Rainy Days and Tuesdays

Well we have started. Our planting schedule has had weather delays but we finally got started yesterday. Despite a gusting wind that looked as if it was going to remove all of the top soil and relocate it, I planted all the beans and started planting the corn. Today, I finished planting the corn before the heavy rain started . Burton and Wayne got all the squash in as well. So I find myself in my office this afternoon instead of in the garden. Yesterday I visited a classroom at Lakefield Elementary School. They had just finished reading Ten Thousand Truths and The Year Mrs. Montague Cried. It was a pleasure to spend an hour with them as they asked some wonderful questions and shared their feelings about the stories and life. Kids never cease to amaze me with their compassion and insights. They were very interested in hearing about the sequel of Ten Thousand Truths. Parker asked me what my next book was going to be about. I told him I wasn't exactly sure but that it would come to me as I planted and looked after the garden in the next couple of months. Sure enough as I began sowing the bean seeds yesterday afternoon the seeds of my next book began taking shape. I ran in the house and up to my office to jot my thoughts down. The book I began in January but put aside to get to Shame the Devil pushed its way into my thoughts again and took on a whole new turn. Now I await the quiet hours in the garden so that I can let the story unfold until I find myself back in my office in September. During the summer I will steal some rainy hours like this afternoon and take a bit of time to touch my writing. I will read Shame the Devil one more time before sending it off to be read by someone else. I will make some notes for the book I see ahead of me. I will give some thought to two picture books I have percolating. I will let the summer come. I'll watch the seeds grow in the garden and in my imagination.

And Now it's June

June has arrived. The weather unfortunately is not excatly heralding its arrival. We are awaiting the warm and dry weather that will get the planting season underway. But it is June never the less and all the business of the spring has led me to this day. I am so thankful that all the things I planned for and anticipated fell into place and were everything I wanted them to be. I am taking a deep breath today and looking back at all that has come about. I finished the book I started writing in January. It seemed to have a momentum all its own and although it didn't write itself it certainly pushed itself onto the page. I will take a bit of time to re read it and see it in its entirety before I send it along. The wedding took place and I await the hundreds of pictures Meg's friend Jen took so I can fully digest the beauty and wonder of the day. I did the book week tour and have recovered from my driving experiences. Last week I headed to Nova Scotia. I had thought at one point that we would crowd more into that tour and also head for PEI but I am so glad that it was exactly what it turned out to be. First of all the trip to NS gave me the wonderful opportunity to visit with my cousin Jan and her husband. Over the last few years writing events in the Halifax area or flying from Halifax to Nfld have given me the chance to stay in their home. They have always warmly welcomed Burton and me or a friend and me or just me into their home. They provided excellent meals and lots of great conversations. Jan and I share a rich past. Our mothers are sisters and we spent many years connected by that bond. We value that bond but even more than that we have come to value the bond of friendship as adults. My cousin played the part of Chauffeur to the events I had in Halifax and Cole Harbour. She was so excited to accompany her cousin, the author and I hope she was not too disappointed . Our first library reading was attended by two. Don't get me wrong I will read to two and we certainly enjoyed the two girls as well as the library staff member who tried to reel half the audience in. Half the audience was vocal, exuberant, highly expressive and somewhat of a challenge. She was entertaining though and full of personality. The other half was much quieter and reflective and offered lots in her own way . The Saturday morning library visit offered no audience but the librarian was very welcoming. Two book signings offered their own gifts. I met a lovely woman who wanted to buy all four and since the store did not have all four and she also realized that struggling authors make more money if they sell directly to readers, accompanied me to the parking lot where she bought all four books from my trunk. Thank you Faye! Then came a school visit to Winding River Consolidated in Stewiacke. What a wonderful day I had! Beautiful building , great staff and enthusiastic kids provided a worthwhile visit. Again the best of teaching and being an author made the time spent there a rewarding experience. I was glad to get on the road and head home though. Burton and Cale had extended the pasture and I drove up the driveway to see the three cows standing in long grass enjoying their new territory. The lilacs are almost in full bloom , the flowering crab tree is blooming and the buds on the trees are bursting. I am so anxious to start putting out flowers and planting seeds. I look forward to the lake , to kayaking and watching our gardens grow. We have some building projects to see unfold. I will get the girls by the end of July. The winter has passed with all it gave , the spring arrived and brought so much and now the summer is before us. The sun will shine and the summer of 2015 will unfold. I look forward to the gifts it will bring.

Word Spring

I am torn. I want to write a blog entry and I want to finish my report of my book week experience and I want to get back to my writing. I am anxious to get back to where I left off last time. I also want to mow my lawn and I want to start planting and I want to take my kayak out and I want to go for a walk. I also want to start reading the two books I bought from two authors I heard read or present at Word Spring. Isn't that what most of our days are like. I often ( ok always ) list at the beginning of the month what I want to get done that month. I also list at the beginning of each day what I hope to accomplish. I generally get most of it done. Some days and months the undone stuff gets put ahead to the next day or month. One thing that I want to get done today amidst the other things I have already mentioned is to ruminate and reflect on what I took away from my weekend in Moncton at WFNB's WordSpring. Some of what I gleaned was from hearing other writers read or conduct workshops , some from casually talking to other writers, some from the always interesting discussions my friend Barb and I have around the topic of writing and life in general. Some of what is bouncing in my head this morning just pushed it's way in to my thoughts as all the other was taking place and needs a louder voice when I actually get back to the work that is always simmering below the surface of all the other tasks. I found more out about my characters. I was given more clarity surrounding the underlying story , I better understood some of the motivation and depth to the interactions and possibly see my way more clearly to the ending. I will not know this until I get down to business and let the writing happen. I will finish this entry, hang out a load of laundry, put the finishing of the report on tomorrow's list , walk and mow and maybe kayak later . I will get to work and let the revelations that came to me fight for their place in the story.

This is Where You Are

Now onto the driving part of my book week experience. What a huge challenge that part was. When I arrived in Ottawa, Hertz gave me a Yukon. At first it was thought to have a GPS and then in the absence of that an OnStar to help me with the navigation. But the OnStar had been disconnected and so I was back to the Google maps that I had prepared before leaving home. Back to the Google maps and my wits. Recalibrating is what they call it when your GPS reroutes you when you've made the wrong turn . My brain did a whole lot of recalibrating. Even with careful attention to my maps I found myself lost on several occasions. Sometimes I took the 401 West instead of the 401 East. Sometimes I didn't go far enough or missed my exit . I would stop and figure out where I was. Life gets us lost sometimes. Sometimes we know exactly how we got lost and other times we haven't got a clue how we got where we ended up. Once we figure out where we are then the next step is to come up with a plan to get us where we want to be. I spent a good amount of time doing just that and figuring out east, west, north and south and the quickest way to arrive at my desired destination. It was challenging , stressful, and I was always very relieved when I finally pulled the Yukon in to my destination. I stretched myself and just as anything we do in life that is challenging it is also rewarding. I felt such a sense of accomplishment in doing that. I took the Yukon back to the Toronto airport without a scratch. I caused no collisions and never succumbed to my desire to give up and cry in a Husky parking lot. I did what I had to do !

The Kids Get Top Billing!

Last week I toured the Ottawa/Toronto area as part of the TD Canadian Children's Book Week. Sunday, I flew into Ottawa and began the adventure. And what an adventure it was! One statistic that sticks with me is the number of kids I have been privileged to stand before. In my 29 years of teaching if I taught an average of 30 kids a year I would have taught 870 kids. Last week I presented to approx. the same number of kids. And it was indeed a privilege. I told my story of becoming an author. Intertwined with this story I told of a life in which I have met large and small challenges, loss and heartbreak, and followed dreams and in which I have so much to be thankful for. I attempted to tell the story with humor and sincerity and from an honest place . I was rewarded at every location. The rewards came through the eyes , the smiles , the caring questions and comments and in one place the spontaneous applause that brought this author to tears.(not that tears are ever too far from the surface) Time after time I was impressed by a group of attentive and respectful kids willing to soak up what I was saying. They laughed in all the right places and the places that brought about compassion and empathy they offered in abundance. Overall the week for me was about just that. Twelve times I stood before a large group of kids and shared a story that for me is heartfelt, intense and difficult to deliver. Every single time within the first few minutes I knew that my effort was not in vain. The enthusiastic requests for my autograph that will be forgotten and misplaced was not the indication that what I did last week matters. It is what I saw in glistening eyes, what I heard in heartfelt words and what I felt collectively in the hour I spent with each group that made last week an unforgettable experience for me. Just as I have always hoped that part of whatever I gave to the 800 plus students that I taught over my career mattered, I likewise hope that what I brought to those 800 plus kids last week resonates in a meaningful way. What more could I ask for!

The Week That Was!

This is the first of what I am sure will be a series of blog entries as I attempt to truly reflect on what last week was for me. I am going to meet a friend this morning who just had a new grandbaby and is travelling to Calgary to meet him tomorrow. We normally swim on Wednesday but we will swim today and I will do some errands across the river. Then maybe later I will have time to have a good,long look at the experience that participating in The TD Canadian Children's Book Week tour was for this author. I have many stories to tell. It was such a relief to turn in the keys of the Yukon and get on the plane in Toronto and fly back home to where I so thankfully am rooted. It was daunting to stretch myself so far beyond my comfort zone and accomplish just the getting around in the Ottawa/Toronto area. The privilege was the opportunity I was given to present to 800 kids. More on that and the driving later. Let's just say I don't expect to having any trouble turning left (without a flashing green arrow) while facing four lanes of oncoming traffic as I meander across the river and in to the familiar highways that lead to Saint John. Oh, and the snow is gone and it is Spring on the Walton Lake Road!

Write the Wedding Story

The months of planning and anticipating led to the days of last minute busyness , to the hours of final preparation and then to the minutes of frenzied delivery that brought about the emotional and beautiful walk down the aisle. The hours that followed were ripe with laughter, tears, interesting encounters and lots of memories. The two days afterwards held exhaustion, reflection , tension and tears. The tears held the range of everything that family is all about but basically gave voice to love, loyalty and perseverance. Like every good story there are interesting characters, memorable dialogue and raw emotion. There are parts of the story that could benefit from some good editing and there are many different points of views. Overall though it was a story of love. Perhaps my short entry is reflective of how extremely tired I am or maybe it is more a comment on how unnecessary words really are to fully explain how special and wonderful every line of this wedding story is to the ongoing saga that is the story of our family.