It’s that time again—Write!Canada—The annual Writers’ Conference sponsored by The Word Guild, national organization of writers and editors who are Christians! I’ve been happily and busily editing three book manuscripts for the past while, but have put that aside, with the clients’ encouragement, to belatedly prepare my own materials for the conference. An infected tooth has added a challenge. For the time being, that’s defeated by an antibiotic which is intended to carry me until our return home. Then, the tooth, and perhaps its neighbour, must go. No more pain in tooth, jaw and ear!
Of course, I’ll be taking along my consignment copies of Grandmothers Necklace, the anthology of poetry and prose for which the entire sale price brings in money (personally sold nine copies last month) for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers branch of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, to help to fight the tide of AIDS/HIV in Africa. (It is great to be promoting a product of such excellent writing quality. We don’t have to count on compassion sales.) If you buy, please try to buy from one of the outlets across Canada which carry the book for us. If you are also able to buy something else that they provide, so much the better. We’d like to see them rewarded. The sites were carefully chosen as places of quality.
My materials are almost ready for the classes and workshops I’m taking and for my interview times. My display set-up, still eye-catching, (In a nutshell: I’m an editor. I’m a writer. Buy Grandmothers’ Necklace and my writing and hire me to edit. Make me happy.) but deliberately smaller than last year (so I don’t hog quite as much on-site space from other writers), is ready to go into the back seat or the ample trunk of our new red Mazda 6 2014, on top of Robert’s oxygen tanks and our luggage for the trip, the stay at our daughter’s home, and for the Guelph Conference Centre itself.
Yes, Robert bid a sad farewell to the Mazda RX8. We’ll no longer be torturing it by keeping a sports car (that can’t have a block heater) in a carport and expecting it to start in the icy Ottawa Valley mornings. It was a great five years but the time had come. Apparently there were at least four offers for the car while it sat in the lot just after it had gone in. The Petawawa military at the Base Language School used to love it, crowding over to the window to see it when we arrived. May it have a cosy garage for the rest of its “life”.
In our absence, our home will lived in by our son and his wife, whom the cats two adore. (Bagheera frequently moans at the door when their car is pulling out of the driveway.) Daniel and Brenda will have the space they miss when in their apartment. The cats will have younger, livelier companions. During the conference, Robert will stay at the home of our daughter’s family in Burlington. She is a gourmet cook and pampers us. I’ll get to be part of that after the conference, and to spend some time with the grandchildren. Robert and our son-in-law may very well spend part of Father’s Day weekend at the air show in Hamilton!
After my return, I hope to get promised book reviews completed (belatedly), walls painted (still accusingly waiting after our months-long plumbing endurance test), lawns raked and cut, and joyfully continue my editing (meant sincerely. The ms. I have right now are very interesting), and, of course, writing.
More than enough gabbing. Time to take my antibiotic, catch a little more sleep, so I can continue preparations for the week to come.
Peace,
Patricia
Someday I'll learn how to post photos properly in here.
