D.G. Kaye's Blog, page 183

Writing—So Easy a Caveman Can Do It | Kristen Lamb’s Blog

This is a great article written by Kristen Lamb on her observance on how writers are taken lightly and most times for granted.

When the words flow beautifully in a book or a movie the writing is sometimes overlooked and taken for granted but heaven help us if there are mistakes, we are going to hear about it.

Kristen also brings up the question about why Indie musicians are admired by people yet the stigma is still there for the Indie author.

I love this article and have often wondered about much of the same. Kudos to you Kristen for standing up for all authors. You hit the nail on the head when you said our words are taken for granted and without them, there would be no good movies, books and articles.

Her post is a most interesting read for readers and writers alike.

 

Writing—So Easy a Caveman Can Do It | Kristen Lamb’s Blog.

NIGHT WRITER

 

The still of our mind ascends far into flight,

When the world is asleep in the wee hours of night.

The realm of subconscious where time has no measure,

Where dreams and ideas float abundant in treasure.

With the rise of the dawn and awakening minds,

We strive to hang on to the words which we find.

Why  do profound thoughts emerge from that secret place?

In that state of serenity, in that magical phase.

THURSDAY GRIPE – Annoying Phone Calls

What is it with me and technology? I have to wonder if I am hard wired to attract snafus with telephones and computers. Even though I question my magnetic tendencies I am not taking ownership to this theory without blaming incompetence in service with so many companies today.

My theory is that with greed in today’s business world, their standards for employees have become so minimal because employees aren’t paid enough, thus leaving them with an “I don’t care” attitude or else they are put in their positions without proper information of their products. This I am finding not only in the service related industries but also in retail stores. I have been noticing an increase in the lack of quality control on many fronts but I am going to share a five hour time suck out of my daily WRITING life that transpired between yesterday and today.

As you can well imagine, a telephone ringing in the wee hours of the night and very early hours of the morning and constantly through the day, averaging about eight to ten times a day, from an unknown number of which when answered there is no reply and when you try and dial it back, there is no connection, is very ANNOYING.

This little escapade has been going on for well over a week now and besides the annoyance and loss of sleep and work interruption, those midnight calls can be very frightening, especially when there is someone very ill in my extended family.

Yesterday, after hoping these calls would end and to no avail, I had to call my phone provider to deal with the madness. I had held off for the exact reasons that I entailed: Anytime I have to call Bell or Rogers with a problem, it becomes an at least two hour deal before I press a million buttons, wait on hold, get a service agent, get transferred again (because it’s always the wrong department), get asked again by every transfer for my life story and personal information, occasionally get disconnected and have to start the whole process over again.

So, yesterday I called Bell to simply ask for the annoying number to be blocked from my phone. About forty minutes into the protocol procedure an agent finally told me I didn’t have that option on my package but she would add it and take off another which I didn’t need in compensation and within twenty four hours the function would be in service for me to add a blocked number. After an hour and a half, I thanked her and hung up.

This morning I went to block the number, only the feature to do so was invalid. While I had only momentarily left my writing and coffee to punch in the blocked number at 930am, I once again lost half the day.

I called Bell back, punched in the prompts, gave all my info to a recording, again got misdirected and forty five minutes later I finally got connected to an agent, a rude agent. When I asked why the function wasn’t working, I was told that was not a blocking function and he would rectify it so the function worked. So when I hung up I retried to block the number but it still would not allow me to use it. I called Bell again with the one nerve I had left in me as I watched the next hour pass by. This time I called tech support who told me I didn’t have that function listed on my account! He TRANSFERRED me to another agent who once again asked for my life story and at that point, she was the lucky winner to receive the brunt of my anger. She apologized again and told me that the function the last agent activated needed the other function with it that was formerly de-activated, hence it wouldn’t work. She then told me to hold while they looked at my account. AND THEN I GOT DISCONNECTED.

I started the call procedure all over again, got transferred three more times ( two and a half hours later) and then I blew up. I asked why there was such incompetence within a major phone company, why my time wasn’t valuable, what the hell is the big deal to activate a function without going through ten different agents for three hours.

FINALLY the last transfer was to the President’s office. I received lots of apologies and assurance there was nobody higher than him to speak with and he would rectify the matter right then. Although he placed me on hold several times and eventually he activated the service and for a tiny compensation of my time sucked, added a small monetary credit on my account.

After all was said and done and he asked me the number I wished to block, I was told that number COULD NOT BE BLOCKED! Apparently it was an outgoing number only. While I hung on the line (again) he google searched the number to find out that it was an automated call from SEARS which there were numerous complaints about. Again he apologized and suggested I call Sears and try and get my number off of their list. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” I retorted. Are you telling me that I now have to start this nonsense all over again with Sears to get rid of these calls? He apologized for the umpteenth time in a consoling manner. I thanked him for his time and asked him to look into the quality of his employees and to educate them on their products so I or nobody else would have to encounter this Bull#$8t in future.

It is now 1245pm and I am writing this as I JUST  got off the phone with Bell and thought I could constructively vent here as well as share with you the pitfalls of our COMMUNICATIONS service companies — more like an oxymoron — miscommunications. I have to imagine that many of you must have experienced similar situations, surely I CANNOT be the only one these things happen to? I cannot even think about wasting the rest of my day calling Sears today!

This is my billing for my time:

Hours of time on issue:  5

Hours of aggravations and time-suck: Priceless

Resolution:  Not Really

GETTING BACK IN THE GROOVE

 

It has been three weeks since I’ve returned from my great winter escape and it already feels like that was so long ago. This winter is just the gift that keeps on giving.

Coming home from a long vacay always involves catching up on so many fronts. Besides the discipline of getting back into routine and trying to assert myself back into writing and revisions for my next book there is also the daily grind of cooking, cleaning and laundry and whatever little surprises get thrown in the mix. Once again the clock begins ticking at a rapid pace.

As many of you may remember, I have had my share of computer mishaps in the last several months. After my older laptop suffered two fatal hard drive crashes within a four month span, I had purchased a new desktop computer in the fall, realizing that I needed a reliable backup available for use when my laptop didn’t want to cooperate with me.

It took me awhile to get used to using Windows 8 as I sadly had to surrender to it if I wanted a new computer as I mourned the loss of my beloved Windows 7. After my laptop crashed for the second time in four months in December I also purchased a new laptop in fear that I could no longer rely on it.

This week I was working on my fairly new laptop and when I took a break and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water, I suddenly heard a strange screeching, beeping noise. I followed the noise directly to my laptop and when I looked at it there was a blank screen…for a long time. I finally powered it off and restarted only to find the same screen but with added words, “windows is trying to repair disk errors.” I waited and waited as I assumed it was doing its thing repairing whatever it was that suddenly stopped working.

As I continued on with my writing, I did random checks on the progress of the repair when finally a message came up telling me the laptop required service. I already knew that my plans for the next day of staying home and writing were going to be thwarted because I had to take the laptop in for repair. I took it to my local Staples store where I had purchased it and I just didn’t have a good feeling of what was to ensue.

I was told within seconds by the tech man that…MY HARD DRIVE HAD CRASHED! “Are you friggin’ kidding me?” I blurted out in disbelief. “This thing isn’t even three months old and not even finished being paid for.” I added angrily.

The tech man who was also the man who had sold it to me was very nice and already knew all of my prior computer woes, was also in disbelief that this could actually happen. According to him, I was the only customer whose hard drive had crashed in this brand ever sold in that store in such a short time. He added that is was a very rare occurrence for a hard drive crash and even more rare that I had now endured three crashes in the past seven months.

My friends and family have often referred to me as the one per cent girl because of some of the things I have encountered in life containing slim odds of ever happening, but this hard drive business was like my Achilles heel and became to the point of ridiculous and not to mention, a huge time-suck.

The tech offered to order me a new one, which although was a lovely gesture, still involved me waiting for it to come in another day, and two more visits to the store while they worked on setting up the operating system and downloads and needed me to loggin with passwords during the process. It also involved downloading back all my files from my backup device. This was definitely one thing I learned long ago…BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP! A familiar procedure instilled in my brain.

I hate when I have that feeling of zero accomplishment in a week where the hours are so precious and I am left feeling that every step I take forward, I fall three steps behind in my work. But once again, I will start fesh again next week and try to put this behind me and move forward.

I am thinking that maybe I should be buying a lottery ticket and trying my luck out by using my one per cent odds in a positive way.

So, after all my venting I am going to say it again…DON’T FORGET TO BACKUP! Crashes don’t give us subtle warnings. They don’t slowly happen where you may be able to notice little things slowing down or not working properly. Within a moment’s notice your screen could just go dark and WHAMMO, you computer is dead.

Enough said, I have to get back to work.

 

Quick Tips To Help You Tighten Up Your Writing | Catherine, Caffeinated

This is a reblog I thought I would share with you writers out there. It never hurts to be reminded too many times on how to cut the fat out of our writing. Catherine Ryan Howard has shared these tips from author C.S. Lakin.

 

Quick Tips To Help You Tighten Up Your Writing | Catherine, Caffeinated.

I hope you enjoy these tips. I find it handy to be reminded of these tips to keep me from falling into the same pitfalls repeatedly. As writers we don’t often notice these little oversights unless we have our ‘editing’ eyes finally tuned in.

OLYMPIC MEDAL MANIA

Congratulations Canada!  Great games played by all and congratulations to all the Olympic athetes!

I struggled to stay focused on my work this week as it became closer for Canada to have some great opportunities to go for the gold. I was just so hooked on the Olympics. I wondered if I was being lazy or just patriotic as I kept my eyes glued on the TV.  I was getting disappointed when I’d sit patiently waiting for the Canadian athletes to have their time to shine and many times after the announcers would sing their praises I would watch them stumble and all their Olympic dreams vanish from mishaps. I began to think it was the curse of the announcers. I couldn’t help but shake that feeling of superstition as I watched women’s half-pipe wipe out, and other flukey mishaps like Hamelin’s trip in short-track, Gagnon’s DNF wipe-out in Alpine and Maltais’ wipe-out in the 1000 meter.

Many athletes had complained about some of the snow and ice conditions in many events and it appeared that Canadians had struggled a lot in some events with this. But all in all, everyone had to endure the same conditions, so we can’t really fault anyone but nature for some of those conditions and the strongest ones prevailed.

And then we had the questioning of the judges episodes again, a replay of the Jamie Sale and David Pelletier debacle it felt like, which always seemed to involve questionable collusion or foul play suspicion with Canadian athlete judging scores. First with the skating pairs competition, Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir versus U.S. Meryl Davis and Charlie White’s questioning of the point discrepancy of the two teams and the favouritism of the U.S. team by the U.S. and Russian judges. The Canadians took second place silver medal.

Then there was the initial reaction to the first heat of women’s bobsleigh with the highly touted Kaillee Humphreys and Heather Moyse as favourites  in question by the announcers when U.S.1 topped the Canadians by a few nano seconds after the Canadians had a start of seconds ahead of them with a flawless run. But after all was said, the second heat propelled the Canadians right back in first to take the gold medal.

A great moment in women’s curling as a proud Canadian,  I was watching Jennifer Jones knock out the last rock in the last end, leading her team to victory over Sweden, bringing back the gold medal for us Canadians.

 

Thursday proved to be a most victorious day for Canada as our women’s hockey team pulled out a miracle after losing 2-0 to the U.S. with only three nail-biting minutes left, they tied up the game and went on to win the gold medal once again in over-time. By that time my tears of joy were flowing with pride.

 

Canadian men’s curling was double the joy when we took the gold again.

I can’t end this post without mentioning my surprise and joy when our Canadian men’s hockey team maintained a 1-0 lead over the U.S. in a nail-biter game and even though I’m not the hugest NHL fan, the pride that overcame me was overwhelming as a Torontonian, where my city is the pride of hockey town.

For the grand finale, as most Canadians woke very early Sunday morning to cheer their country on for the last time of the Sochi Olympics and compete for the last gold medal, Canada men’s hockey prevailed and once again took the gold medal. As a proud Canadian I stood and cheered with my husband, a total die-hard hockey fanatic, and we watched all the short clips of the various bars throughout the country cheer proudly for their country.

Somehow these games always bring tears to my eyes. It’s no different feeling for me than watching any other play-off game such as the Stanley Cup or the Superbowl. I always feel so proud and happy for the winners, yet my heart is always touched with the disappointment felt by the team without the glory. Everyone plays their hearts out, everybody wants to win but in the end they are all champions for all they have accomplished.

Congratulations to all the Olympic athletes for your hard work and dedication, you are all winners!Congratulations Canada! You’ve done us proud!

DISCOVERING NEW BOOKS — I’ve been Tagged!

 

Hello readers! I am excited to share that I was invited to participate in  a blog chain. I was invited by a fellow author friend Alana Munro. Alana has kindly tagged me and my book Conflicted Hearts. She is the best selling author of Women Behaving Badly. A book I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the misbehaviors of women and their petty jealousies.

 

Description:

Have you ever been hurt by a woman? Are you fed up with the constant bitching,

gossiping and manipulation between the females in your life? Do you want happier

and healthier relationships with females? Do you wish to weed out the toxic

women and seek out only positive women?

If you have ever wondered why

some women are complicated creatures this book will offer you straight talking

answers. This book will highlight all the strange, controlling and spiteful

behaviours that some females specialise in. This book attempts to understand

what actually drives women to be cruel or bitchy to each other. It attempts to

make sense of the huge expectations women place on each other. How can we avoid

toxic women? What bad behaviours should we be looking out for? This book

explores every cruel behaviour possible and attempts to understand what is

really going on between the females in our life.

Congrats on your book’s success Alana and thanks for sharing my work.

Now as part of this blog, I am to answer four questions:

1.  What are you currently working on?

I have just finished writing the first draft for my next book, a humorous take on my menopausal experience. I am also working on an anthology of short essays on things that girls love which encompasses vanity and our love for accessories. I am also in the beginning stages of writing a sequel to my first book, Conflicted Hearts. My plate is full!

2. How does your work differ from other’s in same genre?

I am a nonfiction writer and all my writing comes from my own life experiences. My first book was a memoir based on my dysfunctional childhood and narcissistic mother and my journey into the world alone to discover life on my own. I suppose there are many memoirs written but each individual has their own journey to share and the lessons that come with it.

3. Why do you write what you do?

I have always written about my feelings on life and my experiences and kept a journal for years on such. By writing I get to express my true feelings and at the same time it is so freeing to get the words out of my head and onto paper. I have found through the years that people are interested in what I have to say so I decided to take my writing more seriously and share my thoughts with the world.

4. How does your writing process work?

I write in long-hand. Some may call this ‘old school’ but I cannot sit in front of a keyboard and create. My mind is always thinking and I have several notebooks which I write in pertaining to different subjects and for the books I am currently writing. I do an outline of chapters I’d like to write about for each book and then I discipline myself to just sit down and write. Sometimes the course I have laid out for myself gets sidetracked and ideas begin to take on another path other than the one I had planned but that is all part of the writing process. Only when I have completed first draft do I begin to enter it into the computer and then that is where all my revisions take place. Although I do print out several copies along the way because I find it so much easier to read and revise off paper.

Now that I have shared some insights into my writing, I am going to introduce you to three other authors that I am tagging.

*Please note, if you have been tagged, please answer the above questions and introduce your followers to the person who has tagged you plus you must tag three other authors who you choose to have their work recognized.

I would like to introduce author JM Bushnell. Her debut book is Manual Exposure.

Description:

Sage Brant, a photography student focused on her career and love of nature, is drawn into the world and arms of Kirby Chapman, son of the local real estate magnate who values money and possessions above all else.

Sage, unwilling to become a powerful man’s puppet, forces Kirby to see beyond the vision of the world he’s inherited. Sage exposes the truth that threatens to tear them apart and challenges Kirby to step out of his father’s shadow.

Will Kirby sacrifice it all to prove his love is as enduring as the mountains that surround them in Asheville, North Carolina?

Manual Exposure is a New Adult Romance.


Also introducing author Adam Henig and his debut book on the life of author Alex Haley.



Description:


In 1977, when the New York Times declared that the television mini-series Roots was the “most significant civil rights event since the Selma-to-Montgomery march of 1965,” its author, Alex Haley became America’s newest “folk hero. ”

His book was on the Times’ Best Seller’s list for months, and won the Pulitzer Prize. His story had captivated a nation and then the world. From Idaho to Israel, it seemed everyone was caught-up in “Rootsmania.”

Alex Haley was on his way to becoming the most successful author in the history of publishing. That’s when his troubles began.

Within a decade and a half following the publication of Roots, Haley managed to alienate most of his fellow writers and at the same time squander most of his wealth.  When he died at the age of 70, his estate was auctioned off and his iconic book went out of print.

What happened?

Based on interviews of Haley’s contemporaries, personal correspondence, legal documents, newspaper accounts, Adam Henig investigates the unraveling of one of America’s most successful yet enigmatic authors.


And last but not least I would like to introduce Stephanie Lahart, author of Overcoming Life’s Obstacles. The first of her two books.



Description:

Personal transformation is what you will experience as your read through

thought-provoking passages that will impact and change your life. This self-help

guide will take you on a journey of emotions. This book is meant to empower you

in all areas of your life. The author specifically targets and discusses

important issues that affect people’s everyday lives.You will be

intrigued as you read passages such as: I Made It, No Longer, Until You Get

Enough, I’m Staying for the Kids, Give Me a Chance, Never Felt Love, and SO much

more!Overcoming Life’s Obstacles is as real as it gets. This book was

written for people who TRULY want a change in their lives. The author doesn’t

sugar-coat anything, so if you’re not quite ready for personal-growth and you’re

not ready to face your truth, then this book may be difficult for you to digest.

Stephanie Lahart discusses topics that will encourage the reader to look at

“what is” and take the steps to heal, grow, and move forward.

Enjoy!

 

About A Girl

 

Some people are just special. They have a certain charm about them and a smile that can have an ability to light up any dark spot by anyone who encounters them. This person I am writing about is named Maria.

Maria is a girl I encountered on my last year cruise vacation. Every night as my husband and I walked up to the fifth floor dining room, there was Maria, happily mopping the marbled floors. Being that I am friendly with everyone and don’t judge others by their occupations and class in life, I always smile and say hello when passing people on the ship, whether it be fellow passengers or crew. Surprisingly I noticed that there were many who looked down on these staff members with menial jobs as if they were somehow better than them because they were lucky enough to be a passenger on this luxury liner. For me it is all about kindness and karma.

Every night I passed Maria in the hallway working diligently, I would say hello to her and acknowledge her by name as it appeared on her mandatory name tag. We engaged in little chats as the days passed and I commended her on her hard work and her shining personality. I remember thinking how happy she was to be mopping floors and when I asked her how long she had been with the cruiseline she had told me it was her first eight month contract and she was so grateful to have the job. Something about Maria had warmed my heart. She was a small girl with brown longish hair and she had a zest for life in her shining brown eyes and a smile to win anyone’s heart.

Before the cruise ended, I made sure to say good-bye to her and gave her a hug and told her I hoped to see her again next year.

On my recent cruise on the same ship, one night after dinner, I went to the ladies room on the fifth floor and the attendant in there looked vaguely familiar to me. As she greeted me by holding the door open, I smiled and said hello and within a moment, Maria said, “Hi beautiful lady from last year, remember me?” I blurted out “Maria?” with a huge grin. Then we hugged. What had caught me off-guard was that she had cut her long tresses into a pixie cut which she explained to me had to be done because the humidity was making her hair too much to handle while working on the ship.

I told Maria that I had filled out a guest comment card last year, letting guest relations know how cheerful and hardworking she was. These comments are taken very seriously by the cruise ships and thus they are very precious to cruise staff. The comments made can literally bump them up in position or send them home. Many employees come from Slavic countries, Indonesia, Philippines and many other places where it is hard to get a job. All the staff I had talked to seemed so grateful to have whatever job they had on the ship.

Maria is from Honduras. Every evening I went to that washroom just to visit Maria for a few minutes only as I didn’t want to interrupt her duties and get her in trouble. She had told me that she was happy she got bumped up to bathroom attendant and thanked me for my comments, as they were read back to her. I felt like I had a special bond with Maria and I wished that I could talk to her longer and find more out about her and it seemed that seeking her out at her post was the only way I could steal some time with her. When her duties are done she disappears to the ‘down below’ where the staff live and are not able to fraternize with the passengers. I detected that Maria was not only lovely but well-spoken and my curiosity got the best of me.

One day, a few days before my trip ended, I made it my business to find her in the morning while she was on short shift. I told her I came to say good-bye while it was early in the morning and the bathroom wasn’t too busy like at night near the dining room. I asked if I could take her picture (in the lounge, not the bathroom) and I spent a bit more time with her. She told me how much she wanted to work in hospitality and her goal was to work herself up to food and beverage. As the minutes passed, Maria continued to fill me in on her life as women entered the washroom in and out, all the while Maria opening the stall doors for them and handing them paper towels.

Maria told me SHE WAS A LAWYER. I just about flipped. I knew there was something more to that girl that met my eye. She told me her mother is a lawyer and her father is a doctor. She was going to be a doctor but she was too empathetic around sick and wounded people so she went to law school instead. Then she had a case where a husband was abusing his wife and Maria went out of her way to help the woman beyond the call of duty and later felt she couldn’t deal with the corruption going on with the system and decided she wanted to get away from everything and see the world. Quote from Maria, ” If my mother knew I was cleaning toilets she would have a fit.”

Maria had the courage to leave her position and boyfriend behind and start a new career where she could see the world and she didn’t flinch at the thought of starting from the bottom. Quite an admirable quality we don’t see much of in our North American world. I told Maria I’d love to write this post about her and asked her if she would mind if I did and also if I may use her picture. She was elated. I had also given her a copy of my book Conflicted Hearts one night and the next day when I saw her, she was quoting off parts of my book. She told me she got strength from my book to persevere through life’s bumps. I was touched beyond words.

I truly felt sadness leaving my Maria behind. We hugged and kissed and I told her I’d see her again next year and that she would be serving me a drink or working at the front desk after I got done filling out a comment sheet on her. Many women who came and went into that washroom had the same affection for that sweet girl and many said they would write good comments for her. I didn’t want to chance that to hear-say so I went right down to guest relations and asked for some paper and directed my letter to the hotel operations manager whom I had previously had a drink with. I wrote a lot about Maria and specifically noted that this girl was a waste of personality to be hidden away in a bathroom.

Keep on smiling Maria! Your time to shine is coming!

Valentine’s Day – From: Me….To: You

 

I remember when I was a child I used to love making Valentines cards for friends and loved ones and it was an even bigger thrill when I was taken to my local variety store and I was allowed to pick out a package of Valentine’s cards that I could write my personal messages on and give them to my school mates. These cards were packaged in sheets and there was an assortment to choose from with their various pictures and sayings. All of which had the traditional ‘To’ and ‘From’ pre-printed on the backs, leaving only the dotted lines to fill in who I chose to give them to.

I eagerly looked forward to carefully tearing them out of the pages along the perforated dots. I’d pile them in categories of who I was going to give them to in class – boys – girls – teachers. Then I’d happily begin writing the names of who each one was for. I never put ‘love’, always from.

As children, I don’t know if we see the real significance of Valentine’s Day, for me it was the fun of the arts and crafts of the holiday and the giving and receiving. But I also remember that if I had received fewer than I had given that it had somehow made me sad.

As I got older, the significance of the day sometimes made me sad. When I was single or newly broken up in a relationship, Valentine’s Day seemed to make those times more pronounced. A day which emphasized that I was alone. As I got older I began to realize the huge commercialization of this day. Yes, it was still lovely to give and receive cards but the over-hyped media of this day had begun to make some people feel like they were less worthy if they didn’t have a partner. I know that when I was a younger girl and dreamed of great romance, that I was caught up in the lust of desiring the romance that was supposed to be a part of the great day. Wasn’t every girl supposed to feel extra special and be wined and dined on this one day of love?

When I got married my husband always bought me a beautiful card and a present and flowers and took us out for dinner. After a few years had passed we noticed that we had to begin reserving a table well in advance, the price for dinner near doubled on that day and the food was never as good as it usually was. This became mostly due to busy kitchens, double seatings booked for dinners and many times the regular menus we initially chose the restaurants for, were altered into select menus giving us three or four choices only for that evening.

After a few years we decided that we would no longer go out on that night and do Valentine’s on the following Saturday night. Through the ensuing years, the presents diminished and as I had received so much throughout the year, I no longer felt that we had to spend money on something I didn’t need. I began my own routine of cooking a special dinner and a having a glass of wine with the meal, which we only normally indulge in when we have company.

I still get flowers and we never stopped exchanging cards. No matter how the times change it is never out-dated to give a few lovely words to your significant other or anyone else you may want to remind how special they are.

Wishing you all a lovely Valentine’s Day.

 

Words While At Sea

While I lazed in my lounge chair looking out onto the Caribbean Sea, I thought about all the writing I promised myself I’d keep up with but just couldn’t bring myself to focus on. The weather was very hot, we were with friends, old and new and their was always so much activity going on whether on or off the ship that there wasn’t any real time of solitude to collect my thoughts. The best I could do was keep a notebook in my bag while lounging at the pool to jot down any ideas that came to mind for my books and my blog. Thankfully I did manage to get some ideas down on paper, knowing I wouldn’t be able to fully elaborate on them until I returned home and once again disciplined myself to focus.

While I gazed at the repetitive waves and the music of the sea, I thought about the past year and how many hours a day I worked on my writing and publishing and I found myself spent, basking in the hot sun in a surreal world of rest and relaxation. The weather was too beautiful to sacrifice one selfish moment to do anything other than laze and socialize rather than to surrender to the discipline of working. My mind wandered back and forth from feeling guilty about not working to just taking in the simple pleasure of my environment.

I watched the waiters in their floral, Hawaiian-like shirts humming happily as they served drinks and ice cold towels laden with ice chips to help combat the hot sun that we so willingly allowed to scorch our bodies. I couldn’t believe how many of us were sitting on this lovely Celebrity cruise ship sunbathing when most of us not so long ago, had come from minus forty degree temperatures. I was grateful for every blessed moment in my abyss of relaxation.

We travelled to eight islands: Aruba, Curacao, Saint Martin, St. Thomas, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Barbados and Antigua. We were with our good friends Gary and Lynn and my good friend Mary from New York who I had written about previously and her husband Joe. We have been on the same cruise for a few years now and many of the passengers take the same cruise every year as their winter vacation. There weren’t too many lapses without us laughing our heads off at something. It was true bliss and a wonderful escape from real life.

I tried  also to catch up on some of my reading, thinking vacation would be opportune time for this, but wrong again.  It is hard to read when people are around you chatting and my usual good reading time at home is at night before going to sleep and I can certainly say that the sun and the sea drained me by 1030 pm. By the time I got in bed, I was out cold after reading one or two pages. A definite cure for insomnia. Surprisingly though, I did manage to read two books at the pool while my friend Lynn would have her naps.

We were up by 630 am or 7 every day. Between the laughs, the ports and the pina coladas, the days were busy.  Around 4pm a group of us congregated at the top back deck of the ship, ‘The Sunset Bar’, to socialize and make evening plans or watch the ship pull out of port.

So although my intentions were good to get some work done, after being cooped up at home for so long for the past year and our long, cold winter, the trip somehow flicked a switch in me that just wouldn’t allow my brain to function when paradise was all around me. I found the minutes tick away as there was so much to do and my inner social butterfly became hugely activated.

As time flew by I literally found it to be too hot (without complaint) to do much. Our first week seemed like I had been away for a long time and then by the second week I felt as though time was passing too fast before we had to come home. I remember thinking each morning as I took my vitamins in their little daily containers, they were diminishing with the days. I also received emails from our snow plow provider sending updates of snowstorms and one which he informed us that the city by-laws had been reached by the amount of how high he could pile the snow and not to be alarmed by the narrowing of our driveway because he had to use part of it to pile the snow. My husband and I chuckled about the crap we were missing and how timely our trip was to miss three snowstorms, but we didn’t laugh too hard because we knew full-well that we would be back living it in a short time.