Of course we all shared accommodations, two bathrooms and eight people. The fridge couldn’t hold any food with all the beer stuffed inside. Fortunately with all the hungry paddlers the food never lasted long enough to need refrigeration. But the beer was cold!

There was also a hot tub and it became the social centre for a few paddlers. Booze, hot water, late nights and then get up early to race. Some people suffer a lot for their sport. Not me- it doesn`t take much energy to talk about races and I made sure I had a good chair to sit on.

I`m doing a book signing at West Edmonton Mall Chapters on Saturday at noon. Please drop by and say hello. No obligation to buy a book (as long as my tears don`t effect you), and I`ll be happy to meet you.

Sorry about the delay since my last blog. My other job, importing wine from New Zealand, has kept me from doing much else. However, I think I can get back into the writing again now that a crisis has been taken care of (The shipper didn`t know how to transport wine. Maybe now I won`t know how to pay them).

I promise another blog soon. Maybe even a contest for a free book if I can think of some skill testing question to give you.

Gotta go- time for a glass of pinot.

But assuming they do need that time I’m busy writing Christmas stories. I’m writing a couple and I’ll pick one to send in. Currently I’m doing one story that is set on Mars- I do like science fiction. There are a couple of details to work out, like how to make Mars a livable environment. Celebrating Christmas in spacesuits takes away the fun stuff like eating turkey, drinking and maybe stealing a kiss. I guess they could still open gifts but how does one try on that that new shirt?

So now I’m stuck with the difficult task of terra-forming Mars. The things a writer has to do enjoy Christmas.

I did a book signing at Chapters in Terra Losa a couple of weeks ago. Thank you to all those who came by and it was nice to meet you. I will be doing another book signing at West Edmonton Mall in August and I’ll give more details on that later.

I did some changes to my website a couple of weeks ago, mostly fixing links and format. I feel like running a contest, but not sure yet what to do about asking a skill testing question. Maybe something about Mars- like how do you make a Christmas tree grow there?

Merry July everyone

Jack H Wear 

A few decades ago I spent the summer in Fort McMurray working for Canadian Utilities at their power plant. The plant, small by almost any standards, supplied power for the town other that the tar sands (it had less than 5000 people in those days- now it has close to 70,000). The power plant used old ship generators to provide the power. One had the nickname of “Old Wobble”, given because how much it shook while operating.

So I returned to where the power plant used to sit. Now it is a flat piece of ground with a fence protecting the empty lot. I also traveled down Franklin Avenue, the main road in those days. I remembered the Peter Pond Hotel where I went to drink a few beers and also the slightly wilder Oil Can Hotel where fights occurred, strippers danced and bad country music played.

The Peter Pond has been torn down and made into a shopping mall. The Oil Can is still there. I’m not sure about the fights there but they do have a metal detector at the entrance. The strippers- yes they are still there (hopefully not the same ones) and the country music still plays there. I understand that has improved.

So what do I make out of all this? Power plants come and go but strippers will always be with us? Well, that might be true. But really, take a look around you. What seems so permanent can disappear so easily, so take a mental snapshot what is important to you. It’s worth it to remember.

Writing; Well as you may guess I haven’t done much of that. I have read a couple of book recently, both mysteries. “Dead Man’s Footsteps” by Peter James is an excellent mystery. Well worth the read. “Second Opinion” by Michael Palmer is not bad, but a car crash scene is just not believable. I actually wrote to the author pointing out the problem. His reply was not kind, a bit personal actually. I promise you if you ever write to me about a flaw in my stories I will not be upset with you and will thank you for pointing it out.

My wife Lorrie is coaching dragon boat teams and seems to be enjoying it. I go down to river valley with her and take a walk around the trails. It gives me a chance to relax and think of what I should be writing next, or finding a way to make the plot better in a story. I received a couple of good reviews for my dragon boat story. One was Dragon Boat World International Magazine that concluded “definitely recommends this book to our readers.” I do like the cover of the book. I know you can’t judge a book by it’s cover but I thought the artist did a great job. Even if you don’t like to read, you should buy the book just for its cover 

http://www.midnightshowcase.com/midnight/DragonWaterJW.htm

That greeting card incident reminds me to careful in my writing when writing about the actions of someone else. Everyone has different motivations and women do look at the world different then men. When writing about a woman considering course of action I try not to use logic as the next step. Of course men have faults too- darn if I know what they are though. Maybe Laurie will enlighten me.

I had an interview done by Coffee Time. If you want to read more about my devious life, follow the link.

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Interviews/JHWear.html

Have a good week

Jack

Those two days caused me to reflect on my latest book, Dragons in the Water, and remember my description of dragon boating. I still think it was pretty good, but I am bias. But I do have a review for it from Mike Haslam of Dragon Boat World International Magazine, quoted below.

Not the usual book about Dragon Boating this one but a fictional story, of love, intrigue and mystery, set in the wilder parts of Canada and centred around a Dragon Boat Crew competing in its first race of the season.“When Harry accepted an invitation to join a dragon boat racing team by the eccentric Sheldon, he was plunged into the world of paddling ,festivals and romance. But with Sheldon there is always a mystery and unknown forces involved as well”  - so says the introduction to the book and so it proves to be !  For committed Dragon Boaters the book’s main theme brings back memories of those first times in a boat and the commitment to the sport that it brings.  For the non-committed reader the relationship between the two main characters, Harry’s love life and the underlying mystery of Sheldon’s past and the mysteries to come, keep the reader’s interest going, until the whys and wherefores of the story’s paranormal conclusions are revealed !!  But that’s for you to find out !!

Dragons in the Water - Published by Midnight Showcase Fiction USA - ISSN 1555 - 5488 Vol.210-06SE

 It was nice of Mike to give the review, but if you read the magazine you will see how dedicated dragon boaters really are, which was something I wanted to emphasis in my story. I hope a few of you are inspired enough to take a look at dragon boating and perhaps attend one of the festivals.

Happy paddling

Jack

One thing I did different this year was not look back and try to see what I have accomplished, but rather look ahead and see what I can do. So what I will try to do is 1)sell more wine- I have to make a living and 2)write consistently- right now I have a tendency to write in rushes and then stop for too many days. Of course being good to my family is still number one priority. But since they were so nice to me on my birthday I figure I’m still in their good books.

I have a couple of new story ideas kicking in my head and I’m trying to figure out which one to start on first. I’m leaning towards a science fiction story that occurs on Mars. I have a few details to work out, largely due that humans are not yet able to live on the Red Planet. So that means I have to find a way people can live on Mars first and then add the story. It will be fun to write if some of the details can be ironed out.

I just received a review for my latest story Dragons in the Water. More details on that on the next blog. It’s midnight and time to retire the laptop tonight.

I am pleased to say I’m nearing the end of Castle 3 and, more importantly, I’ve finished killing off characters. I’m still working on who stays with who and where, but at least they can all live another day.

Besides Castle I’m working on another story. I find if I get stalled on one story, I can always work on another. If I get stalled on the second story I will try reading=I have a few books kicking around. If the reading doesn’t inspire me The I haul out my bottle of scotch. No, the scotch doesn’t help me get inspired to write. But after a few glasses I don’t worry about writing anymore.

One is that I have built up my characters carefully and hate to see them go, even the evil ones. The other reason is, I dislike reading a book where the author kills a character just for effect or to make a scene noteworthy. The death sometimes comes off then as made up like a soap opera on a TV show. One of my favourite authors, Robert Sawyer, did this in Hominids. He killed off a character at the end in what seemed to be a contrived and cheap way to get an emotional response.  

However as I wrote the Castle series I came to a point where the logical step was to eliminate him/her. For example if I wrote about a character that continually liked to swim in shark infested waters, then eventually I would have to write he became dinner.

The other part of the Castle series I have to wrap up is the relationship between characters. As readers will know there is a contention between some of the couples where they will live, Earth or Domum. For some it will be a deal breaker. If she or he will not live in Earth or Domum, then they will have to part ways.

Like the decision to kill off a character, I will not keep them together or break them apart for the sake of getting shock value.

I’m currently in New Zealand but returning to Alberta next week. I hope to have The New King finished by then, unless, I decide to drink some more of their great wine. Then all bets are off. Writing under the influence is not recommended. 

Cheers,

Jack

At the end of the afternoon she finally made around to most of the stores and bought a purse and a couple of tops. I managed to buy two pints of beer and read two newspapers.

I did managed to daydream a bit and come up with another part to Castle 3, a wedding of all things to write about. Hey, I already have figured out the big battle but need to wrap up few other things. Gotta go- Laurie wants to do more shopping and I’m the driver.

Jack