Write On

A good writing week. I managed to draft a few scenes in the latest manuscript and am at the 58,000 word mark. I'd planned to be at 60,000 words at the end of August but the edits of Turning Secrets threw a wrench into that schedule. Speaking of which, I received some final comments and questions about Turning Secrets on Friday that I need to respond to by Tuesday. Nothing major, but will take a bit of time. The manuscript is like a boomerang!

I'm visiting a book club on Tuesday so that should be fun. The Ottawa Public Library has also lined me up to visit two groups of new immigrant women in October to speak about the Anna Sweet novellas and other high-low books, which are written for adult literacy and English as a second language. When I taught years ago, I worked with some adults on improving their reading skills and lamented that we had to read kids' books. Somebody must have been listening - these novellas are adult themes and subjects but at a grade 3-5 level. Grass Roots Press publishes the Anna Sweet mysteries and their entire focus is adult literacy and ESL. Such good resources if you're teaching in this field. In addition to the series, I worked on a book of main idea paragraphs at the grade five level last year and believe the book will be published this fall.

I haven't had a lot of time to read lately but am currently reading Louise Penny's The Beautiful Mystery. Louise has a huge Canadian and international following and has won many, many awards for her series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and set in the fictional town of Three Pines in the Eastern Quebec townships. Still Life is the first in this acclaimed series if you are looking for a new mystery author to read and haven't sampled Louise's work before. Louise is a former CBC radio host and a natural speaker in addition to being a fine writer.

So, last week, Ted and I visited friends in Niagara wine country and managed to visit a few wineries, including the Niagara Wine College where we took a morning tour. The weather started out warm but cooled during our visit, a sign of the autumn weather to come. Niagara is an area of the country you need to put on your bucket list if you've never been. The beautiful countryside, fresh fruit and vegetables, and fabulous restaurants make it well worth the visit (in addition to all those wineries).

Niagara Wine College also makes beer!