Island Life Archives - Page 9 of 12

A Spring Update … and Bleating Lambs

March 31, 2016 By JPMcLean 7 Comments

A spring update: Warm days with the kiss of summer test my resolve to keep my butt in the writer’s chair. Across the road, the bleat of new lambs draws me to the fence to try to catch a glimpse of their antics. Today I walked over and had a visit with John and Linda Mather and took these photos of the new lambs and the yearling calves.

Yellow primroses and glass fishing floats in a garden — Primroses & fishing floats

Wandering back to the house, I stroll by the flower gardens and can’t help but pull a weed and pick a bloom.

It’s probably a good thing I have some deadlines to keep me focused. With that in mind, I thought I’d share an update.

The Gift Betrayal

I’m very close to finishing the companion piece to Awakening, which is Jackson’s story. The title is The Gift: Betrayal. I’m starting to think about covers and need to line up editors and beta readers. It’ll be a push, but I’ll try to have it published this fall.

One black and one brown yearling cow — Cows in the ‘Hood

I’m also excited to be presenting a workshop on indie publishing which I’ll be delivering in a fifty-minute format at the Creative Ink Festival in May, and in a three-hour format at the Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival in July. My goal with both workshops is to provide participants with a better understanding of what to expect before, during and after publication.

More Spring Updates

On the audio front, the excerpts for the first three books are now done and live. You can find them here: Awakening Revelation Redemption. (*Update: I’ve rebranded the books. Awakening is now Secret Sky, Revelation is now Hidden Enemy, and Redemption is now Burning Lies. But I haven’t yet rerecorded the excerpts). There have been mixed reviews, and making them is far more time consuming than I imagined, but it’s a lot of fun.

Our neighbour, John Mather on his tractor — Gentleman Farmer John Mather

My other writing projects aren’t getting a lot of writing time, but they’re never far from my thoughts and percolate on the back burner while I clear the deadlines.

Meantime, boxes of books are arriving as I stock up for the year.

Enjoy the warming weather. Until next time . . .

The Gift Legacy is enjoying some fabulous 5-star reviews. See what the fuss is about. Get your own copy of Secret Sky with one click right here. And if ebooks or Amazon aren’t your preference, other options are available under the Bookstore tab.

Under the Monster Storm

January 23, 2016 By JPMcLean 8 Comments

A white bush honeysuckle bloom — Bush Honeysuckle

A winter weather emergency is blasting the east, and I’m with you in spirit here on the wet, muddy West Coast, buried deep in down comforters and keeping toasty warm. Like spring, I’m hiding under the monster storm.

It hardly seems possible that underneath all that winter white, Spring is stirring, but it is. Days are getting longer and Spring is only eight weeks away. In my neck of the woods, signs of life are popping out and up everywhere, even if they’re only at the contemplation stage. (Except for the dandelion – that bloom means business.)

An early spring dandelion — Dastardly Dandelion

I feel like I’ve been in limbo for a month, dabbling in bits and bobs of writing, reconnecting with Facebook and Twitter friends, and catching up on publishing news.

It’s been fun. Relaxing. And I’ve enjoyed my wee reprieve immensely. But, as usual, the characters in my head are tapping their pencils on the desk. They’re telling me enough is enough – get back to weaving our worlds!

Dangling hazelnut catkins — Hazelnut Catkins

It’s time. The editorial review is finished and the entire Gift Legacy Series is now back in print and online. I’m excited to dig back in where I left off, with Jackson’s version of Awakening.

And just to keep things interesting, I’m learning how to make a voice recording, or the basics anyway, so look for audio excerpts from the books to come to a link near you!

You can get all of the The Gift Legacy books with one click right here. And if ebooks or amazon aren’t your preference, you can find other options under the Bookstore tab.

Got Crabs?

September 30, 2015 By JPMcLean 7 Comments

Ah, the first crisp days of fall. Refreshing brisk morning air. Brightly coloured leaves rustling underfoot. Glossy red crabapples adorning the lawn like jewels. I’ve got crabs.

I could use a bit of exercise, I think, having been sequestered too long behind a keyboard.

In thirty minutes, I fill a five-gallon bucket with ruby crabs, stooping and scooping and feeling invigorated for the exercise. They make a pretty layer in the composter.

The next day dawns and once again I gaze out at the newly fallen crabapple abundance. So beautiful, I think, and I’ll get another day’s much needed exercise.

An hour and two five-gallon pails later, I’m feeling pretty well exercised. I stretch my achy back, but man it feels good to get outdoors and get my quota of fresh air and exercise. Another fragrant layer gets added to the composter.

Day three dawns. I stare out the window and then up to the canopy of our beloved crabapple tree. That is one prolific tree, I think, gearing up for another day of crisp fall air and exercise.

It’s drizzling, but I trudge on. Ninety minutes later, I’ve filled four five-gallon pails and topped up a composter that could double for a six-person hot tub. I’m damp with sweat and my back’s threatening to pop a disc.

On day four, I wake to the sound of rain pummeling the steel roof. Or are those crabapples? I find myself holding out hope for enough rain to flood the lawn and float the tiny red orbs away.

But no such luck. I stare outside at a new thick mat of wet crabapples. Is birth control for crabapple trees a thing?

I don my raincoat and the gloves that still feel damp from yesterday, and trudge off to face the crabs. It looks like the tree has thrown up on the lawn. Why aren’t the birds eating these things? My back aches at the thought of all that stooping and wine o’clock is hours away.

Hands on hips, I stare down at the pail and the rake, the tools of my torture, and wonder if exercise is overrated.

Collecting crabapples from the lawn with a shop-vac — Crabapple Shop-vac

And slowly an idea forms.

With renewed enthusiasm, I jog to the garage, grab an extension cord and my solution to the crabapple plague: the wet/dry shop vac.

Much to my amusement, it works!

(I have some exciting news on the writing front as well … but I have to keep it under my hat until next week.)

If you’re looking for an excuse to stay indoors, get a copy of Secret Sky with one click right here. And if ebooks or Amazon aren’t your preference, other purchase options are available under the Bookstore Tab.

My Storage War

November 19, 2014 By JPMcLean 13 Comments

My Storage War: Fall is the season for burrowing in. We pull out the winter woollies and move the summer clothes to storage. Warm flannelette replaces crisp cotton, stew replaces salad, and the deck furniture gets scrubbed and put into storage.

By put into storage, I mean I stuff it into our crawl space, which is four feet high, give or take a pinch, but it’s warm and dry. Did I mention the height? Maybe when I was younger my noggin was tougher and the occasional head bang didn’t hurt so much. My back was probably stronger too – more flexible.

This year I managed to get half the furniture stored before I bonked my head. My auto response was a spasm-inducing spine-lurch and enough four-letter words to clear the air in the crawl space. That’s when I made the executive decision that this would be the last year I played this contortionist game.

Four-car garage on Denman Island — **Four-car Garage**

Off I went in search of a solution

I should have known better. It’s not that we don’t have alternative storage space it’s that none of it’s available. Hard to believe considering the four-bay garage, the two-bay tractor shed, the RV shelter, the boat shed, the beach shed, the wood shed, the pump house and the outhouse.

How is it possible we have NO free storage space? Even if I scratch the outhouse, wood shed and pump house from the list, we still have nine bays worth of space. NINE! Canadian Tire should be so lucky! When did we collect enough stuff to fill nine bays with no room left over for the deck furniture?

It boggles my mind, but there’s nothing to be done for it: I’m not doing the crawl-space limbo one more time. So this afternoon I pulled out a measuring tape to figure out how big a shed we’d need to house the deck furniture.

Number ten, here we come! I can’t believe it. If we ever decide to go into the shed business, we won’t have to build the samples. Oh wait…I think we’re already there.