Black Fly

The Black Fly, the little Black Fly, always the Black Fly no matter where you go....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRshnwExPU

Try to hike with the dog. Return screaming.
Attempt to bike up the road, race back cursing with bleeding neck and little black bodies in my teeth.
Dive into my kayak and madly splash and paddle my way to the middle of the lake.
The incessant black cloud of sucking horror can not be blown away. It cannot be out raced. It continues to crawl into my hair, up my nose, in my eyes, ears, down my pants. AGGHHH!
I sit at the computer and scratch my red welts and count the weeks left to train.
FIVE WEEKS.

Judges comments

I received a letter with the news release from the Writers' Union of Canada contest along with a full page of comments from the Judges. It was so encouraging to read the positive feedback, especially for something I wrote about DOGS. Please check my website to see some of the gems I sifted out. Here is my favorite comment:

"This piece follows the ancient pattern of longing fulfilled by surprise satisfaction. (The hero looks for a treasure abroad, and finds it under his own hearth stone.) All story patterns are old; the charm is to make them new by setting and detail and I think this story succeeds, with one exception. I would like to have had some sense of where the story takes place on a map. Other than that, details are abundant as are the special terms of jargon associated with the pending event, which adds verisimilitude. The names of the dogs, like an inventory of heroes in an epic tale, add colour and substance. Their various attitudes are winningly described. The moment of realization - most short stories lead the reader to an epiphany of some sort - is terse and convincing, linked by the term "magic land" to the longing introduced in the second paragraph, associated with the orange bib, making us realize how appropriate the title of the story is."

Wew!

Dogs everywhere

How do you get 4 neurotic dogs in one picture? After 28 shots, you might get one where you can see all of their faces at the same time so that's good enough.

Looking after a few dogs this week. It was a fight for the bed last night, but my husband and I won. Just barely.

Paddled for 4 hours today up Raven Lake. My kayak and I are still getting to know each other, but already I have a serious crush. Seven more weeks to train.

P&H Capella

Spent the day yesterday at Whitesquall Paddling Center and took out various kayaks for almost 3 hours. Finally decided on this Rockstar. It poured rain most of the day which was perfect since I had the place to myself and with the winds, I could really check out the tracking. Managed to not tip while testing my edging and bracing skills. This puppy felt like a comfortable pair of jeans.

Four sinister rejections were silently waiting for me in my inbox when I got home. But not much could burst my NEW KAYAK bubble.

Heading out tonight to join the Manitoulin Island Kayak Club for an evening paddle. Hopefully I'll get the first scratch in her then I won't have to be afraid anymore.

Frosty Kayaks

The kayaks are shivering this morning in their glistening coats. Happy Victoria Day! Brrr.
But put on the neoprene booties, the wetsuit, the Gortex paddling jacket, the gloves, the lifejacket and the little black beanie, and slide into the seat.

Magic.

Count down to the Great Expedition

8 weeks left to train our guts out for the circumnavigation of Manitoulin Island. Approximately 270 km. We plan to do this in 9 days. We also plan to still be talking to each other at the end of the journey. Going tomorrow to pick up a new, fast kayak. Hopefully faster than Denis's kayak. Stay tuned.

And one more acceptance this week made for a very giddy couple of days. Stories for Children Magazine will be publishing my Sled Dog Tale in December. I can't wait to see the illustrations for it! Since I'm starting to catch on to the writer's life, I'm now bracing myself for the crash in the following few weeks. Preferably not in my kayak.

Finalist in Writers Union of Canada

I feel like a writer today! I got a phone call from the Writers Union of Canada. I'm a finalist in their POST CARD competition. Every time I think about it a little smile sneaks up. Check out the press release! http://writersunion.ca/av_pr130509.asp

And here's the magazine. It's finally out. My first published article. Small, half page little thing, but big rewards.

the best thing about...my mom

I've been saving this for my last post of the "Best Of" series mostly because I had no idea how I was going to pick just one thing that is great about my mom. But here goes...



The best thing about my mom is she's the most optimistic, giving, looney, habitual, nervous, thoughtful, compassionate, committed person in my life.
She's a warm tornado of vibrant, compulsive, zesty energy whizzing past people leaving wide smiles. I look to her as a role model for inviting more love into my heart. You can see when she's in a room that people are drawn to her selfless sparkle.

Starting next week, I'll be beginning my count down to the Great Kayak Expedition. Circumnavigating Manitoulin will be a grand challenge. That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. (?)

Yesterday my first published article came out in Adventure Kayak magazine. It was so thrilling to see my name in print. I actually got a little stage fright thinking of my memoirs that will be coming out next month!

The best thing about...waiting

The best thing about waiting for 2 weeks for any emails regarding my writing submissions is when I get two acceptances in one day! The bad news is they were for the same article. Who knew that SEVEN months after I submitted my sailing story, Crossing Huron, they would finally answer me. And why did they take seven months to respond? They said they get a lot of submissions. I did send them a quick email in January - 3 months after I submitted the article - and asked if they had decided yet. What I should've done was say that if I don't hear from them in a week, I'd be submitting it elsewhere. At the time, I felt that sounded rude and I didn't want to get on the wrong side of an editor at this young stage of my writing career. So now I'm certainly on the wrong side of two editors. So clever!
In any event, I've learned a lesson and I'm still writing. And still waiting...

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.