Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas

This was the first Christmas since 1952 that I did not attend Church, either at the Midnight Vigil Mass, which I usually attend at St. James, or at the Christmas morning Mass, which I rarely attend. But this year, no church at all on Christmas. The reason was simply the snow. We've had white Christmasses before, so while this is unusual, it's the first time snow has kept us in. When we lived on the Prairies, snow was with us from about Halloween right up to mid-April, and never kept us in. This was different. Even buses were in trouble, and some were either cancelled or rerouted. So, instead of attending Mass, I wrote my TSSF/novice report #24. It took me from 10:15pm (about the time they would have been reading the Gospel) right up to almost midnight (about the time Mass would have ended). I hadn't planned to spend Mass time doing my report; it just worked out that way.

google search

Today I decided to see if this blog could be found by simply googling my name. First, I tried "Diane Jones" (without the quotes). I got endless pages because it's hardly an uncommon name. There were marine biologists, real estate agents, several teachers, a few authors, one well-known Canadian athlete, but not my blog. So then I tried "Diane C B Jones" (first without quotes) and got all sorts of people with names like C B Jones or C B something else, Diane something else, but no Diane C B Jones. Then I tried it with the quotes, but google told me there were no matches and to try with quotes removed. I tried that again, and got the same list as before. So, if I thought this blog would give me a web presence, I was mistaken.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

resolutions

It's a bit early for New Year's Resolutions, but I have a couple already: First, I'm trying to remember to practise playing the organ on a daily basis. I don't play well at all, and I've neglected it for many years. But the instrument is sitting in the front room and I walk around it several times a day; may as well learn to play it. Second resolution: I should use this blog to track my reading as well as my writing. I've thought of joining a reading club, but don't know of a good one. Maybe my writing critique group would be interested in becoming a reading group of children's lit. Hmmm.

weather

It's December in Canada, but this will be the first "white Christmas" in Vancouver in many years. I like the winters to be cold and dry, with maybe a light dusting of snow that disappears quickly. But we've had snow for a week now, and enough already! But the weatherman says we're doomed to another week of it probably. We won't get another dump of it until tomorrow, so we'll attend Vigil Mass this evening and stay home tomorrow. Hope Christmas won't be too difficult. We have good tires, but not snow tires. (They'd cost $800, so a taxi ride if necessary would be cheaper.)

Progress

Writing in the first person isn't as soul-wrenching as I thought it would be. It takes a lot of rereading and reading aloud to get out of the narrator frame of mind and into the child's head. Actually, I'm enjoying it. I've now completed the first three chapters and started the fourth.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Sunday School

This morning I really didn't think I'd make it. There was snow on the ground and we don't have winter tires. However, the roads were well-salted and no trouble at all. We got to church at about 9am, so I had time to set up the Sunday School room and do some photocopying. We attended the 9:30 Sung Mass which ended about 10:30. Sunday School takes place during High Mass, which starts at 11:15. After Sung Mass, I went back to the Sunday School room and fine tuned the setting: set up the worship table with a purple cloth and advent candles, set out materials for activities (make tambourines &/or memory books). Also, as we were calling this a "baby shower for Mary", we had cookies and juice for the kids and a party atmosphere. And I set up my laptop to play background music. Father Mark was my partner today (we always team teach, one male & one female). He said he'd follow my lead, so I asked him to light the advent candles with the children, explaining each candle as it was lit. Then, the Gospel reading was the Magnificat, and he taught them that. Then we had our "party" and activities. A bit noisy and messy, but all in all quite successful, IMHO.

critique meeting

Yesterday I attended our SCBWI monthly meeting, which includes peer critiquing. Besides stories, two of our members had illustrations to show. I brought the chapter I had rewritten in the first person, and had someone read it aloud for me. One of the people at the meeting is a prolific writer, an editor and has been a judge for a contest at the Surrey Conference. It was very helpful to hear their comments, and encouraging, too. The prolific writer is about half way through her middle grade novel and has a deadline of January 15th to submit the whole novel. I asked her about her writing schedule. She says she writes two full days a week and two or three evenings. But she writes fast. I don't write fast, but I have to say that I see her schedule and her goals as worthy of imitation.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

meeting

This morning I had an hour with the writer in residence on Bowen Island. She had suggested I try writing in the first person, and I really didn't want to. However, what's the point of asking for advice if I'm not willing to at least try? So I wrote about five pages of the first chapter of the novel, Angels in the Flames. It wasn't easy, but I could see as I worked on it that some of the problems were being emphasized. This meant, I could see them and work on solving them. Okay. I'm going to keep trying with this, and maybe get the whole novel in the first person. I also want to chop up the chapters into smaller chunks and see if that will help, too. All in all, it was a worthwhile meeting. She seems to think that the novel has promise. Now I have to get at least three or four chapters done before mid-January so I'll have something to offer the publisher who has asked me to resubmit.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

rewrites

The writer in residence and I have a meeting set. She has given me many points to ponder and angles to try. One being to write in the first person. I really dislike the first person in novels. I find it distracting because I am conscious that the writer is lying to me. Of course the writer is lying to me--it's called fiction because it is not true. But when there is a third person angle I can set aside my disbelief like a good fiction reader, and get on with the story. As a writer I feel I am not only "lying" (telling a fictitious story) but I'm also misrepresenting myself. Who can believe that I am an eleven-year-old girl in the 19th century? I can't! So how can I make this a believable story? Ah well, as I said before, it's a challenge. Now, am I up for it? I'd better be!

Monday, December 1, 2008

writer in residence response

Well, I don't know quite what to think. Again, many pages of comments and critiques. I guess that's a good thing--lots of input. Lots more work, too. I have to meet with this writer one of these days.