Source of the delicious water here at SNP 

Winlaw - the day before the big snowfall 

Walk on a winter's day... 

Gussy Buster Boy 
One of the joys of visiting SNP in Winlaw is ease of access to animals. Here's Mr. Handsome - Gus, the part wolf, part German Shepherd, part lapdog... At the moment, Ophelia (fluffy orange kitty cat) keeps threatening to dance over the keyboard of my laptop... All these animals certainly make it easier to be away from home.

All was well, of course - we did arrive just fine, though it was a bit like descending into a tub of thick soup when we dropped out of the sky and plunged through the thick clouds. I hate to think how bad the visibility must be when they make the decision to cancel!

The note on the departure board at the Vancouver airport is a little unnerving - beside my flight and destination information is the abbreviation 'WTR ADV.' I wonder what this means, if the flight has been delayed, or cancelled. I am, after all, heading for 'Cancel-gar'.

"What does Weather Advisory mean?" I ask at the counter.

The woman behind the desk gives a patient shrug. "Conditions in Castlegar are fair. So we don't know whether you'll be able to land."

"So the flight's been delayed?"

"Oh, no - they'll fly out there and see how it goes. If they can't get in, they'll turn around a come back."

I raise my eyebrows at this. Surely the airline has a phone? Is anyone at home in Castlegar? Can they look outside and see what the weather is like? Or does landing (or not landing) depend on the skill or temperament of the pilot? Or will a vote be taken among the passengers as we circle above the bowl of a valley in which the Castlegar airport lies? I wonder what the pilot will be able to see from above that will tell him whether or not a landing attempt would be wise. What if he's fed up and doesn't feel like flying back and forth and decides to risk a landing? What if he has a lady friend waiting at the other end? Or prostate trouble and really needs to use the loo? This is a small plane (propellors!) - who will fly the plane should the captain feel the need? And say we have to abort the trip, turn around, come back to Vancouver... do we sit around in the airport waiting for the weather to change from FAIR to SLIGHTLY-BETTER-THAN-FAIR?

All this seems a bit analog to me.

"Don't worry, dear," the woman at the counter says. "The other flights today all had advisories. They all made it in okay."

So, fingers crossed, I board with the other passengers, I stow my horse magazines, digital camera, coat, computer, etc. and settle in for the duration, however long that might be.

TO DO TODAY
- truck to Cunningham's (exhaust pipes dropped out while travelling at speed on the Pat Bay Highway)
- VOTE
- ship books to three schools in Duncan
- confirm Desiree will be able to come and help Dad with the horses while I'm away
- worm the horses
- all the normal barn chores
- complete Canada Council form for readings done in Duncan/Chemainus
- interview Karen's mother
- follow-up on school booking query (been playing phone tag with the principal for a week)
- clean Dad's car (trunk currently filled with hay debris - see point one above)
- back-up hard drive to external drive to be taken to Winlaw
- bring more hay up from storage barn down the road (by hand, two bales at a time, on a push cart)
- send an update email to all the folks in Iceland who are waiting for copies of the TV show on tape
- call farrier to change date of appointment
- laundry
- water plants
- pack
- continue to edit the travel piece about getting lost in the Lake District
- pull all files relating to GOOD NEIGHBOURS (adult novel)
- and so on...
Sigh. There's more, of course, but I have to get at least this much done before I leave tomorrow.
Meanwhile, stayed up too late last night reading Crazy Man by Pamela Porter.
Really, really good. Berdina at Cadboro Bay Books said Porter's writing reminded her a bit of Sharon Creech - it's a good comparison. Couldn't put it down. I often don't agree with the Canada Council prize winners, but in this case, yeah - they got it right. In February Porter will speak at the Victoria Children's Literature Roundtable on a Newcomer's Panel, so named because the authors are relatively unknown to members of our group. In fact, Porter is not really new to the writing world, more like recently discovered in a big way. I have to see if I have a copy of her first book, Sky somewhere in my library. The cover looks vaguely familiar... so, there we go - another thing to do today, find a copy of Sky that I may not even own. That should be good for a healthy stretch of procrastinating at some point...

What am I listening to?

Thanks to my brother, Pete (who, for years, has been trying to expand my listening beyond John Denver and Joni Mitchell) I now own an ipod. So, yes, I too walk around with those white ear buds and wires protruding from my ears. Not only was that a fabulous Christmas present, I also received a pre-charged itunes account (now is this guy a great brother, or what?). So, I've been music shopping, catching up on two or three decades of music. Sorry Joni- though you have been dutifully copied into my ipod, Ladies of the Canyon is low on the rotation list... Ah, bliss - music in my ears while I do the laundry.

What am I reading?

And how is it? Fabulous. This is one I've had on my shelf for ages and ages but for some reason, haven't read it before now. Thoroughly enjoying the humour, the magic, the plot twists and turns, the hopeless/hapless (but determined) hero and his lovely djinni, the inimitable Bartimaeus. Jonathan Stroud is moving up my list of favourite authors of quality fantasy for young readers (along with Garth Nix and Philip Pullman).

After 27 days of rain, we were going for the record (32 days, set in the 50's...). Then, the weather gods decided to give us a 26 hour break! So, now it's pouring and windy and miserable again (and forecast is for it to stay that way for a bit) but we don't get the pleasure of at least being able to set the record for most consecutive days with rain. How is this fair?

Strange reflections in a flooded field....

After coming close to breaking the record for most ever consecutive days of rain, Dad and I rushed out yesterday to take advantage of several hours of sunshine. We've been hoping to take some photos and yesterday we decided to go off in search of wildlife. We pulled out of the driveway and, voila, this little fellow was sitting in the middle of the road. All I had to do was roll down the window, point and shoot! We did wind up slogging through waterlogged fields to try and photograph Trumpeter swans and mallards. Then, we drove down to Dallas Road, took some photos at the Chinese Cemetery, and nearly perished from hypothermia being blown around in the wind. In the end, this photograph, snapped three seconds into our expedition, turned out to be one of the best of the whole day! 

This is the vehicle I plan to use to get to the Victorian Tea in June. By then, little Emma won't look like such a fuzzy ball. This photo was taken during an outing in December - the driver (in the middle) is my neice, Aly. 

Humming along, happily busy. A good feeling! I'm actually making progress on my pages of To-Do's. I'm not exaggerating - the current list is three and a half pages long. In my endless quest to get better organized, I decided that I needed a comprehensive master list to keep me on track in life. I even have coordinated Excel spreadsheets with lists of tasks and progress being made on each.

One of the projects is at last well under way. Ever since returning from Iceland I've been meaning to put up some sort of blog for the TV Show (Around the World on Horseback). The basic structure is now there (with photos). Still on the To-Do list is adding more text detail and links.

I've started the research for a new book (a biography of Paralympian, Karen Brain). Details of how all this is proceeding (and photos) can be found on the Diary of a Children's Author and Publisher blog. (Blogs, blogs everywhere!)

Next week will be busy - the Victoria Children's Literature Roundtable is hosting mystery novelist Melanie Jackson. Since I'm the Chair, I have to a) attend the meeting and b) remember Melanie's name when I introduce her. We are also busily planning our 25th Anniversary bash - A Silver Jubilee Victorian Tea to be held June 4th.

After that, off to Book Splash up-island to give several school presentations on Tuesday and Wednesday and then, on Friday, two performances of Sir Gawain for the Bayside School Reading Week. Then, I'll be packing in earnest for my week-long writing retreat in the Kootenays.

There are two things one can be certain of when it's Christmas and there are tons of relatives around...

1. It isn't long before the older members of the family need naps.

2. As soon as said older members nod off, the younger ones appear with their cameras.

Aly ready for a trail ride on Emma.  

Well... my idea of hastily bringing in a replacement child to take my mind off Dani's move to Toronto almost worked! Aly (niece)has proven to be great entertainment. However, it feels like I've talked to Dani more in the last couple of days than I have for the past six months! The poor girl has had a terrible time of it - sleep deprived, harrassed by evil Texans on the train, food poisoning, arriving at a deserted campus... forgot her computer cable - can't get online with her laptop - had to schlepp a monitor across campus only to discover her big computer isn't working properly... Regular phonecalls and moaning updates have kept me parenting at full speed... with the added delight of a five year-old looking at me with eyes that say, 'Auntie Nikki - when will you be off the phone?'

Ack. That just about sums it up. So pressed for time am I, point form of the deadlines I currently face will have to do. The list should serve as an explanation as to why a) I am a lousy correspondent, b) this blog is so neglected, and c) I'm feeling panicky even though I don't drink much coffee any more.

1. Must finish sequel to Jo's Triumph. First draft of Jo's Gold is nearly done - small problem - I hate it.

2. Must submit Family Guide (for parents of very small - i.e. preschool - children) to the Royal British Columbia Museum. An exceptionally interesting project, and one that has helped with research for Jo's Gold, but extremely challenging. Just try distilling a whole museum into five thousand words or less. Extra challenge: some of your readers are still in diapers.

3. Finalize travel details for Iceland trip for new TV Show, Around the World on Horseback. Penalty for not getting this finished - no trip to Iceland.

4. Last reveiw due (waaaay overdue) for CBRA.

5. Island Parent Magazine column - deadline today.

6. Various publicity-related things in my capacity as Sono Nis publicist. Read Second Watch - it's good.

7. Final edits are done for the new Tarragon Island book (Trouble on Tarragon Island) but pressure is mounting to start work on a new book.

8. Submit content for Victoria Children's Literature Roundtable newsletter.

9. Edit/format/write (not necessarily in that order) the Bolen Books Bookworm.

10. Keep the animals alive - fed, watered, mucked, and exercised.

11. Keep myself alive - fed, watered, mucked, and exercised.

Those are the highlights I'm dealing with today. There's more, but I don't have time to write them down.

Colic is the number one killer of horses. But it looks like it didn't manage to do old Emma in... Whew! I do not know how I would have told my little niece, Aly, that her beloved pony was no more. But wow, what a gruelling and hideous couple of days it has been.

We checked on the horses at about 11pm on Tuesday night, after a late shift at the bookstore, and found Emma (THE most adorable Section A Welsh Pony on the planet) in some serious discomfort - rolling in her paddock, drenched from nose to tail, completely not interested in even thinking about food (not at all like her...)

It was pretty obvious this was a classic case of colic. Called the vet who came out and gave her a shot of pain killers and then Dani and I stayed up all night, alternately walking her and letting her rest. By 3AM the painkiller seemed to be wearing off and we had a phone consultation with the vet... continued the walk-rest routine all night. At 8AM the vet was back with another shot of painkillers and, since there hadn't been even a morsel of manure all night, the decision to do a stomach tube procedure. However, he only had horse-sized tubes and his partner is more the colic specialist, so we had to wait another four hours until the second vet could arrive.

Poor Emma! After sticking a tube down her throat he let the excess air bubble out before pumping her full of mineral oil and water. If she felt gross before, she certainly felt rotten after that. More painkillers and an endless cycle of walking her for fifteen minutes and then letting her rest. We tried to tempt her with a little grass - nothing. Poor thing was totally depressed, her head hanging down (not a good thing as she was so backed up that the mineral oil mixture would start to dribble out her nose...).

Dani and I set up camp again, this time with one proper bed in the tack room (the night before we had a pile of blankets in her stall and switched back and forth every fifteen minutes) and a corner with blankets in Emma's stall so at least one of us would be comfortable during our sleep phases. Since the vet said the process of clearing the impaction could last anywhere from a few hours to several days (!!!!), we settled in for the long haul with longer shifts on duty and sleeping.

Finally, at about 1AM, a dribble of liquid manure!!!! Then, another squirt and Emma took a bit of hay. Then, a gushing splurt (sorry so graphic, but why wouldn't I share?) and she had a drink. After that, every fifteen minutes she pooped a little more and ate and drank a little more. She has continued to improve all night and now (it's just after lunch), she is resting in her stall, a pile of respectable-if-still-a-bit-soft manure beside her. So, we hope the worst is over! We've come back to the house more than ready for showers and a hot breakfast and a pile of stinking blankets to wash. After a couple of nights like that I really have to wonder why I persist with this animal-keeping business. Needless to say, this is why emails and phonecalls have gone unanswered, work has been left undone.

And more traumas on the email front...

After finally getting things working (or so I thought) on the laptop, I started the Great Office Cleanup Project. I have been merrily emptying out several years' worth of ... stuff... from my little office (details and pix over on the publisher blog... follow link to the left), not worrying that my main computer was unplugged (after all, it was out of the way, my desk was slowly emerging from under the debris, and I could check my email). Hah! Turns out the messages that were arriving on the laptop represented only a random selection of messages that had been sent my way.

This, I discovered, when I set up my desktop in what was formerly my dining room (nothing like starting on a new room when an old one just gets too full!), fired up my email program, and was promply buried in a deluge of 450 emails dating back to February 1st!!!!!!!!! What gives? How is it even possible that certain emails (and quite a few of them, at that) slipped through the ethers quite happily while others stalled out... somewhere...

Egads. My friend, Richard from Chilliwack, your note was one of those caught up in this dreadful state of affairs... Please accept this, my public apology. I shall sign off here and write to you forthwith.

Oh the frustrations of technology.... more email gone missing! The server in Japan where my mail resides has been awfully flakey since January 1. Today, once again, mail has gone astray, never arriving at my inbox. So, if you happen to be a person who a) reads this blog and b) wrote to me this afternoon, please resend...

On a happier note, keyed in changes to the first 68 pages or so of the second draft of TI-3 earlier today. Some of the progress on this novel is being tracked over at the other blog (Journal of a Publisher and Children's Author - link over to the left). Since I am getting heartily sick of calling this book TI-3, or Tarragon Threee, or The War in the Tarragon Woods Except My Publisher Doesn't Like This Title So it Will Probably Change, if you are good at titles, please send me a few suggestions! Thanks in advance, oh wonderful titlers out there!

Oh man, what have I done? Started another blog???? However, as I thought might happen, with Diane's goading, posts are appearing! Not only that, with Diane's encouragement, my office is slowly being excavated. After a very long time nursing my mother, I have returned home and ever since have been digging through piles and piles and piles of papers, folders, sticky notes, stacks of books, heaps of bills (many not even opened - sorry about that people who are waiting for money!)

It is pretty amazing how life just stopped there for a while. If anyone from CWILL pops by, the cheque is going into the mail... I promise. That is, right after I find my chequebook. Who writes cheques any more these days? I do humbly apologize for being such a delinquent member... If it is any consolation, at least half a dozen other organizations (SCBWI, Women Writing the West, the National Pony Express Association, the International Reading Association among them) also lapsed last year... 2005 promises to be much better. My dear mother is now in residence at a nursing home close by and this means I am finally getting back to normal - not that normal was ever highly efficient, but last year was quite extraoridinary in terms of its complete and utter chaos.

Writing from Paradise - Literally!

There really is no excuse not to write - I am being completely indulged at the moment. Diane of Sono Nis Press graciously invited me up to the Slocan Valley to stay in the writer's retreat at the most glorious spot in the valley - on Paradise Valley Road.

So, I'm writing, working busily away on the first set of revisions to the third Tarragon Island book (thanks, Laura and Diane, for preliminary feedback!). Even more exciting (revisions could not exactly be called fun) is the early work we are doing on a new historical novel set in the Slocan Valley. For more information about this new project, click on the link over to the left that will lead you to a blog Diane and I will be keeping as we work our way from initial idea to arrival of book. Since Diane is far better organized than I am, there may actually be a chance that the publishing blog we do together will be updated on a regular basis (if only for Diane to say, "Nikki? It's your turn... again... still..."

I know this blog was supposed to be a chronicle of the writing life... but somehow, life keeps getting in the way. I wonder, sometimes, how long it will be before I can get back to some sort of productive schedule at the computer. Dani is egging me on to produce at least a few words a day and to this end has created a nom de plume for me at the nanowrimo.org website. To be more accurate, it's a nom de plume for both of us as we are working on a collaborative project.

If you don't know about NaNoWriMo yet, it's pretty cool. The lengthy acronym stands for National Novel Writing Month. Each November, countless would-be novelists crack open notebooks, sharpen pencils, and flex their carpal tunnels in an effort to write 50,000 words before the end of the month. The website has tons of info, networking, and fun stuff (plenty, in fact, to distract even the most dedicated writer!) for moments when enthusiasm sags...

Five days into the month you may ask, "How is it going?" I must admit that Dani has completed more that her share of the word-count so far but I have surprised myself by writing more than I have for months. Together we've written about 5000 words - not bad, all things considered!

And so, rather than an update on Nikki's Critterville, I will sign off and try to write a few more words before life, once again, gets in the way.

Breezy - 1980-2004

If I were the superstitious type, I might consider staying in bed on the 13th day of each month. October 13th was a miserable day, all in all. Poor old Breezy decided to roll in the corner of her paddock and in the course of getting up, broke her back leg. The most ironic part of the horrible accident was that the 13th was supposed to be her retirement party. To that end, I had picked up a lovely Shetland pony cross (Emma) and her two best friends, pygmy goats Molly and Casey. These three critters were in the horse trailer waiting to unload when the drama in the paddock unfolded. Perhaps this was Breezy's way of telling me she did not approve of the whole retirement concept.

They say tragedies come in threes and, true to form, Breezy's sad demise was just the first of three deaths that day. My truck has not started since the 13th and neither has my laptop computer. Strange, hmmm?

Photo credit goes to Dani who, thankfully, took a whole series of really lovely portraits of Breezy this summer.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, here is one of the lmiited edition prints I've unearthed... 

And from the "As if I didn't have enough on my plate department...", here's a new project to check out... http://members.tripod.com/nikki_tate/artist_agent/
Finally, finally, finally - Dad has let me into his studio! And what a treasure trove it has turned out to be! After years of hoarding original paintings, drawings, Artist Proofs and some copies of several limited edition lithographs made over the years, Dad has finally agreed to let me catalogue some of the goodies he has stashed away. I attribute this change of heart to his recent literal change of heart (well, installation of a brand spanking new heart valve, anyway...) During his recovery this summer he had plenty of time to reflect on his 'I'm not showing my paintings to anyone - you can sell them after I die' attitude of recent years. With the new valve ticking away he has come to the conclusion he might actually have a few more paintings in him yet... To make room for the new, he's decided to let me sell much of what I find tucked in the various nooks and crannies of his studio. This is quite an amazing move for a man who has always locked his studio door and kept everyone out...

Other recent activities include the amazing Barnathon project. Many, many thanks to those who spent last weekend pounding nails, hauling gravel, pouring cement, hefting lumber, drilling, screwing, sawing, etc., etc., The barn looks so much better now that Tony's stall door is no longer listing (the result of too much butt-scratching on the door frame!). Alas, we were so busy labouring away, only one or two photos were taken... I shall try to obtain copies and post them here so you can see what we've been up to. Thanks again to Hermione, Emily, Nikki, Holly, Glen, Desiree, and Dad for your hours and hours of back-breaking work! And thanks, too, to Danielle for catering the event - your pancakes made it bearable to wake up in the tack room after a slightly chilly campout!

In response to an email request from a reader, here is a map of Kenwood, the ficticious suburb just outside Victoria, BC where the StableMates novels are set. In real life, this is similar to the area of Cordova Bay north of Mattick's Farm and south of Dooley. The quality of this image isn't great, but all the new editions of the StableMates novels (the series now has seven books...) include a copy of this map. Thanks for asking!

And here's me... about as formal as I ever get.  

Formal nights aboard the ship were lots of fun. Here's Dani in all her finery making the oh-so-tough decision 'Chocolate sauce, or no chocolate sauce on the Baked Alaska...' 

Saw tons (literally!) of ice on the trip... but under clear, blue skies... couldn't have asked for better weather. Actually suffered from heat stroke one day! 

Skagway's friendliest resident... Seen here at the local watering hole.  

Made it! Here's a photo of me in front of my temporary home up in Alaska. Dani and I had a really great time and enjoyed a complete and total break from the crazy schedule back at our land-based home. Read 'Ida B' while away and highly recommend it! 

It seems I can either live life or write, not both. The days are full and bizarre... there is nothing like dealing with serious family illness to make one sit back and contemplate one's own mortality, count blessings and all of that. Despite plenty of challenges these days, there are also plenty of blessings. This past week, my brother visited from Tokyo (he has lived there for the last 16 years or so). While here he decided it was high time that we went whale watching.  

First, we all had to put on the orange, hooded survival suits.
Then, the tour guide showed us where the whales were likely to be feeding.... south end of Saturna Island, though we were told they might have moved 30 miles from there by the time our open aluminum boat arrived....
After quite a bashing on choppy seas, we settled into position to wait and were rewarded with a glimpse of distant fins...
 

 



This was pretty cool, but then the whales headed right for our boat and we were treated to an incredible display far better than any marine world show... 
 




 
Needless to say, this was quite the amazing outing. Reminds me why I love this place where I live. It also makes me wonder why on earth we wait for out of town visitors before we indulge ourselves in the pleasures of our surroundings.... This was my first ever whale watching trip and I've spent many, many years on the coast.
This same, wonderful brother decided that Christmas was a long way off and presented me and my daughter Dani (now 17!!) with an early Christmas gift - an Alaska cruise! We leave on August 7th. We are so excited we can hardly stand it!! If the scenic delights were many on my three hour whale watching expedition, what will a week in some of the most gorgeous scenery in the world be like? Stay tuned...
 

Here's a photo of Iago
,
the savvy barn cat who knows to keep her distance from those hefty horse hooves.
And another one...

down in the forest where we are building yet another fence.

Here's a photo of our back yard... Sigh. This is why I love living on Vancouver Island!

Tony is the chestnut horse. When I first acquired him last year we called him 'Bony Tony.' After nearly a year of steady eating, the nickname no longer fits!

My goodness - another busy month. This post is the first time that I've ever used my new voice-recognition software to compose an entry. I must say that I'm quite impressed with the software even though I'm still in the training phase. In fact, the problem isn't that the software doesn't understand me or can't keep up with my speaking, the problem is that I can't think clearly enough to compose sentences fast enough to dictate them. The result is lots of hmmms and emmms and errrrs (I confess I had to type in those last three words) which then need to be edited out.

Another problem that I've discovered is that my office chair squeaks really loudly. My tireless software keeps trying to interpret these noises and offers me various strange alternatives. And another problem that I hadn't anticipated the is that this is the beginning of allergy season here on the West Coast. After I've been talking for a while, I become quite congested. And as I get more congested, the number of errors increases. Luckily, this is easily remedied by blowing my nose.

The whole process of speaking out loud watch my words appear magically on the screen is completely surreal. However, if I stick with this and keep training the software to understand my particular speech idiosyncrasies (maybe I need to create an allergy season profile and another one for winter?), I should be able to produce a written work at a phenomenal pace. How cool is that? I don't even have to worry about aggravating my carpal tunnels! And if you're wondering whether or not I have to cheat and use the keyboards to insert punctuation -- no! This incredibly smart system actually understands the difference between my spoken words (which, by the way I speak at my normal, rather rapid pace) and whatever commands I need to give to my computer.

Not only that, if I do have to make a correction, the software learns from its earlier mistake and is less likely to make the same error again. If only I were so smart!

Seven days since the crack on the head and finally, finally, I can chew a bagel without wincing. Have been rather distracted over the past few days due to the Western Book Reps Book Fair (or whatever the event is called...) The schedule was pretty brutal for a few days there... Monday and Tuesday started with author breakfasts commencing at 7:15AM!!!! (what are these people thinking??? Authors are not conscious that early... I'm certainly not conscious that early...). Then, spent hours cruising the publisher/book rep tables in search of cool new titles and, after staggering home with bags full of ARCs (Advance Reading Copies) and all kinds of publisher promo items to give away at various bookstore events, we had to do things like feast and dance late into the night at the annual dinner/dance hosted by Bolen Books at the Union Club. Despite the hideous hour, it is always great to get a chance to hear authors speak at the breakfasts - highlights included Dean Griffiths and Troy Wilson dressed in superhero costumes, witty presentations by Susan Juby and M.A.C. Farrant, and being introduced to several new authors (well, new to me...)

Last night was the February meeting of the teen book club at the bookstore (this month's selection was ENDER'S GAME), so by the time I arrived home, brought the horses in, and hit the sack, I was more than ready for a good night's sleep!

After so long being distracted, busy adjusting to life as a caregiver, scrambling to find sufficient income to feed the nags, etc., it feels unspeakably marvelous to be back at work on Tarragon #3. Wrote a couple of pages yesterday and about to type/edit another section now. Still feeling blissfully happy to be alive. Jaw healing remarkably quickly - still can't chew anything too solid, but the swelling almost completely gone and I can now force my teeth together.

Spent a little time today (after an embarrassingly late sleeping-in session - wow - haven't slept this much since I was a teenager! nothing like a knock on the head to cure insomnia!) transferring several hundred photos of the Great Nevada Adventure from various CDs to my new, bigger, now-not-so-empty hard-drive. That was such a cool trip! I can hardly believe that we actually did it... I mean, what was I thinking????

Here she is... the mad, mad mare of Saanich (seen here a few days after I bought her in Nevada...)

Exact location: Sand Mountain.

There is nothing quite like a near-death experience to make the grass look a little greener... Yesterday, thinking we should take advantage of a glorious spring day, sunshine, mild breeze, the whole bit, Dani suggested we go out for a trail ride. I jumped at the chance, of course, as I don't get to do a whole lot of riding. So, off we went, me on Breezy, Dani on Tony. We cut down to the trail through a neighbour's place, but took a route that still required a stretch alongside a busy road.

On the way back, we decided to explore another option - a short-cut through a different field that would eliminate all road travel. Ironic, then, that this effort to find a safer way home nearly killed me!

To get to the field from the trail (the Lochside Trail, just north of Sayward Road, in case anyone knows the Saanich Peninsula), we had to navigate a fairly steep bank, cross a shallow/narrow creek, and go up a low bank on the other side. After Dani snapped off branches from bushes and trees growing on the bank, she was able to lead Tony down fairly easily, travelling at a bit of an angle so the horses didn't have to go straight down. Though Tony wasn't overly impressed and Dani got her feet a bit wet, he followed calmly and emerged into the field completely unscathed, interested mostly in snatching a bit of grass while waiting for Breezy to follow.

Poor Breezy, being a beast of the desert, has a few issues with water, and though there was a perfectly clear way down the bank, she decided that there was no way she was going to descend to the bottom where, heaven forbid, she would get her feet wet. She wound up defying gravity and her aging hocks and traversed the steep bank sideways, doing wild-eyed sidepasses through uncleared brush and saplings. Seeing there was going to be trouble, I leaped over the creek and, still holding the reins, tried to encourage her to move forward, into the water.

Mistake! Breezy took my encouragement as an invitation to leap into my arms! Have you every tried to catch a 1220 lb bundle of wild-eyed terror? Nasty. The last thing I saw was this wall of white chest coming at me like a hairy avalanche and then my head became the filling in a horse/tree-trunk sandwich. A sickening cracking/crushing sound echoed in my skull. Excruciating pain shot through my jaw and then I found myself being tossed backwards into a low fork in the tree.

Somewhere in this process I let go of the reins and Breezy plunged through the creek and out into the field where Dani grabbed her and came back to the creek to see what had happed to me. All she could see were my boot soles hanging over the tree fork. She said it looked like I had been dropped out of the sky and she couldn't imagine how I had wound up hanging upside down in the tree.

Meanwhile, I was doing an inventory of damage. Neck seemed to be ok. Arms and legs were working fine. I could breathe. I was pretty sure that judging by the noise, I had shattered my skull, so I was a little surprised I was actually able to do such a calm body-damage check. The pain in my jaw was astounding and I decided that despite my wooziness and nausea, that was likely the worst area of trouble. This decided, I reassured Dani that there was no need to call an ambulance, and extricated myself from the tree (slowly!).

By this time, Breezy had got a little dancy, so I decided that given my unsteadiness and the distance left to walk home, I would be safer on board, hanging onto the saddle horn. To Dani's horror, on I climbed and we made our way home. Dani, bless her heart, scurried around and put the horses away, fed them, threw the tack into the tack room and then took me to the hospital where I was met with many, many versions of "Wow - you are lucky to be alive!" and "You should have been a major head trauma case!" As it turns out, the shattering sound was my riding helmet, not my skull... and despite amazing swelling and bruising, and some superficial cuts caused by the helmet buckle, all the damage to my jaw was to soft tissue. 48 hours from now my teeth on the left side should once again meet up and I'll be back to crunching my way through even the crispiest of potato chips!

Just arrived home from one of the many fabulous films playing this week at the Greater Victoria Independent Film Festival. Saw Ham and Cheese the other night, How to Be a Model tonight, and tomorrow have tickets to the one about the parking meter dudes. True confession: I really, really want to work in film. Documentary. Mocumentary. Feature (drama/comedy). You name it, I'd love to give it a try. Doing what? Well, flexible on that front, too. Acting. Directing. Writing. Making sandwiches for the people who actually know how to make movies. I'm not fussy. So, there you have it... my little secret.

You know, it is a miracle that I ever manage to finish a book. Just look at the state of this blog!!!! (Notice a theme here?) Actually, part of the problem is that blogs don't come with built-in deadlines. Though, that is only part of the problem.

Fact is, have had a dreadful year - starting at about last Christmas (2002) when my mother drove her car off the road (see photos posted a few entries back). This was the beginning of a very, very stressful series of events that lead to her eventual diagnosis of suffering from Pick's Disease.

This is a rare type of dementia that strikes people far too young and causes all sorts of strange personality changes and behaviour problems. Needless to say, I've been rather distracted! So distracted, in fact, that both my current book projects have been delayed (the new Tarragon Island book and the sequel to Jo's Triumph). While pulling back a bit on my usually intense writing schedule was fine as a short-term solution while my father and I shifted gears into caretaker mode, January marked the beginning of my new, revised writing schedule.

With any luck, I'll be able to get both manuscripts done before the summer arrives.

Meanwhile, over at Annick Press, Grandparents' Day is cruising along toward completion. Though this is officially a Fall, 2004 release, I should have advance mock-ups in hand later on this spring. I am really excited about seeing the finished illustrations by Benoit Laverdiere, a talented (if quirky) artist from Quebec.

How time flies...
It was quite a summer - lots of visitors (my mother isn't well so all the siblings and their offspring came to visit), lots to do on the barn, writing... This was a glorious summer weather-wise - hot, sunny, not a drop of rain for weeks and weeks. Which, of course, was part of the problem with the horrible fires in the Okanagan. Friends in Kelowna were evacuated several times. Luckily, their home was spared.
Most of September was spent working on the new book, preparing for several trips, and then, heading out of town.

Frustrating couple of days - everything seems to be a bit of a struggle. The roof of the barn has proven to be way more frustrating than I could have imagined - how hard can it possibly be to align notches in joists? Hard, apparently. Painfully slow progress on that front. Busy at Bolen Books and not so productive on the new book. Annick does not like the first draft of the Tante Margarita story, so back to the drawing board on that one! Feeling more time pressure than usual as I have to go to Vancouver tomorrow morning... The reason for the trip is wonderful - meeting up with my sister and her family and my brother and his family... All the girls in the group are going to see Cirque de Soleil (thanks to my other brother, Pete - the one who lives in Tokyo - it's sort of a group birthday present...). That should be fun! I'll be back here by Saturday, though, at which point we hope to put all able-bodied relatives to work on the barn... Winter is a coming and that roof had better be secured before the rains are upon us once again!

Wrote another four pages of War in the Tarragon Woods this morning and three more by hand this evening. Broke my own rule and allowed myself to get distracted by doing research about dyslexia and literacy in Canada. Spent several hours at the bookstore last night doing some ordering, creating TO-DO lists for the homelearners info night in September, and then started reading an interesting book put out by the IRA (International Reading Association) that provides lots of help to tutors interested in helping kids learn to read.

Down in the land of the unfinished barn, Dad and I spent several rather unproductive hours fiddling around with notching a roof support... only to discover the clear plastic roofing we want to use over the covered walkway between the stalls isn't rigid enough to hold itself up across the 2' spans we had calculated.... So, we will have to reinforce the supporting structure with 2X2s running inbetween our 2X6s... At least the horses were entertaining. From up on our ladders, we had a good view of them rolling around in their new turnout areas... Once Tony had thoroughly ground all kinds of dirt, sticks, and grass into his mane and tail, he then proceeded to give himself a lengthy scratch and massage on the large branches overhanging his paddock. Breezy was a little vigorous when it came time to lurch to her arthritic feet and wound up hobbling around in circles until she had worked out the kinks in her back end. Poor old dear.

Whenever I'm working on a first draft I inevitably come up with questions I don't know how to answer. Instead of stopping to do research along the way, I keep lists in the front of the file folder where I also keep print-outs of however much I have typed into the computer each day (ever since a terrible hard-drive crash a few years ago when I lost most of a manuscript, I print everything as I go along). Unless there's some critical piece of information I must obtain before I can continue with the story, usually I wait until the end of the first draft when I go on a big research binge (I've usually been on at least one before I even start writing the first draft). Then, I go back and rewrite the first draft, adding in all the new details I've managed to scrounge up...

Here's my list so far for War in the Tarragon Woods:
-Heather's class, teacher names, map of school, locker location, timetable, decide on classmates... TWYG?
-Find TI-2 calendar and continue
-Read rest of Skud

-logging companies - Weyerhaeuser, changes to logging methods, rationale, effect on individual loggers
-alternatives - park/protect - trade-off?
-Merv Wilkinson - selective/horse logging
-Experimental forest reserve
-RCMP on SSI - process for protestors
-jail - size/nature of facilities - arrange a tour?
-injunctions?
-# staff - typical jobs
-contsables?
-jugde, court access? hearings? at what point off-island?
-schools - policy and procedures re. vandalism/persecution/hate crimes

This is why, during the writing of Battle for Carnillo I made a note to myself, "Hang from wrists for extended period to check circulation/ability to climb down rope." This is also why, in the final version of the manuscript, many of the iron rings in the prison tower walls are set at waist-height rather than above people's heads...

After far too many months of missing my writing group (conflict with soccer practice before Dani had her licence, various dreadful deadlines and trips since she has taken to the road), I attended a rather rousing evening with the gang. Last night was all writing exercises - by the end of the evening my arm was ready to drop off, but wow, it was so great to see everyone again and stretch those writing muscles in new directions.

Speaking of stretched muscles, finally pounded in the last fencepost of the two grassy paddocks for the horses. Breezy and Tony have much enjoyed munching on fresh, green grass while being supervised by Dani who has taken up semi-permanent residence in the hammock we rigged up under the trees adjacent to the new mini-fields.

Writing-wise, finished off an article for Kite Tales , the SCBWI LA newsletter (about authors and bookstore events), and finished the design of the new Bolen Books Kid Section newsletter (first issue will go to press, so to speak, in time for release on Aug. 1). That would be... ack - this Friday - another deadline in my life. Oh, yay!

Continue to work, slowly, on a middle grade fiction collaboration with my dear friend Jane and am waiting to hear back about an interactive CD/Online game proposal - And, of course, keep plodding along with War in the Tarragon Woods.

Also on the works in progress list, Jo's Gold, which may turn out to be Jo's Silver as the timing is all wrong for Jo's 1861 arrival in California. Well, there's nothing wrong with her arrival, but the gold rush there was essentially over. I'll either have to send her north (toward the Yukon), turn her around and have her head for Virginia City and the Comstock Lode, or perhaps stay in California but find some sort of metaphorical gold... Currently agonizing over this...

The northern woods/Tante Margarita picture book manuscript has made it as far as 'being under editorial consideration.' I consider this to be excellent news and much better than, 'no thanks.'

Other projects include several non-fiction titles for adults, all in the early stages, developing new children's programming at Bolen Books, and ongoing work on the barn/horse facilities. And then, there's the garden. Note to self: Cut the grass in the front yard TODAY!!!! It looks dreaful out there. In fact, you can't see the lawn for all the dandelions. Relatives are due to descend upon us in another week or so, so I guess I'd better stop blogging and get back to work chipping away at the mountain of work I have in front of me. Sigh. When it rains it pours! (Except in the summer on Vancouver Island when the sun bakes down on us and makes us forget those rainy, miserable days of March when it seems those grey skies will never, ever clear!)

Today was more or less a perfect day. Worked on War in the Tarragon Woods (working title for the new book in the Tarragon Island series), built a section of fence, ate a lovely dinner I didn't have to cook (how wonderful is it to have a 16 year-old who loves to cook??), and then, this evening, went for a delightful trail ride along a quiet country road here in paradise (well, the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island, which, in the summer, is about as close to paradise as one can get...)

Alas, even as I continue to work on War, I'm also busy with several other projects. Finally, finally managed to write a reasonable version of the Tante Margarita story and have sent it off for consideration to Annick. Speaking of Annick, saw the rough sketches and mock-up of Grandparents Day - very cool! The illustrator is Benoit Laverdiere (with a couple of accents I'm not sure how to add in this text editor...) When I checked out his webiste my jaw dropped as I could not believe the editor would have chosen this illustration style to go with what I thought was a fairly realistic story. However, now that I've seen what Benoit has come up with, I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! The book's release has been pushed back to Fall, 2004, but the advance copies should be ready by next April... Cool!!

Will post more over the next couple of days about other projects in the works... Needless to say, keeping very busy!

p.s. The copies of Battle for Carnillo arrived the day before I left for Los Angeles!!! Whew! I can tell you, I was sweating bullets as one of the main reasons I was going to Book Expo America was to launch Carnillo - would have been a wee bit difficult without any books! The book looks terrific- I love the addition of the drawings. Now, all I have to do is figure out exactly what's going to happen in Book III!

Hi!
Long time no blog! I'm writing from lovely Newmarket in Ontario where I am visiting schools during the week before the Silver Birch Award (Jo's Triumph is a finalist!!! how cool is that?). During the day I chat with school kids in the area - by evening I pull out my notebook and work away at several projects.

What's on the go at the moment? Well, the update on Battle for Carnillo is that it should be here... any second now - all is done, cool illustrations completed (thanks J.A.Z.!), map inserted, cover finished... just waiting for books to arrive from the printer. They'd better get here (well, to Victoria) before I head off to Book Expo next week or I will have no advance copies to hand out when the book is officially sent forth into the wide, wide world...

Working on the new book in the Tarragon Island series as well as a couple of speeches and talks I have to give in the next few weeks... Occasionally, I give myself a break and let myself out of my self-imposed working exile to find an Internet terminal (this one is very nice - it's at the Newmarket Public Library)...

Alas, the downside of public terminals is that they are usually associated with a time limit... Such is the case with this one, so I must be quick. I promise not to wait so long between letters... after all, there is the new horse to talk about (Bony Tony) and the barn project, and various nifty trips... and... and...

All that will have to wait...
Cheers,
Nikki

When I was growing up, my family moved a lot. By the time I was in Grade Ten I had attended ten different schools and we had moved fifty-six times on three different continents. This trend continued when I left home - I have five different universities on my undergrad transcript and added quite a few more addresses of my own. Just because we moved a lot didn't mean we got rid of stuff along the way. Au contraire - we are all (and I confess, I am the worst) pack-rats. By the time my parents, daughter, and I moved into a house in the country outside Victoria (my parents live upstairs), we had accumulated dozens and dozens and dozens of boxes of papers, books, albums, old toys, life jackets, camping gear, costumes, stuff, stuff, and more stuff, all of which has been stacked, untouched, in the basement for the last seven years or so.

This year, both my brothers are here for Christmas (one from Tokyo, the other, with his two small children, from California). What possessed the Tokyo Bro to suggest we make cleaning out the basement our family project this year, I can't imagine, but that is exactly what we have been doing for the past several days. What a job! But the treasures I've found! And the ludicrous junk! I've already tossed out eight - EIGHT!!! - garbage bags full of papers, magazines, brochures, maps, travel guides, etc. - and that's just the papery stuff. There is a mountain of ... other stuff ... destined for the dump and another sizeable heap destined for the Goodwill.

As a result of all this frenzied activity, I will not have to make a New Year's Resolution this year as I've taken care of the past several years' worth of resolutions in one fell swoop!


Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Just when you think the big issue of the day is whether to bake shortbread or chocolate chip cookies, this happens:

As my mother was pulling out onto the highway about 30 seconds away from home, someone else changed lanes and side-swiped her into the ditch. DON'T WORRY! Despite my mother's car being totalled, nobody in either vehicle was injured. The fence, however, is another story...
Luckily, here in Victoria we have very strong tow-truck guys... this one didn't even wait for mechanical assistance before he started hauling the car out of the ditch... "Look, Ma - one hand!"

Ahhh, Christmas - such a silly, crazy, fun time of year. My brother and his family (children ages 1 and a bit and 2 1/2) are here already and my goal is to make sure my niece, Aly, (the older one) becomes completely book crazy before she leaves. I have quite a stack of picture books that have been lying in ambush for months... It's great fun to study them and make up silly stories vaguely related to the illustrations - a favourite game that Dani will no longer play with me now that she's nearly 16 and knows how to read most of the words... My other goal is to create some serious horse enthusiasm by taking Aly down to the barn and letting her have a little ride around the ring on Breezy (flanked by Dani and her dad, of course, and led by me - Breezy may be old, but she has her spunky moments!)

That's it for now - many elfy things to do around here! Carnillo essentially on hold for the moment... sigh... was within twenty pages of the end of the most recent draft... Best of the Season to you!

Find of the week on the discard cart at the library... Dragons and Other Creatures: Chinese Embroidery. This book describes the secret language (hidden symbols, multiple meanings) woven into Chinese embroidery designs... Extremely useful in the context of my ongoing struggles with quilt development (see earlier post).

Not much time to blog over the weekend - was at the fabulous first annual Christmas Writers' Festival in Sidney - more about that after I get back from Courtenay - if Christmas doesn't get me first. Today was also a bit crazy - editing and then scurrying around doing a bit of Christmas shopping. For the morbidly curious, here is a piece out of the middle of Carnillo... a manuscript in shreds at the moment... though best you don't mention that to Diane at Sono Nis. She will have my head!

And, now, an experiment... I have recently upgraded my account and should, in theory, be able to post photos right here... Let's click this button and see what happens...

Holy crow! That was exciting... first time I tried that, the photo was the size of a whale! And then somehow the line of photo code got in here twice... (after I fixed the size problem... then a quantity problem...) And then, as I was trying to re-upload... everything froze! So, I do apologize if you happened to stumble through here right while all THAT was going on...
Anyway... this is a photo of me inside a whale skeleton at Miracle Beach Elementary School... I'll be visiting students there again next week (MB is near Courtenay, farther north on Vancouver Island).
Ok - before I have any more near disasters here, I'm going to head for the kitchen and scrounge up something for supper...

Though the weather has turned really wet and miserable, Dani and I slogged through barn chores in record time this morning so we arrived comfortably early for a visit with students at Blanshard Elementary School in Victoria. The kids were terrific and thanks to two wonderful local businesses (Scrapbook Parade at Royal Oak and Bolen Books at the Hillside Mall), each child at the presentation went home today with a copy of Jo's Triumph.

In other news, received a package of books from the Canadian Book Review Annual as well as tear sheets for all the reviews I wrote last year. This publication tries to review every book published in Canada each year. What a job! I'm quite excited to see what the latest titles will be like -

And, in the work-related emails received today department (because this blog is supposed to be at least partly work-related...):


- message from librarian in Ontario confirming the dates I'll be available for school visits during the week of May 19th (leading up to the Silver Birch Awards ceremony)

- message from coordinator of the annual Children's Festival up in Nanaimo - sounds like they have some great stuff planned - also in May - must let them know my availability for readings in schools during the week leading up to the festival

- DELIGHTFUL message from Annick in Toronto saying my advance cheque is in the mail (for the Grandmother picture book) - this bodes well for some extra jollies at Christmas

- and, finally - a quick note from the organizers of the Author's Festival this week out in Sidney letting me know where the secret room is where authors are allowed to run and hide, presumably when the mob scenes get overwhelming....

Just sent in my Island Parent column... decided to go for the 'Quirky Teens' theme and added Carole Frechette's little novel, In the Key of Do (story of two teenage girls and their odd but powerful friendship).

Continue to work on Carnillo... Freda (editor) is reading behind me, as it were - she has the first 150 pages or so and, after reading the first fifty, doesn't see any major problems. This is progress! So, I continue to plug on through the back half of the book...

On the 'wow, I'm not actually dead yet' front - Dani dragged me out to the Kids (U-16 Metro Girls) vs. the Parents Soccer Game last night! The miracle is, I can still move (albeit slowly) today! I have to say it was way more fun than I thought it was going to be! Actually, Dani has decided to take her relatively sedentary mother and whip her into shape... So, rather than letting me steep in a brew of Ben-Gay and Tiger Balm, she hauled my sorry butt off to the gym this morning! There I was able to read on a comfy recumbent exercise bike... My legs kept turning those pedals for 20 minutes but I hardly noticed because I successfully distracted myself with Basbanes', A Gentle Madness. I was feeling rather smug after that and was all ready to head upstairs to work on Carnillo in the library when Dani said - "Oh no you don't... first some weights... and some ab-work." Good grief! Next thing you know she'll be having me in training for some Ironwoman event... Not!

In case you are worried about my mental health (pondering the endless intricacies of a world that exists only in my head is perhaps not the healthiest thing to do hour after hour, day after day, week after week...) I did take Breezy out for a therapeutic ride this morning. It was still foggy after I dropped Dani off at the ferry (she has an off-island game today) and Breezy and I just slipped into the fog and disappeared. It was a little spooky along the trail (yes, she did her share of that, too) - but by the time we came back about an hour later, the sun was shining and the cyclists, joggers, and other riders were out in full force. Breezy was full of spunk and did her best imitation of a head-tossing, prancing, dancing four year-old!

So, what the heck am I up during the famous rewriting of the Battle for Carnillo, Book Two of the Estorian Chronicles?. Well, at the moment, I'm working my way through the prickly problems created by deciding to set this trilogy in a preliterate society. In the last draft I had a group of political agitators referring to a map. The problems are many.
1. In a preliterate society, what sort of material would this map be written on?
2. With what? Why would anyone invent any sort of permanent ink as well as the tools to apply it to an appropriate surface if nobody knows how to write?
3. What kinds of symbols would be in common use in a society where storytelling/the oral tradition is the primary means of sharing information?
Given that I need some way for groups of people not necessarily in the same room together to share information and history useful to the rebel cause, my editor made the brilliant suggestion of using some sort of quilt (think Underground Railroad, gumboot dances, etc. where one item or action takes on a completely different use/meaning within a suppressed group) to record and convey information.

This made perfect sense to me until I started working out the logistics of these story quilts. Who owns them? Who contributes to them? Do they have any magical aspects? If so, how do those magical aspects work? Were scissors of some sort invented in the Estorian/Campriano world? (if not, how will the scraps of cloth be cut into meaningful shapes... likewise for needles and thread... are there dyes? Can one have coloured cloth and thread?)

At the moment, the quilt that Dominique sees is 12 X 12 squares in dimension and is one of 1000 quilts known to exist in the world. Once all of the squares have been filled, 144,000 chosen individuals will have contributed to this recorded history/knowledge/story compilation... So, what is the significance of the 144,000 chosen in the context of this trilogy? What will happen when all the squares are filled? Will recorded history as these people understand it stop? Or will a new means of communication/recording of story/history begin?

With each decision made (and this second book introduces a whole slew of these seemingly innocent objects that are actually causing me no end of grief. I mean, who would think a quilt would cause so much trouble??????), I have to answer about a million questions and then figure out if the answers to any of those questions are actually going to cause some other problems elsewhere in the narrative.

The children's section of the bookstore is a kind of Nostalgia Lane for many who linger in front of shelves filled with old favourites like Pippi Longstocking, Harriet the Spy, Treasure Island, and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Spending a fair amount of time there myself, the nostalgia effect has pretty well worn off. But last night, I overheard a browsing couple mumbling something like... 'great book... nasty boy... Struwwelpeter...' Struwwelpeter? Could it be that this gentleman knew about the evil little boy who refused to cut his fingernails or wash his hair? Didn't my mother use that very book to strike terror into the hearts of her children - "If you don't wash... well, just think about what happened to Struwwelpeter!" Alas, last night neither of us could figure out how to spell the little tyke's name, so we were unsuccessful in tracking down the book... However, the Internet (and my mother who put me on the correct track spelling-wise) turned up the book in English translation as well as a cool website with the original text, illustrations, and several translations and English versions of this cautionary tale.

While I wasn't paying attention, December rolled around and with it, another Island Parent Magazine deadline! How the heck did that happen? So, off to have a look and see what might be good to review... I'm tempted to do Arthur Slade's Tribes and The Losers' Club, by John Lekich. Both books feature some quirky teens who don't quite fit in but who, nonetheless, manage to muddle through.

Another recent read that was rather good was Cornelia Funke's, The Thief Lord. Set in Venice, this is an intriguing tale of street children who take refuge in an abandoned movie theatre and are protected and cared for by the shadowy character, the Thief Lord. Funke's book has a fantasy element completely lacking in the first two, so I'm not sure if I can find a way to include all three in the same review... not that I need to be boring the rest of the world with my musings about what I might possibly include in my column. On the other hand, what good is a blog if it doesn't bore the world with musings?

Had a chat this morning with Diane at Sono Nis Press who seems to be very busy with her new fall lineup. She's had several very successful launches this season including one at Point Ellice House for a recent children's title, The Olden Days Locket. This is a great story about one of Victoria's landmarks, Point Ellice House. Penny Chamberlain's first book does an excellent job of blending historical fact with a dash of fantasy and a good dose of mystery. Look for more good books to come from this new author (I hear she is hard at work on her next novel - can't wait to read it!)

Going to be in the area December 13-15? Looking for something bookish to do? Check out the Christmas Writers Festival in Sidney, here on Vancouver Island. Sidney is sometimes called "Book Town" - for very good reason. You cannot turn around without stumbling into another book store! There are tons of cool events lined up - it should be a wonderful festival! Hope to see you there!

Currently reading with much, much glee, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books by Nicholas A. Basbanes. I take a fair amount of flack for my ever-growing book collection and am forever answering questions like, "Have you read all those books?" or "Why don't you just go to the library?" or "Are you sure you don't want something else for Christmas? Maybe some clothes that aren't quite so 80's?" Anyway, after reading about people who have had serious book acquisition habits through the ages, my measly little stash seems completely... well, modest by comparison.

So, now that I don't feel the need to hide my own bibliomania, I can start planning how best to store my paper companions. On the off chance one of my family members happens to stumble upon my blog while wondering what I might like for Christmas, I wouldn't say no to a copy of At Home With Books: How Booklovers Live With and Care for Their Books so I can drool over gorgeous book cases, libraries, and reading tables. Along the same lines, Living With Books would find a happy home with me. Sigh. So many books, so little time.

Seems like our more typical weather is back with us again - rain, grey skies, drizzle, fog. After the vet came to visit yesterday (by the time he'd administered dear old Breezy her various shots including the one for West Nile virus, checked out her teeth, flexed her inflexible hock, wrote a prescription for Bute, etc. I was out a considerable lump of cash... Canadian though it might be, the bill still smarted!), Breezy and I did the neighborhood loop in reverse. Along the way, passed these fine riding establishments: Ambleside Farm and Hunt Valley Stables (I had a quick search for their web pages but couldn't find any matches...). Riding along Hunt Road, Dooley Road, and the Lochside Trail just north of Sayward is always a bit of a strange experience for me. This is exactly the landscape about which I write in the StableMates novels so sometimes, when I drift off into that blissful semi-dream state a quiet ride can induce, I find myself wondering if I might run into Jessa on the trail. Scary.

What a glorious day today! Mild, sunny days like today almost make up for Victoria's notoriously rainy winters. Took Breezy out for a ride through the Hunt Valley, making mental notes (for future StableMates books) about the way the leaves have suddenly all dropped, the teeny birds flitting from branch to branch, the cyclists, the pigs, the gurgling seasonal streams, Breezy deciding to have a MAJOR spook on Dooley Road because someone had put two killer garbage bags out beside the road... She was convinced said monsters were going to eat her. We entertained a cyclist who slowed down to watch the show and make comments as we maneuvered, backwards, past the ferocious Glad bags. Why it would be acceptable to travel past the bags in reverse is beyond me - would it not make more sense to keep the enemy in full view rather than sidling past with your head turned away? If Breezy could speak I'm guessing she might have been saying something like, "I'm not looking! I'm not looking! At least I'm pointing back toward the barn, even if I'm moving in the wrong direction..." Once safely past, she wheeled around and smartly marched off, none the worse for wear.

Continue to work on Carnillo - sorry if it gets boring to keep hearing that. Just imagine what it's like to keep rewriting!

And by the way... if you have been reading this blog and wondering if we ever needed any anti-venom in Nevada, the answer is "No". In fact, the only snake I saw during the whole trip was a rather small and very dead rattler in the middle of the small dirt road leading up into Egan Canyon (for more on the ride, photos, etc., visit the StableMates website). According to locals, the snakes were shedding their skins in preparation for winter hibernation, an activity the snakes prefer to do in private.

Strangely enough, today I was back at GNS again, this time to do a storytelling performance at the Junior Girls campus for the grade 6's and 7's. I told two of my favourites - Patience and the Underpants (a great story set in Japan for which I have completely lost the original reference - if anyone out there knows of the collection in which this story appears, please, please write to me (nikki@fmamerica.com) so I can give proper credit when I tell this tale again...) as well as my version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (told from the perspective of Mary Elizabeth May Cotter, Camelot's finest chambermaid). We had lots of fun and the hour we spent together seemed to fly past (a good sign that I wasn't desperately longing for the clock hands to move along a little faster...) If you are interested in learning more about good old Sir Gawain, check out Gawain's website.

Continue to work away at revisions to Carnillo, the book that will not stop growing. Currently sitting at 62,000 words and still counting. Yikes! If the last couple of editing go-rounds have been all about adding and fleshing out, I suspect the next one will be all about cutting and hacking away some of the excess verbiage I've been labouring over for so long!

Yesterday, in a torrential downpour, took Breezy into town to deliver mail to two local schools. The expedition was like a strange flashback to all those Nevada mail deliveries - except, of course, for the weather! Thank goodness for my long Australian coat! Students at Sir James Douglas School and Glenlyon-Norfolk School made brief trips outside to greet us as we rode up. Carried the mail in hand-made saddlebags borrowed from cowboy poet, Ron Lambert. Dani took lots of photos that may some day be posted over on the old website (the frequency of my website updates is almost as poor as the frequency of my blogging!). It was very cool to visit with the kids after such a long time - it feels like I have been lugging all that mail around for months... which, actually, is completely true!

Update on the Annick story... after another couple of drafts, we have a contract on the table! Expect to see GRANDPARENTS' DAY (title may change) in the spring of 2004! I'm very curious to see who Annick has in mind for an illustrator... Will post links to potential illustrator web pages when I hear rumours of who is being considered...

Well, for a writer, I am pathetic, absolutely pathetic about keeping this here BLOG up to date. I'm tempted to just give up and delete everything rather than annoy those readers who might stumble by here and wonder, 'Hey - did she ever make it to Nevada?' And, how would you know? The single entry I was able to write at the library in Winnemucca was written but, for some reason, never published online so it appeared for weeks that I had never actually gone beyond writing lists!

We did, of course, make it all the way to Nevada and, once there, had an absolutely MARVELOUS time! I could, I suppose, just post all the press releases Jan wrote - which would at least be a start - but that seems like cheating. Or, I could start with the news of the day and work backwards... The news of the day is varied - Dani's injured ankle was finally well enough today that she was able to play for about 20 minutes in the second half of the soccer game against Coquitlam... Took Breezy (the half-Arab mare we bought down in Nevada and brought home with us) out for a ride this morning. She was, as usual, under-impressed with the rain. It seems she is unused to the following things: rain, trees, leaves, and umbrellas - all of which we have in abundance at the moment. This evening took the old girl a bran mash with carrots and her dose of Bute - her arthritic hock is acting up with all the dampness.

In most excellent publishing news, Annick Press is interested in taking on a picture book inspired by my Omi - stay tuned for details. Am back at work with what I hope (we all hope) is a last major revision to the Battle of Carnillo and raring to go on the next Tarragon Island book (working title: Another Tree Falls). It's safe to say that title will be chopped before we go to press. I'm highly motivated to get cracking on the book because we are still negotiating the sale of the TV/film rights to the series and the production company is expecting a four book package.

Had a wonderful time at the Women Writing the West conference in Denver a couple of weeks ago - Met some fabulous writers and attended some great workshop sessions. Can't wait to go to next year's conference in Arizona.

Recent reads:

Lucky: A Memoir
by Alice Sebold
and

A Rhinestone Button
by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Winnemucca, Nevada
Well, we did it. On September 11th I find myself at the public library in the twon of Winnemucca, partway through our great Nevada adventure! We have been riding sections of trail and visiting communities and schools near the historic Pony Express trail for the past several days. We've been having an absolutely marvelous time - so much so that my crew members keep threatening to abandon the motor home and stay right here!

I've been having trouble at this particular computer posting my photos, but I have managed to put a few up over on my website at this address (just follow the links to the towns we've visited...) Be careful when you navigate over there, though - use the BACK button rather than the nav bar as it seems I didn't quite catch all the links when I built my mirror site over on Tripod (the only way I could update from on the road...)

Outside the building, firetrucks are rumbling up and down the street, going to and from the memorial ceremonies marking September 11th. My crew has just returned and both Dani and Jan have taken lots of photos of the ceremonies - will try to post some over on the other website before too long...

Having a wonderful time! Wish you were here....
Cheers,
Nikki

Survival by Lists

With my departure date just a week away, it seems my days are governed by lists. Not only my own lists, but also those sent to me via email by my good friend Jane, who will be driving one or the other of the two vehicles down in Nevada. Jane's lists seem so much more interesting than mine - they include items like a "Swiss Army knife with the full array of dental and surgical tools. That rib-spreader may save our lives." Yikes.

I should talk. "Investigate snake-bite kit" is one of the items on my list. Though it is somewhat reassuring to know that only a very small percentage of snakebites in North America are actually fatal, there are a couple of times when we will be waaaaaay out in the middle of nowhere. Survival, it seems, depends on getting to a hospital with anti-venom within two or three hours... If our vehicles break down, or one of our drivers is bitten while I'm somewhere out on the trail, or I am bitten after falling off the horse onto a pile of snake-sheltering sagebrush and have to ride two hours to find the drivers... Well, "Investigate snake-bite kit" remains on the list. Here on Vancouver Island, we have little need for such items in our first aid kits, so this particular task will remain on my To Do list until we hit the Nevada state line.

Ok - I haven't forgotten about the old blog... really. But, wow - another action-packed month- working on the first round of rewrites for The Battle for Carnillo, working like mad on organizing the Great Pony Express Adventure in Nevada this September (including setting up a cool literacy/fund-raising initiative where sponsors can purchase books that I'll give out to students in Nevada and British Columbia), and, of all things, helping my extremely talented father (E.Colin Williams) re-touch a mural he painted in Chemainus fifteen years ago. Now that was a cool project - visual artists see the world quite differently to anyone else... And, yes, it really is hard to keep your perspective when you are working a few inches away from a wall that is fifty feet long.