Welcome here, little guy

I'll let most of the news to come from his proud mommy and daddy, but I just want to say that Jack is here, and big and strong, and God is just so very good.

I can't wait to hold him, but more than that, I'm delighted that he's sleeping with his mommy tonight, and not in the NICU.

Thursday is the big day

If this is Thursday, it's Jack's birthday.

Your prayers are appreciated.

even though you're really here for the robins ...

...I'm going to talk about myself instead. Feel free to come back another day.

Did I mention I'm writing a novel? No, I mean, really, actually writing it. Actual words in my actual novel. It's ...wow. Fun. I can barely believe the difference between the novel I'm working on and the novel I thought I was going to write when I started this whole thing. This novel? Basically backstory run amok.

So here's the thing. Maybe I have ADD, in some mild, functionning-without-medication form. (Some people I know just look at me like I have 12 heads when I say this and then say "Ya think?" I find these people ...well, annoying) So whatever. I'm a much better multi-tasker than I am a single-tasker. Here's how I have been attempting to write this novel:

1. Find a distraction free place, nice and quiet and no distractions.

2. Sit down.

3. Write.


This has not been working for me. I check my e-mail. I play Ticket To Ride online. I write three words and delete them because they are not fresh imagery. I check my e-mail again. I write 12 words, keep 4 of them. I read Angela Hunt's blog. I google any writer I've ever heard of, and read their blogs, if they have them. I write 60 words and a goat insinuates itself into the plot. I google goat husbandry - I'd hate to sound like I don't know what I'm talking about. I finally give up and go to bed, telling myself I will write TOMORROW. With NO DISTRACTIONS.

A few days ago, I thought - wait. I'm a multi-tasker. Why don't I watch TV and write at the same time? Tried it. 500 words before I ran out of steam. Double checked my word count. Turned the TV up, and wrote a few hundred more words. B came home from school wanting to play XBox. I took my laptop down to the basement with him, wrote another 500 words with his head in my lap and the XBox blaring.

Wrote 500 words yesterday while cooking supper.

I have some time to myself tonight, at someone else's house. Nothing to pull me away from the computer. I wrote 2 words, checked my e-mail, thought - what's wrong with this picture?? Turned the music up, let their (big, friendly) dogs in, wrote 350 words. Quit only when I ran out of story. There's more there, I just don't know what happens next, so I'm letting Brynn sit sulking in the dirt while in another part of the Village, his mother is Striding Determinedly toward - I don't know what. I'm going to sleep on it.

Without guilt. Because -

This is who I am.

And speaking of robin's nests

Guess whose technogeek husband installed a webcam?

Exactly like that.

So there is a robin's nest over the light at our back door. We are delighted by this, but already, the deck is very messy. There is a huge pile of dead grasses and things underneath the nest - at least twice as much grass as appears to have been used to build the nest.

I was describing this to my neighbour.

"Huh", he said. "That sounds just like writing a novel."

What looks like lucky on an ordinary day*

(*with apologies to Pearl Cleage)

Working at my computer at 4 in the afternoon, I see movement at the back fence. I turn to see three deer picking their graceful way across the green space behind my house.

A Contest!!

I know there are some of you sitting there thinking "Man, I wish I knew where I could my hands on a collection of short stories that would be guaranteed to be a great read."



(I couldn't find a bigger version of this picture. If you're really curious, buy yourself a copy on Amazon ;)

This contest is for you. You, yes you, can win your very own autographed copy of A Crack In The Wall, written by Calgary's own Betty Jane Hegerat.

Here's what Oolichan Books has to say about this release:

A Crack in the Wall takes the reader on a voyeuristic walk down suburban streets, a glimpse into open windows at people yearning for what was, and making their reluctant peace with what is, and what will be.

And about the writer herself -

“Betty Jane Hegerat is a gifted and compelling storyteller. She deals in ordinary people who lead ordinary lives, but by some unobtrusive narrative magic, her people become extraordinary.”
–David Carpenter.

Launch is tonight, and I'm buying YOU a copy. All you have to do to make it yours is leave a comment, and be the lucky winner!