Happy Candy Day!

Tomorrow is the second most exciting day of the calendar year for our kids. next to Christmas nothing beats dressing up as a favourite character and banging on neighbors doors to beg for candy...this year the crew has decided to be Harry Potter, Princess Belle and The Shaggy Dog.

Here's a picture from last year when they were Captain Jack, Tinkerbelle and Baby Dino.

Happy Candy Day!

A Little More Whine

Okay, this rainy holiday Monday I decided to get up early while the house was still and quiet...I had a little online Christmas shopping in mind. I surfed over to The Gap site, found some amazing things that are not available in Canada and proceeded to click away. When my credit card was drained and my cart full I began the check out process...only to discover that apparently Canada is blacklisted from their shipping list.

(OK not just Canada but anywhere outside of the US)

Now I am annoyed but I turned to Google, thinking that there might be a Canadian site...but no. So I tried the customer service page and find that for no particular reason they don't ship to anywhere outside the US. So Canadians, who already suffer from limited size and style availability in store are now blocked from receiving those precious Gap items that we so desire to give as holiday gifts...

So why is the Gap so stupid???

Nic :-(

The Last of the Summer Whine

State of the WIP - what WIP?

Current Distraction - Life

Little Known Fact - A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

I have been living like a refugee in my own home for weeks! Three weeks ago we finally ripped out my kitchen cupboards and since then we've been working on the roof (which The Boy fell off of on Tuesday, he has a cincussion and is battered and bruised but no broken bones)...and its still not done!

We still have to insulate, drywall, paint and install cabinets. Will the house stuff ever end?!

I have tried to get some writing done but its just not happening...I did however clean out the kids craft box, build a ladder and redecorate The Pipsqueaks room. And now, suddenly its the end of August, summer's over and the kids start school next week...What the heck!

Oh well, what are ya gonna do about it?

So THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK is...

Did you get everything done this summer that you had planned to do?

Nic :-)

Remember me?

Ok...I haven't been here much but I've been keeping up with most of you via email and Facebook, but I thought it was time to touch base.

Writing - I am still querying Camden's Rain...not aggressively, just a few agents at a time.
I have spent the last week or so putting together a proposal for a long-term column for Literary Mama... I am pretty happy with what I sent off and now its just the waiting game. Today, feeling a little lost as far as writing projects go, I picked up a MS I haven't touched in two years...its my Great Canadian Novel. The Boy keeps bugging me about working on it - I'd finally have something written that he would be interested in reading - but I'm not sure if I am a good enough writer to tell this story yet. I think I will tinker with it for a few days and see what happens.

Personal - We are finally making steps toward putting our house back together. We have chosen cabinets and countertops and have tentatively set a date to finish ripping out our kitchen...I'll keep you posted.

Hope Connects Canada - I can't say much right now but this is the area of my life that has been most exciting lately...lots of new ideas and opportunities!

That's it for now...

Nic

Looking for a Reader

I am looking for an agent for Camden's Rain (middle grade chapter book) right now and recently had feedback from one agent that got me thinking about a few things in CR.

SO now I am looking for a couple of readers...girls between the age of 9 and 12, who would be able to read the book and give me some real feedback on what worked and what didn't work (I'd give them a few questions to answer to help them understand what kind of info I'm looking for) in a relatively short period of time.

If you know of a girl who might be interested please have them email me.

Thanks!

Nic

nicholeforbes@hotmail.com

A Little Bit of Nothing

State of the WIP - Summer is sitting at about 13, 000 words, untouched for about a week
My non-fic project is in bits and pieces and coming along slowly

Current Distractions - Four hungry children just home from school

Dirty Little Secret - In high school I had a crush on my best friend's boyfriend for half a school year and from time to time would imagine some great emotional blow out between them that would leave me consolling him - never happened and in fact they have been happily married for ten years...

I have spent this week doing nothing.

I have worked a bit on a non-fiction project but its a bit emotionally draining so I can't work on it for long periods of time. I have done absolutely no work on Summer...and in fact I'm not sure I even like the story right now.

I haven't submitted Camden's Rain to any agents this week...

Blah, that's my week so far.

I need to get motivated...

QUESTION OF THE WEEK - What do you do to get yourself motivated?

Nic

A New Addiction

State of the WIP - stalled

Current Distractions - a new addiction...see below for details

Funny Little Fact - Coca-Cola was originally green.

I have been neglecting this blog lately...so here I am. Sorry for wasting your wasting time time by not having something fresh and new to read while you wasted your time. So here is a little something to read...so waste away!

Recently I have been sucked into the cult of Facebook...and that is where I waste my time now.

In the couple of days since I have been there I have found a couple of people I haven't seen in years (and several that I see on a regular basis). I am obsessed with randomly entering the names of people from my childhood and seeing if they are there...usually they are.

I found this one guy I was friends with in Juniour high...haven't spoken to him in more than 12 years and now we are chatting via fb. Pretty cool.

Gotta go...its been three minutes and 48 seconds since I last checked FB...

Nic ;-)