February 2023

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

This bout of tendonitis has been worse than usual.

I’ve been trying hard to avoid typing, but it’s tricky when SO MANY of my work & volunteer projects involve emails, social media and texting, not to mention writing my book.

I’ll use this space today to applaud my favourite pens: OptiFlow pens from Staples. Using a regular pen aggravates my tendonitis, but the ink from these bad boys flows so easily that they don’t require much pressure or effort.

I buy these pens by the boxes. Special treats include the red or green ink versions.

Do all writers have a stationary addiction?

Thursday, February 2, 2023

This month’s writing goals include:

• Applying for Dundurn Press’s New Voices Award
• Applying for the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity’s Summer Writers Residency 2023 (a longtime goal!)
• Hitting the 30,000 word mark on my first draft of book #3

All three goals require time on the computer, so my focus this week and weekend will be on resting my hands and taming this tendonitis.

Gah! Bodies can be so frustrating.

Friday-Monday, February 3-6, 2023

My kiddo had a judo tournament in Calgary this weekend, so we went for three days and that helped me resist the urge to type. Along with Advil and my miracle cream, my hands no longer hurt all the time.

Now the secret is to not push my limit: I need to prioritize what I do online, or risk the tendinitis crippling me for another week.

I met a deadline this morning, and worked on my application for the Banff Centre residency.

I hope that if I take a little break now I can get back to writing my book this afternoon or tomorrow! I miss my story.

(Photo: sewing a hexagon quilt section while my son makes friends with a hockey team in the hotel’s pool.)

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Ughhhhh headshots.

I asked my man to take pictures of me and then I made it black and white to hide how tired I looked.

It’s kinda artsy and therefore appropriate, but I really do need to get my professional photographer Kim to do a proper job of this.

Ideally on a day when I’ve brushed my hair and maybe put on some makeup.

Writers are good at certain things, such as … writing. Other parts of this job are so challenging, such as modelling. And shmoozing with a room full of potential connections. And negotiating publishing contracts.

Just some of the many reasons why agents and publishers are useful.

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

After so many days of having to avoid/ration my typing, I am REALLY missing my novel.

So today I spent some time with a Staples OptiFlow pen updating my character sheets.

These sheets are super important! A character’s eyes can’t be blue when we first meet them, and then grey the third time. All those little details have to be consistent: the vehicle they drive, their accent and way of speaking, their hair styles, the clothing they like to wear, their attitude toward the protagonist and the victim.

It’s hard enough to be consistent within a 90,000 word novel, but now I’m writing the second novel in a mystery series so have to be consistent with that other manuscipt as well.

(It’s kind of nice that the other manuscript hasn’t been published yet, because I can still change it if, for example, it matters in the new story that a character’s favourite colour is purple, not red.)

I’ve created my own templates to track these character details, using a bunch of templates from other writers and resources from the amazing onestopforwriters.com.

When I’m writing a new scene and want to mention a character, I can find their sheet in my binder and use the physical details that most make sense for the scene, without creating inconsistencies.

Some writers use Pinterest photos, scraps of fabric, perfume and other tangible items to help them write consistent characters.

Thursday, February 9, 2023

I love writing about a real place. I giggle every time I can work in another local setting or reference.

Someday, I want Invermere to be an essential destination spot for mystery readers. They’ll travel out here to experience the hikes, businesses and even routes they’ve read about. They’ll come for the Polar Plunge, to hike Mount Swansea and navigate Disfunction Junction, our incredibly confusing intersection downtown.

This is also why it’s so fitting to name birds in my novel’s titles. Every year, Invermere hosts the Wings Over the Rockies Festival. We have a lot of birds here.

Friday, February 10, 2023

My sweetie treated me to a massage, kinda for Valentine’s Day, and my hands feel normal again!! I don’t want to mess them up so instead of doing any typing work I played with my Rolife miniature bakery set. I’m almost done all the components: the final step is to glue everything together.

I resisted the urge to buy one of these sets for a long time. Unlike quilts, the product isn’t useful once it’s completed. Unlike jigsaw puzzles, you can’t break it apart and pass it along. Unlike Lego sets, it doesn’t increase in value as a super fun investment.

Building these is so fun, but then what?? Where do I store these dust collectors?

With almost two sets now complete, I still don’t have an answer. I just keep building them.

Saturday, February 11, 2023

My hands hurt again today, so instead of typing I planned out some of the settings in my novel. 

This kind of advance thinking is one of my favourite writing jobs. I love all the little discoveries and suprises that bubble up when I consider my settings (or character, or plot) before writing the scene.

I realized two big things today:

1. Because I’m writing about real places in this novel, it’s easy to forget that my readers haven’t actually been there: I need to describe them.

2. It takes awhile for the murder mystery part of this novel to play a large role in the plot, which risks it becoming more of a “literary novel” than a mystery novel. I WANT it to be a mystery novel, so I have to find ways to keep that murder plotline central.

Sunday-Tuesday, February 12-14, 2023

I’m catching up on housework as a way to avoid touching my computer. It only takes a few minutes at the mouse or keyboard and there’s pain.

Take that, laundry pile! Take that, counter covered in dirty dishes!

If this tendinitis keeps up, I might even mop the floors.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Today I attended a webinar on next-level Scrivener tools, hosted by the Federation of BC Writers. I’ve used Scrivener to write all three of my novels: I love how easy it is to jump around from scene to scene.

But Scrivener has plenty of buttons and features I’ve never used, so this session taught me about some of those. I love meta data and fancy organization tools. I’m super excited to use these to help me see the big picture of my new novel.

And: after chipping away at the many components of my application for the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity‘s Summer Writers Residency, I finally had all the documents finished and submitted my application. If that happens, I’ll have two weeks to focus on revising my current novel-in-progress, with the support of faculty writers and others. Oooooo heaven!

Thursday-Saturday, February 16-18, 2023

It’s always a precarious balance between writing and living, at least for me. I’m ALWAYS conscious of time spent NOT writing. 

This month, with my body not able to work more than a few minutes a day on a keyboard, I have been aware at all times that I am NOT writing my novel. I am NOT making progress toward my 20,000 word goal, much less my ambitious February goal of 30,000 words.

I’m scared I’ll lose my momentum, and my novel will suffer. Or worse: I’ll never finish writing that first draft. What’s the point of a story if it only ever exists in my head? What’s the point of anything, if my hands don’t get better and I can’t type any more?

Deep breath.

While this hasn’t been a productive month writing-wise, it’s been busy living-wise. We’re celebrating four birthdays, and I helped manage a record-setting polar plunge fundraiser. The people in my life seem happy. I’m happy, except for this constant hand/elbow/arm pain and existential guilt.

Sunday-Tuesday, February 19-21, 2023

My friend asked me to teach her how to make pie, so I did. I love learning new skills & get excited when other people want to learn things too!

She made four pies in two hours, with my coaching, and awed her family at dinner that night.

Kaboom.

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

The absolute best part of February 2023 is that this is when my novel takes place!!

I’ve been waiting for this month, for the polar plunge & February weather & light, since September, when I started planning out my mystery plot.

Finally I can test my timelines. The internet said sunrise would happen at 7:50 am on polar plunge day, but when I stood there on the frozen lake I could see the test items I’d placed 200 feet away by 7:23 am. Six minutes later I could make out some details, and by 7:36 am the items were fully visible.

Okay, this doesn’t REALLY matter to a reader, but I want my story to be as accurate and believable as possible.

I’m making notes and trying to notice every detail: how some snow squeaks like corn starch while other snow blows away like fluff; the way the clouds warn us of an afternoon storm; how it feels to drive across the deepest part of a wide, frozen lake in the back seat of a truck.

I won’t get to research my setting like this again for another 12 months. I have to make the most of this time.

Thursday, February 23, 2023

I’m experimenting with the cool new Scrivener features I learned about in the Federation of BC Writers‘ webinar last week.

This photo is a screenshot of my novel using Scrivener’s “linguistic focus” tool. I can choose to highlight the adjectives, or adverbs, verbs, nouns, lines of dialogue, etc.

How thrilling! This will help me see opportunities to choose better words, spot accidental repetition, replace passive sentences with active, and much more.

Every writer has their stand-by words that we use too often. For example:

When revising my 1st novel, One for the Raven, I did a “Find” search on the manuscript. Results:
“smile” – used 42 times. (Edited to be 9 times.)
“arms” – used 37 times. (Edited to be 14 times.)
“eyes” – used a whopping 105 times!!!! (Edited to be 26 times.)
“exhaled” – used 12 times. (Edited to be 2 times.)
“forced” – used 15 times. (Edited to be 5 times.)
“bare” – used 22 times. (Edited to be 5 times.)

Friday-Monday, February 24-27, 2023

Every year I give my sweetie an adventure for his birthday. We’ve tried dogsledding and snowmobiling, stayed in a tiny home, played tourist at our nearby ski resort, and in 2020 I transformed my living room into Mexico.

He’s always wanted to go skydiving for his 40th, so this year we did four flights each at iFly — which was much warmer than skydiving outdoors in February. I laughed with joy the entire time I was aloft & am now pumped to skydive for reals in warmer weather.

We do have adventures other times of the year. We volunteered at a hot air balloon festival, said “YES!” when friends needed models for their ATV tours, and consider any out-of-town appointment an excuse for a road trip and brewery flight.

But this annual motivation to GO BIG starts our year right. His birthday is a reminder to keep refreshing that bucket list & checking dreams off.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

There are plenty of grants available for writers, other artists and artistic organizations, especially those lucky enough to live in the East Kootenay region of BC. 

There’s the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, which distributes Columbia Basin Trust funds to writers living in the Columbia Basin region.

There’s also funding available from the Canada Council for the Arts and the BC Arts Council (rural residents are considered a “Designated Priority Group” and can get special consideration for some grants).

I researched the grants I qualify for, and have written the deadlines on my calendar so I remember to apply in time. 

While having money to pay bills is the obvious perk, and grants look impressive on a resume, receiving a grant also VALIDATES all the time and energy that goes into creating art. 

I received $1,500 from the CKCA in June, and that approval letter made me so happy. It felt like my community believed in my writing aspirations. They’re invested in my novels, and now writing feels a little less lonely.