Hello, dear reader!
Another month, and more progress on my novel. Not as much as I’d like, but that is the writer’s life, isn’t it?
I was a fool! I fell victim to one of the two classic blunders! The most famous of which is, “never get involved in a land war in Asia,”
It seemed like I would have so much time to write, so I didn’t write on the first day of my vacation, and didn’t write all that hard the second… and then things started coming up. So, in the end, I probably only wrote as much as I would in a regular week, one hour before work and one hour after.
Ah well, it happens. Or, as my fellow writer Averill likes to say:
Still, I got my novel up to 55 000 words (which makes it officially novel-length!) and I’m entering the homestretch of the novel now. I still hope to have it to beta readers by the end of October, which would be exciting because…
I Received a Grant!
I am the proud recipient of a Canada Council for the Arts grant, which is super exciting. I lost about $5500 publishing my first novel—costs I never expected to get back, but still a lot of money—so I’m ecstatic to have the money to pay my editor and for research for On the Shoulders of Demons (traveling through Finland for the novel wasn’t cheap!)
Bingham Cup
I was so proud to be part of the largest amateur rugby tournament in the world. It was a wonderful time, and I also got some fantastic photos (All photo credit to Ben Gronfors):
My team, the Ottawa Wolves, won our first 5 matches to make it to the final, where we lost by a single try.
And, of course, right after the tournament was pride! (I was legitimately busy this month. It’s not all my fault I didn’t write as much as I’d like)
I got to march with my partners Brendan and Kale, and it was a wonderful time.
Other Things
Well, that’s a lot of rugby this month. I tried to warn you!
But rugby is now over for the year, which will give me a bit extra time to write, but I also need to make sure I’m getting enough cardio now, haha.
So, I’ll leave you with one thing I cooked this month, which I was quite proud of. Not because it was exceptionally difficult, but because I did it after 3 days of rugby.
Deep fried Oreos, moose tracks ice cream, roast broccoli, arancini, and seared seitan. (Yes, after 3 days of rugby, I had about five helpings of each of these)
So, now it’s mostly back to running and powerlifting! I’ll need to make sure I keep up the cardio if I want to keep my waist size going down.
And probably not make deep fried Oreos so much. Haha. (I only made them once! Honest! The fact that I friend the whole box…)
Until next month!
Payson