Writing--the best job in the world

Wednesday I took some of my favourite people to see Disney on Ice--these were complimentary passes from my employer Rogers--I'm the features editor for Today's Parent Toronto. Also we needed to squeeze in a restaurant review, called Whine and Dine in the magazine. Last minute I discovered Arriba which overlooks the interior of the SkyDome or the Rogers Centre. Here's my two grandsons enjoying each other's company as well as the view.I will admit going on an event you have to write about is a bit stressful. Not because of the writing, I can think it out on paper pretty quickly when I have to--but because I worry things will go wrong especially when there's only one go through. For example, Arriba staff said they were open at five where the website said 6:30. If it had of only opened that late we couldn't have made the 7:00 show. Also Hunter had a stomach ache in the morning. You never know if

that would have turned into something more serious later.

As it was it went away and he ate well.

Mostly, I worry that the kids will have a meltdown. Magazine experiences tend to be manic.

You have to squeeze everything in quickly so you can write about it ...quickly.

But we all had a great time. Okay I'll post one photo of the show since blogging is considered personal use.

The End...Death on YouTube

You think that it would be a relief to type "The End" when you're done a book. First of all many writers don't even do that--they type "-30-" some old-fashioned printer's code to signal not to look further for more text to print.

Instead, I , and many other writers I've spoken to about this, get depressed. My process is to write as quickly as I can, much the way I read. I gobble up stories when I read, I spit out first drafts when I write. Then I have to decide whether I've shaped it correctly. Off it goes to fellow writers whose job it is not to applaud--although we can all use a lot of that--but to pick it apart before an acquisitions editor can. I think it's the next leg of the journey that depresses me. The knowledge that there will be a whole bunch of flaws in my baby that I have to "correct".

Really, though, it's more like adding a second and third coat of paint. I splash down a first draft and the reader can't see the colour that well until I add a second and third coat.

Anyhow, for this book, I feel pretty good. Thanks to the five classes I visited this year:

(two at) Canadian Martyr, Alexander Public, Brant Hills. The students were so hooked from the first reading, I felt inspired to continue. It also helps that my Norwegian publisher liked the first three chapters and outline.