A Newborn and a Notebook

Check out this awesome handout from Writing Mother extraordinaire Ann Douglas.

What does being a writing mother look like to you?

Hello Writing Mothers! I always wonder how other writing mothers actually write . . . what does it look like while they write. So here's a look at what it looks like when I write.

My daughter must be with me, she's a funny child. When she wants to be by herself, Do Not Touch Her. When she wants to be with me, Do Not Put Me Down! Thankfully, like the bell curve, she's only at the extreme once in a while.

But her new favorite place to be is on my desk. She's got a little spot on a two drawer file cabinet (to the left of where she's sitting in the pic), but she often migrates over to the desktop. Unfortunately she's clued into the fact that I can look at her and have a conversation and still keep typing. Sometimes she reaches over to pull my hands away from the keyboard.

What does being a writing mother look like to you?

Call for Submissions: Women and Horses

Well this one is sure near and dear to my heart!

Christina Katz sent out a note about submissions for an upcoming anthology about Women and Horses. If you've ever fallen in love with a horse, you might have a story to submit.

The Story of a Sign

Not only will this make your eyes leak, but it says something wonderful about the power of words.

What do you listen to while writing?

I really haven't found one thing to listen to... I know I do well in silence, but really, I might just as well say "I write well in an Austrian spa" because my chances are about the same for silence.

Very often I have the tv on in the background, I try to keep it on the country music channel. I used to have the TV on all day long and I developed this really weird belief that if I turned it off, I Was Going To Miss Something Important!! Nevermind that it was always the same political blah-blah and pop-star-shaves-something crapola that it always is.

With my first book I wrote half of it alone in my living room/office while the kids were with my mother and with the music cranked. I especially listened to Pink. I don't know why, but I was practically a democrat after listening to her for so long that I had to immerse myself in some Toby Keith to get "right" again.

Mailbox! Mailbox!

When I try to post the video it posts v e r y w i d e so let's just try this link. It's worth it.

Though I didn't see Georgia there. But I still love Comic Sans!

What Do You Stand For?

Several weeks ago I responded to a query in Help A Reporter Out, looking for people to submit videos and pictures of why they are Standing Up To Cancer.



This is the result of that query. You'll see me briefly at 1:40. I'm holding a sign that says "for the next generation". This was for my friend Karen, who you can see below, holding my daughter at the 2006 NRHA Futurity. This picture was taken after she won her first battle against cancer. She's now fighting for a second time. My daughter turns two tomorrow and I want her to know Karen when she's twenty. So that's why I'm standing up to cancer.


Please go have a look at the StandUp2Cancer site. It's a wonderful project. Especially The Stand part.

And if you feel so inclined, please feel free to support me in the Run For The Cure in October.

RIP Madison

Madison was the first dog that I chose for myself and brought home. Sure, there'd been the little Fizzgig that my parents bought us when we were kids. But Madison was mine. She was a rescue. Tied up in a barn in Conrich, Alberta and awaiting a bullet because she couldn't work sheep. She was a border collie, though from the looks of her she might have something else mixed in there. She's not a typical "tri" coloured border collie.


But I hauled her home from that stall when I was 16 - and now I'm in my 30s. So we figure she was at least 16 or 17 years old. I named her Madison because that was the name I had in my head for my first daughter. I just couldn't wait long enough to save it for a girl. And once I did have Miss E, I couldn't name her Madison because we had Madison the Dog. Unlike my cousin, Jodie, who everyone knows was named after her father's horse, Jodie. :)


Lately all the parts weren't working any more. The front end was fine. The eyes were going, the hearing had long since departed. The back end couldn't support her to stand in one spot for more than a few seconds. It kind of moved sideways as she walked, her right leg seemed to lean into the left for support.


It took a long time to make the decision to put her down. She wasn't my dog any more, she'd been living with mom since 1996 when I moved to Europe. When I came home the next year I didn't bother to claim her back. So it wasn't my decision to put her down, but it was. I don't know if mom was waiting for my ok or not, but last week I said "Yeah mom, I think it's time" and this week they booked the appointment.


I wasn't there for it. I had to pick up my daughter. But these pictures were taken the same day. Mom commented that they made her look so healthy and happy. They do. But I've left out the pictures where she couldn't get up or she was splayed out trying to stand. Or where she sneezed as she walked and almost fell over.


It was hard to take these pictures, knowing they'd be the last I'd see of her. I would try to keep her in one spot, reaching out with my hand to steady her. But she couldn't see my hand until it was touching her nose, so it would often startle her.

M doesn't get it yet, why Madison isn't there any more. Well, that's not true. He understands that she's gone to heaven. But last night he stayed at Mom's and as he was going to bed he said, "First is a baby, then toddler, then kid, then teenager, and then adult. And after that is when you are put down?" So I see we have some more discussing to do.

Well thank goodness someone finally explained it to me...

I was married into a Scottish family and I could never get the terminology down pat about Great Britain, Britain, the UK... etc...

Now we have a diagram.

Woe is me... or, I, no... me ... oh what the heck, just WOE.

It's close to 11 pm and I'm up. With the flu. See, I've been sleeping ALL DAY. Sleeping that fitful sleep where you are hot then cold then sweating then not... and it was near record breaking temperatures today. When I was cold, I slept upstairs... when hot, I moved to the basement.

Which is where hubby found me when he came home to tell me that his truck was dead. Some electrical problem. And you know with those problems they could spend ten hours (at $100/hr) looking for the problem and not find it... so I think we're going to be a one car family. Surprisingly I'm not upset about this... now that he's working downtown he doesn't need a car, he can take transit downtown just fine.

But I will miss the little truck. It's a little Chevy S10, a two-seater that wasn't really that appropriate for our four-person family... but still, it was the last little bachelor hold-out for DH. :)

Me want! Me want!

Ok, if every I have the chance to build my own house, I am building myself these stairs. I know hubby would like me to move my "collection" somewhere else because the books be takin' over!

Parenting Award

If you look at this picture you will notice that I took my kids to Heritage Park... with a gun. That would be my beautiful daughter throwing a gun at her brother.

Note to self: check out what's stored in the Pikachu backpack before leaving the house.

Writer's Block?

Check out my post over at Mama Needs A Book Contract about writer's block.

Plastic Bags

Have a look at this slide show regarding plastic bag recycling. It's long, but worth it. We no longer use plastic bags and I love it... selfishly I have to say it works for our family because those cloth bags can hold so much more...