At the end of the year, it's good to look back and think about the people who have helped you along the way in the past 12 months, or longer.

When I was quite young I memorized a poem about a self-made man who was only self-made in his own mind. The truth was he'd forgotten about all the people who'd helped him along his way.

I hope none of us will ever do that. I have a long list myself of people who've helped me – intentionally or not.

Not the least of those is Johnny Reid.

Now although I'm a fan of his on a couple of web places, Johnny has very likely never heard of me. But the creativity, passion, and excellence in his CD, Kicking Stones, helped me in a number of ways this year. Listening to this CD entertains me, encourages me, and inspires me both as a person and as a writer.

I've even played the title song from the CD at my writing workshops because it's one of the best examples I've found for  teaching people how to "show, not tell" as you write. Kicking stones video 

If you don't know Johnny, who was the 2009 Canadian Country Music male singer of the year. and whose CD Kicking Stones has sold over 100,000 copies, you might want to watch this video of his performance of one of the many great songs on the Kicking Stones CD -  "Thank You."

And you might want to make a list of the people who've helped you this year.

Johnny Reid · Kicking Stones · self-made man · show not tell · thank you

The New York Yankees now have the four highest paid players in major league baseball. And I have serious concerns for the future of baseball. Yes, I know that it’s not merely about having the highest paid players. And that no matter what you’re paid, you can have a poor season, get injured, or otherwise fail to contribute as expected. I also know that many players  put out their best work prior to being signed to a huge deal, so there’s absolutely no guarantee that the Yankees will win the World Series next year. However, having said that, I still feel it’s ludicrous for one team to have a payroll up in the stratospheres while many other teams are just trying to keep going and have no chance of competing for the prime players, whether it’s only about the money or about the idea of creating a dream team that can’t lose. Does anyone care? Or are we all happy to see one team leave the others in its dust? Well, I don’t live in New York – I live in Toronto. And while I’m a big fan of hte Blue Jays and their coach, Cito Gaston, my enthusiasm for the upcoming season, with the Jays under a limited budget and with them having only a faint hope of being able to compete in their very tough division, is fading fast. I’m sure I’m not the only die-hard baseball fan who feels this way. What’s best for baseball? I don’t know. But the current Yankee signings are getting flat-out ridiculous. Some kind of revenue sharing or salary cap or just plain common sense is desperately needed.

baseball parity · Burnett · New York Yankees · Sabbathia · Teixeira · Yankees sign

Some years ago, I was at a mystery convention where some of the world’s greatest mystery writers were on panels and being interviewed or giving keynote addresses. I forget which panel I was on, and I forget most of what went on there. But one comment from one panel I attended stuck in my mind as if it was super-glued there.

The panel involved four men, each of whom had written dozens of books or stories over the years. Writing was their job – they all had home offices and kept regular hours and treated their writing as their business.  (I couldn’t help wondering who was making their meals and looking after their children and copying with emergencies, and so forth, but that’s a subject for a different blog )

What stuck in my mind was the answer one man gave (and the others echoed) to this question.  “Whether you work from 9 to 5, or 10 to 6, or 5 to 3 or whatever works for you, what happens if you finish the book you’re writing in the middle of your work day? Do you take the rest of the day off?”

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Okay, I have taken Trevel's suggestion and dropped the "and Her Friends" and the Part 1 bit.Trevel is one of my primary editors and is usually right. New cover. 

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I did it! Wrote a fantasy chapter book for my granddaughters in time for Christmas. Even managed three edits.

This is the working cover I used on the Advance Reading Copy of the book.

Of course, things did change a little bit along the way. The original goal was to come up with a story of about 10 or 12,000 words by Nov. 7th, 2008 – in time for a birthday. Maybe 12 chapters.

But there's this law about things filling up all available  space.  And it must have seemed as though I had extra space available – though I have no idea why! Anyway, the story somehow kept growing. And growing. It ended up just shy of 40,000 words, with 30 chapters.

It probably needs a couple more edits prior to showing it to an editor or agent, but I think it's good enough for a Christmas read. The full title is The Misadventures and Tribulations of Princess Persnickety and Her Friends.

And here's the clincher. 

Under the title it says Part 1: The Stranger.

You see, as I wrote, I kept getting all kinds of other ideas. After all, once you've gone to all the trouble of creating an entire world, you kind of want to spend some quality time there. Writing the book also gave me more insights into the Narnia series. I'll be writing my thoughts here shortly. Click here to read the original opening of the book.

chapter book · children's fantasy · fantasy · Narnia

I'm sitting here drinking lapsang souchong tea (the result of reading a book by Ron and Janet Benrey entitled Dead as a Scone, which is set in a tea museum in England (one of my all-time favorite cozy mysteries!).

I actually bought the tea thinking my husband would like it (he likes smoked meat and it has kind of a smoked flavour). He hates it: I love it: go figure. 

I'm listening to John Berry sing "O Holy Night" on YouTube. Currently listening for the seventh time this morning. I watched the first couple, too.  You can also hear it at his website. I love John Berry's voice, but I also love the way he sings. It's about the words and the song, not so much about him. 

And I'm chatting via instant messaging with a close friend. Not idle chatter – we're discussing interesting things – called ideas. I love talking with creative people who aren't afraid to dream and envision and put varied thoughts together. Very cool.

My dog is in my room on her blanket, snoring slightly. She's 16, blind, and pretty well deaf. We live in a three-story house (four if you count the basement) and she can go up the stairs but can't find them to go down, so we have to watch she doesn't accidentally fall down them – which explains the large boxes across the basement stairway and the fact I keep my office door closed).

I have become a 24/7 caregiver for a dog. Not terrific, but she follows me wherever I go, does tricks for her cookies at night, pushes her popcorn bowl around the room when it's empty (how many dogs do you know who have their own popcorn bowl?), and tosses rawhides in the air and then sniffs around until she finds them (unless they're on top of a table or the piano, in which case we have to help). So she may be elderly, but she's still doing pretty good, though we know it's kind of week to week at this point.

My oldest son just learned that the Lasik surgery he had on both eyes yesterday is successful and he can now legally drive without glasses. When you consider that he could barely walk across the room without glasses before, this is amazing!

My husband is at a fun swim meet he goes to every year, where participants swim all four strokes – freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly – and then you add the times to get placings for each age group. He usually does well.

At 12:30. the Raptors are playing. What can I say? Since the moment Jay Triano was hired as an assistant coach, I've been waiting for him to get the opportunity to be the head coach. I'm hoping for good things. Now all we need is Steve Nash – could Steve and Jose platoon?

While Raptor watching,  I'm going to do some editing on The Misadventures and Tribulations of Princess Persnickety and Her Friend Stefan. The story I started at the request of my granddaughters has somehow morphed into a 35,000 word chapter book with 27 chapters. Both my granddaughters will get copies for Christmas. Then I'll have to decide what to do with it next. You can see the original beginning here. Ahh. My idea of a perfect morning.

children's fantasy · dead as a scone · dogs and popcorn · Jay Triano · John Berry · lapsang souchong tea · Lasik surgery · O Holy Night · old dogs · Raptors · Steve Nash