So I'm sitting at dinner with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and my two nieces, 14 and 10. And the 14-year-old tells me I should write a novel using the names of her three "BiFFLes" (Best Friends For Life). So I say, "Okay, tell me the plot and I'll do it."

She thinks for a minute and says something like, "There's this 14-year-old movie star whose name is X (she inserts her own Facebook pseudonym) and she's murdered during filming." Great start and we go from there. The 10-year-old wants a little sister to play a major role so we come up with not one but two little sisters with big parts to play. Within a half hour, we have the whole concept for the mystery laid out, including back story on the two major characters. We've developed motivations and even character traits.

And it's really pretty good. I set them the task of coming up with physical descriptions for the six or seven new characters in the book as well as, if possible, a quirk or behavioural quirk for each one. They've been working hard at it and I have been impressed with what they've developed.

So this morning, using the work that we'd done together and that they'd done on their own, I dashed off about 500 words of the opening of the novel. Wow. It works.

So now The Final Curtain, a new Phillip Gold Mystery, is off and running.

Tags: Phillip Gold, Writing, Novels

The family has arrived. With four guests in our house for the past five days and two more on the way to join us tomorrow, we've been having a fun, busy time. We had planned to go to the Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy today but the weather has gotten in the way. So it's a quiet day for catching up on sleep and nosing around Fredericton, I guess.

We went whale watching on Tuesday, down in St. Andrews by the Sea. This was my second experience with the whales and trip two was just as fantastic as trip one. Our first visit, we went out on the zodiac, which was very exciting. This time, we went out on the catamaran of Quoddy Link Marine, a more sedate trip but just as great. We saw lots of amazing things, including minke and finback whales close up (within 20 feet of the boat), harbour porpoises, harbour seals, grey seals and black guillemots. Really quite amazing.

Of course taking pictures of whales is not as easy as you might think, given their massive size. Sometimes, all you get is their spray but, at other times, you're lucky enough to get much of the back and the fin. We all had a blast on the trip and it might just happen that some of us go again when the other members of the family arrive.

Other adventures so far include bowling at Kingswood, the place where I play golf. We never did solve the mystery of the candlestick pins but had a lot of fun trying. We've wandered Fredericton and have plans to visit the beach at Mactaquac as well as Kings Landing at some point during the visit.

On a birding note, Patti came across a little fellow nestled in the grass under our dining room window. It would seem he knocked himself loopy by flying into the glass. We scooped him up to keep him safe from predators and then placed him in a box with food, water and some cedar leaves to give him time to recover. We're happy to report that the little guy enjoyed a brief stay in our bird hotel and then, his wits recovered, flew off into the world again. Nice to see a happy ending.

Now if I could only make a definite ID on the kind of bird he is. I know, pathetic that I can't figure it out with such a clear picture! If anyone out there can help me, I'd very much appreciate it. I've taken a quick look through my various books but I'm not getting anywhere. He's got a little yellow patch on his upper back, yellow on his chest and white patches on his wings. Otherwise, he seems to be black/grey/olive all over. And he's tiny, no more than four inches. Help!!!

Tags: Fredericton, birding, Bowling, Kingswood, whale, St. Andrews by the Sea, Fundy, Quoddy Link

Okay, okay. So I'm not living up to my promises. In my last post, I said I planned to "push through" and get my novel submission ready and sent off to the publisher. I really intended to as well but life just got in the way.

First, work heated up something fierce. Crazy busy. So busy that, even though I am off on vacation this coming week, I had to book both Monday and Wednesday mornings with meetings. Tuesday I'm going whale watching at St. Andrews by the Sea with family and friends -- a lovely break, to be sure.

Second, golf jumped to the fore with a day in Moncton playing the revered Fox Creek course last Friday (I shot a 124, a miracle in my mind considering the course) and, if the rain stops, Kingswood this morning.

And third, bi-focals. Arrived last Thursday. A real improvement for my vision but, man, do they ever take getting used to!!! I spent yesterday battling bouts of dizziness from the in-and-out focus of these things. I mean, they're great and I'm sure I'll adjust but right now it's hard. I already gave up on the bi-focal contact lenses, which made me dizzy, gave me headaches and hurt my eyes.

I'll get to the novel submission soon. Phillip Gold must see the light of day! In the meantime, life will have to be dealt with before I can do anything of the sort.

Tags: Phillip Gold, Novels, Mystery, publishing, bifocals, Fox Creek, Moncton, Kingswood

I know myself well enough to recognise that, when I don't do something that's important, there's some reason hidden in my psyche. So the fact that I haven't finished up and sent off my novel submission to the publishers tells me there's more going on than just a busy life, with guests and travels and work and other stuff.

I fear that it's fear. I'm concerned that I am not putting the finishing touches on my submission because, once I do, I will have no choice but to send it off and then no choice but to accept the very distinct possibility that it will be rejected once again. They can't reject me, I figure, if I don't send it in. I'll reject myself, in other words.

Scary.

So I spent part of last night formatting the first twenty-five pages of the novel for my package, then went through the synopsis again, trimming here and editing there. All that's left is my biographical note and the printing. I am trying to keep on course and get it done.

You have to face down your fears, I figure. As Joey says, "If you're afraid of bugs, get a bug."

Tags: Writing, Phillip Gold, Mystery, publishing, Novels

It's 2:30 in the morning and I can't sleep. My body aches all over and I think I'm a little bit heat-stroked (if that's a word).

You see, we have our friends Nicola and Rob visiting for a couple of days and it's been really fun. But Rob, who is knowledgeable about all things natural, has also introduced me to a nifty new tool: a set of Fiskars loppers that can cut two-inch-thick branches off trees effortlessly. These things are magnificent. I wish I had them last summer when I started trying to get our tree problem under control. What took me days then would probably take only hours with these new loppers.

Rob also loves to prune trees (it's part of his job back in Ontario) and he and I decided yesterday to tackle the massive cedar trees that dominate our front yard. Our goal: to raise the skirts of these out-of-control trees to six feet off the ground and to clean up what's underneath.

With the loppers, the remains of a Fiskars pruning saw (we managed to break two of the wretched little things in the course of two hours) and Rob's expertise, we managed to get the job done in a single afternoon. It's really quite amazing. And it's stunning how much wood we ended up with lying around the front lawn (okay, piled up around the front lawn).

Unfortunately for me, we decided to do this in 30-degree weather with the sun beating down on us. Unfortunately as well, Rob is in much better shape to do this kind of work than I am. So now I'm paying for it, too sore and queasy to sleep.

But the cedars look great. And I'm looking forward to using those amazing loppers to dice up into firewood the branches we cut off (in the photo, the pile of branches is at right and extends at least twice the length of our carport). We've got enough to feed our fireplace for at least a year or two, once the wood has dried properly.

I just have to make sure I take it easy and don't push myself too hard. It's great to make progress but it won't help anything if the work kills me.

Tags: Garden, Cedar, Fiskars, Pruning, lopping, New Brunswick

Yes, I know the Oranje lost today to Spain. That doesn't make me any less proud to be Dutch!

The Netherlands entered its World Cup final game against Spain today with a good game plan and it very nearly worked. Since Spain plays such beautiful football, with impressive passing and ball control skills, the Dutch knew they had to find some way to force the issue. So they played aggressive soccer, putting pressure on the ball at every turn, using a physical game to try to disrupt and, yes, intimidate the opposition.

They knew they were going to give up a lot of free kicks and take a lot of yellow cards but they felt it would be worth it. If the Spanish players started thinking too much about where the next hard tackle was going to come from, rather than focusing moving the ball crisply and efficiently, the Dutch would have most of the job done. It wasn't a pretty strategy but it very nearly worked.

The difference between a win and a loss for the Oranje might just have been the toe of the Spanish goalkeeper, as he barely managed to keep Robben's breakaway shot out of the goal. If Holland scores there, Spain would have had to open the game up a bit and the Dutch might have been able to put one or two more away for the win.

Oh well. Early on in the tournament, I said I hoped Holland would play well and move into the latter stages in the tournament as a tribute to my Mom. They did me proud and I'm sure she's pleased too. The Oranje played hard and played well and we can't ask much more than that.

Tags: Dutch, Holland, Netherlands, World Cup, Oranje

Heat wave in NB. Hot, humid, air-conditioner-less province. UGH. Couldn't get much done other than surviving and keeping as cool as possible.

I did manage to take another look at the synopsis for my novel, The Silent Goodbye, and do a little polishing. Hoorah for me.

I also spent an afternoon in a local pub, with a huge, sweaty crowd, cheering on the brave Dutch soccer team in the World Cup semi-final against Uruguay. Fun times. After they surprised Brazil, it was good to see the Netherlands didn't have a let down against lower-ranked Uruguay. A little scary at the end but still great. Hup Holland! Beat Spain!

And on the reading front, I have finished the 1980s in my journey through Dick Francis. The latter part of that decade produced some great novels, including the matched pair involving Kit Fielding as the protagonist (Break In and Bolt) as well as another of my personal favourites, Hot Money, and the only one of Francis' novels set in Canada, The Edge. The decade ends with Straight, the intriguing story of a jump jockey who finds himself thrust into the shoes of his recently deceased older brother as he tries to resolve the estate and the mysteries it hides.

Break In, Hot Money and Straight are all interesting because they involve Francis exploring family relationships in a new way: Break In deals with a pair of fraternal twins, still sorting out a long-standing feud with another family; in Hot Money, the outcast son of a prolific multi-millionaire takes on the task of figuring out which one of the patriarch's three living ex-wives and numerous off-spring is trying to kill the old man; and Straight offers a soulful exploration of what it means to be brothers.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is golfing, then cheering on the Oranje in the final against Spain. Hup Holland.

Tags: Holland, World Cup, Dick Francis, Phillip Gold, Writing, Mystery

A brief entry this morning to announce that I've posted two new videos on the "Video" page of this website: Marlee playing at East Point, PEI and Marlee playing at Basin Head, PEI. They may not sound that exciting but they're both kind of fun. And they're short too.

On the writing front, my friend Ross asked me to send him my draft cover letter and the first 25 pages of the novel to review for me. I'm happy to oblige as Ross is a good guy, an excellent writer and a helpful editor/reviewer. What I didn't realise, however, is that I had lost track of which computer file was the latest version of The Silent Goodbye. This is a huge problem when a writer does numerous revisions, sometimes on several computers (as I do). So I ended up formatting and sending one version of the opening to Ross, then realising it was missing a couple of fairly significant revisions. So I had to search around to find the latest one; it turned out to be on another computer altogether.

Lesson learned: be very careful about how you save files. Keep all drafts on one computer but make sure to move older drafts into a separate folder called "Drafts", while keeping the latest version separate. I am trying to name the files according to the date they were last revised, which is good, unless you have files on two or three computers!

Oh well. I figured it out and sent the right file finally. It just took a while and involved more tension than necessary.

Tags: PEI, Prince Edward Island, East Point, Basin Head, Novels, Writing, Mystery, Phillip Gold

We have just returned from a fantastic four-day trip to Prince Edward Island (PEI). From our home in Fredericton, PEI is about a four-hour drive away, making it easily accessible via the amazing Confederation Bridge (about 14 km long over the Northumberland Straight. Amazing!).

We went to the northeast part of the Island, landing at a small B&B/Country Cabin place called Howarth House in the tiny village of Priest Pond. From there, we had easy drives to such wonderful places as East Point, Basin Head, Georgetown, Souris, St. Peter's and many more. We were told that the western and central parts of the Island were more popular with tourists but we're not that interested in high-traffic areas and the Eastern portion of PEI gave us exactly what we wanted.

On the first evening, our hosts Murray and Kerry escorted us, and another couple (along with their sweet girls), through private property to a beach on the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. We learned that the beaches on the north side of PEI are red from the sandstone and the beaches on the south side of the island, along the Northhumberland Straight, have white sand. We also learned about sea glass from Murray and Kerry during our evening stroll along this beach. Mother Nature joined the fun by providing us not just spectacular cloud and sun combinations but also a series of beautiful rainbows to the east.

Friday morning, Patti, Marlee and I drove up to East Point, the place where the Straight and the Gulf meet at the easternmost tip of the Island. The lighthouse there is being restored but nothing prepared us for the spectacular red beach we found by walking along the north coast from the tip, then descending to the water. We walked for several kilometres on that beach and never saw another soul. An amazing experience, to be sure.

Friday evening, we visited the beach at Basin Head (complete with the singing sand, that actually makes a squeaking sound when you walk on it) where I threw Marlee's favourite orange balls onto a sandbar about twenty feet from the shore, forcing her to splash through the water, then onto the sandbar to fetch the ball, then back again through the water. Great fun. The next morning, we went to Red Point, another nice place but that day marred by what looked to be the torso of a tuna (a massive fish; it just seems small when they put it in the tins) washed up on the beach. Both beaches are on the south shore and offer white sand but still no crowds. Incredible.

Towns like Cardigan, St. Peter's and Georgetown offered interesting places to walk and shop. We especially enjoyed chatting with the owner of the Eclectic Mariner in St. Peter, a transplanted Torontonian who welcomed Marlee into her shop with open arms and many treats.

The focus of our visit was a Village Feast in Souris, overseen by Chef Michael Smith of Food-Network fame. More than a thousand Islanders and several of us from away came together to enjoy a steak dinner in the great outdoors, listen to local musical acts and bid on prize packs, all in support of Farmers Helping Farmers, an organisation that helps provide food for poor people in Kenya.

So we're home and tired but happy to have gone. I've got about ten too many black-fly bites, to be honest, and didn't get as much reading done as I wanted to (finishing only Dick Francis' Canadian adventure, The Edge). I guess you can't have everything!

Tags: PEI, Souris, East Point, Basin Head, Dick Francis, Confederation Bridge, Michael Smith, Howarth House