Dribs & Drabs ...

Hard to believe this much time has flown past. March 1/22 was my last Blog entry. So I think that some updates are in order!

Iin the last year we've moved twice, which includes prepping three different houses either to sell or to move into. We're now settled, more or less. Still have boxes to unpack throughout the house, pictures to put up on the walls, and some finishing touches to our renovations to be done - painting, baseboards, and so on. But we're all moved in, and the other two houses are sold. Our two offices are set up and functional - one upstairs which my hubby and I share. And a larger one in the basement that's mine alone. That one has two of the four desks in that room all set up and good to go. The other two are landing zones of so much stuff ... And the craft supply storage room off of that office is almost sorted ... It's all a vast improvement over what I had as storage in the previous two houses, but it's still a work in progress. Like the rec room which is destined to be a VR game play area, which is still full of boxes. The library section is all set up though :) My hubby and I have recently started twice weekly yoga sessions, via zoom with our middle kidlet who lives on the other side of the country. Too soon to know if it's helping us with our limited strength (me) and flexibility (him). Did you know that being 60 sucks? But it's nice to see and talk with kidlet on a regular basis :)

I've got two more When Words Collide conferences under my belt since I last did an etry. Still planning on uploading the sessions I did for those two years to this website, something I promise every year, but have only managed a couple of times. There have also been people over the years who have asked me to email them my session notes, but that's something else which I've never managed to do. So, if you were one of those people - I'm sorry :(

In my last blog entry I mentioned that the person I'd hired to do a line edit of BLP - Bk the First hadn't been comfortable with the fantasy genre, and I was doubting if they'd done a good job or not. I am also thinking that it wasn't really line editing I'd needed. They had a few suggestions to make, but nothing that really made any difference. At this year's WWC, I took in a session called Witer/Editor Speed Mingle. It was exactly as it sounds, with authors circulating through the room to sit with editors and chat quickly (5 minutes!) about what project they are looking for assistance on. There wasn't enough time to visit all the editors, but the four I was able to talk with all seemed quite enthusiastic about BLP - Bk the First. I showed them the cover that Tora the Underdog had done for me, as well as the back jacket blurb I'd come up with. We all agreed that an evaluation subsidized by our provincial Writers Guild is the next step, then move on to hiring another editor. So, I've got the MS submitted for evaluation, paid the small fee, and am now waiting for an evaluator to be assigned. Progress!

One other bright note this fall is that I've actually got a short story accepted for a small anthology being planned by a local small press - Pete's Press! It will pay in a couple of free copies once it's published, but I'm pretty chuffed by it! I'll give you further details - such as publication date, and so on - when I know them!

Going further forward - always onwards, never backwards - I'll be working to complete the first draft of The Journey Begins. And working really hard at sticking to the daily work/life schedule I've come up with. Yes, another schedule. But the previous ones never really worked well. Hopefully this new one will be more sustainable.

I think that's going to be all for today ... I'll try to get an update done on a regular basis - maybe weekly? So - till then, Cheers all!