Yesterday I commenced my 45th trip around the sun.
It was a low key day with lovely handmade cards from the kids, lunch at a sushi restaurant and a dinner with the couple across the road. Today, I'm left wondering how I feel about being 44. The thing is, aside from some occasional aches and pains, I don't feel 44. Or maybe I do and just don't know what 44 is supposed to feel like.
I make my resolutions on my birthday - not January 1st - and so far, I haven't broken any. Will I share my resolutions? I don't think so, but I may have achieved my first resolution and might only be waiting confirmation. I hope to have some news to share soon.
Anyway, if I'm to keep another resolution I need to stop writing on this blog and begin writing something else.
Monday, 24 January 2011
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Frosty
2011 moves along.
Two weekends ago, I was kept busy with some re-writes and editing that will hopefully bear some fruit worth mentioning in the near future.
Currently I am working on Gerry - my children's story about an orphaned giant. It's not moving along as well as I'd like. I think it's just a question of drowning out distractions and doing the work.
Speaking of distractions, it was the boy's birthday yesterday. To celebrate, I took him aside Sunday morning.
"Hey," I said, "tomorrow's your birthday, right?"
"You know it is," he said.
"What would you say if I told you we might just skip school tomorrow and do something fun on your birthday?"
"Like what?"
I told him and the answer was an enthusiastic YES!
Here's what we did:
Ice Fishing at nearby Shades Mills Conservation Area.
It was a frosty day on the lake, -18 degrees Celsius to begin and that doesn't factor in the numbing wind chill.
Fortunately, we rented one of these:
Although it was beautifully sunny, the hike out to the shed was brutal. The wind froze cheeks and noses in no time. Once inside, however, we were positively cozy.
We didn't catch a thing. It didn't matter. We joked and chatted and drank hot chocolate from the thermos. It was one of those great days that I'll remember forever. I rediscovered just how interesting my eight year old boy is and, I think, he rediscovered that his old man can be pretty cool, too.
Two weekends ago, I was kept busy with some re-writes and editing that will hopefully bear some fruit worth mentioning in the near future.
Currently I am working on Gerry - my children's story about an orphaned giant. It's not moving along as well as I'd like. I think it's just a question of drowning out distractions and doing the work.
Speaking of distractions, it was the boy's birthday yesterday. To celebrate, I took him aside Sunday morning.
"Hey," I said, "tomorrow's your birthday, right?"
"You know it is," he said.
"What would you say if I told you we might just skip school tomorrow and do something fun on your birthday?"
"Like what?"
I told him and the answer was an enthusiastic YES!
Here's what we did:
Ice Fishing at nearby Shades Mills Conservation Area.
It was a frosty day on the lake, -18 degrees Celsius to begin and that doesn't factor in the numbing wind chill.
Fortunately, we rented one of these:
Although it was beautifully sunny, the hike out to the shed was brutal. The wind froze cheeks and noses in no time. Once inside, however, we were positively cozy.
We didn't catch a thing. It didn't matter. We joked and chatted and drank hot chocolate from the thermos. It was one of those great days that I'll remember forever. I rediscovered just how interesting my eight year old boy is and, I think, he rediscovered that his old man can be pretty cool, too.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Time to crank it up to 11
'cause it's one louder, right?
That's been the theme around here anyway. 2011 - the year to crank it up.
I look back at the last post and realize it has been a while since I threw something new up here. Well, Christmas has come and gone. The Old Year ticked away and the New Year crept in the door. My daughter had her birthday (but not her party, that happens this weekend). The family braved the 6 1/2 hour journey (each way) in the car to visit with relatives up north.
December is typically a busy time of year for the Beynon family, made especially so this year because I was writing a novel straight through the holiday season. There was a hard deadline - Dec 31st - to enter the novel in The Pratchett Prize. I took the framework of a novella I've had kicking around for a few years and expanded it into what I think is a really good novel. I was literally writing down to the wire.
Leading up to the holidays I was plugging away at a respectable pace. The week leading to Christmas was spent putting in full days at the keyboard while my wife kept a pair of excited children busy. I did, of course, take some time for tobaggon rides and snowman building, but mostly I was in the basement trying to get the story out.
I wrote on Christmas eve. I wrote a bit on Christmas Day and a lot on Boxing Day. I even wrote in the car the whole way up north while my wife drove. Over the 29th and 30th I disappeared into my father-in-law's office each morning, came out for meals and to say goodnight to the kids and kept writing until the wee small hours. I finished the actual writing around 4:00 pm on the 29th. Then editing. Usually I'll spend weeks on editing. There was no time. With the help of my wife, who went through a paper copy of the manuscript as I was writing, I was able to get a very fast edit done by 2:00pm on the 31st - just in time to e-mail the manuscript off before the deadline.
It has been a recovery week here. The kids have gone back to school and I and my Golden Retriever companion have been edging into something like a routine. I am currently musing over what major project to tackle next. Before that, I have some more editing to do. A short story I submitted for an anthology has come back with suggested edits and a request for a revised manuscript before the 15th. I am putting the finishing touches on the edit and will probably get the story out over the weekend.
That's it for now. All the best in 2011 - truly a year to crank it up.
That's been the theme around here anyway. 2011 - the year to crank it up.
I look back at the last post and realize it has been a while since I threw something new up here. Well, Christmas has come and gone. The Old Year ticked away and the New Year crept in the door. My daughter had her birthday (but not her party, that happens this weekend). The family braved the 6 1/2 hour journey (each way) in the car to visit with relatives up north.
December is typically a busy time of year for the Beynon family, made especially so this year because I was writing a novel straight through the holiday season. There was a hard deadline - Dec 31st - to enter the novel in The Pratchett Prize. I took the framework of a novella I've had kicking around for a few years and expanded it into what I think is a really good novel. I was literally writing down to the wire.
Leading up to the holidays I was plugging away at a respectable pace. The week leading to Christmas was spent putting in full days at the keyboard while my wife kept a pair of excited children busy. I did, of course, take some time for tobaggon rides and snowman building, but mostly I was in the basement trying to get the story out.
I wrote on Christmas eve. I wrote a bit on Christmas Day and a lot on Boxing Day. I even wrote in the car the whole way up north while my wife drove. Over the 29th and 30th I disappeared into my father-in-law's office each morning, came out for meals and to say goodnight to the kids and kept writing until the wee small hours. I finished the actual writing around 4:00 pm on the 29th. Then editing. Usually I'll spend weeks on editing. There was no time. With the help of my wife, who went through a paper copy of the manuscript as I was writing, I was able to get a very fast edit done by 2:00pm on the 31st - just in time to e-mail the manuscript off before the deadline.
It has been a recovery week here. The kids have gone back to school and I and my Golden Retriever companion have been edging into something like a routine. I am currently musing over what major project to tackle next. Before that, I have some more editing to do. A short story I submitted for an anthology has come back with suggested edits and a request for a revised manuscript before the 15th. I am putting the finishing touches on the edit and will probably get the story out over the weekend.
That's it for now. All the best in 2011 - truly a year to crank it up.
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