THE REVIEW

UNDER SURVEILLANCE?

Many thanks to Wendy, Jim and Jason for joining me last night in a Meeting of The Rams. Margaret F. had to work late. Julie has been retiring early as she rises very early with her husband. And Ellie flew to Mexico for some sunshine, which has been very scarce in this neck of the woods. But torrential rains are a good excuse to stay inside and write!

To start, I talked a bit about Kobo and the current contest they have to win design help with book covers if you publish with Kobo Writing Life by Dec. 5th. So I’ve been working to upload another book. I did design two cover pages, one for my novel FIRE and one for HONEY SIGNED THE WAIVER. I had printed them out and showed them to everyone. Jason especially liked all the red and orange in the cover for FIRE. He did his own research on covers down at Chapters and discovered that just walking through the store, what caught his eye the most was the colour red. That is what would draw him to look at a book.

I also passed around my very first Sales Summary from Kobo which I thought interesting. It doesn’t tell you who bought your book, but does give the Postal Code of where it was bought.

Still hogging the limelight, I read first. I had finally rewritten Chapter 12 of NIGEL WINGATE IS DEAD. This is the chapter where Nigel and Dee go into 100 Mile House to get married but are told they have to wait three days after purchasing the licence. They go shopping for wedding rings, and later for a wedding dress for Dee. At all three locations, Nigel witnesses some negative aspects of Dee’s personality. He also notices they are being watched by police. Finally on the way out of town, he opens a bottle of Scotch while he’s driving and takes a long swig.

Jason read next, Chapter 26, Frustrated. Damianos leaves the house carrying the crate with the coveted Book with his burned hands. In excruciating pain, he starts and drives the stolen car down the driveway but loses control and crashes into the ditch. The crate holding the Book had broken and he was dismayed to discover the contents were the “National Geographic Atlas of the World seventh edition” and not the Book of the Nornir. He then called Gregg “That little shite.”
I did some research and the word “Norn” means any of the three goddesses of fate in Norse myth. And the word “Nornir” is the plural.

Jason also told us his hired editor has finished about two thirds of this novel and he seems to have a good working relationship with her. However, he did admit he tends to ignore the praise she gives and focus instead on the negatives. Ah yes. What do we do about human nature?

Wendy read next, her piece called A CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE. This is a very powerful recount of an experience she had working as a hospice volunteer. She encountered a woman dying of cancer who was angry and verbally abusive to everyone, including Wendy. Wendy was upset by the encounter and tended to avoid her or only visit her when the woman’s family were present. Then as the woman’s condition worsened, Wendy was asked to help hold her as a catheter was painfully inserted, and Wendy saw how the woman had been diminished by her illness and loss of dignity. The whole episode still impacts on Wendy and how she looks at everyone and those approaching death, trying not to judge.

Jim read us Chapter 22 of his second book in the COVENTRY GHOSTS series. Here we see Jason setting up the computer systems to hold the ghost essences of people as they are murdered and their brains are kept in nutrient tanks. His system is invaded by a ghost named Sneferu who also wants to capture Leanne and he comes through to talk to Jason. Sneferu tells him they have put a field of energy around the lab and no human can take him away but that some powerful ghosts want him dead, in order to get Jason’s cooperation in capturing Leanne and Judge Jefferys
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We then had some discussion on the difference in meaning between upload and download relating to computers. My research today said that upload means transfer of data from a local system to a remote system, and download is the reverse. Good to know for the transfer of ghost essences.

And totally unrelated to anything, here is some trivia regarding The Review. I am now able to view the stats regarding the blog where I post The Review. Since 2007 it has been viewed by people in the following countries, listed most frequently to least: Canada, USA, Russia, Germany, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Latvia, Spain, Malaysia, Israel, and the Ukraine. We are being watched!

Our next Meeting will be Wednesday, December 5th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. This will be our last Meeting before Christmas so if you have any writing on that holiday topic, feel free to bring it along to read to us. Wendy said she would bring some treats. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa