ShortHand Publishing - January 2004 Memo

January 2004

Welcome to the first memo of 2004!

A lot has been happening in the last five or six weeks, but unfortunately I can’t say much about any of it. The reason being, I have been spending much of my time working on different promotion ideas for our books. Now, I’m not the least bit superstitious, it’s just that until the final details have been worked out I don’t want to say anything in case they fall through.

I will say however, even though Ed, my editor in Palm Springs, CA. is busier than a fox in a henhouse he has found time to help me in my promotion quest.

Being that he is the new editor of an up and coming entertainment magazine in the Palm Springs, CA area they, (his company) are doing promotion for the magazine. During a resent television interview he was asked what, other than the magazine, projects he had done lately. Of all the things he is involved with, he mentioned editing my first two children’s books. One thing lead to another and he gave my books half of his air time. Can you beat that? What a guy. There will be more news about this in future memos’.

There was also a project I started in early December which I can’t talk about until March. But I can assure you it will be well worth the wait.

Even though we have had some really cold days during January we are still finding the odd stinkbug in the house. It seems as soon as it warms up, even the tiniest bit, they come back to life. Mom and I have wondered where they come from as they appear out of nowhere.

While sitting in the front room one day, watching the fire, I saw what I thought to be a stinkbug on the inside of the glass. I couldn’t help but think, burn you little dickens, burn. Then in a blink of the eye there he was one on the outside moulding of the fireplace, now I ask you, how did he get out of a seal fireplace?

If that’s not bad enough, one night upon retiring to my room I was greeted by one of these little darlings in my bed! There he was sitting right on my blanket by my pillow!! One can only take so much. Just in case you are wondering what these little darlings look like, we found a dead one in the garage, I hope you can see him all right. The ruler might help show how big they are.

A few mornings later, I was greeted by another one when I opened my door. At least he was polite enough to wait until the door had been opened. We have found them in the strangest places – in the bathroom sink when you look down to wash your hands, on the cord of the floor lamp, beside the toilet. But the worst one was when I was on the couch one evening reading. I happened to see something out of the corner of my eye, or at lest I thought I saw something. When I looked again there was a stinkbug crawling towards my leg without a care in the world.

Since he was only a few inches away and I hadn’t expected to see him, I let out a startled squeal. Surprisingly, Mom heard this all the way upstairs and she called down to see if I was alright. I wouldn’t have thought I was that loud but I suppose when you are startled we have no volume control. It made for a good laugh at any rate. *Note: I added this picture to the left on February 4th, this was a stinkbug we found in the garage, still alive!! It's also a much clearer picture.

On a happier note, we had our first author visit of 2004 in early January. Our visit was to Anne McClymont Elementary School in the Mission area of Kelowna, BC. To read about this wonderful visit please jump over to the “News” tab and check under the author visit reports.

For the last few months I’ve been working on building a website for someone else! Just imagine, not even a year ago I couldn’t edit nor maintain a website let alone build a site from scratch. Now mind you, this is not a fancy site with flashy things here and there but it will serve the needs of the people involved quite well.

Just as I’m learning with our site, as time goes on the site continues to grow. I can’t believe how far our site has come since last May. And I already have a “Chat Room” on the new site and am looking forward to adding a few more things very soon. It seems the more I do, the more I am learning.

On January 20^th I, along with Mom, had the pleasure of meeting Diane Swanson at Davidson Road Elementary School in Winfield, BC. Observing another author doing a presentation is something I have wanted to do for some time.

Diane has been nominated for countless awards including the B.C. Red Cedar Book Award and having written over sixty books for children is no new comer to the writing scene. She has been referred to as “a nature nut” and her passion is clear, not only in her books but with the children she interacts with.

Diane was able to get me wondering about every day things that are around us. I have never been all that interested in science but watching Diane with her many boxes of surprises, explain the wonders of this world to the children, well, it was a treat I will not soon forget.

It was near the end of the first presentation someone asked her who we were, because Mrs. Godkin, the librarian, had seated us in the front and off to the side I suppose we looked very important. Diane kindly asked me to join her as she introduced me to her audience. Having a well known author, such as Diane Swanson introduce me as “a local author,” was quite an honour.

During the intermission Diane and I found time for a chat. She shared some tips with me and was more than gracious with her time. We also spent quite a bit of time after her second presentation visiting.

As exciting as all things I have mentioned are, my last bit of news is the most exciting, at least to me. Before we moved to Lumby I asked a friend who lives here, “Do you get a lot of snow there?”

Her answer, “Tons.”

Let me tell you, she was not kidding. Last winter was a piece of cake compared to this year; we didn’t even get snow until January. This year? It started in early November and it hasn’t quit yet! We did have a break a few weeks back but it is certainly making up for it now.

We must have at least three feet on the ground and half of that has come in the last week. I have for a long time felt bad because I could never help my Mom shovel the driveway. It’s a good thing she is strong and loves to be outside, especially this year.

The other day I made an off the cuff comment that I’d love to be able to help her. A few minutes later when she was ready to go out she asked me if I was ready to join her. Although I have been feeling exceptionally good this winter, which is unusual in and of it’s self, I wasn’t sure I was really ready for shovelling. In any case I said yes and headed out with her.

I was amazed as I started with the back patio, nothing was hurting as I shovelled. Because our patio is raised up a bit I could shovel the snow straight off the edge. The front driveway was a little different. In order to pile the snow, I would lift the shovel with my foot, I thought for sure the next day I would be hurting and bruised as the shovel kept hitting me in the knees.

To my amazement and disbelief I was neither sore nor bruised! Two days later, after another huge snowfall Mom and I were out there shovelling again, mind you, she had been out in between. I am still not feeling any worse for wear, as they say. As I sit here writing this memo, it is still snowing, my reaction? Let it snow!! So until next month, be well. J

This picture is part of our backyard taken Jan. 27th 2004. To the left of the little gate there is a wooden barrel buried under the snow. This barrel is a foot and a half tall!