Jun 2010
Holding Pattern
28/06/10 07:52 Filed in: Writing
I have completed drafts of my synopsis and cover
letter. I can easily print off the first 25 pages of
the novel in proper format. The bio should be no
problem at all, since I write brief bios all the time
for workshops and conference papers I present. So
what's holding me up?
Could it be fear? The concern that The Silent Goodbye is the best thing I've ever written and it still might not be good enough?
I've had poetry and short stories published. I am the author of one and co-author of two other published legal texts. Why does it feel so important to get a novel published?
I hereby commit myself to revising the documents and getting them in the mail to the publisher by Friday. The only way to deal with fear is to stare it in the face. So I have to force myself to stare and to take my lumps if that's what I'm in for.
Could it be fear? The concern that The Silent Goodbye is the best thing I've ever written and it still might not be good enough?
I've had poetry and short stories published. I am the author of one and co-author of two other published legal texts. Why does it feel so important to get a novel published?
I hereby commit myself to revising the documents and getting them in the mail to the publisher by Friday. The only way to deal with fear is to stare it in the face. So I have to force myself to stare and to take my lumps if that's what I'm in for.
Going Dutch
24/06/10 21:30 Filed in: World Cup
I'm sitting at the computer, sipping a tall gin and
tonic, toasting another win by the Netherlands at the
World Cup and thinking about my Mom. She would have
loved this: the Dutch as one of the favourites,
performing with verve and vigour, winning games in
style.
She also would have loved the fact that just about every game has been available to watch, either on television with the CBC or through the CBC website, over the web. I can picture her, sitting there in her flat at Yorkville Place in Dundas, Ontario, watching game after game on TV, cheering on the Oranje when they played, looking forward to talking to her kids about the results.
This afternoon, when the CBC showed the Japan game on its television network, she'd be at her little bubble iMac instead, watching the live streaming broadcast of the Netherlands and its victory over the Cameroon.
She loved her Dutch heritage, my mother. It became more and more noticeable as the years passed. We'd be watching anything, talking about any subject, and if a Dutch name floated across the conversation (like hockey great Joe Nieuwyndyk, for example), she'd smile at me and say, "Do you think he's Dutch?" or, better still, "That's a Dutchman". She gloried in the fabulous Dutch speed skating teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s and she followed World Cup tournaments over the years with more passion than she let on.
She's been gone for almost fifteen months now and, I admit, the loss is a little less raw, a little more bearable. As so many people promised, I'm now more able to remember the happy times, the fun times, the laughter we shared, and I'm less focused on those terrible last few months. I'm happy to be finally in this place.
And, for some ridiculous reason, I have a feeling the Dutch are going to do very well at the World Cup this year. It just seems right. And I hope my mother is loving every minute of it.
She also would have loved the fact that just about every game has been available to watch, either on television with the CBC or through the CBC website, over the web. I can picture her, sitting there in her flat at Yorkville Place in Dundas, Ontario, watching game after game on TV, cheering on the Oranje when they played, looking forward to talking to her kids about the results.
This afternoon, when the CBC showed the Japan game on its television network, she'd be at her little bubble iMac instead, watching the live streaming broadcast of the Netherlands and its victory over the Cameroon.
She loved her Dutch heritage, my mother. It became more and more noticeable as the years passed. We'd be watching anything, talking about any subject, and if a Dutch name floated across the conversation (like hockey great Joe Nieuwyndyk, for example), she'd smile at me and say, "Do you think he's Dutch?" or, better still, "That's a Dutchman". She gloried in the fabulous Dutch speed skating teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s and she followed World Cup tournaments over the years with more passion than she let on.
She's been gone for almost fifteen months now and, I admit, the loss is a little less raw, a little more bearable. As so many people promised, I'm now more able to remember the happy times, the fun times, the laughter we shared, and I'm less focused on those terrible last few months. I'm happy to be finally in this place.
And, for some ridiculous reason, I have a feeling the Dutch are going to do very well at the World Cup this year. It just seems right. And I hope my mother is loving every minute of it.
A Monumental Task
20/06/10 06:58 Filed in: Writing
My trip to Ottawa is now a part of the past. I spent
five busy days in our nation's capital and, while it
was a good trip, I found it completely exhausting.
It's nice to be home.
I didn't get the chance to write the cover letter for my submission while I was away. If I am ever going to get my new Phillip Gold novel, The Silent Goodbye, out on the market, I am going to have to get my submission package completed. The draft synopsis is done but I am having problems getting myself to sit down and write the cover letter. Yes, I've been busy. Very busy. But I am also starting to feel like this simple letter is something of a monumental task.
The challenge is to accomplish so much in so small a space, all the while making it seem effortless, easy. I figure the letter should be no more than a page long but should pack a punch. It has to convince the publisher that the novel is marketable. It has to convince the publisher that I am marketable. It has to convince the publisher to take a chance on me and my work.
And when you think that about a thousand other people are currently writing letters hoping to convince the same publisher that their books are better and more marketable than mine, it becomes kind of scary. I plan to get a draft of this scary letter done by the end of this week. With luck. And guts.
I didn't get the chance to write the cover letter for my submission while I was away. If I am ever going to get my new Phillip Gold novel, The Silent Goodbye, out on the market, I am going to have to get my submission package completed. The draft synopsis is done but I am having problems getting myself to sit down and write the cover letter. Yes, I've been busy. Very busy. But I am also starting to feel like this simple letter is something of a monumental task.
The challenge is to accomplish so much in so small a space, all the while making it seem effortless, easy. I figure the letter should be no more than a page long but should pack a punch. It has to convince the publisher that the novel is marketable. It has to convince the publisher that I am marketable. It has to convince the publisher to take a chance on me and my work.
And when you think that about a thousand other people are currently writing letters hoping to convince the same publisher that their books are better and more marketable than mine, it becomes kind of scary. I plan to get a draft of this scary letter done by the end of this week. With luck. And guts.
Everything But The Letter
Yes, this past week I've done just about everything
but the cover letter for my novel submission. First I
was knocked out by the blood tests. Then work heated
up a lot. Later in the week, I played golf a couple
of times and then, just to wind things up, Patti and
I walked home from our local Canadian Tire with a new
10-foot ladder, perfect for cleaning our eaves
troughs, replacing light bulbs in our car port and
getting to dead branches high in trees.
Tonight, I fly out to Ottawa for a week-long course. On top of participating in the mediation training, I'll also get a chance to see my brother and his family and, if possible, spend some time each evening on my novel submission. With luck, I'll complete first drafts of my cover letter and biographical statement this week. If I'm really focused, I'll also do a revision of the draft synopsis of The Silent Goodbye, my latest Phillip Gold novel. I sure hope it sells!
I played the Gage Golf Course in the lovely town of Oromocto, NB on Friday with some friends from work, people with whom I had not yet played. I would like to say I put on a good show for them but I didn't: 123 over 18 holes. Terrible. The Gage course is much longer than my home course and the grass on the fairways is deeper and thicker. It took me a while to get used to the density of the grass and, let's face it, when every third shot you hit is terrible, a longer course is a scary place. Anyway, I got through. I don't know if they'll ever want to play golf with me again.
Thankfully, I settled down and played 18 decent holes at my home course, the Kingswood executive, Saturday morning. I wasn't great but I was steady and, after working out a few kinks, played pretty well.
This morning, I tackled the clogged eaves and then cut away some of the branches that were contributing to the clogging. The experience convinced me that we really need to get a professional arborist in here. And soon.
I won't be able to blog while I'm away but will catch up on all my writing progress next weekend.
Tonight, I fly out to Ottawa for a week-long course. On top of participating in the mediation training, I'll also get a chance to see my brother and his family and, if possible, spend some time each evening on my novel submission. With luck, I'll complete first drafts of my cover letter and biographical statement this week. If I'm really focused, I'll also do a revision of the draft synopsis of The Silent Goodbye, my latest Phillip Gold novel. I sure hope it sells!
I played the Gage Golf Course in the lovely town of Oromocto, NB on Friday with some friends from work, people with whom I had not yet played. I would like to say I put on a good show for them but I didn't: 123 over 18 holes. Terrible. The Gage course is much longer than my home course and the grass on the fairways is deeper and thicker. It took me a while to get used to the density of the grass and, let's face it, when every third shot you hit is terrible, a longer course is a scary place. Anyway, I got through. I don't know if they'll ever want to play golf with me again.
Thankfully, I settled down and played 18 decent holes at my home course, the Kingswood executive, Saturday morning. I wasn't great but I was steady and, after working out a few kinks, played pretty well.
This morning, I tackled the clogged eaves and then cut away some of the branches that were contributing to the clogging. The experience convinced me that we really need to get a professional arborist in here. And soon.
I won't be able to blog while I'm away but will catch up on all my writing progress next weekend.
A Real Knockout
Who would have thought that something as simple as a
blood test would knock me so much for a loop? My
doctor set me up to have some blood tests done and,
15 phials of the red stuff later, I was a sagging bag
of pooh. For the entire day. I fell asleep in a
meeting, fell asleep at my desk and had to cancel a
golf date for the evening. Amazing.
I'm better now, thank goodness, and ready to turn my attention to the cover letter for my novel submission to a publisher. With the draft synopsis fermenting in my brain (and on the hard drive of my trusty net book), I have to compose a friendly, one-page invitation to convince someone that my work is worth publishing and will, in fact, sell. This might be as tough a task as the synopsis. But, if Phillip Gold is ever going to see the public light of day, I have to do this and do it effectively.
The blood-test-induced lethargy did, on the other hand, put me in a nice position to spend some more time with Dick Francis. I'm now reading Proof, a novel from the mid-1980s, that seems to me to mark the beginning of a new stage in Francis' writing. Proof is a much more philosophical novel with a main character, wine-merchant Tony Beach, who is still dealing with the recent death of his beloved wife and, on a perhaps deeper level, with his long-term feelings of failure and inadequacy. He is, perhaps, the deepest, most complex of the protagonists to this point in Francis' library.
Further, this book explores masculine friendship much more than it does male-female romance, as Beach experiences the birth of relationships with three male characters: a sharp but friendly corporate sleuth, a crusty police inspector and his crafty and determined Chief Inspector. In fact, for the first time in a Francis novel, there is no blossoming male-female romance in this one.
Francis also makes much better use of suspense in this book: early on, a minor character is murdered in an extremely grotesque way; this forms a terrifying backdrop for all of the confrontations between Beach and the villain, as the timid wine merchant sweats through the thought of being similarly treated. It's quietly effective and very interesting.
I note as well that the back cover of the book features a quote from Kingsley Amis, the noted English author, rather than a series of slogans gleaned from the popular press. As Proof hit the market, Francis was finally being taken seriously not just as a mystery writer but as a capital "A" Author, respected, admired, and the Amis quote is clear evidence of his ascension.
I'm very much enjoying Proof. And I'm impressed with the continued development of Dick Francis as a writer that it represents.
I'm better now, thank goodness, and ready to turn my attention to the cover letter for my novel submission to a publisher. With the draft synopsis fermenting in my brain (and on the hard drive of my trusty net book), I have to compose a friendly, one-page invitation to convince someone that my work is worth publishing and will, in fact, sell. This might be as tough a task as the synopsis. But, if Phillip Gold is ever going to see the public light of day, I have to do this and do it effectively.
The blood-test-induced lethargy did, on the other hand, put me in a nice position to spend some more time with Dick Francis. I'm now reading Proof, a novel from the mid-1980s, that seems to me to mark the beginning of a new stage in Francis' writing. Proof is a much more philosophical novel with a main character, wine-merchant Tony Beach, who is still dealing with the recent death of his beloved wife and, on a perhaps deeper level, with his long-term feelings of failure and inadequacy. He is, perhaps, the deepest, most complex of the protagonists to this point in Francis' library.
Further, this book explores masculine friendship much more than it does male-female romance, as Beach experiences the birth of relationships with three male characters: a sharp but friendly corporate sleuth, a crusty police inspector and his crafty and determined Chief Inspector. In fact, for the first time in a Francis novel, there is no blossoming male-female romance in this one.
Francis also makes much better use of suspense in this book: early on, a minor character is murdered in an extremely grotesque way; this forms a terrifying backdrop for all of the confrontations between Beach and the villain, as the timid wine merchant sweats through the thought of being similarly treated. It's quietly effective and very interesting.
I note as well that the back cover of the book features a quote from Kingsley Amis, the noted English author, rather than a series of slogans gleaned from the popular press. As Proof hit the market, Francis was finally being taken seriously not just as a mystery writer but as a capital "A" Author, respected, admired, and the Amis quote is clear evidence of his ascension.
I'm very much enjoying Proof. And I'm impressed with the continued development of Dick Francis as a writer that it represents.
Steeling Myself for the Trees
05/06/10 17:29 Filed in: Garden
What we didn't realise was how much work it would be. It seems the previous owners allowed the flora to run a bit wild and now, two years later, we're finally coming to grips with how much work it's going to be to whip it back into shape. This is an especial challenge for us, two people with practically no skills in this area. The fact that, in the past 24 months, no fewer than three major chunks of trees have come crashing down during various storms makes the job even more critical.
I did a little bit of pruning and tree control last summer, cutting down the obviously dead bits, hacking back the new growth and saplings that had taken root where they should not be and all that. But I really had no clue what I was doing and I hadn't grasped how much more has to be done. The growth is often so dense that trees are fighting each other for sunlight and soil nutrients. Some trees have been allowed to sprout three or four "leaders", meaning instead of growing healthily skyward, the trees are spreading outward and sharing their energy too thinly among the many trunklets.
A little bit of luck led to our second step: the arborists of the City of Fredericton offered a free outdoor workshop on tree care and maintenance. We learned a lot there, including that the city's professionals can be invited to our home to look at the trees that are on or near the road allowance in front. That's great, since two of our main concerns involve the massive cedars that are growing near the curb and a line of other unidentified trees that are floundering nearby.
They also gave us tips on pruning and, just moments ago, I bought myself a small pruning saw just like the one they used. The next sunny day I get, I'll be out there working to bring at least some sort of order to chaos, in anticipation of a visit from the arborists.
All The Good Titles Have Been Taken
04/06/10 08:40 Filed in: Film
We went to see the new Sex and the City
movie this past weekend. I was about to add "with
high expectations" but that would be a lie. Too much
I had read and heard about the second big-screen
vehicle for Carrie Bradshaw and her friends had been
negative for us to have any expectations at all.
Good thing: the movie was terrible. Offensive even. After seeing the film, I started reading some of the reviews from the pros around the world and, apart from agreeing the movie is really bad, they also managed to use up all the best headlines, including Sucks In the City And No Sex No City. It's not just that the movie isn't good: it's patently objectionable on so many levels.
The script is a disaster, with almost nothing happening. The dialogue is banal, filled with stupid puns and a great deal of whining. The direction is juvenile and uncreative and the acting... well, the four women who performed so beautifully in the TV series and even, to a lesser extent, in the first movie just seem tired and ready to move on. The feeling I got was that everyone involved figured they'd just go through the motions and milk the adoring audience one last time.
The movie lasts two and a half hours and provides, at most, 15 minutes of decent entertainment. There is one scene between Miranda and Charlotte, for example, in which they discuss in moving, funny detail the challenges of being mothers. Beyond that, S&C2 merely adds another note of Islamaphobia and America-centrism that is simply not needed in western popular culture.
Don't see it. Don't waste your time, your money, your intellect. Don't desecrate your memory of what made the TV series great.
Good thing: the movie was terrible. Offensive even. After seeing the film, I started reading some of the reviews from the pros around the world and, apart from agreeing the movie is really bad, they also managed to use up all the best headlines, including Sucks In the City And No Sex No City. It's not just that the movie isn't good: it's patently objectionable on so many levels.
The script is a disaster, with almost nothing happening. The dialogue is banal, filled with stupid puns and a great deal of whining. The direction is juvenile and uncreative and the acting... well, the four women who performed so beautifully in the TV series and even, to a lesser extent, in the first movie just seem tired and ready to move on. The feeling I got was that everyone involved figured they'd just go through the motions and milk the adoring audience one last time.
The movie lasts two and a half hours and provides, at most, 15 minutes of decent entertainment. There is one scene between Miranda and Charlotte, for example, in which they discuss in moving, funny detail the challenges of being mothers. Beyond that, S&C2 merely adds another note of Islamaphobia and America-centrism that is simply not needed in western popular culture.
Don't see it. Don't waste your time, your money, your intellect. Don't desecrate your memory of what made the TV series great.
Busy Days and Conferences
The past couple of days have been extremely busy and,
to be frank, exhausting for me. While I was hoping to
make more progress on drafting the synopsis for
The Silent Goodbye, most of my energy was
taken up preparing for and then delivering three
workshops at conferences here in Nota Bene.
The first two took place Monday afternoon in Saint John, at the conference for an organization that is called something like "Atlantic Association of University and College Student Services". I spoke first on the issue of the challenges and opportunities faced by institutions of higher education as they seek to expand their representation of international students. Then I led a workshop on the conflict that too often arises between the legal obligation to provide academic accommodation to students with disabilities and the "defence" of academic standards mounted by some members of the academy. Both are highly controversial topics and, with exceptional turnouts of some amazing people at each workshop, I really enjoyed and learned from the experiences.
This morning found me back in Freddie, facilitating a half-day workshop at the annual conference of the group known (to me at least) as the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education. Sorry but I have a really hard time remembering these long, involved names, especially since the organisations are often referred to simply by the acronym: AAUCSS and CAUCE. Today's 3.5 hour-session attempted to help participants move past the "buzz words" about inclusion, positive environments, wellness, empowerment and all that currently being bandied about by universities in Canada and to understand what it really means for an institution to commit itself to be an inclusive, positive place. Again, a fantastic group of participants who, I'm afraid and pleased to say, probably taught me more than I taught them.
Preparation for these kinds of workshops is intense and the performance itself is both exciting and exhausting. Doing three in the space of 24 hours is more of a challenge than I'm used to so I'm now in full crash mode. I tried to play a round of golf this afternoon to kind of let myself down easy but heavy rain and lightning ended the game after seven holes. Still, I shot three-four on the first two holes so I'm pretty pleased.
Meanwhile, I managed to edit together a video of Marlee playing with her beloved orange balls, which will be available soon on the Video page of this site. That's good. And my net book came through with flying colours at today's conference, the Open Office suite performing admirably through my first attempt to create and use a powerpoint-style slide show in a presentation. Kudos to that.
I also want to send out a big "Happy Birthday" to my sister Janice. June 1st is her day and I wish her all happiness today.
The first two took place Monday afternoon in Saint John, at the conference for an organization that is called something like "Atlantic Association of University and College Student Services". I spoke first on the issue of the challenges and opportunities faced by institutions of higher education as they seek to expand their representation of international students. Then I led a workshop on the conflict that too often arises between the legal obligation to provide academic accommodation to students with disabilities and the "defence" of academic standards mounted by some members of the academy. Both are highly controversial topics and, with exceptional turnouts of some amazing people at each workshop, I really enjoyed and learned from the experiences.
This morning found me back in Freddie, facilitating a half-day workshop at the annual conference of the group known (to me at least) as the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education. Sorry but I have a really hard time remembering these long, involved names, especially since the organisations are often referred to simply by the acronym: AAUCSS and CAUCE. Today's 3.5 hour-session attempted to help participants move past the "buzz words" about inclusion, positive environments, wellness, empowerment and all that currently being bandied about by universities in Canada and to understand what it really means for an institution to commit itself to be an inclusive, positive place. Again, a fantastic group of participants who, I'm afraid and pleased to say, probably taught me more than I taught them.
Preparation for these kinds of workshops is intense and the performance itself is both exciting and exhausting. Doing three in the space of 24 hours is more of a challenge than I'm used to so I'm now in full crash mode. I tried to play a round of golf this afternoon to kind of let myself down easy but heavy rain and lightning ended the game after seven holes. Still, I shot three-four on the first two holes so I'm pretty pleased.
Meanwhile, I managed to edit together a video of Marlee playing with her beloved orange balls, which will be available soon on the Video page of this site. That's good. And my net book came through with flying colours at today's conference, the Open Office suite performing admirably through my first attempt to create and use a powerpoint-style slide show in a presentation. Kudos to that.
I also want to send out a big "Happy Birthday" to my sister Janice. June 1st is her day and I wish her all happiness today.