Georgian Bay Adventure

The second part of our vacation included an epic 315 km paddle around Georgian Bay that took 8 days.



yes, that's my thumb. Hubby at Flowerpot Island.



When we crossed Lake Huron to South Bay Mouth, I was extremely nervous. For two hours until I calmed down, I gripped my paddle so hard that I injured myself. My fingers would hardly work for a day and half afterwards! But it felt great to have done it!

Excerpt of famous moment on trip. Bruce Penninsula. 8pm.

Hubby - Does that sound like a boat coming our way?

Me - Nope. We're all clear.

*strips down to bathe in the lake after 12 hours of paddling in the hot sun. Stands naked balancing on rocks and boulders in ankle-deep water.

Me - AAUUGH!! It's a boat. RIGHT THERE!!!

*sneaky boat moving very slowly appears around the corner 30 meters away.

Hubby - It's a TOUR boat! Full of tourists!!

Me - My shirt! For the love of all that is holy, throw me my shirt!!

*crouches awkwardly as the boat loaded with at least 50 people on the fly bridge, chugs along the shoreline for unobstructed, glorious view of the rock cliffs which we are camped on. And naked.

Hubby - They have cameras

Me - yes. I see that.

Hubby - they're waving.

*hubby waves back. The boat finally passes. We giggle for the rest of the evening. "Does that sound like a boat", becomes the phrase of the week.

Anyhoo,  here are a few more photos - but don't worry, all fully clothed. As usual, click on any photo to view larger.

5:45 am

flat calm day! My kayak just flying

look at the roots in the water!

checking out the charts during a snack break

Cove Island Lighthouse

surprised a family of otters. mom and two young.

Does anyone else have a vacation story to share?

Newfoundland Adventure

Back from vacation!



Hubby on Gros Morne Mountain



Highlights: 

• saw 28 moose
• hiked over 60 km
• heard a calf moose being eaten by a bear
• one day of sun in Newfoundland! Fog - wind - freezing cold nights in tent!
• trees on northern penninsula don't even have leaves yet!
• STUNNING, amazing place. Can't wait to go back
• paddled 315 km around Georgian Bay
• LOTS of sun
• got caught naked by a boat full of tourists



I hope to get back to blogging soon. In the mean time, here's a few photos of Newfoundland. Kayak photos to come next post.





Me and hubby having FUN

Book research - adventure awaits

I've been absent the last few weeks. Thanks for your patience. (here's a sampling of last year's never-before-seen reasons for said absences.)

We're about to head out on another epic adventure (aka book research) of hiking and kayaking. I'll be back next month with photos and tales of wonder. 

In the meanwhile, you want to head over to DAWN METCALF's giveaway celebrating the release of her debut LUMINOUS.

Giveaway Winners

It's time to announce the winners of the epic ELEVENSIES DEBUT BOOK GIVEAWAY!! This has been my most popular contest with over 100 entries!!!

And WOW! Hello to all my new followers! Thank you for helping me break 300!  How awesome of you to join us. Hope you don't mind blackflies because we are in the thick of them here at the moment. But relief is found out in the kayaks, so expect more expedition photos soon.

On to the winners.

Winner of OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy is

Amanda of Read a book a day

Winner of Clarity by Kim Harrington is


Krystal of Stellar Book Blog

Winner of Moonglass by Jessi Kirby is


Brittany Gale

Winner of Memento Nora by Angie Smibert is


Christie H.

Winner of The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder is


Joli of Actin Up With Books

Winner of The Rotten Adventures of Zachary Ruthless by Allan Woodrow is


Tiffany Fallick








Congrats to all the winners. If you didn't win, stick around because we'll do this again with another batch of ELEVENSIE DEBUT's next season.

Another round of Elevensies book giveaway

I'm joining a blog hop for the Splash into Summer book giveaway. Hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer. There are almost 300 blogs participating, so click on some linkage.

This contest will be posted for one week. SIX Winners announced on June 1, 2011

Now, onto the BOOKS!! All books by my fabulous debut author group THE ELEVENSIES. Go check us out. Great reads for everyone.

My Mini Reviews:

OyMG by Amy Dominy
One of my favourite reads of the year. LOVED these characters, especially Ellie. What a fantastic role model. Amy Fellner Dominy is a master of naturally flowing dialogue. Made me want to stand up and fist pump. Now I have a sudden urge to make matzo ball soup. Oy.

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby
GORGEOUS! Not only is the cover stunningly beautiful, but the writing is as well. Almost every page I found myself saying, "isn't that true!" I had to keep reading to see what Anna would do next. Smart and quiet in all the right places.

Clarity by Kim Harrington
Loved the setting! Loved the main character's witty thoughts. Loved the mystery, suspense, romance, ALL of it!

Memento Nora by Angie Smibert
A fascinating and scary look at the future. Slick and fast paced dystopian. Confession: I have a slight crush on Micah.

Zachary Ruthless by Allan Woodrow
hilariously creative ways to be evil - Zachary Ruthless and his henchman are super fun.

The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder
A light and fun read. The voice of the protagonist grabbed me right away. HILARIOUS!




Rules:

1. Fill out the form HERE. And tell me which book you most desire.
2. I would love it if you clicked my follow button, but not required.
3. I would love it if you checked out my own book DOGSLED DREAMS, but not required.

Best of the SCBWI conference Canada East

I'm still in mourning that the conference is OVER. What a weekend! With only 45 seats available, there was a casual, intimate vibe that I just loved! The whole thing ran smoothly thanks to the super-human efforts of the organizer Jackie Paynaert. This woman is vivacious, hilarity and you should go check out her blog right now!

Only thing I regret - why, WHY do I always forget to take PHOTOS at these events? Sorry, I got nothing. But I feel strongly blog posts must have photos so here is a random shot of my man on our expedition last year.

So, here's the Cole's notes version of some of the brillance that resonated with me at the conference:

Terri Farley - author of the Stallion series
on why we write

• "we can help kids feel lke they have a part in the world"
• "families aren't perfect. Books show kids that's normal"
• Mine your own childhood for horror - "crawl back into the skin of the child that you were - there are plenty of lessons there"
• our job as story tellers is to "hold back the darkness for kids."

Veronica Rossi - author of the upcoming series the Never Sky
on high concept

• write the back flap of the book first. This keeps you focused on what the heart of the story is.
• make a list of ten things that could happen to your character. Avoid the first three. The last two ideas are probably the best
• high concept = a short log line

template for log line

After (inciting incident) a (character description) must (primary action) or risk (stakes) in order to (end goal)


Sydney Salter - author of My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
on writing believable characters

• "take time to let the characters reflect after a dramatic event before going to the next plot point. It will add weight to the story. A pause alerts the reader that they've changed."
• "Let the character return to a place where something important happened and reflect how they see things differently now."     LOVE THIS
• TIPS - read Teen magazines: answer the quiz as your character to get to know her. Study the body language in the sections "is he into you?". Read the excerpts of most embarrasing moments - can make interesting back story for your secondary characters.

edit: stole this photo from Sydney's facebook post.

Faculty, left to right - Veronica Rossi, Terri Farley, Hillary Vandusen, Josh Adams, Sydney Salter, Fran Cannon Slayton

ALSO, here's my signed loot I brought home!

Off to the conference!

I'll be back next week with the goods on the SCBWI Canada East writing conference in Niagra Falls. I'm SOOO excited to be meeting and talking to real live writers!

A whole weekend surrounded by people who understand:

•  the amount of brownies required when one goes out on submission
•  the obsessive compulsion to check emails 59 times per day
•  the need to write down that brilliant epiphany at 2:30 am for the scene you've been struggling with
•  the surreptitious use of a notebook while driving your teenager and her friends to a party

Yay for writing conferences!

Okay, and I simply must post this hilarious bit of talking dog.

Confession

I feel the need to confess something a little decadent. Today, I had the WHOLE day to write. And I wrote a total of ONE paragraph. I then spent the rest of the day shopping for books on line.

Shameful. Shameful. Shameful!

In my defense - it was raining outside and I'm about to go canoe camping for three days. I just didn't feel like getting wet. Oh, wait, that's not much of a defense for not writing.

Anyway.


now a little grin creeps across my face as I show what I bought....

I also bought several more on my KOBO reader!

Lots of Elevensies love here. I LOVE my fantastic group of debut authors!!!  I've also just finished reading a few more fabulous Elevensies which will all be featured in my next installment of  ELEVENSIES GIVEAWAYS. Stay tuned.

The Windup Girl was a must after reading SHIP BREAKER. Words cannot describe how much I loved that book!

And I know, it's about time I read Black Star, Bright Dawn. Especially considering Scot O'Dell is one of my favourite authors. To be honest, I've been a little shy to read it, but I was feeling brave today.

Okay, so anyone else have an uncontrollable book purchasing problem? Help me out here.

Winner of Ice-out contest!



winter didn't want to end this year


Today at the lake, we finally have a winner for the ice-out contest thanks to the dump of rain last night. The ice has been holding out in one corner of the lake for the last four days

stubborn ice in the bays

But today - YAY! Ice-free and ready for summer!

Just in time for our canoe instructor course this weekend! Went paddling two days ago and gingerly tested the temperatures. Let's just say I hope the canoe rescue portion will be quick since I'll be IN THE LAKE.

So.

We have a winner!  Winning guess of April 27 at 12:34.  (can I borrow your crystal ball?)

VIVIEN!!

And the prize is....

Thanks to everyone for playing along!

note: I guessed the 25 so I lost our family bet this year.

Dead things my dog brings home

Images from our hike today:

And here's our lake during the snowstorm and after

As you can see - the lake is half open!  Guesses for the ice-out contest are now closed. I'll be posting the exact date and time soon I think - and the winner!




Dead things


Today on our hike, my dog found a half a rabbit. The bottom half. This led me to ponder the events that would have taken place for a half a rabbit to be left in the bush. Tragic and dramatic stories tossed around in my head until I could write them down when I got back. Inspiration for writing is all around me.

A half a rabbit isn't the only thing my dog has found lately. This winter she was obsessed with a chickadee that had unfortunately broken its neck on our window. Tanzer sat with it in the snow - even brought it on our walks for three days.

I'm never surprised to see her trotting out of the bush, head held high, with a deer leg danging from her mouth. We live in the middle of a winter deer yard, and where there are deer, there are wolves.

Dead frogs, dead ruffed grouse, stinky dead things I didn't even recognize.

What has your dog brought home lately?

Guess ice-out contest

An annual tradition at my house is to guess the date that the lake will break free from its long winter nap. This year I thought I'd invite everyone to join for a chance to win a mystery prize.  (It involves a book.)

Leave a comment with your best guess of date and time for ice-out.  Good luck!

ALSO: happiness is... finding your book listed in THE BIGGEST HITS OF THE YEAR  in Trends in MG at the Write Angle! 

Beavers

Busy writing!

To entertain you while I'm away, here's a very cool vid of a couple of animals in Alberta that know what it's like to be busy.

Little known fact:
I'm not sure I would have noticed if it had not been pointed out to me, that all three of my manuscripts have beavers in them. Hmmm...