(31) Days of Summer

"It is my pleasure to inform you that you have officially kicked ass this month. No matter how many words you have written, you have done an amazing thing. Through distractions and demands and family obligations, you forged ahead. Your willingness to go out on a creative limb, to stand up and reach for an impossible goal, is an inspiring example to all of us ... Most of you - like me - probably do not write fiction. Fiction is something other people write. But this month, you dared to say, "Screw that. It's my turn." You stepped up to the plate. And there is nothing more admirable in this whole damn world than someone willing to set for themselves the fearsome task of trying something big." - Chris Baty I DID IT! This has been such a fun month. Well, 24 days. I've been delighted to see my characters turn from things I made up in my head into people, seemingly taking on a life of their own and making their own choices and taking my plot in directions that I ...

I have wrapped up nearly all of my major and minor plot lines, and I have just one to go. I'll spend today thinking about whether the book can actually end where it is, but I think I need one final chapter to wrap up that last plot line (i.e. the opening of the cheese shop). By way of brief explanation for the excerpt and photo, I saw a book about vampires while the kids, Indigo and I were at the library yesterday. I decided to pick it up and read it right there, for research for my book, and flipped through the pages quickly. There were a lot of words, and small font, and nothing funny was jumping out at me. Luckily, the author included these fake pearls, and it drew my attention this this beautiful piece of literary inspiration. It is utter nonsense. And perfect for EsNoWriMo. It reminded me a bit of the Martha Stewart hand soaps, and that you should always have extra on-hand in case of unexpected guests. But more mystical. ~~~ MID-SEPTEMBER Jackie’s Place is now ready for the fi...

I think the following excerpt needs no introduction or explanation. Just read and enjoy ~~~ I looked to Evelyn, expecting her to be hesitant. Or nervous. Or to outright refuse. “I’ve been ready my whole life,” she said, then ran off upstairs. No time to think about what she was off doing, the rest of the guys ran to change into their performance gear. Crisp, white, tailored suits over untucked (yes, untucked!) button down shirts that were… completely buttoned down. White sneakers finished off the look. Jon rustled through the bag, pulling out extra large containers of blusher, bronzer and highlighter. The guys got to work with their make-up brushes, expertly applying all three of the products to their faces, given them a perfect sun-kissed, beachy look. And although they still had the near-perfect abs from their younger years, they applied bronzer and highlighter here as well. The overall effect was pleasing, giving the appearance that they could grate cheese off of their abs and make ...

  I did it! I've surpassed the 50,000 word mark. Though I still have quite a bit of plot to go, I will probably finish in the next 3 - 5 days. It's getting hard to find excerpts to post that are not complete spoilers. Thus no blog yesterday, and only a short one today. Below is an excerpt where Serena is trying to give Evelyn a pep talk, and help her out with the wording of her Grand Gesture speech. ~~~ "And that’s the problem. Every time I think of something to say, it seems wrong,” Evelyn lamented. “Run it past me. Pretend I am Harper. We can do a role-play.” “Ok…Well… Harper. I’m so sorry about the way that you found out about my plan to make you fall in love with me. You see, I have always loved you. And I have never been able to gather up the courage to tell you. All those years at summer camp, I would watch you while you were sleeping because I didn’t want to miss a thing. I didn’t want to fall asleep, because even if I was dreaming of you it wouldn’t be good enough....

I have stumbled across more real-life EsNoWriMo gold. Actually it was Scott. In every small town romance that my main character Serena creates, she builds a new house to give to the happy new couple. In this story, she is building a house on William St, a real life street in Stratford with a historic designation. There is a real new house being built on an old lot there, which was the inspiration for this part of my novel; and includes what I thought was manufactured opposition by the Heritage Society. What I did not know was that there is a real life controversy about this new house being built. Scott sent me a treasure trove of public record complaint emails from neighbours, sent to City Counsel, trying to get them to sue their own planning committee for variances they had allowed in this new property. Those emails only required very light editing, and a few hilarious additions by me to make perfect sense in my novel. Because of this find, I was able to write almost 4,000 words toda...

I had a short writing day today because of work schedule, so a small excerpt. Serena is doing her "European and African Cheeses" unit in the Cheesemonger Program. I have set things up beautifully for a very fun day of writing tomorrow, with the plot moving forward and a great laugh about Heritage Societies.  ~~~ I tasted the small Emmentaler sample sent, immediately wanting more. While it is a more mild cheese than many I had tasted before for the Cheesemonger course, I appreciated the nutty flavours, fruitiness, and could definitely detect the aromas of fresh hay. I jotted down in my notebook that I must try a fondue with Emmentaler immediately, if not sooner. I could picture myself at a fondue party, surrounded by all my best cheese friends, waxing poetic about how civilization began when cheese was invented. On second thought, that might be too pretentious. Even for a gathering of cheese lovers. “Next Camembert, hailing from France A cheese I have spoke of before, and one ...

I believe that my true calling in life is writing fashion and interior design satire. And perhaps cheese satire. Or cheese reality. The jury is still out. I hope you enjoy reading this excerpt where Evelyn, Serena and Gordon are making interior design decisions for Jackie's Place as much as I loved writing it. ~~~ The re-designed floor plan made the worst possible use of space, making it feel more cramped than it was. Windows had been covered over, creating a dank, airless effect. Evelyn had asked the construction crews to start collecting any dust that they made in bags and keeping it in storage for her to use later on as a design element. “The bar top should be butcher block,” Evelyn said. “Is there a varnish or epoxy that we can use so that it always feels sticky, even when it is clean?” “I’ll ask the contractor,” I replied, jotting it down in my notebook. Just then, Gordon strolled in. He and I had had a field day selecting ‘Jackie’s Place’ appropriate decor items for Evelyn to...

  Yesterday, I dragged the whole family to the real The Milky Whey cheese shop for research purposes. In my fictionalized version, it is owned by Colm Reaume's mom, a fellow Cheesemonger. We meet her in the excerpt below. With only 12,226 words left to wrap up the major plot and four subplots, I feel that I may go quite a bit over the 50,000 word mark. We will see if I run out of steam and tie up all the loose ends in a slap-dash fashion as I head back to work this week. ~~~ Once my eyes adjust from the bright sun outside to the relative dim of the shop, I start to take it all in. There is a cheese counter along one wall. Along the other, I find many varieties of crackers, jams, chutneys, and other cheese pairing items. At the back, there is a cash register. On the back wall, in very large letters, reads ‘Cheese - milk’s leap towards immortality.’ Standing behind the cash register is a slight woman with greying hair, styled in the fashion of Flock of Seagulls. She is wearing a brig...

I had another epic word count day with the plot flying along at record pace. I had to think long and hard about what excerpt to put in the blog today. Would it be Afrim Pristine's take on plant-based cheeses? Ned Palmer's guest lecture on post-modern cheese pairings? The glorious return of Jim Jimerson and his Executive Assistant Mrs Faux, in his turn as Kiefer Sutherland's agent? Would it be the manner in which I seamlessly incorporated an argument about climate change between two elderly men devolving into a foul bout of polemic farting into my plot? Would it be Kiefer's own appearance? Or what about my newly discovered favourite Michelin-starred Swiss chef, known as the Alchemist of Emmental, who incorporates rusty nails, dirt, coal, and all manner of things foraged from the forest floor into his dishes for people to actually eat? Read on to find out... ~~~ “Welcome,” Chef Wiesner said dramatically, motioning to the moss and bark covered walls. “Please take a seat. I...

I wrote 2,400 words on the Cheese Tour with Afrim, and it was delightful. I will not share all of it, just the best passage. Again, much of what I have written is taken as verbatim or lightly edited quotes from Afrim himself. I have added a few details to enhance my story. ~~~ We are finally moving on to the cheese tasting portion of the event. We move into a well appointed back room, sitting around a rectangular table. I note that Harper and Evelyn are sitting so close that their thighs are touching. “The key to a perfect cheese board is five different cheese, not complementing each other but contrasting each other. One blue, one firm, one goat, one sheep, and one semi firm. You want kind of a good cross section of products, flavours, and textures. Cheese is milk and salt, that’s it. So you want to really differentiate it from each other so you get a good balance of flavours, a good balance of textures. With 550 cheeses, it’s easy to do. A fun cracker with fruit or nut, a crusty bague...

  I wrote almost 3000 words today. My fingers were flying across the keyboard, and plot was miraculously and effortlessly appearing on the screen in front of me. A unicorn writing day. Two short excerpts. In the first, finally, the meet cute for the manufactured romance. We find ourselves at the end of a hot yoga class. Yellow Mat is a person, whose ostentatious, over-the-top, attention-grabbing antics in yoga are as loud as the colour of his mat. (Yellow Mat is a real person who is frequently at the same classes as me, with an actual yellow mat) ~~~ I can no longer hear Yellow Mat’s excessively loud breaths. I sit up. I see him rolling up his mat. I knock over my water bottle, my signal to Evelyn to start moving. We picked something that happens commonly enough in class that it will not draw any attention. As Yellow Mat vacates the room, I am pleased to see that he has left behind a pool of sweat surrounding his mat. Again, sweating is normal in a hot yoga class. A pool of sweat e...