​Moods have generally been grey around here in empathy with the sky. But the sun shone yesterday and I was out for a writer’s workshop. In the before time (BC=Before Covid), almost all the workshops I attended were in-person. But with the advent of zoom, most are now online. Living in the middle-of-nowhere, I’m grateful for the opportunity to gather and learn with people at a distance.

But it was so refreshing to be in-person, to see local friends I haven’t seen in a while. Yesterday’s workshop, hosted by Arlen Wiebe as part of his Owen Sound Memoir Series. The first author wa Ali Hassan who is is touring his recent memoir, Is There Bacon in Heaven?. I had previously purchased a copy at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival and it was laugh-out-loud funny.

Last I left you, dear reader, I had submitted my first fifty pages, query and synopsis for critique, to a NYTimes bestselling author and I was awaiting her notes. In the meantime, my husband had knee replacement surgery and I lost what was to be my bountiful writing time. But hey, life happens…

Sound familiar? That was how my blog opened on November 27th and finished up like this:

Now I’m energized to go back to my old novel and fix the beginning, hone in on my climax, and then finish fixing the writing…And to top it off, my husband’s knee is on the mend and he’s back to driving which means I now have the writing time I was craving. But of course, Christmas is coming…


But then, life happened--again. On December 4th, playing hockey, I injured my knee. Now it was my turn on the couch. In some ways, the timing was good, we had all the equipment at home: ice packs, walker, cane. And my husband was now well enough to take care of me.