Waiting for summer…

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Charlotte Copper

As I write this – a few days before actual post – I’m taking time to sit back, close my eyes and bask in the sunlight coming through my window. Like petting a cat or dog, sitting in the sun does something for one’s state of mind. When I first sat down I was grumpy, but I can’t help but smile as the beams fight their way through the winter’s dirt on my window. Even The Daughter sits down next to me to enjoy this golden moment. Therapy for the soul.

I was born and raised in the “GTA” – Greater Toronto Area – in Ontario, Canada. And yet after 40+ years, I find NO redeeming qualities in winter. I’ve got friends (DKC&J) who enjoy winter to the fullest with skiing, snowmobiling, and even making their own maple syrup, but me, as soon as that first snow flake falls, I’m wanting winter to end.

I can’t wait to trade my boots for flip flops, my sweaters for t-shirts, and my mitts for sunglasses.

The start of summer also brings with it the end of volleyball season which means no more nights spent in gymnasiums while The Daughter practices. Unfortunately, they’ll be replaced by nights on the soccer field. The Daughter is learning to referee this year instead of play, but I’ll still be her chauffeur. This does mean, however, I can do laps around the field, or sit in a comfortable chair and write or read, instead of coaching.

Soccer 2005

Soccer 2012

(After twelve years, I’m not actually sure yet how I feel about soccer ending, I’ll get back to you on that.)

I’m looking forward to the end of winter and snow, a quick journey through spring, and the eventual warmth of summer.

Of course, I wouldn’t be a good marketer if I didn’t mention that summer also brings with it the release of Silver Blade (July 24), but then that is just an added bonus!

What kind of writer am I?

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Charlotte Copper

I’m going to piggy back this week from my Toronto Romance Writers’ Group. Our discussion this week: “What Kind of Writer Are You?”
In the book “Time to Write” by Kelly L. Stone, the author lists 7 different writing schedules or categories that successful authors’ writing habits tend to fall into. The titles are Stone’s but the explanations have been changed/shortened.

1. EARLY MORNING WRITER – you get up a number of hours before the family wakes up or before you have to go to work (your day job).
2. THE AFTER HOURS WRITER – you work best after sunset or when the family is asleep.
3. OFFICE WORKER [or Workplace Worker]- You arrive at the office (or wherever your day job is) before your shift starts, to write. You write again during your regular breaks (like lunchtime). You stay an hour or two longer at the office/factory to write.
4. THE BLITZ WRITER – You write longer in one sitting but less frequently.
5. THE MINIBLOCKS-OF-TIME WRITER – You write a minimum of one sentence a day. Your writing time can be as low as several minutes. It can be as high as 30 minutes to an hour.
6. THE COMMUTING WRITER – You write while commuting on the “GO Train”, bus, subway, etc.
7. THE ANY-OPPORTUNITY OR COMBO WRITER – You write as soon as there is a spare moment so it can be a combination of the above schedules.

So What am I?

I guess I fall into the Any-Opportunity and Blitz Writer categories. Oh, I wish I could actually dedicate 30 minutes a day or a couple of hours a week, but life doesn’t work that way in this house. (That is also my excuse for not getting to the gym, too, and what makes that worse is that my husband and I own three Snap Fitness gyms!)

Our Daughters are with our respective “exes” every other weekend, and I try to schedule a few hours every other Sunday to get some writing in, but there is always so much to do and if I get 3 hours in every 2 weeks, I consider that a win. Once The Daughter goes away to university (2.5 years away) then I’ll be going crazy trying to fill up the 8 – 18 hours a week I currently spend at gyms watching volleyball. Of course, with the pile of unread print books on my shelves, 100s of e-books on my kindle, and dozens of unfinished crafts in the closet, I probably still won’t find as much time as I want for writing or getting to the gym. But one can always dream!

I will always be her little girl

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Charlotte Copper

So I mentioned last time that I gave the galley copy of Silver Blade to my husband to help me look for errors, well I also gave it to my mom. Now it’s not polite to ask a woman her age and I don’t really want to tell it either, but lets just say that I’m in my 40s and my mom is in her 60s. No one would ever describe my mother as shy, quiet or easily embarrassed, so I have to say I was a little surprised at today’s conversation. (No mom, this wasn’t the exact wording, but close enough.)

“So I read parts of your book,” she said.

“Parts? Why didn’t you read the whole thing?”

“Well…”

“Well, what?”

“I couldn’t read the sex stuff. I started to but then I just couldn’t.”

I could actually hear the embarrassment in my mom’s voice coming through the phone line.

“I kept wondering how you knew some of that stuff.”

OMG MOM!! My book is not erotica; my book didn’t even make it to the HOT rating. My book made it to the SPICY rating which is “at least one full sex scene with description of foreplay, intercourse and climax”

Add to this that I’m in my forties, been married twice, read lots of books (of all ratings), and have seen my share of explicit movies. I wanted to laugh. In fact, I think I did. Then she threw the line out that many mothers use: “Well what if your daughter…”

I thought back to the Toronto Romance Writers’ meeting the other weekend where we sat in a circle discussing different words for penis. It was a small (no pun intended) meeting due to the snow storm, and I think a third of the writers there wrote erotica.

What would my mom do if I wrote erotica?
What would she do if I wrote murder mysteries?
And what about Stephen King’s mother? The poor woman.