My September Reads

booksheadphonesIt’s been a year since I relocated my writing space from a cozy bolt hole in the basement to an office on the main floor of our house. I knew it would be an adjustment but I was looking forward to paring down, cleaning up and starting fresh. My old space was small and L-shaped with a single window overlooking my herb garden. My new office has higher ceilings, a large window that lets in more light, and a symmetrical shape that lends itself well to lots of shelves and two desks – my walking treadmill desk and a more traditional sitting desk. Team Sheltie loves that I’m upstairs. They love it so much that they’re in the office whenever I am. Luna dozes on the rug beside me when I write and Trace guards the door. He is the patroller of noise. He doesn’t like it; he’s convinced it’s out to get me; and he’s sure that barking his disapproval will make the noise go away.

Did I mention that the retired neighbor across the street has set up a work station in his driveway and regularly uses his power saw for a project I’m pretty sure is due for completion sometime in 2022?

There may be a set of noise cancelling headphones in my future.

When the noise gets to be too much, I escape into a book. Here’s what I’m reading this month:

On the Kindle: The Cinderella Weekend by Jenny Mills

At the gym:The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin

In the evening: The Heart’s Code by Paul Pearsall

Books read to date in 2016: 55

Save The Cat

Fairwinds Schooner Cove and marina.In a few days I’m heading up island to Schooner Cove for another Red Door retreat with the Pen Warriors. These ladies have been getting together every three or four months for fifteen years! I’ve been part of the gang (with a few breaks here and there) for a good part of that time.

Retreat is an act of moving back or withdrawing. And that’s what we do. We withdraw from the outside world. We retreat from our families, our responsibilities, and the news of the hour. We spend a couple of days concentrating on writing, publishing and all things related to both. We always leave time for personal catch up and we never go hungry (or thirsty) but for the most part, we work. We follow an agenda (thank you, Bonnie) which varies from session to session and can include everything from story critiquing or group plotting to blurb writing and promotion. And we generally leave time to talk about craft.

Up for discussion this time is Blake Snyder’s classic Save the Cat. Most of us read it soon after it came out in 2005, but we decided to read it again and discuss it at the Red Door. Snyder was a Hollywood screenwriter who maintained you need a log line to summarize a story even before coming up with a character or a scene. He felt the log line helps with clarity and focus and ultimately results in a stronger story. If you haven’t read Save The Cat I recommend it. If nothing else, it’s one more thing to consider and another possible tool in the writer’s tool kit.savethecat

This Little Pinkie Went to Market

finger in bandageGrocery shopping is an extreme sport. Who knew? I had too much on my mind last week (too many story ideas colliding in my brain; more about that in another blog) and I was in a hurry to get everything out of the cart and onto the counter at the checkout. Unfortunately, my baby finger took the brunt of my impatience because I tried to leave it between the spokes of the cart when I walked over to talk to the cashier.

I didn’t know such a little appendage could twist quite that way. Or hurt quite that much. Mr. Petrol Head wasn’t impressed with my whimpering, possibly because the finger looked pretty much normal there for a while. And how much damage can you do to a baby finger anyway, he asked? If the swelling and stormy colors are any indication apparently quite a bit. I’ll spare you the ugly. Just take my word for it. So today, after three days of splinting it to the neighboring finger (at the doctor’s suggestion), I took myself off for an X-Ray (also at the doctor’s suggestion). I don’t think it’s broken (from a grocery cart? Hardly possible) but that little baby is not happy.

Meantime, I have some pretty new office supplies waiting for when it feels better. It may not be back to school time in my house anymore but September is always a good time for a fresh start.

School supplies bottom border on a chalkboard background

Vacation Time

P1000623Heads up: the blog is taking August off though I won’t be. I’ll be working flat out for the next couple of weeks in an effort to conquer my ‘to do’ list.

I’m just about finished another round of revisions on One Good Deed, I have a book proposal to finish by the beginning of September, and a couple of articles to research and write too. I also have line edits to tackle for Million Dollar Blues and I’ll be exchanging emails with Estrella Cover Art as we work to come up with a cover concept. I’m planning to send that story into the world sometime this fall.

It’s going to be a fun (and busy) three weeks. At the end of it, I’ll be rewarding my efforts by escaping up island for a few days at the beach.

Enjoy the rest of your summer. See you in September!

Cover It

In Plain Sight CoverBook covers are on my mind. Last week I received an advance copy of the cover for In Plain Sight. If you missed it on my Facebook Author Page, here it is on the left.

I’m thrilled with the way it turned out though I’ll admit my first glimpse of the cover raised concerns. Megan, the girl you see, finds out early in the story that the father she thought was dead is very much alive, he’s a convicted terrorist, and he’s Middle Eastern. For my story purposes, Megan needs to look a little like him. Not a lot, but enough that one could argue for some similarities.

The first time I saw the cover I identified Megan as a beautiful girl with a strong Celtic look. Her hair was reddish rather than the dark hair I’d referenced in the story, her eyebrows were light, and her face was made even paler by direct sunshine. I asked the art director if she could darken Megan’s eyebrows as well as her hair, and possibly give her skin more of a golden tone. I did get darker eyebrows, but messing with skin tones is problematic, so instead the art director removed the direct sunlight which gave Megan’s skin a slightly golden look. The hair, which remained a lovely reddish hue, remained the same and that posed a bit of a problem for me.

Luckily Orca shared the proposed cover before my final page proofs were done so I was able to go into the manuscript and tweak. Where a couple of girls make racist comments and insult Megan because she looks just like her father, I have the girls referencing the fact that Megan must streak her hair to hide the fact that she has the same coloring as her terrorist father. I think it’s a stronger passage than what I originally wrote and it’s realistic too: most teenage girls mess with her hair color at least once or twice in their lives. I made a few other subtle modifications here and there, allowing for Megan to look the way she does on the cover.

I’m grateful to Orca Book Publishers for sharing the cover early enough in the process that I could make some changes to the manuscript. It’s wonderful to have a strong cover that matches your story. Watch for In Plain Sight in 2017.

Meanwhile, I’m just starting the cover design process for Million Dollar Blues, my next Laura Tobias title. It’s a novel about love, money and relationships. I’m excited to be working with Viola Estrella of Estrella Cover Art. www.estrellacoverart.com. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

 

 

The Power of Words

Words are my currency in life. They’re what I use to do my job, That, in turn, allows me to pay my bills, to put food on the table and to buy the occasional pair of very nice shoes. But it occurred to me recently that words are everybody’s currency in life. How we use them, what we say to each other, has a profound effect on the quality of our lives and the relationships we have with each other.

So today please take ten minutes – just ten – and listen to this Ted Talk from Julian Treasure on how to speak so people will not only listen but will like what they hear.

https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_how_to_speak_so_that_people_want_to_listen?language=en

 

My July Reads

sweetpeasThe sweet peas are blooming though they’re a little confused. They don’t know whether to produce long, sturdy stems with deliciously scented blooms or short, stumpy little wisps with rather ambivalent flowers. I blame it on the weather. It was hot for a while but then it cooled off. As I write this, we’re in for a few days of rain. I’m not bothered. Sweet peas love cool, moist weather; the rain keeps the forest fire threat low; and an indoor day or two means more time to curl up with a book.

Here’s what I’m reading this month:

At the gym: Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

On the Kindle: Anything for You by Kristan Higgins

Beside the Pond: A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold

Books read to date in 2016: 40

It’s all in the Details

Mule DeerOne morning last week, I was walking Team Sheltie down an urban street about a block from home. The sun was up but it was early and hardly anybody was around. The dogs were charging ahead, in tandem, heads down and on the scent of something. They didn’t see the deer. I didn’t see it either until the subtlest of movements caught my eye. A leaf caught on the wind, a squirrel? I glanced into the yard I was passing and there it was – three arm lengths away and partially hidden by a hedge. It was so still that for a second I thought it was a deer statue (a nearby homeowner has one). Then I saw its ear twitch. It was the subtlest movement, hardly noticeable, but it was enough to tell me I was closer than I’d ever been to a wild deer.

In the moment before I walked on, one thing stood out. Not its size, or its stillness or the flash of fear that flickered in its brown eyes (though later I’d think about all three). Instead what captivated me was the softest whip of chocolate fuzz that I saw on still-forming antlers. That single detail summed up everything I needed to know about the creature in front of me. It was a sweet, young deer, harmless yet vulnerable. The sight also brought an unexpected rush of emotion because it reminded me of the down of my children’s hair when they were infants.

Details, in life and in novels, speak volumes. And those antlers did.

Halfway There

halfway-pointThis blog’s been quiet but I haven’t been. I returned from a week in the sun and immediately jumped into a couple of big projects (one personal and another professional) with tight deadlines. So it’s been some serious head-down-and-get-to-work time for the last few weeks. Thankfully, the personal commitment wraps up near the end of the month and the writing commitment by mid-July.

Speaking of July, the start of the month is only days away and that means we’re half way through 2016. I set goals every January and when the following December rolls around I’m sometimes pleased, but not always. I figure the midpoint of the year is a great time to reassess. We all know goal setting keeps us focused, drives us forward, makes us accountable and provides satisfaction in the end.

But that’s only if we keep those goals in mind.

So over the next week I’ll revisit my objectives for 2016 to see how I’m doing. There’s still time for a course correction, and better I do that now than face disappointment come December. Before I do that, though, I’m taking some time to celebrate with family and friends.

Happy July 1st if you celebrate Canada Day and happy July 4th if you’re south of the border. fireworksvictoria

The Sweetness . . .

bee1A few weeks ago, bees invaded my office. It started with one bee. I got a glass and a sheet of paper, trapped it, and let it free outside. By the time I returned to my desk, there were four more bees on the window. They were loud and angry.

Uneasy and not knowing what to do, I walked back to the doorway. By the time I got there, two more bees had materialized. I couldn’t tell where they were coming from but they were clearly joining their angry cohorts in my office.

And I was heading out of it.

Yes, I’m a wimp. I shut my office door and stuffed a towel at its base. One bee was doable. Even two I could have handled. But six? There was obviously a hive nearby and my office was on the flight path. I needed human back up or a beekeeper’s suit or a plan.

I wandered outside and waited for Mr. Petrol Head to arrive (Did I mention Mr. P. used to be allergic to bee stings? He says he’s outgrown it but I’m not sure. However, I’m allergic to fear so I figured we each had something at stake). My office has an outside wall and when I got outside, I spotted a lot of flying activity around it. Sure enough, once Mr. P. got home he confirmed what I suspected: there was a large hive under the eaves. And they obviously had back door access to my office.

Mr. P. suggested I sit at my desk and watch to determine where the bees were coming from. I suggested renting office space outside the home until bee season was over. Like until next Christmas maybe. Mr. P. quickly got busy looking for that back door.

Eventually he discovered a microscopic opening around a drain pipe running through my closet. That, he said, was the problem. He stuffed the tiny hole with coarse steel wool and declared the problem solved. “Even mice won’t chew through that stuff,” he reassured me.

I got back to work. Two hours later, immersed in my latest manuscript, I felt a tickle on my neck. And I heard a buzzing in my ear. Let’s just say I scared the bee more than he scared me.

Mr. Petrol Head returned. The short version of a very long story is this: mice may not chew through steel wool but determined bees will crawl through it looking for nectar rich flowers. So out came a pressurized can filled with expanding foam that hardens when it dries. The tiny hole was sealed once and for all. The bees no longer had back door access to my office. Now they come and go through the front door of their hive. As they should.

What does this have to do with writing? A writer friend asked me about a week later why the bees had shown up in my office in the first place. What were they trying to tell me? (Because that’s what writers do – we make ourselves crazy looking for meaning not only in the books we write but also in the lives we live). I told her I’d been wondering the same thing.

So I looked up bee symbolism. Bees are an unstoppable force of nature. They symbolise love and cooperation, the magic of believing. They remind us that anything is possible. They ask us if we’re busy (I was) and putting out 100% effort (mostly, yes, except for my occasional HGTV habit). What are we feeding ourselves, bee magic asks. Are we rewarding ourselves for our efforts? Basking in the sweetness of life?

Um. That would be a ‘no.’ At least the part about basking in the sweetness of life (I have no problem feeding myself, and doing it well). But as for rewarding myself for my efforts, I’m bad for that. I don’t take nearly enough breaks. In fact, I haven’t had an actual holiday in a couple of years. So I decided to listen to the bees and book one. We leave tomorrow.

Mr. Petrol Head is going too. Given that he (possibly) risked his life looking for the back door, he deserves it. Besides, it’s our anniversary. And I don’t know anything sweeter than that.

cuba_beach_sailing