the wood road. They fall into a pace leading the way and but quickly re-calibrate when they see me veer off in another direction. I love watching them. It is the time of day they wait for. Yesterday I thought I would venture off the trail and snowshoe into the wooded area. They were keen to follow me but when I saw they were trudging through snow to their chins I got back on the trail.They think they are young pups but indeed they are both dogs in their later years something like myself. But don't we love our outside time together and don't we know how very crucial it is to our overall well being.So maybe we are creatures of habit and set in our ways , and maybe we hate the thoughts of leaving home, but maybe we know just how blessed we are to have these days. When evening comes after one of these delightful days we fall into our after supper routine. I take to my recliner and my dogs to the rug. What's not to like about the life we have?

Monday, February 10, 2020

Another Monday in February

I had no intention of writing an entry this morning. I was up a bit earlier than usual and gave myself time to go back to previous February entries before starting to work. I do that a fair amount just as I regularly read back previous years in my journals. A character in the book I'm working on has empty journals.She has brought thirty three journals to a writing retreat. Yesterday I piled thirty three journals on my office floor to test how heavy they would be in a suitcase. I had no trouble finding thirty three journals to pile up. My daughter teases me that I will soon need a journal assistant. In Louise Penny's newsletters I often see she references her assistant. Maybe some day I will require an assistant and for sure one of her or his jobs will be to organize my journals. But for now I will try to manage them myself. It is a snowy Monday morning. A wet snow covers my office window preventing me from looking out at the pasture from my comfy chair where I drink my coffee and write in my journal. This morning I reflect on the day I was given yesterday. It was another enjoyable Sunday spent doing what I love; some cleaning and paying attention to the home I have, some interaction with customers coming for eggs, a bit of writing, some baking, a wonderful trek up the wood road, my snowshoes crunching through a layer of snow and my two dogs frolicking around me, some laundry, a delicious supper prepared by my husband( thick juicy hamburgers from White Family Farm beef)a telephone conversation with my daughter,watching a movie on NetFlix and much more. And this morning I take to my desk and move my story along. I will spend a bit of time working on a peer review for TWUC. I will enjoy this blustery day.And next year I hope to look at February 2020 entries and do it all over again.

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Between the Bookends

Looking forward to adding one more to the bookends my friend Karen gave me when my first book came out.

Friday, February 7, 2020

Did You Know...

For twenty nine years I filled bulletin boards with themes, kids writing, artwork and so much more. For teachers bulletin boards are a thing. We try to create colorful impressive ones in our classrooms and to line the halls of our schools. Bulletin boards are definitely in the tool box of most teachers. On this Friday morning storm day I reflect on the bulletin board that greeted me when I entered Belleisle Elementary School yesterday. I love/ hate school visits. Just ask my husband the cascade of emotions I experience before a school visit. I moan about having to get up so early. I despair at my choice to accept an invitation. I obsess about getting ready and usually spend a sleep deprived night before the visit. I leave determined to present myself in a professional manner and remind myself just how lucky I am to be entering a school as an author. I go over my presentation in my head and get myself to the building in lots of time. I enter , meet the secretary , and the administration and begin my day. Sometimes the welcome is huge, sometimes the welcome is pretty low key . I remember the range of welcomes when I did the TD Canadian Children's Book tour. The welcomes varied from banners and being treated with celebrity status to finding my way blindly to the gymnasium and then having to go back to the office to get someone to call the students down to me. Yesterdays' greeting was great. I felt a familiarity arriving at BES although I'd never done an author visit there. I knew a couple of the staff members and even taught one of them in grade four. But it was the bulletin board that sealed the deal. The front lobby bulletin board was filled with information about three local authors Heidi Stoddart , Kelly Copper and Sue White, celebrating Literacy Week.Did You Know? Did you know about Sue White. Did you know she is thrilled to be visiting each and every student as an author? Did you know that every moment she spent as a teacher comes flooding back when she enters an elementary school? Did you know she imagines one of these classrooms being hers? Did you know she fills with happiness seeing the covers of her eight books displayed? Did you know that when she looks at the covers she remembers sitting at her desk crafting each story? Did you know she is nervous and wondering why she left the comfort of her home this morning?Did you know she still feels like the little girl who dreamed of being a teacher and an author? Did you know... Then the magic begins. Eager faces look up at me. I am the 'author ' and they are pretty impressed.Then I enter a grade four classroom where their teacher has read The Year Mrs Montague Cried. They tell me of the tears and the overall experience of hearing my words being read aloud. They embrace me in a real and meaningful way. They ask questions and hang off my every word. Their EA brings cookies and cake and we celebrate words and connections. Did you know I can't even begin to tell you how amazing these visits are? My husband knows when I walk back through the door with the day behind me that I will be euphoric. I am exhausted and completely drained but I am thankful that again I was invited and again I said yes.I am thankful for the lovely e mail that comes from a grade five student who didn't get to see me but has read The Year Mrs. Montague Cried three times. Did you know that days like yesterday keep me writing and appreciating days like today?Let's get back to work. Books don't write themselves you know!

Saturday, February 1, 2020

I am Tired

I am tired. I am tired of grieving and watching other people grieving. I am tired of funeral parlors. I am tired of hospitals and suffering. I am tired of tragic news stories and missing persons. I am tired of death bed vigils and terminal diagnoses.I am tired of troublesome dreams and juggling worry. I am tired of political tension and separating countries. I am tired of discontent royals and opinionated misunderstanding. I am just plain tired.Lists must be made to provide clarity and spark optimism but I am tired of making lists.This day I am just plain tired and that is perfectly all right. Somehow this fatigue will lift and I will rally. But right now I have no plan to do that. My only plan is to just breathe and accept the gift of this day.