February 2-5, 2012

 
     Alas, we are without Internet at the condo these last threedays!!! It's killing us, especially since we had a bunch of missives planned,including bill paying. Pretty weird to admit I am addicted to the technology,but I am. I feel totally cut off. So here we are at Starbucks, getting caught up. BUT – I spend the days writing, so some goodhas come of it.     It's amazing how quickly we develop our rhythm. In themornings, Vince and I have kept up our walks. We are determined to do thisevery day. Our mission is to go further as the weeks progress, within our 30minute time frame. But first we have a coffee on the balcony and remark uponthe day. Sun's been up and brilliant for the last three days, just as itnormally is in Manzanillo. No more cloud! The birds gather at the poolside,along the ocean, or on the palm trees surrounding our building. Schools of fishboil up here and there, some leaping into the air, and some vanishing into thesky with the help of a pelican.     Later, I write and Vince chases birds with his camera (thekind with wings). Or he does crossword puzzles. In the afternoon, we dance inthe pool for an hour.     Friday, the weekenders arrived, noisy children and manypeople in one unit. Ah well. That was the advantage of filling this buildingwith retired, quiet Canadians in the past!     On Saturday morning, the whales come back. We are soexcited. The entire building empties out to stand on the balconies or on theshore. We squeal and yell as the humpbacks perform just for us. They're veryclose to shore (for whales) and Vince snaps a series of incredible pictures.They breach high out of water, turn in the air, and belly flop under in a sprayof waves.  The sound of theirenormous bodies hitting the surface echoes throughout the bay. They turn overon their backs and flipper to one another, slapping the water, rolling aroundin a synchronized swimming maneuver. We all watch in awe until their spoutsshow that they've headed back out to sea.       The waves are back, too: the lovely rolling pounding onesthat lullaby me to sleep at night.     On to the writing – just a little, I promise. Plus I have aquestion to ask of you. I am reading, at last, the book that my friendAnn-Marie gave me in the fall: On Writing by Stephen King. At the same time, Iwas finishing off the latest novel by Elizabeth George, easily my favouritemystery writer. Elizabeth breaks Stephen's first three rules in the pages thatI have left to read. I don't go back to check on the rest. She uses passiveverbs, the phrase "at the end of the day" (at least twice) and she doesn't shyaway from descriptions and adverbs. It's fascinating.     I would say I'm a fairly eclectic reader: I do love mysterythe best, but give me a really great "literary" feast and I'm in heaven. (JohnSteinbeck and Margaret Laurence have a lot of space on my bookshelves.) I amknown to read cozies, trashy beach novels and I do like a good thriller. I'veeven devoured some fantasy books. Now and then, a non-fiction (true crime –yay!) or an auto/biography keeps me going. So there isn't really one style ofwriting that I like most or that I would pronounce as the best. It dependsentirely on my mood. Sometimes I like the clean plot lines of a thriller andother times I love the dreamy descriptions of a literary writer.      As Steve (my friend Stephen King that is) says, he must havesomething to say about writing since he's been so successful for so long. Andhe does. I'm just not sure they're rules. Maybe guidelines, preferences,this-has-worked-for-me's. I read Elizabeth's book on writing, too, and she haslots to offer as well. I keep all their advice in mind, plod on, and have to betrue to my own voice in the end, whether it always works or not. I've gained alot of confidence in my writing over the last few years.  Now I need to work ongetting "my name" out there.     I've got a children's mystery on the go, plus another adultone. No more Emily Taylor. (At least, for now.) There's even a cozy waiting itsturn in the queue. So I may be an eclectic writer, too, which is perhaps notsuch a good thing. Although, there's Steve again. He has written some prettyamazing books and short stories that are not horror, but border more on thefantasy side.     So, here's my question. What kind of an ending do you loveand/or hate? Happy? Sad? Cliff-hanger? Exciting, crash-to-the-end kind? Describeyour favourite ending. This is like a poll, but I don't know how to set one upon my blog. So I'll gather your answers and give the conclusion in a few days.You don't have to sign up to leave a comment – just be "anonymous". Although ifyou become one of my followers, I'd love it.     In the meantime, here are some before-the-hurricanepictures, and some after, of our beach in front of our condo building.