The best thing about...April 24

The best thing about April 24 is the lake opened up and I can now begin kayaking! Yea! However, the deck has now lost it's cover of snow and is obviously in serious need of painting. Boo!

This has been a long couple of weeks for me waiting for replies - any reply - from my numerous submissions out there. Each evening I anxiously turn on the computer and wait for the 10 minutes or so for it to warm up and finally show me my email box. Sadly, I've had NO word at all. It's frustrating when a few editors are SO late in getting back to me when they all but promised they'd accepted my submissions as soon as I sent photos. I'm becoming less thrilled with writing for magazines since I'm not much of a photographer, but so many of my articles are not accepted due to lack of good pictures.

Anyway, must continue to write and not think about it. Forget about them once I've submitted and move forward. Keeping forward motion can sometimes be exhausting.

The good news is I've won the annual family challenge for correctly guessing the date the lake opens. A mystery prize in a box is waiting for me to open tonight. I'm hoping it's a "get out of dishes free card" good for at least a month. Do we know how to party or what?

The best thing about...Easter

The best thing about Easter is all the extra time at home. We had 4 days off in a row and oh, there's so much that can be done in 4 days! First, let's shave Dad's head. Yah! Then, we can feed the deer apples from the window (the deer are going to be coming in through the window pretty soon. Cheeky monkeys) Then we'll collect sap from the maples, boil it for 7 hours in the garage, constantly stirring, checking, tasting, coddling it all day. Then during the last hour of boiling, let's forget about it and watch a movie inside. Wow, look at the fog out, where'd that come.....ahhh! Yah, when the fog smells sort of sweet, you know there's trouble amuck. Maple syrup will turn into glue, burst into flames and destroy a pot. We had the trays of snow all ready to go in the freezer, popsicle sticks standing by for dipping. The girls almost saw a grown man cry. Dad stood heartbroken, holding the burnt pot and slowly shaking his head. Why? Why? Oh the humanity! There's always next year.

The best thing about...writing memoirs

The best thing about writing my Quetico Park memoirs is when I sell some of my stories to Boundary Waters Journal!! Woohoo! I had submitted some of my ramblings to test to see if a) they were any good and b) to start an audience of my work so I can use that to sway a book publisher to pretty please take a chance on me. I'm actually sort of nervous for the next issue of Boundary Waters to come out now, since this is my most personal writing that will be published.

Now back to work to feverishly write something even more personal in hopes the magazine will consider doing a mini-series. I've run out of good photos of my time there. This week I dug through boxes and pulled out old albums in search of a picture the editor would like. Finally found one, but apparently I was too busy paddling to take any good picts. This photo of me was taken by my friend Heather Ojala. What a trip that was! Now Heather will be nervous wondering if I will write about said trip! Ah, when we were young and foolish...

The best thing about...my dad

The best thing about my dad, Doug Johnson, is his great life-advice. He's usually wise, witty, perceptive and unvarnished. He is my lighthouse. Though, sometimes his advice is not what I want to hear. (I especially hate taking Oil of Oregano)

Went to the Paddling Film Festival last night and totally pumped for the season. I think a new kayak may be in my future. If I'm going to travel around the entire Island, I'll need to be comfy and fast. And just because I already own a different boat for each week of the short summer, doesn't mean I'm obsessive. Okay, maybe a little water obsessed. Still, I think I should get a longer kayak. (I just wont ask my dad what he thinks)

The best thing about...spring

The best thing about spring is you still get to play in the snow, but the sun feels hot on your face. As you ski across the lake, you know it won't be long before you're skimming across in a canoe. Lots of snow still left to melt, but we can now see out our front windows - though not today because of the blizzard.

The best thing about...feeding the birds

The best thing about feeding the birds is when a visitor casually walks by the window to have a snack. I just came in from a skate ski on the lake on a glorious day off, when this big dude came, ate and stopped to pee while he was leaving. You can see my skiis behind him leaned against the canoe rack. The dog was sleeping outside on the other side of the house and missed the whole thing. But the buck has come back and is munching seeds again. The dog is beside me now watching him from the window. It is hard to concentrate on my writing when the entertainment is 5 feet away.

The best thing about...a blog

The best thing about writing a blog is when a person from Japan emails you and asks, "what is snowshoeing?" Amazing and humbling and reminds me why I like to travel.
Thanks for reading my blog!

So today was one of those gooey warm cookie days. One of my major cases at work took a delightful turn. My run was faster and didn't squeeze the life out of my lungs. And a literary agency asked to see my manuscript. I am trying to keep my feet on the ground here. They only asked to see it after all. I'll wait to blow my horn after I hear they actually want to represent me. Which will be 1 - 2 months.
Waiting, waiting.....

The best thing about...snowshoeing

The best thing about snowshoeing is looking behind you. Something about that narrow tunnel stamped into a fresh sheet of white snow makes me feel like an explorer. The sole human visiting a magical place with drooping spruce branches and secretive silence. I was here.

the best thing about....My Brother

A while ago it was suggested to me, "You haven't got a blog yet? What are you, new? You've got to get a blog!"

Well, I didn't really buy into it at first. Why be at a computer when I could be snowshoeing or skiing.

The more I heard about it though, it grew on me. It could be a great motivator to write more. I'll write everyday.

Well sadly, my life is not that exciting. But today I've come up with one of those aha moments. It came to me while I was listening to the news about more shootings and all the bad things in the world. I'm so overloaded with negative things each day, I'd like this spot to be a POSITIVE place. So I'm launching my new "The best thing about..." series. My plan is to write every day about what I like about someone or something. I would love this to be a community thing where you post the best thing about your....whatever the topic.

So, the best thing about my brother, Mike Johnson, is that he makes me laugh at his slightly weird, always creative, sometimes bizarre, usually astute way of seeing the world. And that helps me to be a better person.

Goals

You can still drive a truck on the lake. But Denis and I are discussing our next epic goal. This summer we plan to circumnavigate Manitoulin Island by kayak. Yes, I've only just learned to kayak. Yes, I'm on the tail end of a wicked gooby cold and I can hardly walk up the stairs without shameful huffing. But goals are what keep me moving forward. And so, along with my feverish desire to be published, I will now add "train for stupendous expedition" to my TO DO list. I will post a running commentary on my preparations to circle the ISLAND. My first mini-goal is to join the Sudbury Run for Diabetes in May. Now that I've written it down, I have to do it.

Highs and lows of writing

This being my very first post, I'd like to start by announcing today I received my first rejection letter in the mail for my manuscript DOGSLED DREAMS. Orca Book Publishers sent me an encouraging and frameable note to tell me not to give up, but my book is not for them. I know I'm suppsed to get rejections if I'm going to send the manuscript out. And I know writers are supposed to have thick skin. But still can't help the deflated feeling that bubbled up like Coke up the neck of a bottle that's been banged on the table.

Well, Harry Potter was rejected 14 times so I've only got 13 more to go. Shake it off. Try again.

And just to show that life really is a box of chocolates (that you accidentally fell asleep with when you went to Girl Guide camp when you were 12 years old and woke up with chocolate ground into your pink flannel pajamas and everyone thought you'd had an embarrasing accident in your sleep) I also received word from Dogs in Canada Magazine that they have accepted TWO of my articles! I'll post which months they're coming out when I know.