So it's been a few weeks since I took a writing workshop hosted by author David B. Coe. I offered up my WIP from the 3 Day Novel contest and braced myself for the on-coming storm.

Thankfully everyone at the workshop was super wonderful and very supportive. That being said, there is no denying that my WIP needs to be dismantled and significantly restructured. Everything that was pointed out was glaringly true, and sadly filled with the exact same feedback I often give other writers when I am reviewing or betaing. Let the bells of hypocrisy toll!

And yes, I haven't blogged in a while; probably due to the freedom of not having a deadline unlike the newsletter. So I figured that this might be a good thing for me to follow up with. After all, witnessing me blundering through my own mistakes is probably far more entertaining... um, I mean, far more useful to fellow writers than my critiques of others.

I will probably save the more specific examples for the newsletter (so subscribe if you haven't already!), but I will definitely be sharing some of the revision steps I am trudging through.

So let's begin!

Purpose

I know this seems super obvious, but this is exactly where I need to start in my revision.

One of my main characters is seriously lacking in purpose. This shouldn't surprise me since even as the author I've been having a tough time sympathizing with this character, and everyone at the workshop agreed that she's flimsy - not one likable trait in her. 

I need to invest in her more. I need to give her a drive that is not dependent upon another character. Essentially, I need to answer the question, "What would she be doing if none of the other characters had placed any demands on her?"

Honestly, as I have her currently written, she's a desk lamp. Without someone claiming ownership of her, she's clutter on a shelf. Her only purpose thus far is to give context for another character. 

I need to fix this. I need to fix this first. All of the other notes from the workshop are pointless if I don't have a reason for this character to be in the story. Clearly I could take the easy road and just cut her out from the main character line-up, but starting so late into the story I have would really change everything. Her journey is the catalyst that shakes up everything for everyone, so she needs to matter!

I have been toying with two different backstories for her, both of which dramatically change the type of person she will grow to be. Almost so dramatically that I will have to consider the likelihood of every scene I have even being plausible... I wasn't kidding when I said I had to dismantle this whole thing. 

None of this is a shock. No one writes a novel in three days without needing to change everything. And I know that this is worth salvaging. I love the matriarchal role that she has in the end of my narrative. She is strong, self-sacrificing, and so in-tune with the world(s) around her. It just doesn't work to have her begin this journey a completely naive idiot, which is pretty much all she is.

If I can give a tip to my fellow writers out there: listen to your gut. If you are getting irritated by a character, fix it or delete it. Even "annoying" characters are loved by their authors. It's the brushed-over ones that are lifeless.

Easy to preach, harder to re-produce. I will let you know how I fare in making this monumental decision. 

My next few twitter posts may be filled with many expletives. You have been warned.

So my laptop has been back for a week now after a month of being at the computer hospital. The most expensive toddler tantrum thus far, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect *sarcastic tone drowned out by fake throat clearing*. 

I had the pleasure of teaching summer school this year, which condenses a 3 month course into 1 single month, and merely days before the class began, the epic tantrum erupted... So my course planning, my novel launch, and just my general presence for pretty much everything took a serious nose dive.

But on the bright side, everything did get done. I taught my course, my novel got launched (quietly), and all of the summer plans got planned. 

I am still behind on my newsletter, but I'm thinking that it will make more sense to do just a combination summer letter for July and August. My hope is to make it after When Words Collide so that I can write about my experience at my first writing convention. I will then be promptly disappearing for more summer adventures, but it will only be a couple of weeks of online silence, hopefully not a full month again!

In the meantime, I know that I have a lot to catch-up on and update. This website for starters. I don't even think that I've put any mention of my author tables on my own website yet! Those who get the newsletter would already have been told - several times -and I did manage to post the events on Goodreads for those followers. So if you have followed neither of those things, here's the scoop:

August  11-13th I will be attending When Words Collide, mostly as a participant, but I will have an Author Table selling all three of my titles, and I will be signing/selling at that table on Friday and Sunday. Last I heard, the event was sold out, but there are still a few open-to-the-public events that don't require a ticket, so please drop by and say "hi!"

September 22-24th I will have an author booth at the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo. This will be my first year attending this event in Edmonton, and my first booth at any comic expo. Fingers crossed that this becomes a regular thing! 

I am so looking forward to branching out beyond just the digital store and actually meeting people face-to-face. 

But between now and then I still have a lot to prepare for. I have some expenses to balance, a workshop to prepare for, and some inventory to do!

I have no idea what to expect. Most authors say that they don't sell a single book at their first events, so you'll have to stay-tuned to find out if I experience the same! 

I am also going to have to find a place on this website to keep an event page...

With the little one determined to sit on my lap while I post this, we'll see how many pages get accidentally deleted while attempting to make these small changes...

... he's a handful, but I love him. 

Oh, and eventually I will write my last Tea update that's about two months overdue now...​

This was one I was eager to try. I know many people love Forever Nuts and it smells pretty darn good.

Now the question you are all waiting on: Did I like it or not?

Well, I don't dislike it. 

But I can't say that I like it either.

While there is zero "ew" factor in this quirky combo, there's zero any factor.

It tastes like nothing. I mean, it tastes like hot water, but aside from being a funky pink colour I really could have been drinking water right out of the kettle.

Forever Nuts is advertised as being perfect for almond lovers. Well, I do like almonds. This did not taste like almonds. It tasted like nothing.

I know. I know. I'm really not good at this tea thing. 
Tea drinkers everywhere are probably torn as to whether or not it would be worth it to just chuck their tea at me in disgust... thankfully tea drinkers would never do anything so wasteful to their precious tea so I'm safe...for the moment. 

...Please don't give these folks coffee... Please.

Double post today! As I mention in the previous post, I went to restock. And while there they had sample cups ready and I thought "Hey, that totally counts!" so here goes another verdict, this time on an iced tea! This is kind of a big deal because normally I forget what I just had as soon as I leave the store so there's never a post about it.

On the tray today: Sour Appletini (Iced Tea)

Well the first sip is when the sour hits, but after that it isn't as strong. A little sweet, a little refreshing, and please remember that I'm not a tea girl even in ice tea form, so thus far this is a compliment. I did finish my sample cup... which is like two tablespoon's worth, so it wasn't super hard or anything. Would I finish a whole glass of it? Hard to say. I would probably nurse it over an hour or so.

Now my quest has been the hunt for hot beverage, so the iced tea thing isn't really helping me narrow that list. I will have to double this post one day when I try it hot. 

This wasn't one of the ones that I purchased so bear with me as I make my way back to this one later on.

Verdict: Willing to try it hot. No promises beyond that.

I recently bought more tea at David's and realized that I forgot to post about one! 
So here is my encounter with Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait.

​Similar to Birthday Cake, this one smells amazing. Also similar is how the amazing becomes watered-down "use-to-be-amazing" in tea form. That being said, I think this one can get away with it slightly better than the drowned cake. And while it is not one that I would go rushing to order again, I will probably try it in iced tea for this summer. While I am not the biggest fan of actual tea iced teas, I have survived David's iced samples better than icky American restaurant iced tea. 

Verdict: Worthy of a second date. We didn't kiss on the front porch as we said goodbye, but I'm not going to delete his number just yet. I mean, I know we won't be forever, we have no romantic future ahead of us, but I also don't think that I need to dive into an open dumpster to avoid making eye contact should we pass each other on the street. 

Who knows, we just might be summer BBQ friends if he proved to be cool in all the right ways...

Since I just posted a series of semi-depressing tweets, let's skip over to one of the posts I owe this blog that isn't depressing at all!

I did a thing! 

Two things in my life really helped to give me joy and purpose. Writing stories was one. Theatre was the other. Well, I'm proud to say that I got back on that stage. 

It hasn't been for a lack of trying... well, not a total lack. I do tend to have a few runs of "quit kidding yourself, girl!" and then I stop trying for a good long while. 

But it was a small production with a local church group. And best of all it involved zero singing. So I took a chance, and they called me back for a part. It was a short run in a silly and semi-dated ensemble comedy, but I loved it.

Every now and then I find myself in a moment where I feel truly happy, that my best self is stepping out into the world, and that this is where I'm supposed to be. Having a stage again was one of those moments. And now I'm going to try not to get in my own way and get a bit more involved. Of course, as I say this I have been staring at a number to call for a week now. Just one little acting class, just to keep this spark going. So why haven't I called them yet? 

I might need a boost. Or a hand to hold. Or a hug. Or someone to hold the baby while I try to pry the phone away from his little death-grip hands...

We'll see what happens.

I am so behind on so many things, including this blog. I have written at least 3 different posts in my head that I have been meaning to put down. So many exciting things have been happening, will be happening, and then there's my month of disgusting sickness. I'm trying to get things going sooner rather than later since I know next month might be even worse. Report Card season and my son's 3 week post-surgery recovery, oh my!

I have rants, outbursts, and even a new tea to come! And somehow I will figure out what I will be saving for this week's newsletter.... 

...can I hire an assistant yet? One who works for cookies preferably. 

Can't say that I'm not determined to try something new. Super Ginger: ginger and black pepper. Not a flavour combo I would typically chose to drink, but for the sake of science - er... I mean my pointless quest - why not? 

The moment I opened her up and took a whiff, I knew I was in trouble. Whoa that's a strong smell - and, yes, it smelled like awful...

But! I did previously consume a tea that smelled like delicious, and it was no so in liquid form. So I went for it!

I will say this, it doesn't taste as awful as it smelled. It didn't taste good, but it definitely smelled worse. And boy did this one have bite. It doesn't bite you right away. I braced myself for it, thought I was mistaken, but by the 2nd sip I realized "There it is!"

I made it to about four sips before abandoning this cup. 

Verdict: Hell no.

​But, hey, I'm proud of myself for trying something new!

With my success with Cold 911, I thought that the peppermint component of Mother's Little Helper might be a success. After all, I've already finished half the box of Cold 911 and we have become fairly good friends. Now that I'm not as sick, my desire to have tea in general has gone down, but I'm still going forward. And as I said above, going with a similar blend as the one I don't mind seemed like a good idea.

Well I could definitely taste the peppermint and the lemongrass. Much more potent than the Cold 911. But there was also a hint of *gag*. No, I'm not clearly my throat preparing to say the missing ingredient. I'm not sure which ingredient it is - my guess is the chamomile, but I didn't do a scientific study on this, so I could be wrong. Nonetheless, I got through three sips and there it sat. 

Verdict: Pass. Just pass.

I would take the drowned cupcake over this any day. It's not the worst. It was a hint of *gag*, not instant *gag*, so I suppose that's something, isn't it?

​I am so not a tea person... onward anyway!

My quest continues, and next on the list is the fan-favourite Birthday Cake. It sounded fun, is well-received by David's followers, and honestly does smell like cake through the packaging. I was pretty excited about this one. ​

Well, I can say this much: it does taste like a delicious cupcake...
... that was then placed inside a jumbo fish tank, of which the water was ladled out and then consumed by me from my little mug. I can tell that it was once a delicious cupcake. Now, however, it is watered down mush. 

I don't care what kind of diet you are on, the combination is always cake and ice cream, not cake and a gallon of water. 

Did I hate it? No. I would definitely take this over the gag-worthy ice tea that I keep accidentally ordering at American food chains, but that doesn't mean that I enjoyed it. I drank about half of my cup before abandoning it. 

Birthday Cake Verdict: Pass. If you served it to me, I could finish my cup out of politeness, but it's not something I will be ordering of my own free will. 

I'm sure that if you are someone who actually likes tea in general, this one is scrumdiddilyumpcious. I am not that person. This is not my cup of tea.