As I sat at my desk this morning trying to avoid housework, I realized it’s been a while since I blogged. I actually blogged about my almost failed trip to Banff last month, but it’s still sitting in draft mode. Probably a good thing, since the story is about to become a novel (don’t want to give too much away).
Yeah, I’ve carved out some time to write for myself. This new novel is the battle of wills between a moderately successful writer such as myself and the great writer in the sky. A deity, who follows the advice we’ve all been given, such as, ‘keep throwing stuff at your characters’, ‘test their limits’, ‘see what they can do’.
Great advice if you’re a writer, not so much if you feel like the character in one of their novels.
So the new story is based on my trip to Banff in March, i.e. ridiculously delayed flights and arriving almost too late to pick up the rental car. Happily that’s where the two stories part ways. In real life mine continues with a lost wallet, panic and a trek back to the Calgary airport to retrieve it. In the novel my heroine veers off the road at 3am to avoid hitting an elk. She’s thrust into a world of rapid time and morphing landscape where she meets a guy… and then stuff happens. (Hey, I’m a pantser. I know how the story ends, but I have no idea what’s going to happen to them between now and then.)
I also have a second story on the go. I’ve been writing it as part of the Toasted Cheese Sunday Brunch Prompts. In this one, she’s an arson investigator and he’s like Prof. Trevor Anderson in the Journey to the Centre of the Earth. She’s found a medallion that acts like a portal through time and space and well… let’s just say her new pet is… interesting.
In between writing my own stuff, I’ve been reading a lot of submissions for PaperBox Books. They’re coming in fast and furious and the quality is looking pretty good. I’ve already called for a few full manuscripts. Things are really starting to hop over at PBB.
OK – I’ve delayed long enough – it’s Saturday morning and I want to finish housework so I can go out to work in my gardens. Sunny spring days in Vancouver on the weekend are rare – can’t waste this one.