The War Within

The news media refer to the election of Barack Obama, the recession, gay marriage and the gun law controversy as the perfect storm! Unfortunately, I agree.

It is the perfect platform for the hate mongers and radicals whether they travel in groups or alone to rear their ugly heads, taking aim at the unsuspecting...the innocent who, by being born different, makes them a target of someone's intolerance. And I resent the fact that in order to get along, we have to tolerate one another!

It doesn't help that there are those speaking for political parties to spew their hatred in the name of a better America; those in the media who barely hide a snare when calling the president by name yet professing to be unbiased and independent. Give the man a chance. He has a lot on his plate and is dealing with it pretty good from where I sit! Stop complaining when he doesn't seem to be doing enough then balking when he ramps up his work load. I believe a lot of the arm-chair judges know they would be incapable of handing such a work load and superimpose this notion onto the president. Like I said, stop complaining and start supporting. President Obama do no worse than what was done to divide the country on every level possible over the last eight years!

The sad part about all of this is that racism and hatred will never be torn from the fabric of our society. For as long as children are bought up in the racial bias of their parents and taught to hate those different from themselves; while society accepts and gives voice to all those who would put them asunder, in the name of free speech, racism in all its forms will be the one constant for as long as the world is in existence.

We are fighting three wars...two in foreign lands and one right here at home. I daresay the ones overseas will be won while it's sad to admit that America will lose the war within.

A Soggy Situation

April showers have made it so soggy outdoors that I am forced to stay indoors and get on with my work! It would have been a perfect procrastination day but for the rain!

I was planning a day picking out my herb, tomato, pepper and strawberry plants for my patio garden but it is too wet out there; it is teeming!

I could go downstairs and do some baking but that would be counter-productive. I am on a diet and making progress; if I bake, it would be tantamount to hitting a giant skid bump of my own making.

I guess the safest thing for me to do is sit right here and get on with the edits to my book. I am doing quite well with them and my characters are behaving so I should take advantage of this opportunity to write, uninterrupted and get it done.

Am I the queen of procrastination? You betcha; but it is nothing I can't control with a little self reflection and a stern talking to!

Health vs Rights - An Independent Perspective

Saturday, I try to keep it leisurely by starting the day with my favorite read, the Saturday Toronto Star; it's one of those multi-layered newspapers, like the N.Y Times, that takes the day to read.

I have my favorite columnists as well and while reading one of them, became slightly less enamored. In her column, she put down every effort to protect the public against unwanted second-hand smoke and played up the idea that a lung full of toxins which eat away healthy lung tissue is good for you. She found no problem with the fact that kids mimic their parent's bad habits, giving as an example one case where a parent was being ticketed for smoking while driving with a minor (under age 16) in the car. She thought the parent's rights were being violated but did go on to tell how that same minor lit up with the police officer there writing the ticket!

She called the smokers who try to adhere to the laws banning smoking in bars, restaurants, etc as being brow beaten by the health Gestapo; she feels that smokers are poor, and less educated.

I was a smoker some fifteen years ago and I quit because I knew it was killing me. I was never a heavy smoker and never smoked in my house or around my children, but one nevertheless. While I feel everyone has the right to indulge in habits that are detrimental to their health, they should not inflict the end results on the public. Second hand smoke took the life of a friend of mine when she was twenty years old. She died of lung cancer quite suddenly. She never smoked a day in her life but lived all of her life in a household of smokers!

Children are defenseless...and the damage that is caused is not immediately seen so parents and others who blow their toxic fumes into the air for other to inhale are not aware or don't care that the child's life, or any life may have already been cut short!

I say to this smoker who probably has a permanent smoker's stench to her, has smoker's halitosis and yellowed teeth and fingers, smoke on! Enjoy yourself but don't look to the health Gestapo for answers as to why your lungs are fried, your skin and body shriveled and dried nor why your last days will be spent with a tube in every orifice trying to sustain the life you forfeited so carelessly!

Don't send your toxic message that smoking is a pleasurable thing and harmless...children read the newspapers too!

When is It Okay Not to Write?

Today is a hard day for me to try and get any writing done. When is it I am allowed to stop?

I pulled my back muscles a week ago, still experiencing some pain when I sit for long spells and pain interferes with my thought processes. But...is this an excuse to not write for the day?

I feel guilty when I take time out but today I really think I will get over myself. I have arthritis throughout and it doesn't help that is it dismal and damp out. Maybe I'll try writing while I am lying prone on the floor!

I can also record my edits and rewrites and transcribe them when I am able. Oh to find something that works for me!

We writers certainly do put the guilt trip on ourselves for being human!

Doing the Work

Now that all of the festivities are over and the distractions have ceased, I am busy working on the first of a few re-writes to the draft of my novel. I am carefully working on character sketches to flesh them out...make them believable. When I am finished with them, I will do a careful crafting of their environment...making their world someplace the reader can climb into and want to stay awhile.

I work every day, no matter how little time I have; every minute I spend on this book is a minute closer to the bookstore shelf!

Something I haven't been doing but have recently started is clipping stories from the newspaper. Sure, I read the paper every day but I soon forget one crime when another takes its place. These are fodder for future works...something I gleaned from reading one of the many books I have on the craft of writing and where one might get ideas.

Weather wise, there is a ton of snow on the ground and more on the way - a perfect scenario for writing. The blahs are fading as I look towards spring...only 10 weeks to go! That doesn't mean a thing here in the snow belt but the thought gives me hope!

Winter Blahs

Now that all of the excitement and wonder of the holidays is behind us, what is there to look forward to? Well, here in Barrie, Ontario which is in the snow belt, we are looking at a mini-blizzard.

The snow is coming down in all sizes of flakes, thick and dry. It is layering itself on top of the two feet of snow still sitting on the ground from the last snowfall. January to March are the months when the winter blahs can grab hold and choke the life out of a person.

When I first moved to Ontario, I wasn't used to these winters;I was born and raised in New York. Winters there are milder and shorter compared to here. From Toronto, I've moved to different locations in and around the GTA, even living in Barrie some 24 years ago, before it evolved into the supercity it is today! I've always loved this area so moved back here knowing I would have way more snow to deal with than I was used to. It seems that the weather evolved right along with city's evolution...I don't remember this much snow!

Thank goodness for retirement. I can sit and look out of my office window as I work on my latest book, edit my blogs, do research, work on my newsletter...whatever! I have a choice now as to whether I want to take part in winter or not.

Don't get me wrong...I love winter; I love the snow. I am just glad the days of hailing a taxi or waiting for the bus while in the midst of the season's worst winter storm are behind me. I've felt the tingle of feet and hands on the brink of frost bite, felt my eyes frozen in their sockets, pants stiff from snow melting into the fabric then frozen there by temperatures so far below zero they bordered on the ridiculous!

Yes, winter blahs are a normal part of life here in snow country but I am looking forward to spring, to the completion of my novel, to planting in my garden, to barbecues and festivals along the lakes, to sun warmed sand and lake water lapping at my feet.

That miserable ground hog will come out soon and tell me I have a longer wait for spring than I had hoped for but that's okay too; I can wait. For each day of snow is another page finished. Once the warmer weather gets here, I am not so inclined to stay indoors and write. So you see...even the blahs are good for something!

Two Day Countdown to 2009

It's 4:21 in the afternoon. The sky is dark with snow clouds and the temperature has risen enough to allow them to empty their heavy load over Barrie, Ontario at any moment.

Will it ever be sunny again? Are the winter blues beginning to set in? I am not usually bothered by the weather or the time spent indoors from the crippling cold of winter but for some reason, I am bothered today! I guess with Christmas behind me and New Years approaching, I am itching to get started on the revisions to my novel and I will, but later.

Right now, I am in the middle of writing up my list of goals for 2009 and wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you the very best in prosperity, good health and happiness for the new year.

Until 2009...