Life in progress

Author Archives: Linda G. Hill


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Now that’s a guarantee!

freedigitalphotos.net

freedigitalphotos.net

“Top Quality Engagement Rings 80% OFF With Lifetime Guarantee.”

This was the subject line of an email which just showed up in my Spam folder. What I want to know is, a) is the ring guaranteed, or b) does it mean that you’re going to be stuck with the person you get engaged to for the rest of your life whether you want to or not, simply because the damned ring was guaranteed?

 “Honey, I know I’m an flabbergasting bitch, and I’m spending every dime you make on shoes and male strippers but, you know… the ring….”


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Monarch and Milestone

I haven’t had anything interesting to report on my paper route lately, so I thought I’d share with you a picture I took last year. I’m quite proud of it, considering it was taken with a crappy cell phone on the spur of the moment.

Monarch[1]

In other news, I reached a new milestone in blogging today. Thanks to Franny Stevenson I now have 400 followers! Thanks Franny, and all my other wonderful followers for making this possible! 😀


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Researching for a feel

With all this recent talk about doing research, I’ve decided to do some of my own. Actually, I decided a week ago, but I’m jumping on the bandwagon with those who have blogged about it.

Hochelaga Inn, Kingston Ontario

Hochelaga Inn, Kingston Ontario

When I first decided to set my novel in Kingston, Ontario, I looked around the internet for historic houses there and found this one. As luck would have it, it’s a Bed and Breakfast. So next week, guess where I’m going to stay…? Yep, I’ll be right up in the tower room, which is complete with a ladder to the roof from the inside. I have described, using only my imagination, every nook and cranny of this glorious mansion. But now, I’ll be able to do so from the inside. 🙂

In the three days I’ll be spending there I plan also to both drive and walk around town, getting a real feel for the atmosphere. And who knows, maybe I’ll even meet my main character while I’m there. He’s sure to be in residence, after all. 😉


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Evil Corporations (a rant)

An amazing post on the importance of research by Misha Burnett. Serious authors should give this a read!

MishaBurnett's avatarmishaburnett

I had to put down a book today because I couldn’t maintain my suspension of disbelief.  It’s a pity, because I was really enjoying it.  In fact, I intend to pick it up again, because the author has some very original ideas and a solid style.

However, the villains of the story are a group of people who work for an EVIL CORPORATION, and I just don’t buy them.  The author was slathering on the anti-capitalistic polemic with a trowel, and it just got too thick to wade through any more.  I mean just in case we couldn’t pick up on the fact that they were bad guys because they are trying to bring Lovecraftian Elder Gods back to Earth to destroy everything and they experiment on unwilling human subjects, the author helpfully reminds us that they work for an EVIL CORPORATION that is GREEDY and WANTS TO MAKE…

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Happy Canada Day!

Canada Day

Today, all my fellow Canadians, enjoy a beer and a poutine (or a Pepsi and a Jos. Louis if you’re Quebecois,) and know there will always be a Tim Horton’s just up the street.

Have a wonderful 146th Canada Day!


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Ah, a weekend to edit

As a writer I need time to myself. I need the opportunity to be able to think and imagine without distraction. I have to say it’s even more difficult now that I’m working on the second draft of my novel; the writing, when I was fully into it, could sometimes be done even amidst the chaos that is my children.

Every other weekend, typically, I have this time alone when the children are with their father. What I think annoys me the most is that it takes me a day to simply wind down from the twelve previous days I’ve had to take care of them. They leave on Friday night, but it’s usually not until sometime late Saturday afternoon that I am in a state of mind where I can sit and concentrate.

So why am I not working on it now? I’m coming up to a major edit and this post has been bothering me, niggling in my brain to be written.  This is me, getting it over and done with. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

I also wanted to say that, writing a novel makes me feel a bit like this guy:

The Eye, by David Altmejd

The Eye, by David Altmejd

Disturbing, isn’t he? I found him at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal two weekends ago. The hands are my characters, wrapping themselves around my brain and wanting to get out; the hole is the feeling I have as I pour forth my entire being into my writing, onto the pages.

I hope my writing talent is worthy of such sentiment. If it is, I’m sure to be successful.


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Fiction is funnier

An encounter this morning with a cashier at the grocery store left me wondering what planet I’m living on. This is how it went:

Her: Hello, how are you?

Me: Fine thanks.

Her: (looking at my t-shirt) What’s that, ‘Ty Chy’?

Me: (realising I’m wearing my Tai Chi practice shirt) Oh! It’s Tai Chi.

Her: What’s that, some kind of food?

Me: (not wanting to confuse her with science) No, it’s an exercise.

Her: (blank stare)

Me: Sort of like yoga.

Her: OH! Yoda! That’s that meditation stuff, right?

Me: (not wanting to get into it) Yeah.

Her: That’s when they tell you if you concentrate enough you can move this way and put that there and Avada Kedavra, you’re flat on your face.

Me: Right.

I wonder if I could have got away with paying for my groceries with Gringotts gold…

Gringotts

photo source: Wikia


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How to Write a Best Selling Novel

A must-read for anyone trying to write a best selling novel!


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Adventures on my Paper Route – Warm and Fuzzy

It was so warm today when I delivered my papers I began to wonder if my vision was blurring.

Fluffs (1)

Looking closely at this picture however, I can tell that it was due to the minute filaments of the tree I was looking at. I thought it was kinda neat.

Fluff2

Just in case you’re wondering what’s going on in the saga of Nosehair , no news has been good news. It does seem that he was as surprised as I was to discover it was actually two of his neighbours that were cut down three weeks ago.

gasp2

Gasp!!!

 


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The Arrogant Light

I just ran across this wonderful poem by my friend, Paul Davis, in my reader. Check it out!

Paul Davis's avatarProject Volden

I don’t mean to be arrogant,
Little Butterfly,
But what would you do without me,
The Arrogant Light?

I am your light,
Little Butterfly.
Your path seems so dark
Until I shine through.
I let you see
And guide you.

I am your heart,
Little Butterfly.
You don’t know which way
To flutter, so you get lost
In the words of others.
I whisper “Who are you?”
And you are found.

I am your courage,
Little Butterfly.
When you weep and
Your wings get wet,
I dry them
And you continue your flight.

I am your protector,
Little Butterfly.
The webs of spiders snag you
And I untangle your wings
That you may be safe.

I am here for you,
Little Butterfly,
The Arrogant Light
I will be here for you.

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