January Notes

Last weekend, Ted and I were on the road to Omemee to watch our daughter Lisa curl in the ladies regional playdowns. Omemee is a town of 1200 people, some twenty minutes outside of Peterborough. The 20-minute practice before the first game started at 10 p.m. Friday night and we made it back to our hotel just before 2 a.m. - a gruelling day and weekend all around. I'm delighted to report that the team, skipped by Rachel Homan, won the 'A' side Sunday evening and will be in the Ontario Scotties (provincials) in Waterloo in a few weeks. The 10 top teams in Ontario will be playing off for the one berth to the nationals in Kingston in February.

All this to say, I missed blogging last week since we were on the move for most of the weekend.

The Oscar nominees were announced this week and a colleague at work gave me a funny look when we met up in the hallway.

"What a shock to hear your name called out for best director," she said.

"That would be the other Brenda Chapman - writer and co-director of the animated movie, Brave. She also worked on The Lion King and other major animated flics."
Sadly, not me.

A Hollywood actress sent me an e-mail last year through Facebook asking to meet up for a gala in L.A. She's a friend of the other B.C. and said she realized her mistake before I sent a note to her, letting her know that I was not the Hollywood director. She also said that we look somewhat alike in our photos. Anyhow, the other B.C. wrote Brave as 'a love letter' to her daughter, and was lead director and first woman director on one of the Pixar full-length features until the movie studio bumped her aside. I'm most happy for my name double that her work is being recognized and will be cheering her on Oscar night.

A couple of writing events this week - the Granite fund-raiser this Wednesday evening with C.B. Forrest, Mary Jane Maffini and moderator City Councillor Katherine Hobbs. I'll report back next week, hopefully with some photos. I'm also getting ready to teach a short story workshop next Saturday afternoon at the Carlingwood Library - my neighbourhood branch.

I've also gotten word from Dundurn that Cold Mourning is now scheduled for release in March 2014, so a few months longer to wait. I'll be working with a different editor this time around and the editing timeline has been laid out. They require six months to send advance reading copies (ARCs) to reviewers, thus the later date. I've also been told to send in the first few chapters of the manuscript I'm working on and will be getting that ready this weekend.

So much to do.

The weather in the Ottawa Valley has turned from snow and cold to . . . rain. We have a few days of rain ahead before the temperatures plummet again toward Thursday. Roofs are leaking all over the city and walking is treacherous as roads thaw and freeze and thaw and freeze.

I'm counting the weeks until spring.