Tag: Canada

Fridays and Final Drafts

Published on by J. Kelland Perry38 Comments

Crunch time is here for my latest novel.

I’m nearing the end of the final draft, which means my beta readers will soon whisk away my manuscript for their constructive perusal. The timing couldn’t be better.

With the weather finally improving, I look forward to a couple of months to recharge and get ready for the next steps.

Friday turned out to be a super nice day. So mid-afternoon, I tore myself away from the laptop to step outside into sunshine, breathe the soft ocean breeze, and enjoy the view.

I think Maisie had the same idea.

“Does this camera angle make me look fat?”
Finally looking like summer around here!
“Stay out longer with me next time, please?”

It wasn’t easy to go back inside, but when you can see the finish line, it gives you more incentive to keep working. And once that line is crossed? Rest assured, Maisie–I will stay out with you much longer then.

“Best advice on writing I’ve ever received. Finish.”
~ Peter Mayle

Are You More Creative in the Morning?

Published on by J. Kelland Perry37 Comments
newtown Sunrise
Sunrise in Newtown, Bonavista Bay
Newtown sunrise 2
Ten minutes later

 Research has proven the brain is most actively creative immediately following sleep.

Your subconscious mind wanders and makes connections while you sleep. That is what creativity is – making connections between different parts of the brain.

This makes sense to me. I think my writing is better and more productive in the morning.

Yet I hear some writers and creatives say they are more attuned to creating in the afternoon, evening or night. Is it simply a matter of being a morning person or a night owl?

Still others say they have no choice but to write whenever they can find the time.

When do you do your best creative work?

In the Ocean of Life

Published on by J. Kelland Perry31 Comments

“In the ocean of life, we are all ships that pass in the night.”

– adapted from a poetic metaphor by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Beating Myself Up Over The Gossipers

Published on by J. Kelland Perry42 Comments

Les chuchoteuses (English: “The Gossipers”) is a 2002 bronze outdoor sculpture by Rose-Aimée Bélanger installed along Montreal’s Rue Saint-Paul, in Quebec, Canada.

I took the above photo ten years ago on my second visit to the beautiful city of Montreal. I’ve been beating myself up ever since for cutting off the middle gossiper’s toes!

Here’s a pic of the full sculpture from Wikipedia, toes and all:

Perhaps I should take the advice of this quote:

“Don’t beat yourself up for not being perfect. But you might want to kick your own ass
if you’re not trying to get better.” – Hal Elrod

By the way, I stopped beating myself over real gossipers a long time ago. 🙂

Winter Afternoon

Published on by J. Kelland Perry24 Comments
January 14, 2019

Winter afternoon
peace and quiet so serene
clear and cold and blue
– but I’m never blue with you
in our home beside the sea.

***

The Japanese tanka is a 31-syllable poem.
Tanka translates as ‘short song’ and is known for its 5-line, 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count form.

Scrabble by Candlelight

Published on by J. Kelland Perry30 Comments

Last Sunday, I shared photos from our beautiful but cold sunny walk on January 1st.
The very next day, everything changed when a blizzard moved in and left our little town without power.

The lights – and heat! – went out at suppertime while our macaroni and cheese casserole was still baking. That was okay, because it was almost done and there was enough heat  in the oven to finish it up. So we ate by candlelight in the living room.

With no other heat source and before the room cooled off completely, hubs and I covered ourselves in bathrobes, throws and blankets and decided to read to each other from my Kindle. We chose Treasure Island, which I’d forgotten I had, and read alternating chapters until we got too cold to continue.

We found out online that the power wouldn’t be back until morning at the earliest because of the ongoing blizzard. So we got the idea to go to the small spare room upstairs, light as many candles as we could find, and hopefully stay warm that way until bedtime.

It worked! We set up a game of Scrabble and the candles on my writing desk, poured some wine, and played while listening to digital music. You wouldn’t believe how much heat comes from candles in a small area!  We were toasty warm until it was time to blow them out and turn in – cats and all, of course.

Scrabble by candleight

Who won the game, you may be wondering? Hubs was in the lead the entire time, but my last play of all seven remaining letters clinched a win for me!
Neither one of us can remember what the word was – probably because of the wine. 😉

A couple of nights ago we took up Treasure Island again and read some more to each other. No, the power wasn’t gone, but we thought it was fun enough to continue reading it that way.

Have you ever come up with fun ways to enjoy a winter power outage?
Do tell!

Frozen Time

Published on by J. Kelland Perry22 Comments

Photography is the art of frozen time

“Photography is the art of frozen time …
the ability to store emotion and feelings within a frame.”
– Meshack Otieno

Newtown, NL

Photos were taken on the first of January while out for an afternoon walk.
Our faces felt frozen but our bodies stayed toasty warm.

Time to bundle up on those walks, my northern friends.
Happy New Year to all!

Lions Club High School Speak Out

Published on by J. Kelland Perry20 Comments

Yesterday, our local Lions Club sponsored and held Pearson Academy’s Speak Out Competition. We had 17 student participants and an excellent audience turnout.

Speak-outs are great opportunities for youth to practice and build skills through public speaking, and to encourage them to have a public voice in issues that concern them.

The winners:

Rhianna Bishop, 1st Place. Topic: Leadership in Rural Communities

Jessica Melindy, 2nd Place. Topic: Growing Up with Mental Illness – Anxiety and O.C.D

Deidre Hounsell, 3rd Place. Topic: Dangers of Driving Under the Influence

Rhianna Bishop and Jessica Melindy. Missing from photo: Deidre Hounsell

As the first place winner,
Rhianna will compete later at the regional level.

Steve Perry, Lions member and moderator
Ted O’Connor, teacher and judge

The judges for the speak-out were Joanne Wiley, Theodore O’Connor and myself.

It was a privilege to spend time with these young adults and to volunteer once more for this worthy event.

***

Have you or your child ever competed
or taken part in a public speaking competition?

Paw Prints

Published on by J. Kelland Perry22 Comments

Cold winter days are fast approaching, and for our feline friends and housemates Maisie and Viv, that means snowy paws and shorter trips outside.

Sometimes they cry to go out, but change their minds and make a quick backtrack when we open the door and the bitter wind hits their furry faces. Then they cry again as if we can magically change the weather for them!

“Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.” – Joseph Wood Krutch, American writer, critic, and naturalist

Sunday Snaps: Root Cellars of Elliston

Published on by J. Kelland Perry21 Comments

Elliston, root cellar capital of the world

root cellars of Elliston, NL

These photos of root cellars are from one of my November posts five years ago. I’ve been thinking about them lately because in the speculative novel I’m writing, an abandoned root cellar figures largely in certain plot points of the story.

More than 130 root cellars have been documented in the Elliston area, dating back as far as 1839, and some are still used today to store homegrown vegetables.

According to Elliston folklore, the older folks told the children that babies came from root cellars. For more photos and info, click on the link below:

Mom, where do babies come from?