Seventy Days of Sweat

My word count is at 4541. Not bad considering I've had company this weekend.

Back to my novel-in-progress "Unfair Trade."

Personal Trainer

Link Correction

This is a correction to the link for Alison Kent's, Seventy Days of Sweat writing challenge:
http://www.alisonkent.com/blog/

I am taking the challenge. All writers are welcome. Back to the keyboard.

Writing Challenge

I've signed up for the "Seventy Day's of Sweat" writing challenge sponsored by Alison Kent.

This is the link http://ca.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-QAXfZzQ8erSOWi5fK68wVDc-?cq=1

I'll be writing 5-6 pages a day to complete the first draft of my spicey romantic suspense novel called Unfair Trade.

Undercover Vice Detective Susan Kirby finds she must work along side Special RCMP Agent Donald Thompson to expose and shut down an international slave trade operation in the fictional international port city of Port Beardsley on Canada's East Coast. Will Agent Thompson prevent Susan's revenging the death of her addict/prostitute sister? Will Agent Thompson be able to work alongside a woman who takes his mind off the task at hand? Once they accept the demands of their physical attraction, can they deny their growing emotional bond ? How will their budding personal relationship undermine their primary goals? How can you fall in love if you refuse to be vulnerable?

MY ANGER OVER OUR LOSS

MY ANGER OVER OUR LOSS

You don’t get it?
Am I so unfair?
Is all of my sorrow
Really too much to bear?
Has my stark nakedness
Become so obscene?
Where’s your stick-with-it-ness?
Am I now so mean?

Maybe you’re right
I’ve refuse to let go.
I’ve held on so long
I’ve neglected our soul.
I wave it about
To let everyone know.
It’s all that I am
since I couldn’t let go,
You’re right
It’s enough.
It’s time to let go,
But it’s part of me now.
Without it, I’m small.
And maybe there’s nothing of me
left at all.

UNTITLED TANKA

UNTITLED TANKA
by Marcail 02/07

Glistening lip gloss
Captured summer of my youth
Forgotten by Fall.
Winter-hardened heartbreak melts
Spring floes open willing limbs.

Blogging for Charity: Poem: EMBODIED LIGHT

Please visit Dazrah's site for Blogging for Charity entrants and to learn about the challenge and the charities helped.















EMBODIED LIGHT

Time approached,
Revelation drew near
Mantle discarded and Soul returned,
Hidden truth… revealed… unmasked,
Lesson learned, forgiveness asked
To Light returned, To Kingdom come.
But in the End, thy will be done.

Light decreed I start afresh
Return and pay Indebtedness,
The balance in full
In one more life
Accept… be gladden
The best for last.

Poem: Meat Market

Image courtesy of Blogging for Charity

MEAT MARKET

by marcail 02/07

The trial started today
About the pig farmer turned serial killer
Now my dreams are nightmares
Where ladies of the night cry out.

Where I visit the butcher to select my
Crown rib of pork
As a pussy licks her lips
Waiting for barbequed flesh.

There are always scraps that fall from the table
If one is patient though to wait for a taste
In a world of get before you’re forgotten—
Of dog eat dog.

To market to market to buy a fresh pig
Is this what the madman hummed as he stalked his prey?
As he gutted and filleted their flesh?
Home again , home again, jiggedy-jig.

The mean street’s detour was a dead end
Nobody cared for the missing
The red-light street is eerily silent now
The lost children of the night gone unnoticed
Until the numbers mounted to ethnic-cleansing-size
And took a microsopic and forensic skill
To reveal the horror
And overnight I lost my taste for meat.

SNOW ANGEL: a poem

SNOW ANGEL
by Marcail

Compact and crystalline.

Steely grey cloud burst

Winter, keening and howling, snapped and downed branches

Snowflake fractuals like monochromatic klaidoscope eyes

Opened to snow globe world of fluttering angel feathers,

Compact and crystalline.

Snow angel

One dimensional, frozen in flat state

worried as the sunlight caressed and

compressed the cares of the world into

impenetrable ice.

Compact and crystalline

I understood the watershed and the cycles,

The terrifying beauty of whiteout blizzards and avalanche

Once with cold-rouged cheeks cocooned in snowsuit

I trudged through thigh-deep banks

towards the shelter of a snow fort.

Compact and crystalline

I fell and hell froze over.
Surrounded by deadly snowballs
Etched snow fossil
Frozen in time.

Compact and crystalline.

yahoo blog

Let me try that again. My other blog is at http://ca.360.yahoo.com/marcail69

Hope that works.

Gordon Lightfoot-Song for a Winter's Night

Here's one of my favorite Lightfoot songs. I didn't get it attached properly to the previous blog. Enjoy

Away Too Long

I guess I better back back in the swing of writing this blog. The 2006 Christmas holidays are now a pleasant memory. Most are back to work. I am recovering nicely from a reduction mammoplasty. I have another month before I can resume all my preoperative activities, but I am able to get out of the house and enjoy the very mild winter we are having here in Niagara.

I went for a photo excursion to capture some of winter's beauty. The day was overcast, but the temperature was balmy at 1 degree celsius. Here are some of the places I stopped upon the way.

Peach trees hibernating

Niagara River at Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada

Families sledding at a clearing in the woods of the Niagara Escarpment.

**********************

I want this blog to focus on writing. Either my scribbles or writing craft notes. You can join me at http://ca.360.yahoo.com/marcail69/ to join me in other areas of interest such as art, music and film. There are some writing challenges on that blog as well. I have an interesting group of friends there who like to share and explore together. I'd love to see you visit me there as well.

Enough slacking. It's time to honour SNOW. A poem is in order. I'll post one soon.

Calgary, Alberta

Another stop in our November tour was Calgary, Alberta-- the home of The Calgary Stampede and my Hubbie's Cousin Sandie.

Sandie and her hubbie Larry allowed us to use their home as our base of operations. We all went to Kamloops together and after we returned to Calgary, we tripped over to Banff which is about an hour as the crow flies. You can add another half-hour if you take the scenic drive.

The folks of Calgary are known for their hospitality. But, heehaw was it ever cold when we visited. (-20 to -24C) We loved the company though we were happy to head south to Las Vegas and warm our bones.

Banff, Alberta

This is the view from my window at the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta.

Hubbie Doug and I passed a most agreeable two days here after Vimy's Birthday. Put this on your "must-do" vacation lists. The majestic Rocky Mountains have God's hand written all over them. What bliss to curl up by the fire with your lover and look out on nature's splendour.

I wasn't writin' but I sure have memories. The plot thickens.

The Birthday Girl

Here's a nice photo of Vimy Alexander on her 90th birthday.

We plan to attend the 90th birthday of her husband, Clarence, in July.

It was wonderful to listen to the stories of this couple. Life has changed a lot over the 90 years they've lived. Amazing.

Aurora Borealis over Kamloops, British Columbia

aurora over kamloops
Originally uploaded by Spatial Mongrel.

Here is a nice shot of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) over Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.

We attended my hubbie's Aunt Vimy's 90th birthday in Kamloops. I'll find a pic of Vimy to post. Vimy was named by her father to commemorate the WW1 Battle of Vimy Ridge in France where many Canadian soldiers gave their lives. This battle was said to be a defining moment in Canadian nationality.

Another Bellagio Fountain Spectacle

Bellagio HOTEL Las Vegas fountain show

Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas water fountain show America song. Las Vegas Nevada. November 2006. View from Las Vegas avenue.

NaNoWriMo update

Thanks to everyone who cheered me on. Sadly, I didn't achieve the goal. At the outset my odds of finishing weren't great, but the challenge was worthwhile. I was diverted mid month by diversional travel which I will never regret. Despite my intentions I never found the round tuit.

I am tempted to give myself another 15 days after the holidays. My last word count was 14,888. I'm happy with it. Congratulations to those who achieved the 50K goal and to all who gave it a shot. I loved the process and the strange twists that occur in the plot when you allow the process to flow freely. I recommend you try it.

This is a photo of one lovely gentleman (my Father-in-Law) who provided me with a lovely distraction 10-11 November when we honoured veterans on Rembrance day.

Over the next couple of days, I'll show you more photos of my other non-writing activities. It was a hectic month.

National Novel Writing Month - Content

National Novel Writing Month - Content