Sunday 1 March 2009

The Beginning

sunny, cold, temps minus 10

Not as cold as yesterday. Just got off the ellitical torture device. 20 minutes..for both of us. Michael - wretched man - refused to do my 20 minutes for me.

Wrote the opening for book 6. won't tell you what it is. Was aiming to do 500 words and ended up at about 800. The first go at it this morning I was happy with but not ecstatic. Then had an idea and tried a new top...and it all came together. Funny how you know when it's right and when it's not quite right. It might still change, of course. But right now I'm happy.

Am tempted to put The End there and pretend I'm finished and the rest is just editing. It's all perception. And a dash of delusion.

We're fasting for tomorrow. I think I know why they call it a fast, because we pray for it to be over quickly. Yes, I am that insightful.

Linda sent the newsletter out today with the giveaway and a recipe for Pouding Chomeur.

Must run, we're off to Montreal. Will try to blog from there. Be well.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Louise, congratulation on being shortlisted for the Agatha Award for Best Novel in the US! Looks like quite a line-up, a couple of my favourites also there but I'm rooting for you! I love your newsletters, thanks for the recipe, I sent it off to my daughter & French-Canadian son-in-law. I think Quebec City is beautiful, and was fascinated that they used mountaineers for snow removal on roofs!
Betty Gelean

Hilary MacLeod said...

Dear Louise,

I have to say ditto to the above and every piece of praise sent your way. Let me add to it. Of all the author's blogs I have been guided to, or stumbled upon, all of them with no reason to be as busy as you are, no one has kept up a blog in such a satisfactory way as you have. You will reap the benefits, of course -- not just by your continuing strong connection to those who care about your work, you, your family (four-legged included), but through the record you will have of these days, which you otherwise might not have been compelled to set down, busy as you are. I think I said something like this before, but I'm saying it again.

Suck it up -- all of it, and I don't mean that in the contemporary interpretation of the phrase. I mean ingest it, digest it, savour it -- as you richly deserve to. I'm sure Michael tels you this, but I expect it has some value, too, from a complete stranger.

Bless you and yours.

Hilary.

Hilary MacLeod said...

OOPS! And three-legged, of course, Maggie.....

Louise Penny Author said...

Dear Betty,

Thank you for wreiting! Hope your daughter and son-in-law try out the recipe - would like to hear how it went if they did. And thank you for the big support - I do appreciate it!

Louise Penny Author said...

Dear Betty,

One more quick comment - is that you in the photo and are you ice fishing???where to you live? I did that twice - once in Thunder Bay and once south of Winnipeg. I don't fish now, but I absolutely loved it!

Louise Penny Author said...

Dear Hilary,

You just amaze me with your kindness, and your empathy. Thank you. This blog gives me great pleasure. And, as you say, I also get a diary of my wrioting life, and other aspects of my life. Quite right! But mostly I get to meet people like you. How luck I am to be writing at a time when technology connects reader and writer so intimately - but also allows for a boundary, when desired. And loved you remembering three-legged Maggie - the wonder dog.

Be well and thank you...and bless you.

Anonymous said...

I am very excited that you are starting on Book 6 - actually, I can't wait for Book 5! :) Do you usually set a word count for each day, or does it change as you move through the process? Based on what you have written before on your blog, you seem to turn out the first draft quite quickly.

Karen

humble_pie said...

here we are again, another jewel of a malapennypropism. She has a wrioting life.

Louise Penny Author said...

Dear Karen,

I generally try to be kind to myself, especially at first...and start with a goal of 500 words a day, then move it up to 1,000 whenever I feel ready. It's like priming a pump - eventually it just comes rushing forth - but until that happens it is quite a lot of work. But exciting. It takes me about a year to write a book...first draft in about 6 months - re-writes and polishing over the next 4,5 or 6 months. Book 5 actually took slightly longer than a year...and when you read it (called The Brutal Telling - set in Three Pines) you might see why. Enough said.

Louise Penny Author said...

Dear Hum,

Wroit, wroite, you're bloody well, wroite. (Now, do you know where that comes from Mr. Smarty Pants?)

humble_pie said...

i'm just a humble entartiste
a silly little 70s pie
beyond the scope of the supertramps
and the Marchioness of Farthing-on-Pence.

Anonymous said...

so glad everything is working out for you....life is just grand, isn't it?

Louise Penny Author said...

Dear Hum,

Got it!

Louise Penny Author said...

Dear Loozermama,

Life is great, life is grand. But, perhaps you can explain your 'name'??