Small Town Secrets

Well, it's early Sunday morning and I think today I'm finally going to finish Small Town Secrets to my satisfaction. I'll get a little bit done this morning before the house stirs but the big windfall will come this afternoon. My son (4 years old) called up his little buddy to come over this afternoon. Since my daughter and wife will probably supervise, it looks like 2 or three hours of clear sailing. Should be more than enough time to finish.

Work has been occupying my time, but I'm also a member of the local Heritage Committee. Our job is to research and preserve those things in our community of architectural, historical or cultural significance. It is an advisory committee to the Municipality and it is a great insight into local politics and the unique history of the little hunk of the world I've chosen to call home. With work, the Heritage Committee, playing with the kids and writing, it makes for a busy life.

I've also enlisted the aid of the lovely Mavis Beacon to teach me how to type. Retraining the fingers is a hard job, but I'm learning. Still, when I want to type fast I'm still using hunt and peck...It'll come.

Anyway, it has been a week of parent-teacher interviews (the kids are doing really, really well) and playing with power tools (the 18 volt battery packs make you feel like some kind of handy god). Life is good and I've no complaints.

I hear little feet upstairs - time for breakfast.

Busy, busy, busy...

Work has been starting to gear up. More and more clients coming in - more and more projects on the go. I wanted to talk about a little work related function I attended on Friday which I greatly enjoyed and was for a very good cause. The charity is Hockey for the Homeless and before you ask, "They're homeless - don't they have bigger problems than renting ice time?" I'll tell you - it all about a bunch of rich guys who get together to play some hockey and raise money and awareness for homelessness.

The one day event I attended made approximately $130,000 that will go toward Survival Kits (a duffel bag filled with things like sleeping bags, toiletries, some food items, clothing, candles etc) and various relief agencies in the Greater Toronto Area. The charity has about an 85% throughput so donations aren't going into huge administration. I encourage you to follow the link and check them out.

While at the event I made some bids on some silent auction items - more to run up the bids than to actually win. I bid on this Ryobi One+ system of 18 volt power tools - again, trying to run up the bids. Well, at the end of the night I won the set for $ 125.00 (it's actually worth about $390.00).

I took home my prize and the next morning my 4 year old son looked at the set with awe - the power tool gene is firmly planted on the y-chromosome, I'm convinced - and asked how soon he can use the reciprocating saw. My six year old daughter took one look at the set and said, "That's very nice, Daddy. I'm pleased for you. Now, I guess there's no excuse for you not to finish the doll house you started for my Polly Pockets." I've got some work to do, I suppose...

In the writing world I'm starting to find something like a routine. Small Town Secrets is in the process of being very much rewritten into a much better story. Notes on the Platinum Ticket and plans for fleshing it out continue. Over Christmas (hey, it's a comin') I am planning to begin an overhaul on Loremaster and finally submit it.

I also have a number of new ideas germinating and I am scribbling outlines and ideas as they come. All that and a doll house to build, too! Ambitious plans to be sure and we'll see where those plans take me...

Trying something new...

I've had a suggestion that I post some of my short fiction on the blog so that readers can have something...well, to read. I am adding a box in the side panel over there called Links to Fiction. Hopefully it works. Bare with me, it's my first attempt.

In the fullness of time it will become better organized, but for now, I'm making this up as I go along. Just click on the Link to Dave Beynon's Fiction Notebook and you will be taken to a new page that currently links to some of my short stories.

Enjoy and please let me know what you think.