Anniversary

Normally, I post personal things on this blog. Things I do with the kids and with Andrew (we went to Kingston last weekend to see Anna compete in a speech competition - way to go, kiddo!), things that are happening on the farm (three new lambs this past few weeks) or within my extended family (my cousin and his wife in the UK had bought healthy twin boys into the world last week), and things that interest me (books, wine, food, etc).

And those of you who follow along will know how I switched gears earlier this year and left the corporate world to focus on teaching and editing. Teaching is out for the summer now, but the editing is going strong, and today I am pleased to announce that Carina Press, the company I work for, celebrates its first year of publishing. Yes, one year ago, Carina published its first set of e-books, and has been going strong ever since.The world of e-book publishing is exciting and fast-paced, and growing every day. It's so much fun to be part of it all.

Carina Press is an imprint of Harlequin. And yes, there are lots of romances. Being a digital publisher, however, gives us more leeway and so we publish a wide range of other books, including non romance. As an acquisitions editor, I get to read so many fantastic stories, and those that really resonate with me are the ones I edit. I tend towards historicals (no surprise there), but also enjoy mystery and suspense, and contemporary stories. I'm brushing up on steampunk, which I am discovering I really enjoy reading, and hope to start editing some of those one of these days too.

Today, Carina Press is hosting an anniversary blog tour. Carina editors and team members have blogged on the sites of some of our authors. A complete list with links can be found on the Carina Blog.

I am hosted by Marie Force, and will be checking in throughout the day to respond to questions and comments.

Hope to see you there.

Oh, and Happy Anniversary, Carina.

On My Own

What does a Saturday on your own look like? Here's mine:

• Drink coffee, kiss husband and kids goodbye and watch them drive away to camp.
• Check emails, twitter, facebook
• Drink more coffee
• Tidy kitchen, throw in laundry, load dishwasher
• Morning run, followed by hot shower and more coffee, on back steps, facing the warm morning sun
• Figure out what to wear to a writer's conference on a day that is neither cool enough for pants or warm enough for bare legs
• Writer's Conference, hang out at library
• Treat myself to a Cafe Latte and lunch, read a book on my kobo at the coffee shop before heading home
• Hang laundry, do a garden reconaissance, figure out what needs to be done, make a list
• Read on the deck in a lawnchair for a blissful, precious hour.
• Write
• Decide some work is in order so head back to garden to rake away some of last year's foliage and reveal new shoots :)
• Walk the dog through the fields, shout back at the nosiy snow geese, wish I had my camera
• Read
• Write
• Open Wine
• Listen to opera. Loudly. While having a long lesisurely bubble bath
• Eat scrambled eggs
• Blog
• Watch a chick flick - Eat Pray Love tonight. Will it hold up to the book (which I quite enjoyed)?

The End

(my plans to have dinner with a friend and then head to the arts evening fizzled after I raked my gardens and realized that what I really wanted was some down time. So lovely.)

Coffee shops

I am sitting here at The Grind, a downtown coffee shop that, incidentally sells great panini lunches and conveniently has wireless internet. I just finished making grammar fun (I hope - did you know ghoti spells fish?) for my college comms class, and normally I'd be heading home to edit. But Anna won her class speaking competition and is participating in the school competition today at 1:30, and she has invited me to go. Since I am not going home only to turn around and come back (the joys of living in the country), I thought I'd spend an hour editing here instead.

Except....that's not what I am doing, is it.

And why not? Because I am nosy, and I'm far more interested in the people around me than I am in working. It's very distracting. Those three in the corner...business colleagues, or old friends out for a long-overdue lunch. And the man by the fireplace...in for a coffee because he's retired and this is a nice place to get away for an hour, or because he has nowhere else to go? The two young girls in thigh high leather boots and short skirts...trendy entrepreneurs or best friends skipping class?

Oh, I don't eavesdrop - I am above that - but snippets of conversation do float across the rom from time to time, and it fascinates me, probably more than it should, to hear what people are talking about, and to try and piece together not who they are, but who they could be. There is potential in everyone. It is no wonder writers write in coffee shops.

I've always had this fascination with cafe's. The Green Bean in Halifax was the first one I was introduced to back when I first spent summers in that amazing city with the navy. People played chess in the corners, and there was organic fair trade coffee way, way, WAY before it was mainstream. And artsy or subversive student newspapers full of idealism. Loved that spot, though I was never edgy enough to really fit in. The Cave too - for late night coffee and cheesecake where we talked about philosophy and politics deep into the night by the light of dripping wax candles in ancient wine bottles. Do people still do that? It seems so long ago.

Or the little coffee house (can't recall it's name) on Duckworth STreet in Saint Johns, NFLD, where I went every morning for two weeks to drink their strong house blend, eat a blueberry muffin, and write while I was in the city on an exercise.

Cafe Du Monde in Quebec City. The Bagel place in Kitsilano, Vancouver (where I first had bagels covered in baked-in asiago cheese - Mmm!) So many great coffee shops. So many great places to sit and people watch.

And write.

Red Lining

Why can't a writer edit their own work?

That's the question I was asked the other day after my editing post came out.

Well, you can, Of course you can. And you should. Absolutely. 

But an editor will take it that one step further. Because when you have written it, you stop seeing what you wrote and see instead what you meant. And they are two different things.

Another reason you can't edit your own work is that you become too attached to your words. Words you carefully chose. Words you don't want to, can't, let go of.

An editor does not have the same emotional attachment. It's like decluttering. If you do it yourself, you keep things you don't need. If a good friend helps they say things like: grade 11 history essay - from 20 years ago...Do you need this? No, you do not. TOSS! while you cringe in pain in the corner, your cries of protest unheeded. An editor is like that very good friend.

Last week I wrote this post at midnight. I'm not in the habit of closely editing blog posts, but when I looked at this particular one the next morning, the editor in me went Hmmm.

The last paragraph read:

Wrapped in my plaid, I made my way out of the stove-warmed kitchen, adjusting to the cold of the unheated mud-room, slamming the window down hard. Telling myself I need to replace the naked light bulb that lights the room in an eerie yellow glow. Turning it off and opening the back door to stand on the steps and whistle for the dog. My eyes adjusting to the darkness, the moon casting a grey sheen over the world, and clouds scurrying past, just like I imagine they must have for Merrily Watkins. In the book.

If I were to red line my own work from that night it would look something like this:
Comments:

1. Passive voice intentional? (wrapped, made, adjusting, slamming, telling..) Would it be more effective in an active voice?
2. Plaid - meaning??? does the reader understand this?
3. mud-room should be two words, not hyphenated
4. "the naked light bulb that lights.." - repetition of word light; also obvious - a light bulb lights - suggest revision to make image stronger
5. lights - is this the tense you want? lit?
6. Fragmented sentences - intentional for pace?
7. "clouds scurrying past" - cliche - can we find a better description, something more original that sets the scene
8. ref. to Merrily - is there enough background for the reader to get this ref? Should we expand on it in previous paragraphs?

So eight comments on a five and a half line paragraph. And that's just round one - the things I see right off the bat.

To return to that attachment issue writers have, even after doing this exercise and deliberately being harsh with myself, I still have a voice in my head saying that I don't need to change the words. Saying No, that's exactly what I want to say and how I want that to look. Saying 'Stet' (polite editing language for leave my stuff the f*&% alone).

Well, maybe it is exactly right. But you need a hard-headed editor to challenge you on some of the things you might not ordinarily see for yourself. 

Where I Write

I write at my desk - a huge solid structure that takes up a good third of my office/library. It faces the window so I can look out through the fading leaves and across the field. In the summer, the play structure is just out of sight but I can hear the laughter and shouts of the children. I love the natural light that filters through in the late afternoon as the sun starts to sink.

I write in the living room, laptop on my knee. Sometimes I curl up at one end of the big leather coach, with children beside me, but my preference is the recliner chair where it is more comfortable. This is the place I write when I have something that needs to be done but want to spend some time with the family as well. Often on a Sunday afternoon. They watch a movie or read a book, and I write, the words coloured by the warm familiarity of togetherness.

I write at the kitchen island. Because it's by the stone fireplace and that is comforting in Winter. Because it faces east so is bright in the morning. Because I want a change of location. Sometimes because I'm trying to write something at the same time as I am cooking dinner.

I write in a tiny notebook that I carry in my purse. I jot down ideas and concepts, scribbling at stop lights, or by the light of a lamppost while I am waiting. I write lists and notes, sketches and poems, key words and outlines. I write in waiting rooms, or during breaks at meetings.

I am a writer.

I write.

Gardening Your Words

It has been gorgeous weather and I'm spending much of my time in my vast gardens. It struck me as I raked and hoed and spaded and transplanted that spring gardening is very much like editing. It's the same basic steps.

1. You start with a mess, a jumble of plants/words that you're pretty sure belong together.
2. You go over it as a whole, raking off the excess leaves/descriptions to see what lies beneath, to reveal the bones of the garden/story
3. You consider the plot. Does it work for what you intend?
4. You do some judicious pruning of plants/words, cutting back where necessary.
5. You look for gaps, and transplant with complementary plants to fill the gaps in without marring the lines of the garden.
6. You look at form/structure, colour/description, variety/character, and location/setting, ensuring that everything works harmoniously together and nothing is forgotten or overlooked. Having a shade plant in full sun is the wrong setting, and it just won't work.
7. You add compost or fertilizer to improve what is there, to make it stronger and to help your garden/story flourish.
8. You take cuttings and surplus plants/plot elements and put them somewhere else. There will be a place to use them in another garden/story.
9. You sit back and enjoy a job well done.

Why I Am Not As Productive As I Want To Be

If I only had that third hand, think of what I could accomplish!

Three Little Words

My friend Becky was over this afternoon with her son. We talked about books and browsed through my library; we talked about kids and watched the Grace and Brodie stand-off, each of them as stubborn as the other. (They're not getting along, said Anna the peacemaker with a solemn shake of her head.) And Becky asked me about my writing, specifically about the first draft of the novel she knows I just completed.

What's it about? she asked.

Three dreaded words.

Because I know what it's about, of course I do. But when someone asks me, I either clam up, or break into a volley of incoherant explanation.

I'm a good speaker. I've won awards for speaking and presenting. But when it comes to off-the-cuff speaking, there's no getting around this simple fact: I Suck.

My goal for April is to take every single one of my draft novels or works-in-progress and memorize a clear and succinct description that answers the question,What's it about?

The next time someone asks, I'll be ready.

Lazy Linking

I'm feeling a bit lazy, blaming the weather, so instead of coming up with original material, I'm going to suggest a few links:

With apologies to Nicholas Sparks fans, I thought I'd die laughing reading this post. http://www.cracked.com/funny-4725-nicholas-sparks

My friend Cyndi offers this tidbit. You may have heard it before, but it's worth remembering. http://cbmamainnf.blogspot.com/2010/04/two-glasses-of-wine.html

If you're a mom, particularly of young girls, you should check out this important conversation that Candace Derickx started:  http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/a_message_from_my_soapbox She has some great links too.

Jamie Oliver gives us food for thought - literally - in his now-famous TED speech. For the record my kids grow their own gardens and sometimes mix up potatoes and tomatoes, but there is some great stuff here. Beware: TED is addictive. http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

Brave writers (I know, all writers are brave) who want to get tips on writing a query or get feedback on their work, can do no better than check out http://queryshark.blogspot.com/ or http://queryshark.blogspot.com/ where writing is harshly - but fairly - critiqued.

And finally, an intriguing discussion on the ethics of book buying in a digital age. As a purchaser, are you buying the format or the content?
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/04/07/on-how-many-times-i-should-get-paid-for-a-book/

Let me know if you linked to any of these and what you thought.

Habit forming

It takes 21 days to make a habit.

That's what I told my friend Leanne who is trying to blog every day now that she has moved from the Maritimes to London, Ontario.

21 days. I should know.

For example, I have been trying to finish editing a novel.

And yes, 21 days later, I am still trying to finish editing a novel.

See. Habit.