WOULD YOU LIKE A LITTLE RAT WITH YOUR LATTE, SIR?

This CBC Marketplace story is self-explanatory. Check out COFFEE PLACE "We found rats leaping out of things on the floor"

It would be a funny story if it weren't also disgusting. I've often wondered what goes on behind those swinging doors at Tim Horton's, Robin's Donuts, Starbucks, Timothy's Coffees. How fresh is that creamer? How clean are those hands making your donut holes? What DO the midnight shift do for fun, anyway?

What does this have to do with writing? Well, nothing, except most of us drink alot of coffee (apologies to my friends Toni and Robin who drink gallons of tea!), and some of us drink it in coffee shops while we write on laptops. Sounds like it would pay to get to know your favourite coffee shop manager *very well*, so that you know you're getting healthy caffeine into your system while you're finishing Chapter Ten. JMHO of course! ;)

Girls-Only Blogthings - What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?

Girls-Only Blogthings - What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?: "

Your Famous Movie Kiss is from Gone With The Wind

'Great balls of fire. Don't bother me anymore, and don't call me sugar.'

What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?

"

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Here's hoping your loved one has remembered this special day for you! Chocolates, flowers, diamonds, jewelery, thongs, perfume, dinner out, movies in, breakfast in bed - what did you get for Valentine's Day? Hopefully, something to inspire your next love scene between your hero and heroine!

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I'm excited to still be in Round Five of author Karin Tabke's First Line Contest. We're down to 45 contestants from the first 75, and will continue until there's only 10 semi-finalists. Then Karin will have her judges pick their five favourites (by now, opening paragraphs)and the five with the most votes will be the finalists. All five finalists will have to get the first 10 pages of their MS's in to Karin asap so she can forward them to Hilary Sares, who will pick the final winner.

You can find the contest at KARIN TABKE BLOG. My entry is #27 if you scroll down the page. If you click on the "51 Comments" icon, I'm #39 on that page. There's some great competition and I'm biting my fingernails to see if I make the cut again for next Monday.

Question of the Day: What kinds of contests do you like to enter, and why?

IN DEFENSE OF MY PROVINCE SASKATCHEWAN

You probably haven't seen this on the news because most of you are Americans. Saskatchewan is a beautiful Prairie farming province, in between Manitoba which is a mixture of Prairie and treed/Canadian Shield, and Alberta which is a mixture of Prairie, oil fields, and the start of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Saskatchewan is the "Bread Basket" of Canada, producing nearly 100% of our own and exported wheat, canola, and smaller crops of rye, and barley. Up north we have lakes, rivers, and forests for hunting that are so dense you have to fly in in bush planes in the fall. Up north it's big tourist country, where Canadians, Americans, and some rich Aussies etc. pay big bucks to fly up there for a couple of weeks to hunt enormous Elk, Bear, and Moose. Not to mention the incredible fishing.

The City of Saskatoon, one of our largest cities, is hosting the Junos this year. The Junos are the Canadian version of the Grammy's and have become a Very Big Deal. Saskatoon came up with a prize package for Two, including two nights stay at their best hotel (sorry, forget the name), all meals, flight, and tickets to the Juno. They asked a radio station in Vancouver BC to help promote the contest and all listeners had to do was send in the ending to the sentence: "You know you're in Saskatchewan when..."

They got answers such as: "You know you're in Saskatchewan when...

"your prenup has chickens in it."
"you can reason with a barnyard animal"
"when you fill up your pick-up with gas and it doubles in value"

The radio host who did the promotion in Vancouver said in an interview, "Well, in BC we have the Rockies, the valleys, the vineyards!" (in an indignant, we're-so-much-better-than-you-guys type of voice)

Well, that's geography, buddy. We have a booming economy with 10 consecutive months of increasing oil and gas revenues and job growth. And we know how to take a joke. As one person who called into a REGINA, Saskatchewan radio station put it: "You know you're in Saskatchewan when you live near a Co-op. You know you're in BC when you live near a grow-op."

Right on. And personally, I'd kill to win a trip for two to Saskatoon to see the Junos. Problem is, I already live in this wonderful Province!

THE URGE TO PURGE

I'm going to borrow this title from Ian Brown, of the Globe & Mail, because it's perfect for the domestic drama that's been going on in our house over the past month or so.

Mr. Brown's article centres primarily on throwing out books, and how men especially find they cannot, when push comes to shove, while women can trash an entire library in a day and come up with clean shelves. (I'm paraphrasing here) He uses examples such as Edgar Johnsons's Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph which you've had for 25 years, but are unable to part with because Charles Dickens was the subject of your Masters in English or something.

I've already cleaned out my paperback 6 shelf-deep, nearly floor to ceiling bookshelves, and ended up with a clear plastic grocery bag for the Sally Ann. I parted with several collections of Highland historicals I know I'll never read again, collections of authors I'll never read again because I've outgrown them, and ancient research books. I purged a 2-shelf cart full of books too.

This, alas, is not enough for my dh! He wants us to go through every "box" we have in our basement and garage that we haven't opened in the past year and either pitch, purge, or Sally Ann it. We likely won't have a garage when we move to Winnipeg at the end of summer, and he's already scoped out an 8'x6' collapsible shed with a floor we can buy. (I know we'll have a bigger house, therefore bigger basement, but Winnipeg's built on a flood plain and we've been told the house will flood every spring, thus the need to put everything up on pallets). SO, the necessity for a PURGE.

Mr. Ian Brown states that a four drawer filing cabinet holds 18,000 pieces of paper. Also, statistically speaking, that once people "get organized" with totes, bins, and files, nothing in them is ever looked at again. (I can attest to 2 x Rubbermaid totes per child in the garage that are filled with toys we couldn't part with on our last move, that have never made it into the house)

My DH wants me to go through 10 boxes in the basement, and I've already told him the baby clothes, silver chasing dishes, sterling silver-anything, wedding gifts (ok, we've been married 19 yrs, I guess if we havent used them by now we should re-gift them or Sally Ann them, or something!), my spinning wheel, and all my scrapbooking stuff - the final items do NOT count as boxes - are staying. Personally, I think all his boxes of college papers & textbooks could disappear, along with at least 50% of our kids videos that they never watch, maybe 75%, and most of his "mug collection". Okay, that's sacrosanct!

Is it true that if you haven't opened a box in a year, or worn a piece of clothing in a year, it's time to dump it/purge it/give it away? I disagree heartily. Ridiculous. Those baby clothes are going to fall apart at the seams before they get thrown out or Sally Ann'd. And I kept the dress that I wore on my first date with my DH for 12 years, until I knew *for sure* that I'd never, ever fit into it ever again.

Proving that you can write about murder and mayhem, and still have a few sentimental bones in your body after all.

DARK URBAN FANTASY

I've been reading some agent blogs and apparently this is the new "genre" editors are dying to see and can't get enough of. I haven't come across any of the authors that were listed as favourites, proving that I'm too sheltered in my world of suspense and romantic suspense, so I branched out and checked Laurel K. Hamilton, Lilith Saintcrow, and Chris Marie Green, aka Crystal Green, for all you Harlequin readers. (And yes, Lilith is really her name!)

I had no idea that there were BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER books out there for adults. Serious worlds of vampires, werewolves, and demons giving battle to heroines with noble blood running through their veins, but normal day jobs and every day problems like finding their missing fathers, fixing up their sister's dates, etc.

The world-building is truly remarkable, as every author is doing her own thing and trying desperately not to copy anyone else. I'd thought vampires were a thing of the past, but apparently not. The mythology of the virgin priestess being sacrificed/fighting off demons are the basis for these books. It's the ultimate fantasy of a heroine taking on evil with weapons, martial arts, mental skill, and black leather, and coming out on top.

As though, if a woman can't make it in the "real world", she can make it in this dark underworld of unspeakable danger, monsters, and incredible black horror. This is her calling, her challenge, her raison d'etre.

That's my take on these author's book excerpts from their websites. Well-done websites, gripping chapters, wonderful series that readers will no doubt be hanging on by their fingernails to buy. The kind of horror story that Stephen King would never be able to write because he couldn't possibly be able to tap into this kind of female fantasy. Check them out. If you loved BUFFY ten years ago, and her dark lover ANGEL, you'll love these.

Write What You Know

I've been deathly sick all week and still trying to work on punching up my two prequel/sequel RS novels. Not having much luck getting my brain to work, what with blowing my nose constantly and...well, you don't need to know all my disgusting symptoms, let's just say the doctor told me it was about time I got my butt in there as it's gone to my chest now...

I decided to amuse myself surfing erotic epub websites, joined an erotic writers Yahoo group, and as this is TOTALLY outside my comfort zone, thought I'd read/write some to get my wool-pain-shrunken head to work again. After all, aren't these erotica writers pulling in the big bucks?? Just for female fantasies?? Being female, I have a few female fantasies of my own. Perhaps someone would like to read about them, lol.

Now I know why the age-old adage of "write what you know" is so apt. I know crime. I know suspense. I know cops. I know criminal minds. I know sensuous love-making and I can write hot. I know power and I know romance. I know fantasy and women's fantasy....but I don't know that kind of fantasy.

I guess I've managed to get this far in life without it. It's okay and for those writers who're making piles of money off it, I say hooray for them. ;) But I'll stick with what I know. Hot, sensuous, romantic, panting, sex without the use of schoolyard talk.

But thank goodness for free speech! It takes all kinds. And it made my week of being so sick more interesting and I never would've bothered spelunking around that neck of the woods without having a temperature. More fluids, Tylenol, antibiotics, and next week I should be back to my u/c cops and bikers with a vengeance. And there's lots of writers out there who don't like violence, betrayal, murder, and mayhem. So - write what you know!

Great TV and a Few Great Posts

Who saw the Opener of 24 on Sunday the 14th and Monday the 14th? The sixth season promises to be the best yet, as it's timely and more believeable. Jack Bauer has already been pushed to his limits and yet come out swinging with motivation. We invited friends over who'd never seen or heard of it, and now we've decided that we'll have a Monday p.m. dinner/TV night throughout the winter because we got them hooked in the four hours. :)

If you watch it critically, it's a writer's class in building tension, suspense, character arcs, motivation, pacing, subplots, plotting, and the hero's journey. My dh's friend's wife's degree is in theatre and she writes one-woman plays - she's hooked on the writing aspect too. I enjoy that she enjoys it from that perspective and we whisper in the corner and compare notes. If you haven't tried this show out before, they recap at every beginning, so give it a try. See what techniques the writers use that you can steal. Honestly, it's a free craft class plus Keifer isn't hard on the eyes for all you female romantic suspense writers out there. Neither is the new lady running CTU, for our male counterparts. IF that kind of thing appeals to you, and you're not just into blowing things up for the sake of blowing things up!


I can't get my hyperlink to work properly today - argh!So you'll have to use my links at the left. Sandra Ruttan has an excellent post today on what authors post on their public blogs, and cyber stalkers. There's more to it than that, but it's interesting and gives you food for thought. I highly recommend it.

Check out Jason Pinter's link too. I read him every day also, and congratulate him for the debut of his first book THE MARK, coming this month from MIRA. Read all about it in his last three posts. Good luck, Jason!

GLOBAL WARMING, EXERCISE, AND OTHER MUSINGS

The front polar bear in this picture looked like I did this a.m. after I got home from the gym. Completely laid out and "fashed" as my gramma used to say. One thing about Hands-on-the-keyboard-Butt-in-the-Chair writing is that your Butt tends to get alot bigger then you want it too. Working your gluts on the elliptical machine beside girls who weigh about 110 lbs. is just plain depressing. The last time I was 110 lbs. I was in high school and the school nurse was sending home notes for my mother to put me on this powder called "Wate On" that you added to milk. I was 13 yrs. old and 5'8" tall.

Back to my lovely polar bears. I read that President Bush, as if he doesn't have enough on his hands with a Democratic Congress, trying to pull out of Iraq, and his dog running around the White House taking pictures of everyone - has decided to SAVE our Canadian Polar Bears. Or, as he calls them THE Polar Bears. Aha.

Save the Polar Bears because he thinks they're HIS Polar Bears. Like everything else in the world. (okay, he did a good job on that island off the coast of Somalia, but we're talking terrorists, not conservation)

Hello, George Dubya! (I get to call you that, coz you called my Prime Minister "Steve") The Polar Bears live in Canada, on Canadian ice, in Canadian waters, so guess what? They belong to us! Just like the seals, the whales, the fish, and the rest of the ecosystem up there. I know "Steve" hasn't done a fabulous job with the environment so far, except to prove that the Liberals were liars with the Kyoto Accord and that Canada couldn't possibly meet the targets the Liberals promised we would meet. But I'm sure he has a plan in his pocket, he always does.

One thing that's high on his list is Canada's Arctic sovereignty. And if we're going to protect our Arctic from international incursions of any kind, you can bet we'll be protecting our polar bears too. So if you and the First Lady want to see any - you know, if you ever bother to make a State Visit up here before you leave office - "Steve" will be happy to take you both up to Churchill, Manitoba where you can see Polar Bears frolicking beside your snowboggan tour vehicle. You can take all the pictures you want! But that's all you can take.

And hey, thanks for finally getting it right and knocking al-Quaeda out of Somalia. Your allies appreciate it. :) Now, if we can just keep Iran under control - really George, you've got more to worry about than our Polar Bears.

MENTAL HEALTH DAY

The kids went back to school this week so my dh wisely took another week of holidays so we could recuperate from our family holidays. We never travel in the winter, and considering the lousy weather everywhere this Christmas, and our son's need for hospitalization over New Year's - we were right to stay home and stay warm.

Today we took to the highway and went into the next city where we played our favourite game of "window shopping". Now, I've learned over the 18 years of being married to this man, that "window shopping" will eventually mean "buying something" two, three, or four years down the road...but today we had fun going to the Ducatti and Harley-Davidson Dealerships and sitting on everything that struck our fancy.

I've had three dreams for most of my adult life: learn to ride a motorcycle (which also entails owning my own and it being a Harley), learning to ballroom dance and doing a mean Tango before I turn 50, and taking my family on a long road trip in an RV.

Well, I should've bought the motorcycle back when I was a cop, because dh wanted to spend this past summer just hitting the highway for his own stress relief - plus we can't afford two bikes now anyway. He's afraid I'm too out of shape, not enough reflexes etc. to learn to ride one in middle age, cough, cough. As for ballroom dancing, I've bugged him every fall and winter for 12 years and he always refused. Now I have osteoporosis in my 3 lowest lumbar joints and right hip. (hmmm...might be a problem with the bike too...) He said in my Xmas present that he was signing us up for lessons and had left messages at the dance school, but no one's called back and he hasn't called them so far this week. Hmmmm.....time to play detective with the phone book?

As for the RVing with the kids, well, I've gone camping with them for five summers in a row and last summer they went to a two week overnight camp. We've always had a sail boat or a motorcycle or a business to run so even to rent an RV has been out of our range. (not that I'm complaining about the sail boat...)

It's funny, this thing about middle age. Both men and women go through it. But it's the grey-haired men you see out there in their Corvettes, convertibles, motorcycles, sail boats, Jet Skis, or what have you. Ladies, never quit your day jobs. I'm not even remotely grey-haired, and I can tell you that I find myself at the stage of life where I'll never be able to buy myself a large item I want, or rent a large item I want, or apparently, even go dancing. And I'm not even old enough to wear one of those Red Hats yet!

Middle age is all about realizing the dreams of what you wanted to do and somehow missed out on - the things you gave up for whatever reason. Somehow you have to find a way to either do them, find a substitute without breaking the bank, or dream up new dreams for the future.

And once in awhile, take a mental health day and go "window shopping" at a Harley-Davidson Dealership and remember when you were twenty-three years younger and you sat on the back of one and your hair blew in the wind out of your helmet as your boyfriend roared down the highway.

BELATED HAPPY NEW YEAR

It wasn't my intention to be nearly a month away from my Blog. The holidays and family illness played the Devil's breath with that obligation. One child in the hospital over the New Year's weekend certainly didn't ring in the holiday very well for dh and I. However, it was only the second New Year's in 18 yrs that we've been apart, so we can't complain.

As I've been ruminating on the past year and setting goals for 2007 this week, I thought of my life as the plot of my current WIP. Maybe this idea appeals to you too: if you're on a Quest, how're you doing on your Hero's Journey? Have you found your Mentor yet? (I wish I could find mine!) Have you been refusing the Call that keeps sighing your name through the nattering of everyday busy-ness and stress? Do you have more than one Antagonist coming down the railroad tracks at you? Any Stalkers in your life? Have there been more twists and turns in 2006 than you care to think about, because you were so overwhelmed that you knew you were doing a lousy job compared to your hero/ine???

How about that hero/ine, anyway? Do you wish you had half his/her spunk, intelligence, good looks, energy, or bravery? Living through crisis after crisis is not really like reading a Readers Digest story for most of us, although we'd all like to be heroic and noble; caring, and generous, the kind of person everyone looks up to and praises in the village streets. Maybe 2006 took alot out of you, and you need to write out some of those twists and turns to realize that the "outline" of your own "personal plot" had alot going on. You need to unravel those twists and find out how you can heal yourself and give yourself some time to calm down and regroup!

How about the sub-plots in your life? Ailing parents? Sick kids with ongoing health concerns? Marital/financial troubles? A romance that may need to finally come to an end so you can move on and grow? Some negative Nellies who need to be dumped so that you can concentrate on writing what YOU want to write? Those sub-plots may relate to the main plot of your life, but include them in your "time share goals" for 2007 and they won't surprise you when you least expect it.

Did you have any Black Moments, or even one, in 2006? Experience that revelation, resolution yet? Don't give up hope! If you can think up enough characteristics to get your hero/ine out of a jam with problem-solving techniques, you'll be able to put pen to paper and eventually realize a way out of whatever catastrophe 2006 threw at you. Nothing lasts forever - even the bad stuff.

May 2007 be a fresh unraveling of the leftovers of 2006 - and may you plot out the way you truly want your life to go, in all areas, not just your writing! I wish you all the best in this New Year and promise not to be away from my keyboard so long - I've been busy plotting out my own 2007. :)

CHRISTMAS IS COMING - Part Two

For those of you who don't think I'm a total Grinch stay with me on this one, because today we're going to talk about totally useless gifts. And maybe, some gifts you might want to go with that are "untraditional". Here's some gifts I think are absurd at best, and "whacko" at worst:

1) PJ's for women that sport Tweetie Bird, Winnie the Pooh, Tinkerbell, Kelloggs Apple Jacks, or Thumper. Or any other Disney creature. Mickey Mouse a few years ago was bad enough...now we're supposed to entice our man with the message that we're entering our second childhood with Tweetie Bird? Puleeze...*he'll* be the one getting a headache...

2) Slippers. For anyone in your family. At any age, even if it's Great-great Aunt Elspeth in the Nursing Home. She's lived that long, she deserves a pound of Kickass Donkey Coffee and lunch out with you at her favourite restaurant. Be kind.

3) A curling iron, blow dryer, iron, toaster, toaster oven, kettle that turns itself off, coffeemaker for 24, foot sauna, make-up mirror with three light display, or electric ladies razor set. Am I getting my point across here?

4)Camping gear, air hockey games for the family room, drum sets, trampoline, and a portable ice making machine.

5) A cell phone for your elderly mother because you worry about her highway driving - but you don't buy her the monthly service. Now, that's just miserly! And why does she need a cell phone that takes pictures anyway?

6) Any robotic dog, cat, puppy, etc. that does anything, anything at all. Do - not - buy - it. You - will - lose - your - mind.

7) A "2 chicken/rooster", "2 rabbits", "2 goats", "cow", or "donkey" out of the World Vision catalogue. We support 2 World Vision children and 1 Compassion child, have for years. We believe strongly in this program. But please don't send your money there and call it a gift to me. It's a gift to them. And I appreciate you supporting them. Tell you what, I'll send them 2 goats, and still take you out for Christmas lunch, ok?

Cool Christmas Gifts:

1) The iRobot Roomba robot vac. If you want to give your wife an appliance, this one'll light up her eyes! It won't bother you to run it around a few rooms either.

2) For him: the sexiest lingerie you can find with the biggest red bow on top. Why buy him tools? He doesn't use them anyway. THIS he can use! And don't stop there, adult shops have feathers, love dust, and games for even the most shy among us.

3) Microsoft Webcam with Live call button. Better than any beauty appliance you were thinking of getting her.

4) Not just for your techno-teens, the nexXtech 512MB MP3 Player that fits in the palm of your hand; comes in black, orange and lime green (my personal favourite). And for teen stocking stuffers, JVC has Gumy headphones in black, silver, lime, and orange to match for only $15.

5) So your husband won't yell at you on your next vacation trip - a no-subscription-fees GPS Garmin in-car unit, loaded with Canada and US maps. Full colour, and anti-glare for easy reading. How cool is that?

6)Anything out of the Zeke's or People's Jewellers Catalogue. Diamond's truly are a girl's best friend. My husband bought me a ruby and diamond ring to celebrate the year 2000 and I haven't taken it off since.

7) Old, old, photographs of past family members, letters, or diaries. War medals, scrapbooks, etc. that you don't know what to do with and want a home for - because I'm a writer and I'll do the research to put it all together into a family history. What a wonderful present that would be!

8) A magazine subscription to Writer's Digest, The Atlantic, Time, Macleans, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Ellery Queen, The Beaver, Creative Memories Scrapbooker. I'd remember you every time it came in the mail.

9) A home-made book of coupons with all my favourite activities on them, that you HATE to do; eg. "one day at your favourite craft fair with $50 to spend", "one day at the local dog show", "one day Christmas shopping without whining", "good for one foot massage", "good for winning one argument", etc. Get creative people, you can make it last all year and be giving each other a coupon a week!

Happy weekend Christmas shopping!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING - Part One

Tis the Season to be giving - as the last 11 days of shopping fall upon us it's time to be thinking of the "what", the "how", and "how much" is in our budget for our loved ones this year. I've only just begun to shop for my family. This year I'm trying to NOT do all of the things that I've come to hate over the years, in the matter of getting gifts. Here's what I mean:

1) No, I'm NOT giving you a gift receipt so you can exchange it for something you'll like better for the same amount of money. THIS is what I spent my time thinking about, deciding on, schlepping the malls for, and THIS is what I decided you'd love. SO, I hope you love it. Merry Christmas!

2) No, I'm NOT giving your adorable 12 yr-old-who's-an-incredibly-off-the-charts-genius a $100 present when I can't afford to give my own 14 yr-old a $100 present. She'll have to be grateful for what she gets from me in the family gift exchange.

3) No, I'm NOT giving your wonderful ..... (fill in the blanks) child a $50 gift certificate to ...... (fill in the blanks) because he prefers to pick out his own gifts. When I was 15, I learned that it was important to appreciate what others gave me when I opened a present and to thank them for it...maybe it would be nice if you gave your son the same learning experience. I'm just saying?

4) PLEASE don't ask my for my "Christmas Wish List" again this year. I know you won't buy anything on it, and I'll just be disappointed. I know I'll love whatever you give me, so let's not play the charade, ok?

5) When I tell you I'm a size large in sweaters, tops, cardigans, tank tops, loungewear, PJ's, camisoles, pants, etc. that means a size LARGE. Buying me a size medium, or god forbid, a size XL is only going to make me cry Christmas morning when I pull out that gorgeous cashmere sweater that I can't return because you bought it in New York last July.

6) When I tell you my taste in clothes lean towards Old Navy and Marks Work Wearhouse for "everyday", please don't buy me stuff from Holt Renfrew or Harringtons to "brighten up" my look. The only one who'll see it is my dog who lies beside my desk while I write in my basement.

7) PLEASE do not give my special needs daughter any more colouring/sticker books/markers/glitter pens/or feather craft kits. She's into make-up, nailpolish, boys, and MuchMusic videos now, and while that may offend you (lol) she's "delayed", not dead.

8) The same goes for my special needs son. He doesn't need anymore Bionicle sets, Legos, wooden boats, or SpongeBob stuff. If it's not Spiderman or some other Superhero, it'd better be something to do with XBox. And oh yes, he'll beat you, no matter what game it is. :)

9) PLEASE do not REGIFT me with any of your leftover gifts. If you want to find a home for something - give it to Goodwill, a homeless person, or the nearest Women's Shelter. There's nothing more uncouth, rude, or disgusting than receiving a Christmas gift from someone who says, "I got this from so-and-so and it didn't suit me so I thought of YOU. Merry Christmas!"


I know that many of you just haven't had the courage to say these things. Now I have! This is just Part One of some Christmas Trend Observations...tune in tomorrow for Part Two.

And any of you out there who are guilty of visiting these sins on your family, think again! You are not a popular person at Christmas time!

Thriller Writer

I've discovered a new thriller writer - TED DEKKER - and he's the kind of writer that is so GREAT you want to get to his entire backlist and read everything the guy has ever written. I just finished THR3E which has just been made into a movie and is coming out in January. I won't give you any spoilers! The problem with the book is that once you've read it, you can't see the movie, although I suppose it would be interesting to see how they manage to pull it off.

DEKKER was raised in Indonesia and now resides in the States. He can be found at TED DEKKER He has a Blog on site, and videos to go with his books, although I found the quality of them was sporadic. He deals with the themes of extreme good and evil. I'm reading his SAINT right how, which deals with kidnapping, brainwashing, and assassins.

Take a look at his site. I highly recommend it. Think I'll link up to him as well. Not everyone gets a movie made from their book and I think that's worth supporting.

The Search for Laura Gainey

By now you'll all have heard of the weekend long search for LAURA GAINEY, who was swept overboard by a "rogue wave" in high seas off the coast of Cape Cod Saturday night. She was sailing on the PICTON CASTLE, a tall ship - a clipper ship - down to the Caribbean for the Christmas holidays, with a full crew. She wasn't wearing a life jacket, nor was she lashed to any of the masts during the gale, which would seem to be the first of common sense safety measures in a harsh sea storm. Tall ships, like cruise ships, can't turn on a dime and return to pick up a "man overboard". The crew heard her scream for help as she went overboard, and immediately threw life jackets, life preservers, and markers into the sea.

We used to own a small 22' Tanzer sailboat. We both took sailing lessons, although mine consisted of a day long seminar so that I knew enough to tack back and forth and steer it so that I wouldn't perish on our open lake back home in Ontario. Even with such a small sail boat, it's impossible to turn around quickly to save anyone who's gone overboard. We worried so much about our children that we ended up getting babysitters when we went sailing, as we couldn't afford another $1000.00 for a back railing, and the kids didn't enjoy the heeling of the boat anyway. To go back to get someone who's fallen overboard, a sailboat would have to tack back and forth about four times to "come around", IF the winds were good, and I'd imagine it would take a good half hour to an hour for the person to be treading water to get rescued. If they were lucky, another boat would get to them faster. When I took rescue swimming in police college, we had to swim 2 miles in a front crawl, and tread water for 15 minutes. I remember how exhausting it was.

I can't help but think that Laura Gainey has died doing what she loved. Why her Captain didn't follow obvious safety measures is a question that someone will no doubt investigate. In a news report this morning he was asked "why" none of them were wearing life jackets in the middle of the storm. He answered, "well, the railings are tall enough that no one usually goes over." Oh really?I don't think "usually" is going to satisfy a grieving Mr. Gainey and his other three children, who've already lost a wife and mother to brain cancer. I know that if I were Mr. Gainey, I'd be suing that Captain and his boat company with the help of a good lawyer. Merry Christmas to you, sir!

WRITING ENVIRONMENT

Today I posted under the comments section for Monday December 4th over at Romance Worth Killing For for on the subject of spousal support for our writing. It's the subject of the article I've been writing for Romance Writers Report. ROMANCE WORTH KILLING FOR is a three person blog, with one of the three being Joan Swan, my critique partner. I highly recommend popping over there to see what the ladies are up to. Plus, my comments there are riffing right off the article.

PRAIRIE WINTER

As this is our first winter in Saskatchewan we're having some adjustments to it. For instance, the sun doesn't come up till nearly 8:30 a.m. Today, it was -18 degrees with a windchill of -33C. If we were still in Ontario, this would've been called a "snow day" and I'd have had the kids under my feet all day. They don't let the kids stand out at bus stops in this kind of cold, and the bus companies won't run their buses for fear they'll damage their engines. Ha!

Here on the Prairies, you drive your kids to the bus stop (okay, I was the only mom to do so, because I'm a suck) in the dark, and wait in a warm truck till the bus comes. Most of the teen boys had no boots or hats on, even with the wind blowing that -33 degrees around. The kids were standing in the bus shelter, although a few stood outside to line up to be the first on the bus. As soon as it rounded the street corner, my two kids jumped out of the truck and raced over the snow bank to get in line.

A friend told me that the schools out here only close in winter if it's a) -40 degrees or b) if it's blowing snow over the highway so it's a white-out, or it's a howling blizzard. Last winter the kids only had 2 "snow days". No wonder the pioneers on the Prairies were such hardy stock. They had to be! I can't imagine surviving these temperatures in a sod shack, no better than a lean-to, with my cow in the living room.

Take that - you teenage posers for "Canadian Idiot" by Weird Al Yankovic! :) He's obviously never felt REAL cold before! (and we have elk up here as well as moose, Al, just so you know...)

Having Some Fun Today

I came across these two links and thought I'd share the laughs.

The first one is from YouTube. Search for "Canadian Idiot" and you'll get Weird Al Yankovic's song sung to the tune by Green Day. It's a hilarious parody that even mentions my home province of Saskatchewan. And while it's making some people angry on an eloop for the Globe and Mail newspaper, I think it's one of Weird Al's better songs in a long time. Glad to share with my American friends and family!

Try Oddities for a story about two Boise, Idaho ice rink employees who drove their Zambonis to Burger King for a late night snack. One has to wonder...

REMEMBRANCE DAY

I wanted to share two pictures from Camp Julien in Kabul, Afghanistan from their Remembrance Day Ceremony held November 11th.

LGeneral Rick Hillier, Commander of the Army was there to lead the ceremony and spoke of the 42 soldiers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan since 2004.

On Saturday, November 11th, during Coaches Corner of the NHL Hockey Game, they played a musical tribute behind the pictures, names, and places of the 41 men and 1 woman who had died in combat. Don Cherry is an outspoken supporter of our Canadian military.

We attended our Remembrance Day ceremony in the local Civic Centre which was standing room only. I was surprised at the number of local people who took their children up and had wreaths to lay at the memorial cenotaph.

I realize this is a writing blog, and I've been absent for 10 days while my dh had my laptop. I just wanted to pause, before I get back to my writing, to remember those 42 courageous Canadians who gave their lives for doing what they believed in. God bless them.

PISCES ~ Feb.20 - March 21

I'm taking a page from Toni Anderson's blog today and running my daily horoscope, which is hitting my life so bang on it's scary...

Normal People Scare Me is the title of a documentary movie about high-functioning autistic people. It might also serve well as the title of your life story's current chapter. Ordinary everyday reality is your greatest enemy right now. It threatens to ensnare you in a numbing trance at the exact moment when you need to saunter off into the unknown. Habit and routine are exerting a seductive pressure that could distract you from the fascinating tests you really need to embrace. The ironic fact of the matter is that at least for the moment, you should be wary of your longing for security.

And who thought computers could just be random? Ha! What did I say yesterday about needing to put-butt-in-chair? I then emailed a gal pal to say that I wished I could just have a humdrum routine to get me through this stressful time. Well, if even a computer-generated horoscope is warning me against laziness, I'd better work through the hard time by throwing myself up against the wall of the pit and start climbing out of it! Shake it off and keep on going, as it were.

Thanks for posting that on your blog, Toni! I posted mine to remember to keep my eye on that end goal, as well as getting my family through this current phase. This too will pass. In the meantime, no moaning about security or being lazy!