Yes, it’s been a long time.

I would expect that many of you have moved on to other things, and by now are addicted to “American Idol” or “Jersey Shore” or the like.

But I have been busy.

First of all there’s Face-Off or Clutch and Grab or Dump and Chase or No-Contact – or whatever am I going to call this sequel to Power Plays? Not that I have the final say in any case.

I’ve edited the first 100 pages and with the help of my editor (who is a lovely person) I should be able to wade through the last 200 in a few weeks. I have some major re-writes to do on Chapters 6 and 12 – the Flashback Fiascos – which I should have foreseen. It’s interesting to go through the process of cutting – instead of adding scenes. It’s rather fun slashing away at drivel – especially when I thought I’d already eliminated quite a bit of it.

Work is work. The pumpjacks keep pumping, and the pipeliners keep pipelining, and the facilities guys keep renovating facilities, and so the reports just keep pouring in. Only once in four and a half years have I ever felt like I was wasting my time – and that was only two days ago. I got over it quickly, however. I do like my job, and something has to pay the bill for my new motorcycle because royalties and the Public Lending Commission sure won’t.

I have twelve presentations in Regina and Saskatoon next week –  nine readings (one at the Book and Brier in Regina on Tuesday evening!) and three workshops. I’m more than ready for all of them.

And lastly, I’ve been learning to skate.

You heard me.

Some people think I’m planning to play ladies’ senior hockey. I have, in fact, been seen at several practices.

What they don’t know is that I really have no inclination to ever play a game. I just want to learn how to skate like a hockey player, and the best way to do that at my age is to wear lots of protective equipment. From what I’ve seen of middle-aged women learning to skate, helmets and elbow pads and hockey pants are a necessity.

It’s interesting to be a student again. This hasn’t happened since I did a motorcycle safety course in 2004.  And what a humbling experience that was. 

As a classroom and Special Education teacher, I know all about the Adaptive Dimension, and I’ve been using it regularly on the ice. When the rest of the team does wind sprints, I skate straight down the ice – arriving at the same time as everyone else. When the rest of the team skates backwards from one end to another, I (you guessed it) skate forwards – and arrive at the same time as everyone else.

At last practice, a young boy helped me out by passing me a puck when I lost mine and giving me pointers on how to hold my stick. I could definitely use a fulltime teacher’s aide.

And the looks I get from my coaches. . .

Pained. That’s what they call it.

And there’s another thing. I have yet to find a stick of the proper length.  My husband has given me two sticks already – both of which weren’t long enough. The girls on the team told me so. My husband said each time, “It’s good enough.”

I don’t think he is taking this whole learning to skate thing seriously.

For instance, he wanted me to learn to skate on my daughter’s skates  – even though they were too small and hurt my feet. “They’re good enough,” he said.

Well, they weren’t, and so I bought myself a brand new pair. A pair especially designed for people with weak ankles. They are marvelous, and I love them.

If I was satisfied with “good enough,” I would be content to make my way from one end of the ice to other , off balance and unable to stop. That is definitely not good enough for me.

Skating is great exercise, and I hope to do a lot of it over the course of the next few months. The ice will only be in for so long as the rink, and I definitely have my work cut out for me.

And so do my hockey coaches.

One more sleep until Mitch’s Crossroads Café takes the stage.

It’s incredible to me to see how my actors have transformed themselves.

It’s one thing to become an alien or a Central American despot. But this time around my cast is playing ordinary people from a small Saskatchewan community – and they look so unlike themselves I have to remind myself I wrote this play.

Alma leaves all vestiges of my long time friend Sandy at the dressing room door. All this is accomplished with red hair spray, an alternate hair-style, make-up, gaudy earrings, and an enhanced bustline – and of course – piercing sarcasm, dished up Alma-style.

When Glenn enters wearing his bandana, peace symbol, and fringed vest, I forget he’s our new neighbour and the guy who built most of our set. In the early days of rehearsal, he seemed tense – definitely out of his comfort zone. But in the last two rehearsals, I saw him begin to relax into Bert’s character, and I began to think that maybe he is enjoying himself after all.                        

I can’t find a trace of Ed, the sweet bachelor, in Ray the Biker. Ray swaggers about in his head rag, braid, leather jacket, and tattoo sleeve, trying in vain to pick up Alma. There’s just something about a guy with an earring.

And then there’s Melanie, who makes me believe she’s the immature 19-year old she’s portraying. I always say Melanie could play any character in any play. And Zoe is no exception.

I can’t wait to see it all unfold before our audiences this weekend.

It’s going to be something very special.

You’ll recall that Sam Spud: Private Eye arrived in the mail last week.

Yesterday I received an email from Baker’s Plays indicating they would be willing to publish The Banes of Darkwood Hall AKA A Splash of Horror.  A contract will arrive shortly, and when it does, I will submit ANOTHER play when I return the contract – as I did last time. This seems to help speed up the process.

So – what play will I submit? Or plays?

I am thinking A Pirate’s Tale or possibly one of my Christmas productions – like The Swensons’ Christmas or Follow That Star.

So by this time next year I could have doubled my number of published works to four.

Now that’s definitely made my week.

I have to say, I do not care for the title — The Banes of Darkwood. I am definitely open to suggestion on this one. 

I did presentations at Loreburn Central School and John Cuelenaere Public Library in Prince Albert today and yesterday.

When people ask me if I miss teaching, I always say the book presentations help make up for it. But after talking to Grade 7 and 8 students on these two occasions, I have to say – I really miss being in the classroom. No, I don’t miss the marking and the prep and the staff meetings and the bells, but I do miss interacting with all those runaway hormones.

But, back to writing . . .

For the next few months, I am going to turn my attention to marketing some plays – and that will mean making revisions to them to reduce the number of characters. Most theatre companies – whether amateur or professional are looking for smaller casts. At one time we had no difficulty getting 16 – 18 adults out for our community theatre production. Now we struggle to find 9.

Mitch’s Crossroads Café goes on stage in nearly two weeks. And it looks like it’ll be sold out for the dinner theatres on Friday and Saturday night. We can’t wait!

 Snowflake’s my Sportster

He’s small and he’s white

He’s the perfect motorcycle

If your experience is light.

To handle at Sportster

At slow speeds is tough

And I must attest that

My right turns are rough.

Snowflake’s seen the sky

Lying on his right flank

While I try to reassure

The tellers from the bank.

Still Snowflake has mastered

Hills that are steep

And stopping quickly to avoid

A flock of stunned sheep.

To ride him is a glory

When the bugs stay away

And the wind is behind me

On a hot summer day.

Sometimes it feels

Like he’s not there at all

Just the purr of his motor

And the highway’s soft call.

This summer in Wyoming

There was some consternation

When Snowflake was issued

A traffic citation.

“Too fast,” said the State Trooper

And I certainly agreed.

Those 1200 CC’s

Are a temptation to speed.

Snowflake’s quick, He’s the boss

 Oh the mindless joy he can bring,

But I’m sad to report

Snowflake’s parked till next spring

A long awaited parcel arrived in the mail today.

Sam Spud: Private Eye — AKA Splash of Mystery for those of you who remember EJH productions from yesteryear – has finally been published by Baker Plays out of New York. Baker is affiliated with Samuel French in Canada.

This brings my official publication list to . . .

. . . two items.

I sent Baker a second manuscript a year ago – The Banes of Darkwood AKA  Splash of Horror. We’ll see how that one fares.

Rehearsals for Mitch’s Crossroads Café are going well. We have five left before Play Week, which entails three dress rehearsals and three performances. Our plans for set are coming together – with minimal expense. There’s great satisfaction to be gained from making things out of nothing for little or no money.

So, the posters are up, the advertising is out, the T-shirts and anniversary mugs are on the press, and now the search for our audience begins. We know our loyal supporters will find their way to their seats, but it wouldn’t matter if we performed for just a handful of them. We’ve learned over the years that we are truly doing this for ourselves . . .

And to help support the Lampman High School drama club . . .

And the Lampman Hospital Auxiliary . . .

And the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency . . .

So let’s hope for a good turnout!

. . . and then there’s Stanley – Jeanie’s father-in-law. He’s a ninety-five year old WW II vet – a former bomber pilot – who’s gradually losing his independence.

Tyler is Alma’s son. He still lives at home, but his relationship with his mother is parasitic. He has no ambition to go to work or to school.

Bert Smith is the new cook. His character – always upbeat and positive – counterbalances Alma’s negativity. There is something magical about him. Or is it just the fact that he makes great desserts?

Ray, who rides a Harley- Davidson, is part of the highway crew. He comes into the café most days to pick up a Denver sandwich to go – and hopefully Alma!

Dr. Delilah Forbes is a professor from the archaeology department at the University of Saskatchewan who’s interested in Mammoth’s ancient history.

Add to the mix an assortment of customers – and a cheerful delivery guy – played by three actresses.

Rehearsals are going well, and we are all looking forward to “bringing it” to our audience in less than two months.

This month I am embarking on my first community theatre effort in four years. The cast is nearly in place, and rehearsals begin in earnest tonight.

We perform November 6th – 8^th.  I would like to do dinner theatre on Friday and Saturday night and then have our usual Sunday matinee with home-made pies.  

 I started writing this play about a year and a half ago, and it has undergone many changes. My daughters told me the first version was far too dark for an audience expecting light entertainment after consuming a heavy meal – and they were right, as usual. I have lightened this version up a great deal.

This comedy-drama explores a number of themes: friendship, forgiveness, change. Past and future are juxtaposed, as are inertia and movement, youth and age, strength and weakness.

Jeanie is the owner of Mitch’s Crossroads Café, an establishment which rides the rollercoaster of boom and bust on the prairies. Jeanie is tied to her past with Mitch, whose influence is still seen in the café’s interior design and menu. Mitch’s ghost inhabits the fridge, which is found at center stage, and he rattles the beer bottles inside whenever he’s ticked about something.

Alma is Jeanie’s cook, waitress, and friend. Alma has ghosts of her own – thanks to her battles with alcoholism and spousal abuse. Alma has emerged through all of this with her wry sense of humour intact, but she has lost her children along the way.

Zoe, at nineteen, still hasn’t found herself, but she comes looking. When Jeanie hires her, Zoe has already had numerous jobs and proven to be a disaster at all of them. She naively endures Alma’s harsh criticism, and emerges stronger for it.

Check in later to hear about more characters . . .

Yes, that’s when it’s going to happen.

I am referring to the release of the sequel to Power Plays – a manuscript currently titled Face Off – which Coteau Books has kindly decided to publish.

That’s more than a year away, so I’m wondering how I’ll keep myself out of mischief until then.

The logical thing to do is write the third manuscript in the girls’ hockey trilogy – which will tell the story of Jessie’s Grade Twelve/ last midget year. This is where I plan to explore AAA female hockey and tie up all the loose ends created in the first two books. I don’t know if I have enough fortitude to write about Jessie’s Grade Eleven year as well, but that’s always an option. What does one call a series of FOUR books anyway?

I mentioned my YA fantasy Stranger at the Gate in my last blog, and I’m still plucking away at that. Right now I am researching the smelting of cast iron cannons, and trying to find ways to make this process as interesting to the reader as it is to me.

And then there’s always Bad Girls Go to Sturgis. With a little effort I could finish that one in a few months. I’m stuck about halfway through. I know if I just jumped ahead a few chapters, I’d be off and running.

And speaking of running . . . I’m off to Sharon Pollock’s playwriting workshop at the Festival of Words in Moose Jaw in just a few days. I studied one of her plays in a university course several years ago – and loved it. I am hoping she will give the participants some guidance on how to write about ISSUES.

I still have at least four plays to write/finish. And one of those needs completion within a month.

Better get cracking.

Is it really?!

It’s been nearly three months since I handed Coteau Books my manuscript for Power Plays’ sequel — unofficially titled Face Off.

And – nothing yet.

But you can be sure I’ll keep you posted on the outcome of Coteau’s deliberations.

In the meantime, I have been working on bits and pieces of a YA fantasy called Stranger at the Gate. One of the issues I am having with this manuscript is the lack of humour. At this point the characters are all taking themselves far too seriously  – something I will have to remedy very soon. So far vengeance is a strong theme, and there’s nothing funny about that.

I have spent some of my time reading the other books nominated for the Willow. So far I’ve read, The Juvie Three by Gordon Korman, Dear Jo by Christina Kilbourne, Alexandria of Africa by Eric Walters, and The Broken Thread by Linda Smith. My favourite so far is Dear Jo. It is very poignant, powerful, and disturbing – a must-read for parents who are concerned about their children taking risks on the internet. Kilbourne has stepped convincingly into the psyche of a tween-aged girl, and I was totally engaged while reading her novel.

After twenty-five and a half years, I have handed in my resignation to the SE Cornerstone School Division so that I can devote myself to writing and doing presentations. I will continue to work for Randy, but now that we have someone else helping out in the office, I am able to step away for a few days at a time.

I recently presented to Grades 6 – 8 at Lester B. Pearson School in Saskatoon. It was a real treat!

I am planning some visits for the fall.  Although we have not yet decided on dates, I will be presenting in these communities sometime in 2009-2010: Alameda, Prince Albert, Loreburn, and Saskatoon.

Power Plays was recently nominated for the Stellar Award – BC’s version of the Willow. Eighteen other books have been nominated, so I’ve got lots of reading to do!

Sorry about the long hiatus. Hopefully I will be back again soon with “good news” instead of “no news.”