I am a Novelist

It's official. At approximately 1am this morning, Wednesday, November 30th, 2005, I completed my first novel, tentatively titled "My Time With Simon."


Writing "the end" at the bottom was one of the most gratifying things I've ever done and it's an accomplishment I am incredibly proud of. 50,000 words in less than 30 days ... whew!

If you haven't yet had a look, I encourage you to do so today, as I will be taking the entire thing down very shortly. http://intrepidusbook.blogspot.com.

Now for sleep. I will be back with another update as soon as we get internet installed at our new place - hopefully tonight.

Be well.

/pk

My Potter Persona

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. Strong and powerful you admirably defend your world and your charges against those who would seek to harm them. However sometimes you can fail to do what you must because you care too much to cause suffering. Albus Dumbledore 85% Sirius Black 80% Harry Potter 75% Severus Snape 65% Hermione Granger 60% Ron Weasley 60% Remus Lupin 60% Draco Malfoy 60% Ginny Weasley 55% Lord Voldemort 25% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...? created with QuizFarm.com

Time in the mountains with Harry Potter

We just got back from seeing the new Harry Potter movie. It was very good, especially if you like the books, but I think it would be a good movie regardless. Certainly a lot more "adult" than the first three. I won't give anything away ... go see it, and tell me what you think.

On another note, I had a great weekend of writing. I think I covered off 8000 words or so over two days and I'm now up over 30,000 words. With only ten days to go the finish line is in sight. I WILL make the 50,000 word mark by midnight on November 30th, even if it kills me. Know of any good book agents? They're all going to want a piece of this one when it's finished.

I went and tried on some ski boots today, after we bought our tickets for Harry Potter (a full three hours in advance). I stuffed my poor broken toe in there, just to see how things felt. I think I might go skiing next week.

Last thing before bed: for those of you who have been anxiously awaiting part four of my AMVP (Outward Bound) One Year Later article, it will be coming soon. I haven't forgotten about it. Not in the slightest.

Soon,

/pk

More than halfway there...

I woke up this morning to my downstairs neighbours fighting ... again. It wasn't even 9am yet. There was shouting, swearing and pretty soon the door slamming started. I rolled my eyes at Nuala and she did the same. Our Saturday routine.

Thank goodness we're leaving.

It wasn't long before we heard the downstairs door slide open and then slam shut. I had just sat down with my coffee to get started on my writing for the day -- I've been a little lax lately. I heard someone walking along the gravel path beside the house and knew at least one of them was leaving.

Then the door opened and slammed again and I heard someone else along the side of the house. One of them had left first and now the other was chasing. He first, then she, I soon realised when I heard her screaming at him from the end of the driveway, then down the street as she chased after him. It was just after 9am at this point. Can you tell that these people, her particularly, have no sense of how their behaviour impacts other people?

Thank goodness we're leaving.

She soon came back to the house, stomping along the gravel this time, and again the door slide open and slammed shut. Then the banging and thowing of things started again in earnest. I won't repeat her exact words here, but needless to say they were not suitable for the ears of her 3-year old son, any more than they are suitable for you.

As they got ready we could hear her cursing her boyfriend repeatedly and it wasn't very long before we heard the door slide open and slam, yet again. This time, both she and the boy left together and were picked up by one of her family -- her mother, I think. They put the son in the car and then slammed all four doors before taking off.

Thank goodness we're leaving.

Then, and only then, was I able to really concentrate on my writing. I knew I had a lot of work to do, in order to make up for the time lost over the past three days as Nuala and I have been repeatedly interrupted by the constancy of the fighting down below and I simply haven't had the energy to get myself up and out of bed in the mornings. But write I did.

I cleared 4000 words today and intend on doing the same or better tomorrow. Simon is having a pretty rough day. If you haven't had a chance to catch up with him lately, you can do so by visiting this page.

Is anyone actually reading the novel? Do you have any thoughts on it that you'd like to share? Questions? Please keep editorial comments to a minimum. After all, this is the first draught and I certainly don't expect it to be perfect. Okay, I DO expect it to be perfect, but I've given up actually thinking it will be.

Enjoy your Saturday. It's a gorgeous day here and I think Nuala and I are going to go for a drive and then see the new Harry Potter movie.

If I went to South Park...

I found an interesting site today at a blog I check out occasionally. You can get there here.

Anyway, the result is this artist's rendering of me, if I had the opportunity to appear as a special guest of honour on South Park.



You can create your own South Park rendition by going here.

If you want to save your own image, you'll have to do a screen capture (alt-print screen in Windows) and then edit the image out.

Have fun!

/pk

Okay, okay...

So... the writing thing kinda sucks right now. But the weekend is coming and I will make up the ground I've lost over the last three days.

We're moving - heading over to West Van, where we've found a place right near the water. It's in a building, is a hell of a lot cheaper than we're paying now, and we don't have frickin redneck assholes living below us. Oh yea, we're 2 minutes from the water, 10 minutes from the beach. We have a little garden area to sit outside. It's pretty sweet.

We'll get more info, including pics, as soon as we can.

Be well.

/pk

2 Kilograms of Crap...

... in a 1 Kilogram bag. That's how I feel at the moment.

Sorry dump my load of crap on the poor, unsuspecting internet, but I'm overflowing here and I need some place to unload.

I feel marginally better now.

Thanks.

/pk

Mal Keetch

I'd like to take this opportunity to give remembrance and acknowledgement to Mal Keetch, my Grandad. Though he doesn't speak often of his time in the war, at least not to me, he continues to support the veteran's and is currently president of the TPS (Toronto Police Service) War Veterans Association.

At eleven o'clock this morning Mal, a former Police Officer, as with many mornings on past Remembrance Days, honoured the fallen soldiers of wars long past but not forgotten.

Mal Keetch leading a march.
Thank you, Grandad, for everything.

Read the TPS article here.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

by John McCrae

/pk

AMVP (Outward Bound) - One Year Later - Part 3

We were able to actually go into the glacier, into a cave that had formed from the melt-off. On one of our attempts at a peak, we had to climb the mountain immediately beside it. Several hours into the hike it started to snow. An hour after that it was pure white-out. We couldn't see more then a few metres in front of us. We stopped and had lunch, hoping that the weather would clear, but in the end we were forced to go back down. Another attempt thwarted.

The weather hadn't been helping us much at all during the trip so far, and it wasn't getting any better. We'd previously been turned away by oncoming fog and promptly got lost on the top of a ridge with no visibility. In addition, the compasses couldn't be relied upon due to the fact that we were standing on an iron deposit. We were forced to camp that night on top of the ridge in sub-zero temperatures. The bonus turned out to be the starlight morning I was treated to the following day, when I awoke out of the tent at four o'clock in the morning to get breakfast started. It was like nothing I'd seen before, and as the sun rose I could see that the clouds had settled into the valleys over night and were now below our campsite. I could see jagged peaks thrusting through the fog below, set off by the slowly rising sun.

Back at the glacier, snow was preventing us from doing much in the way of expedition work, so our instructors changed plans again, adapting to the situation, and we had our three-day solos in the vicinity of our basecamp instead of travelling further into the mountain range in unsafe conditions.

We were delivered to our solo sites in blindfold at dusk. This was so that we didn't have any sense where the other campsites were located. Even though we were each individually "on solo," we were actually within five minutes of each other. Being the furthest from camp, I was about fifteen minutes walk back. We each all had our whistles with us, in case of emergency; we were confined to a fairly small area of land to walk on; we were not allowed to bring a watch or fire; and swimming was strictly forbidden.

My home for three days was a tarp fashioned as a tent. Of course, I had to set it up myself, which took about an hour to get just right. By that time the snow had started again ... I was in for another cold night but in the end it was worth it. The morning dawned cold and foggy. It seemed like the weather would never break but shortly after breakfast there came ... wait for it ... blue skies!

That day I rejoiced in my mountain hideaway. I took my sleeping bag, all my clothes, my boots and extra shoes, my bedroll, my backback, absolutely everything I owned at the time and I laid them all out in the sun, tending to them like my own little flock of sheep. I was a Shepherd.

It was still cold, of course, in the middle of September at 3000 metres, but it was an incredible day. To keep warm, I began walking but the area was covered with natural mountain heather. The amount of movement needed to stay warm would have destroyed the entire area had I let myself roam all over. Instead, I confined my walking to a figure-eight pattern, one of my favourite symbols. To me it represents the interconnectedness of everything we do and it also represents infinity, a concept the human brain cannot accurately articulate. By the end of the three days, I had spent about twenty hours each in walking my figure-eight, meditating in quiet contemplation and sleeping. The extra time was spent eating, writing and shitting in the woods.

The weather for days two and three were more like what I'd finally become used to; cold and damp with some rain thrown in for good measure. Luckily, I'd built a pretty good shelter and I stayed dry for the most part.

The solo was probably the best part of my trip and was something I'd always dreamed of doing. Staying essentially alone for three days with nothing to do but walk, sit and write. After the solo we met up again at basecamp and were able to share some of our experiences with the rest of the team. We celebrated with a thanksgiving dinner, mountain style. The next day would be Snow School.

To be continued...

Give it to me straight, Doc

C'mon... tell me the truth... Is it broken?



It sure does hurt!

/pk

AMVP (Outward Bound) - One Year Later - Part 2

We found out upon arriving at basecamp, that one of us wouldn't be going back for the second half of the trip. The instructors had decided that the sprained-ankle guy, who had become less and less stable in a mountain environment, would not be allowed back into the wilderness with the rest of the group. This didn't really come as a surprise to most of us considering both his physical and mental condition at the time.

The next day, one short of our original group, we set off into a new mountain range where, hopefully, the weather would be a little more conducive to some peak ascents. We were also beginning a new stage of our expedition: we would be taking a more active role in the everyday leadership of the group. The instructors would gradually hang back from the group, arranging a meeting point on the map that we as a group would have to navigate our way to.

Prior to the trip, our instructors had crafted a "job wheel" outlining the key roles required to have a successful group. Each day the pointer on the wheel would rotate one position, indicating the leader for the day. The other roles were assigned in a specific order, so each person would have multiple chances at all roles. They were:

1. Leader/Navigator
   
2. Co-Leader/Navigator
   
3. Cook 1
   
4. Cook 2
   
5. Clean 1
   
6. Clean 2
   
7. Scribe

The leader and co-leader were responsible for primary navigation for the day, and also setting both the pace and the tone of the group. They would always be in the forward and rear positions, taking resposibility for the group as a whole. The cooks were, obviously, responsible for the three meals for that day and the cleaners were responsible for cleaning up after each meal, as well as for finding our latrine area for each campsite, including digging a proper latrine if the situation permitted. Otherwise, they designated the appropriate area and "per-use" latrines were dug by each person as their needs required. The final role, the scribe, was responsible for documenting each day's activities, including highlights and lowlights.

Being in the Leader role, especially on days when there was extensive travel scheduled without the instructors as part of our actual group, was nerve-racking to say the least. I soon learned that if I were to be successful in that role, I was going to need to ask for support from the other members of the group who had better navigation skills. Lucky for me, I don't mind asking for help when I need it, and I found that I was able to gain the respect of my fellow trip-mates.

I quickly gained two other reputations: a) I was the premier tent-setter-upper; and b) I was fast known as someone who was going to tell you the truth about what I thought. Unlike some of the other, more technically talented group members, I was able to be honest with people, even the one who was asked to leave, in a way that was direct, even challenging many cases, but also openly; and this, above anything else, earned the greatest respect from the others.

When we were dropped off in the mountains again we began to find that our progress was much faster than we were previously used to. I attribute this to three major changes: the removal of the injured guy; the extra day of rest we were given; and an acceptance in the fact that I would complete the trip. Because of this, we quickly found ourselves at a new basecamp that we would occupy for the next five days. But our weather concerns would continue for at least the first few days.

Our camp was in a bowl at the bottom of a large glacier, including a large glacial lake at the bottom. We could see the moraine caused by the flowing and eventual receding of the glacier, moving literally mountains of earth in the process. Some of the boulders that just sat beside the lake were so big around that our entire group couldn't encircle it and still keep our hands together. The glacier would be home to "snow school" in the following days.

To be continued...

Click here for part 3 of this article.

AMVP (Outward Bound) - One Year Later

Just over one year ago, about thirteen months to be a little more precise, I completed a three-week mountain adventure, the Coast Mountain Venture to be exact. During the course of the trip we endured some fairly extreme conditions ... at least, they were extreme for me. At the beginning of the course I felt cautiously optimistic that I was up for the challenge.

I remember basecamp, when we were all assigned our gear and introduced to our fellow group members. We were shown the equipment that we would be using, relying on, for the duration of the trip.

We were assigned our food for the first half of the trip. It came out in several rucksacks and Rubbermaid containers. We were also given the menu for the following ten days. Our first task as a group was to confirm that we had all of the food we needed and then divide it equally among the group members so that it could be packed accordingly. After much rabble-rousing, we finally figured out a system that would work and succeeded in getting seven relatively even sets of food. We even had the wherewithal to record and verify where each of the meals went.

Before supper in the mess tent we had to figure out how to set up our tents. Now, these tents are not like regular tents. They don't have a bottom to them; there's just one pole in the middle of the tent and the corners are tied down with guy lines using whatever is available-trees, logs, rocks. The tents posed a lot of problems during the course of the trip, including one night when, in the middle of a rainstorm at about two o'clock in the morning, the corner of the tent simply ... let go of the rock it was holding on to.

The tents became somewhat of a bone of contention between two different "cliques" that ended up forming within the group. There were those of us that did and those of us who did not. Setting up and tearing down two tents and preparing breakfast, even in the mountains, simply shouldn't take three hours. It just shouldn't.

One of the participant's behaviour was also getting more and more ... erratic. He was not looking out for himself or, for that matter, anyone else. He ended up spraining his ankle quite badly and holding up the group for the next couple of days. We were able to move but not nearly as quickly as if we'd all been healthy. Not to mention it was raining. For the first seven days were on the trip we had a cumulative total of about eight hours of sunshine.

After a couple of detours due to a) late arrival at our initial destination (due to sprained ankle); and a swollen river that wouldn't allow us a safe way over (our second such river, along with a third that we had to wade through); we finally reached our first camp where we would stay for more than one night. Arrowhead Lake.

After the peak ascent, where it is custom to carry a rock with you and place it on a giant cairn at the top, a personal 'flag' of sorts, we began our descent back down to meet up for resupply. It was on the trip down that I began to have some serious doubts about my ability to complete the second half of the trip.

My feet were aching all the time. We had been walking in rain and snow for nine days straight, with only a brief respite with a shot of sunshine or the cover of a canopy of trees. Add to that two nights sleeping in a soaking wet sleeping bag-make that lying awake in a soaking wet sleeping bag and I was starting to lose my earlier conviction. I became so obsessed with my feet, the pain and discomfort, and the weariness that had begun to set in (sleep loss has a cumulative effect) that I had a conversation with one of my instructor/guides during a rest break. It was an emotional conversation as I discussed my concerns and fears and asked if she and her partner shared my concerns. He too joined the conversation and, much to my relief, they did not share my concern. After a long conversation with them I found a renewed conviction to complete the course-whatever it took.

When we got back down to the rendezvous point where we were supposed to meet the supply truck, resupply on the spot and then go back into the range we'd just come down from, the instructors had a surprise for us. We were going back to basecamp for the night, to dry off; eat a sit-down meal; under a tent; get a bit of meed needed rest and rejuvenation.

They had another surprise for us as well.

To be continued...

Click here for part 2 of this article.

10% down, 90% to go

NaNoWriMo 2005 Update

So. We're three days into November, National Novel Writing Month, and so far I've been very pleased with my results. I've written over my daily quota all three days and now have over 5600 words down towards my 50,000 target. At this rate, I'll be able to take 2.3 days off!

Click here to read my novel!

Remember, the main page of the blog is the current day's writing. So, if you're not checking it every day (and why wouldn't you be?) then you'll likely want to use the navigation menu on the left and read each day sequentially.

Happy reading!

/pk

My mom remembered...

... did you?

November 1st marks the start of National Novel Writing Month, which I am taking part in. I have posted my first day's worth of writing on the special blog I've created, just for this purpose.

Click here to visit my novel blog now.

/pk