Toni Anderson's Blog: Toni Anderson, page 82

Secondary characters, MS, and my brother

I received a nice review of SEA OF SUSPICION from The Romance Reviews last week--Thanks, Arkali. The thing I really liked about this review (especially as the reviewer wasn't sold on the romance between the hero and heroine) was what she said about the secondary characters...

"One of the strongest points of the book is the secondary characters. Some are morally weak, some are sympathetic, and then some are truly the best of humanity. Case in point is Nick's friend and co-worker, Ewan. Ewan's wife, Amy, is dying of multiple sclerosis. The love and tenderness he has for her is absolutely touching. I know that people the world over deal with tragedy like this every day, but that makes it no less noble."

This meant a lot to me for personal reasons.  If you have read the book you might have noticed the dedication.

"For my late sister-in-law, Helen Sarah Margaret Beddow, Nov 14, 1964 to July 15, 2004, whose life was cut tragically short by multiple sclerosis"

Now I didn't base Amy or Ewan on my brother or late sister-in-law. I didn't use them as templates. But I had witnessed the rock solid dedication of my brother to his ailing wife and the steadfast care-taking and valiant wars he fought with health service officials to care for her at home. He knew if she went into hospital she'd die from boredom or superbugs and she'd miss out on the chance to be part of her young girls' lives, and they'd miss out on her. My brother never gave up his job--always high intensity stuff, not working the check-out at Walmart. He had two girls to bring up and a wife who needed constant care. After pointing out it was cheaper for the health service to provide homecarers from 7 am to 7 pm than for Helen to go into hospital, he managed to scrape together enough funding for those 12 h shifts. Which meant on top of a full time day job, raising two girls, he cared for his wife for those other 12 hours a day. This went on for years and years as Helen's MS progressed (which was one of those nasty varieties with crippling attacks and little remission).

He didn't sleep through the night for years. It was important to turn her at regular intervals so she didn't get bed sores and he slept lightly because he was terrified she was going to stop breathing. The most moving thing to watch was when he would hold her hand and call her darling and treat her like a normal dignified human being.

Helen died in his arms six years ago a few months shy of her 40th birthday.

My brother isn't perfect but he's pretty close and he deserves every happiness that he has now found. So although I didn't base Ewan on him directly, I did embody Ewan with all my brother's strengths.

Birth of a plot

[image error] I spent the last 2 days working some kinks out of a plot line and then charted the basic story. I use different colors for different character point of views and post-its so I can move scenes around.  And even looking at the storyboard now I can see I'm missing major hero POV moments in the climax of the book.  This isn't the finished version :) It's not only a 'work-in'progress' but the story tends to fill out as I go along (thank God).Funny but when DH gets home from work and asks me how I got on, I always feel guilty if I've been plotting and researching. I'm a goal oriented person so collecting thoughts and images seems like playtime rather than work, but I spent much of this year trying to work without this process (we were on the move so much and whiteboards/space for post-its was lacking) and feel like I failed big time on my own work goals.

I've yet to work out the exact progression of the romance, but I know my characters (finally) and even have some faces to pin on them.
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[image error] And I even have a location.
[image error] So--here goes. My aim is a first draft by Christmas. I also have to edit ICEBREAKER again after some expert feedback--really looking forward to that.  I have 2 other book ideas firmly shelved in storage.  One set in Scotland, the other in Canada.  I greatly appreciate the hero suggestions. 
Kids home. Must find earplugs and work.

Have a wonderful weekend. My only plans involve a rake, and not the thrilling variety.  What about you?

Simply because...

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Casting call...

[image error] I'm looking for 3 heroes... any suggestions??
I need a Brit soldier, a Canadian Fisheries Officer (I think, or maybe coastguard), and an American psychologist. No one too pretty, please. I have ideas for each but I'd love to hear more suggestions and I'll see if we have any overlap.

Guest blogging

with Natalie Damschroder later today over at her Indulge Yourself blog. Check it out :)

[image error] I hate Halloween BTW.  The excitement and sugar drive my kids to within an inch of a mental institute (or maybe I'm the one in need of a wrap-around jacket). Seriously--it is insane.  And to top it off we have classroom parties, a piano recital, a birthday party and then trick-or-treating.  That doesn't include the usual weekend activities.  Do you love it or hate it? 

Strangely enough SEA OF SUSPICION is set around Halloween and features pumpkins--which reminds me of another thing I still haven't got around to yet.  Buying pumpkins.

Is it too early for gin?

Covert Christmas

[image error] Look what just arrived?  A novella SAVING CHRISTMAS by one of my favourite authors (Loreth Anne White). The other two aren't bad either. 
Knowing Loreth this won't be your average 'Christmas' Story!

O Canada

Last Tuesday, 19th October 2010 was a very important date in the Anderson household.  It started normally enough.  We got up around 7 a.m. and ran around the house getting the kids ready for school.  DH worked from home and we both did as much work as possible to make up for taking the rest of the day off.  At noon we dropped everything, dressed up, grabbed kids and headed downtown.

We had a hot date at Government House.
That's the Manitoba Legislature building just behind Government House, with 'Golden Boy' prancing in the sunshine.
[image error] This is the home of the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, The Honourable Philip S. Lee, and Her Honour, Anita Lee (his wife). It is also the place where, once a year, they conduct the ceremony to become Canadian Citizens.  We hadn't realised we were getting the star treatment.  We actually thought that everyone taking the oath did this (insert big laugh because the pomp and ceremony really was awesome).  But most people take the oath at the CN Rail terminal (another lovely building).

So we park, worried about being towed because--dude--this is the home of the Lieutenant Governor and are you sure we're in the right place?

We were.

We immediately bumped into the biggest Mountie I've ever seen (6' 6" I reckon) in full red serge uniform.  Awesome.

Then we went inside and presented our old Landed Immigrants cards and got to sign the Guest Book. Even the kids signed and their writing is probably better than ours (yes, we are doctors, LOL).

When everything was ready we were formally announced and introduced to the receiving line of the Lieutenant Governor, his wife, and the Honourable Judge Macky who was presiding over the ceremony.  Our son said his full name--all four names--in a very loud and clear whisper that you could hear in the ballroom (apparently). Once we were all settled in our seats we had a couple of speeches about what it means to join the Canadian family, and quickly got onto the Oath of Citizenship. 

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OATH OF CITIZENSHIP
I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful
and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada,
Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully
observe the laws of Canada
and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.
Considering the Queen is the same Queen I grew up with, I didn't have any issues with the oath.  There were about thirty-five people at the ceremony from 17 different countries.  I got a tear in my eye thinking about all the stories and journeys people had taken to get into that room. It's humbling.  
Our journey is nothing spectacular.  We spent 3 years in Ontario in the 90s as post-docs at the University of Waterloo.  It was fun but DH's dad wasn't well and we decided to head back to Scotland where DH took up a post-doc with his old Ph.D. supervisor.  That's when I started writing and we started a family.  After 6 years DH was looking for a lectureship and nothing was coming up in the UK.  He spotted an ad for a lecturer in comparative physiology (his thing) at the University of Manitoba.  We knew two things about Manitoba.  1) People in Ontario looked down their noses at the lousy winters and horrendous bugs, 2) We had a two friends there.  

Looking back it is a strange thing to decide to up-roots with two babies.  But because we'd already done it before, the fact we had kids and dogs didn't seem like a big deal, plus we'd been back and forth to Australia a few times for DH's work and a ten hour flight didn't seem that far anymore.  So he applied and got the job and less than 6 months after we'd seen the ad we'd bought our home in Winnipeg.  


In another weird coincidence the two people who came to help us celebrate our oath were people I'd first met in St. Andrews.  I met Ted when I was a lowly Ph.D. student and he was a visiting professor on sabbatical (he fixed my bike puncture, which he's forgotten, but I'll never forget :).  In an even stranger twist of fate, the two friends of ours from Waterloo who now lived in Winnipeg were also close friends with Ted and his wife Deanna.  Proving the world really is a small place.  


After the ceremony the Lieutenant Governor laid on a delicious buffet of cheese and crackers and handmade sweets.  My son ate so many he got pretty hyper so we decided we'd better head.  On our way out we got our chance to chat to Philip Lee.  He's a really nice man who also came to Canada on a British passport in the 1960s.  His passport was from Hong Kong and he was very amused that when he arrived he could vote but other Canadians of Asian origin could not.  That has thankfully changed.  We started talking about Wayne Rooney and soccer while I tried to mentally keep our son away from the 5' Crystal Jardiniere.  My psychic powers failed and I had to go over and snap him out of his sugar fugue state and threaten removal of DS privileges which finally did the trick.  
I looked up what he was playing with...


Crystal Jardiniere - Donated to Government House in 1992 by Miss Phyllis Miller (and two grandsons - Gordon and Douglass Miller) of Vancouver, B.C., in memory of her parents and their grandparents, Jabez and Mary Miller. Jabez Miller came to Winnipeg in 1882 with D. R. Dingwall, founder of Dingwall Jewellers. The company later amalgamated with Birks. The jardiniere was cut by the Gundy Clapperton Company of Toronto sometime between 1905 and 1920, and was presented to Mr. Miller on his 40th anniversary with the company. 

So, thankfully when we left it was still standing. Honest Gov'nr. 

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Canadians are all very excited on our behalf.  People keep coming over and congratulating us.  It is a big deal. But it was an easy decision to make. We don't give up our British Citizenship so we are fortunate enough to claim the UK and Canada as our nations.  It's a nice feeling, like having a wonderful massive security blanket.  DH can get a Canadian passport so hopefully he isn't always picked on when going to the US (it doesn't help he has no fingerprints and that Irish accent).


A large slice of our hearts belong to the UK but Canada is such a special place, the people as warm and friendly as the winters are cold and brutal.  After 6 years we feel very much part of the community.  I'm looking forward to fulfilling my oath and watching my kids grow up to be Canucks.    


Thanks, Canada!!!

Mary O'Gara--creativity and spiritual life coach

 A couple of years ago I contacted a fellow writer from my writers' Chapter (KISS OF DEATH) to do some in depth research into what it was like to be psychic.  I had decided to write about a woman who heard voices in her head and Mary O'Gara taught a workshop called 'Creating Psychic Characters.' After taking the course, Mary spent several long phone calls answering my questions and recommending various books to read for research.  She also gave me a reading based on my astrology chart which was pretty cool :) She very generously agreed to join me and answer a few of my questions on my blog today. [image error]
Toni:  One of the hardest things I experienced writing this book was having a character experience things she couldn't explain (because she doesn't understand what's happening to her). As a psychic was there a time you felt the same mixture of fear and confusion or have you always been at peace with that aspect of your life?
Mary:   I've always been at peace with my psychic abilities, loved them, in fact.  For me, the conflicts have been with understanding people who don't use their gifts.   My parents did warn me not to talk about them outside the family—but nothing prepared me for college and close relationships with wonderful people who didn't use their gifts.   Lots of conflict there, for which I now take responsibility—but I acted pretty badly at time because it was SO frustrating.  I hated wasting hours, for example, on homecoming designs that were obviously (to me) losers.   Fortunately for me, I majored in journalism, where psychic abilities were valued as "a nose for news."   Later, I lived on the Navajo reservation where the entire culture valued psychic communication and used it routinely; there it was called "the Navajo grapevine" and everyone trusted it. [image error]  I used my gifts for myself and my own work until I was 38.   And then beginning my practice as an astrologer and professional psychic made me learn to develop my skills and work with them and trust them even when I didn't have personal feedback.   That took a lot of work and practice.  Now I encountered religious prejudice, but not within the circle of people I loved.   Any conflicts today are likely to be with people who think I can read their minds, people who have secrets they don't want me to know.   And it doesn't matter how often I tell them that mind reading is not one of my gifts.

Toni:  Could you explain the difference between being psychic and being a medium? Is it common to be both?
Mary: It's a lot like writing, Toni.  The capacity for language and the four psychic senses are part of our basic human equipment that everyone has.   Any woman who knows when her children are in need of a mother knows what I'm talking about.   Being a medium is like being a writer; it takes interest and focus and training and a lot of practice to be a good writer or a good medium. 
Basically, a psychic sees and understands things that happen in the physical world; we just span time and space to get information from the past, the present or other locations.   Being comfortable with non-physical senses does make it easier to work as a medium.  A true medium, like Esther Hicks http://www.abraham-hicks.com gives control of her body to the spirit from the other side, preferably a high spiritual being or group of beings like Esther's Abraham.  I don't do that at all.  I do occasional medium work, asking someone from the other side to come to me with information someone needs, but that's probably less than once a year after the decades of my work.   On a routine basis, I see or hear spirit guides or family members from the other side who have volunteered information or come to visit. I also help spirits who didn't pass to the other side after death complete their transition and move on.  
Toni:  Can these psychic powers be inherited? Did you inherit yours from a known family member?
Mary: Well, there you've got me.  I'm an hereditary witch, descended from three people who were executed for witchcraft in Connecticut in the 1600s (and from another who was tried and released), but I truly believe the abilities are there for everyone.   Maybe it's like other talents–genes may make a gift more powerful or families may provide acceptance and role modeling.  Or, in some families, the fact that the gifts are forbidden makes them as attractive as chocolate to children.
One of my mentors, Edwin Steinbrecher, believed that a supportive family member made it much easier for a child to retain the abilities we're born with.   Psychic abilities are probably a large part of the creativity that lets babies learn so much during the first months and years of life–and then we suppress them just as the children are starting school.  
I was fortunate to be the daughter of a lawyer who used his own gifts routinely as part of his professional work.  Dad was my first teacher and I spent a lot of time working in his office and learning to use my own skills there.   We did simple things: Shake a client's hand and tell Dad whether I believed the client could be trusted to be truthful; look for a book in the law library by looking for light around it or for a page in the book by feeling my way "down" to the right page; holding soil in my hand and feeling what it needed.
Toni:  Is there a relationship between people being psychic and those who practise 'witchcraft'?
Mary: I think psychic abilities are considered normal and valuable in the wiccan communities, which makes their practice easier.  I'm not a member of a coven, but I have friends who are, and their training certainly encourages the use of psychic or intuitive abilities.   But so do many other religious traditions.   Churches that discourage some abilities may value other–ban tarot but encourage hands-on healing, for example.   And my own New Thought Christian tradition is very accepting of psychic gifts.  Other groups encourage communication with angels, which is just another form of intuitive work.
Toni:  Do you believe in Spirit Guides?
Mary: I do.   I don't always listen, but that's just me being creative and undisciplined.   Guides are simply people on the other side whose own spiritual development includes helping us.   Some of the greatest insights in my life have come from my guides, and I'd be very lonely without them.  Spirit guides don't replace faith in God/Goddess; in fact, then intensify it.
Toni:  What is the most powerful psychic experience you've ever experienced?
Mary: That's hard because I've been blessed with a lot of help from the other side.   But one was the time of my mother's death.   The night before she died, I felt "someone" moving down the hall toward my office and looked up to see a man I recognized as her grandfather (dead decades before I was born).  The next night, as she was dying quietly and peacefully, I saw her family come to meet her, including her father (who also died decades before I was born), her uncle who was my surrogate grandfather, and my own father.   The only one missing was her brother–and the next day his children confirmed that their own mother was seriously ill and he was probably with her.
At the other extreme, I once shook hands with my then-husband's new employer and knew he was an embezzler.  My spouse was NOT interested in that information, but at least the man's arrest wasn't a complete surprise for us.  My present husband's family remembers that I stumbled on a family secret in his father's astrological chart when I first knew the family–maybe not the best introduction, but they had fair warning when I joined the family.
Toni:  You teach 'Creating Psychic Characters' workshops. What else do you teach and where can we find out more about you?
Mary: My next workshop, in December, is quick and easy ways to use metaphysical tools for strategic planning for the new year.  I'll be offering that through Writers Online Classes, http://www.writersonlineclasses.com    All of my workshops for next year, and the free teleconference calls schedule for the rest of this year, are at my own site, http://maryogara.com

The Days Are Just Packed...

It might seem quiet around here but life is hectic.  I'm closing in on the end of this work I'm doing for DH's department (please be done :)), today we take the Oath of Citizenship and become a family of Canadians (my last day as a pure Brit LOL), and tomorrow I have a guest interviewee on my blog.

Mary O'Gara is the psychic I consulted while writing STORM WARNING.  I hope you join us for that. 

So just to say, hope you are well, and...
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THANK YOU, CANADA!  for taking us on :)

SEA OF SUSPICION an audiobook

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I'm thrilled to annouce that SEA OF SUSPICION narrated by Chloe Campbell is now available to download from Audible.com.

I am ridiculously excited.  Again :)


 
Review of ebook:"Deeply atmospheric and filled with twists and turns, Sea of Suspicion kept me flying eagerly through the pages. Just when I thought I'd figured things out, the author would switch them up on me. That quality, plus the steamy chemistry between the lead characters, drew me further and further into the book." All About Romance.  Read whole review here.