So, I was on my way to the library, when...

Yep - I had an accident in one of the most poorly designed parking lots ever. I'd stopped to buy Sean some muffins for breakfast and had just pulled out of my parking space when wham, I collided with another car. Neither of us is quite sure how it happened - he didn't see me, I didn't see him, until it was too late. But I'm fine and so was he. Not even the air bag went off.

Our car didn't fare so well as it took a direct hit on the right front tire :( So I may not see it for a while *sigh*. I'll know more next week.

This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me, but this parking lot has quite the reputation for accidents.

On a brighter note - most of our electrical at the house is now done :) Things are still looking good for next week, so everyone please keep your fingers crossed.

Teresa

Currently Reading: The Broken Gate, by Anita Burgh

Long weekend on the Coast...

Wow, what a week! We've had lots of visitors, including my former sister in law (mother to our older niece) and her fiance, Sean's cousin and her boyfriend and last, but not leasst, my brother and sister in law and our youngest nephew. Plus, our said older niece was here for over a week.

Last Thursday, when Sean's cousin and her boyfriend were here, we had a campfire, accompanied by the most spectacular sunset:

And have a look at the blossoms on my mother in law's silk tree:

Not that we spent all our time visiting. We were over at the house Saturday and Sunday painting the storage room:

And we weren't the only ones working this weekend - the flooring guys were there too. So now we have a kitchen floor :)

while much of the prep work for the hallway and bathroom floors has been done as well:

This week the rest of the flooring should be finished, along with the ceiling (here it is half done):

& cabinetry and we hope the doors will also be delivered (we still have the temp ones up).

And, here are a couple of photos of the cats, just for good measure:

Teresa

Currently Reading: Book for review
Also Currently Reading: How Will I Know by Sheila O'Flanagan

Back soon - I promise...

Things here are nuts as I'm trying to catch up after a week with my sis and her family. We had loads of fun together, both in Vancouver and here on the Coast. The house is coming along well - drywall started yesterday, siding is at least 1/3 done (if not more) and we're hoping the long delayed doors will arrive over the next couple of days.

More soon!

Teresa

Currently Reading: Far From Over by Sheila O'Flanagan

Quick update...

It's our phone line, not the modem. Sean will be trying a couple of things, but it's possible, until we move to the new house, that I'll have limited high speed access. Which could, in the end, prove a good thing where my writing is concerned.

I spent some of today doing research reading and playing with some plot ideas in my head. Tomorrow is errands in the morning, then my library shift in the afternoon.

Plus, our windows still haven't arrived :( So we won't get to lock-up at the new place this week. Grrr. OTOH, the deck looks great. When I have high speed access again, I'll try to post a pic of it.

Back to my research - I'm discovering that a lot of the primary source material that I need for this story just isn't going to be available to me unless I visit England. Which isn't going to happen any time soon. For the historian in me, this is a big issue. I HATE relying on secondary sources. Still, I'll see what I can find out there in cyberspace. Any tips?

Ok - time to clean litter boxes. Oh joy!


Teresa

Currently Reading: The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Link of the Day: Blogging National

Monday on the Coast...

Things here are still busy, busy. We're meeting with the electrician this afternoon to go through the house and hope to find our windows/doors have been delivered. If they have, then we could be at the lock up stage by the end of the week. Yay! Move in is slated for late August (fingers and toes crossed) - much will depend on the drywallers (they come in after the electrical/plumbing is done), painters and then the flooring people. But, the roof is now done and the chimney is up:)

I've had to accept I won't get much writing done until things get more settled. There are lots of little things to do that all seem to take up a lot of time. But that's ok, my story is percolating :)

Though I admit to having spent a little too much time over at Facebook yesterday, time that could have been spent writing. However, I found a friend of mine from my CANEX days, someone I lost touch with in the early 2000s. She helped keep me sane in that job. And through her page, I found another of my former co-workers. They're both married with kids now, so it was cool to catch up with them.

It's going to be smoking hot here this week, hot even by my Ontario born and bred standards - up into the mid 30s. I just have to hope it cools off well at night. It certainly was cool enough on Saturday night when we went to a 7/7/7 party/bbq - but not so cool that it spoiled the fun *g*.

That's about it for now. My internet connection is still a little temperamental, but I'll keep trying to make the blog rounds :)

Right. Birth of Venus. It's good so far, reminds me a little of a YA book I reviewed a couple of years ago, The Vanishing Point by Louise Hawes (not the book of the same name by Mary Sharratt that's on my TBR list).

Teresa

Currently Reading: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Mid-week update...

Thanks for all the contest feedback :) Lots to think about. I still can't quite decide - I do like getting fresh feedback, but OTOH, the waiting period is often way too long. I still have time to make up my mind about the contest I'm thinking about.

On the writing front, I managed to finish entering all the handwritten pages from my contemp story and get everything organized in WriteWayPro (copying and pasting stuff I'd typed into PageFour Notebook ). And it turns out, I really did manage over 25,000 words during NaNo last November. Considering I wrote about half the number of days in the month I do know it's possible to write enough each day to achieve 50,000 words. And the story is actually hanging together, though it does need a lot of work.

With my historical, I've done more research and yesterday picked up one of the ILL books that has given me some more plot ideas. Very cool.

On the personal side, I'm going in for volunteer training tomorrow at the Sechelt Library. Been meaning to volunteer there for a while and finally made the arrangements. AND, the framing on our house is now complete (pics at this link)! Yay!!! Now we're waiting on the various sub-trades, so please everyone, keep your fingers crossed.

That's about it for now. Am off to Nia soon and need to get ready. We're having a big family weekend this weekend (Canada Day celebrations) with my brother/sister-in-law, niece and baby nephew, so don't be surprised if I don't surface again till next week some time.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Dark Angels by Karleen Koen
Also Currently Reading: Revolutionary Britannia: Reflections on the threat of revolution in Britain, 1789-1848 by Edward Royle

Thanks everyone...

for the comments! It's been fun meeting so many new people. Imagine how surprised I was to learn my blog was featured on the Blogs of Note blog! Very cool :)

We're super busy right now. Our new nephew was born Wednesday evening - we're hoping to see him very soon.

The forms will be stripped from the foundation walls starting today! Yay!

Slowly working out details of my new story.

Must go, now. More later.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Night of the Huntress by Kathryn Smith
Also Currently Reading: Dark Angels by Karleen Koen
Link of the Day: Thesaurus of Old English

Life goals vs. story goals...

I've been struggling with this over the last few weeks and think it's part of the problem I'm having with my characters. GMC has always formed a big part of my story planning, yet with this story in particular, I'm finding my hero and heroine have life goals AND story goals. So which one is paramount? When working with GMC, we ask "What does he/she want?", then have them work towards it. My characters want one thing overall in life, and another for this story in particular. Are they truly divergent?

There is no doubt that one informs the other, yet I don't see the life goal as being an internal one, per se. That was my first thought, but I it didn't follow through when I examined it more carefully.

Am I making too much of this? Over-analyzing? Should I just include both and work with the story goal first and life goal second?

Any insight into this is most welcome :)

Other than that, more progress on the house has been made. The footings were poured last week, the electrical shed now has a roof on it (as of this afternoon) and we spent Saturday night at the site in our camper. And both the Senators and Canucks are up 2 games to 1 in their respective playoff series!!!

Oh, and I've been noodling about with another story idea, one that might, in the end prove a tad easier to sell as it's set in England rather than France - though it still takes place in 1793, a decidedly unusual time period.

Tomorrow I'll relate a cute Cleo story, complete with photos.

Last, but not least, my heart goes out to the relatives and friends of those who lost loved ones today in Virginia.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
Link of the Day: PageFour Notebook - updated version

New blogging routine...

Hi everyone,

Yes, I'm back. Well, kinda.

Last week I spent much of my time with our niece and cousins (all little girls between 5 and 9). We had a fantastic time. It also gave me a chance to think about my blogging routine. And I came to the following conclusion:

I spend way too much time blog-hopping, time that could be spent on my mss. I've always used the excuse I'm not creative in the morning, but that just isn't going to wash anymore.

As a result, I'm going to cut my blog-hopping back to twice a week, so if you don't see me every day, that's why. The only exceptions will be a few industry blogs.

Why am I taking such drastic measures? Because I can't afford to keep making excuses for why my writing work is falling lower down my list of priorities. Yes, I learn a lot from the blogs I read - which is why I won't quit reading them - BUT, I'm an expert at procrastination. And right now, the last thing I need is to procrastinate any more.

I'm going to continue to try to blog most evenings during the week. And realize that by cutting back my own visits to other blogs, my comments/hits will decrease. But that's ok - getting comments and hits has never been my reason for blogging.

The other piece of news I have from this week is...drumroll please...we have a building permit!!! When I have a chance, I'll post a pic of Sean with it - he hung the sign yesterday, including our street number. Very exciting. We're hoping to see forms and a foundation within the next couple of weeks :-)

That's about it for tonight. Hope y'all understand where I'm coming from (I'm sure you do).

Teresa