Friday, August 29, 2008

PROGRESS REPORT #41: THE GATHERING STORM


Ebb Tide

It's raining here on the Coast putting a damper on the finale of summer holidays.
I always try to make the best of it, and managed to have a swim the other day when there was a break in the clouds, but it's disappointing when this happens on a long weekend and people like to be out enjoying the last of their holidays. Hopefully the sun will make an appearance by tomorrow. Meanwhile, I take advantage of the inclement weather to stay at home at the computer and have managed to accomplish quite a bit this week. There seems no end of the writing tasks to keep me occupied. And a lot of social activities as well.



Last night I went to Bard on the Beach and saw one of Shakepeare's plays that I was unfamiliar with, "King Lear", done in a modern setting. I can't say I was able to follow the grim story that well, rather convoluted plot, but the acting was superb. And it certainly put me in the mood to carry on with the part o
f Shadow of the Lion that I am working on right now. Lots of murder and mayhem!


CLOUDS
I have been working on a part of the novel that is rather difficult in that it is high drama, lots of tension, and as it's the death of a couple of my favorite characters, it's like doing harm to your friends. It takes some thought and choreographing to make it realistic and appropriately tragic. Shakespeare was good at that, and so where the Greek dramatists, so I appreciated seeing the play last night for inspiration.

Besides working on Shadow, I've been writing up little fun pieces for Planet Eye. Be sure and take a look at the Vancouver Expert's page (moi!) www.planeteye.com This is a new site and deserves some publicity. I'm feeling pretty honored at being in on it from the beginning and I hope it's a great success. This little side-dish is allowing me to be the 'roving reporter' that I always had aspirations to be in my early years of wanting to be a reporter. It's fun and doesn't take up a lot of my time and it certainly is making me aware of all the things happening around town.

Of course I have some other travel writing to catch up on as well, so in between deal with the crisis in Pydna where Olympias and the rest of the royal family are awaiting their doom, I have to take my mind back to Venice and Chile and Greece, many pleasant memories to divert me from the doom and gloom of ancient Macedonia.

And there's lots of social activities happening here too: tomorrow a BBQ for my writer's group, a visit to the yearly P.N.E. (exhibition and fair); dinner with friends, and...hopefully another visit or two to the beach! Where's that sunshine?!


SUNSET OVER FALSE CREEK


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6 comments:

Meghan said...

Beautiful pictures. You always do such interesting things. I'm just writing and playing video games this weekend. Not very exciting ^_^;

Wynn Bexton said...

I've been doing lots of writing but this weekend taking a few breaks to enjoy the last long weekend of summer holidays. I guess writing is always on my mind even when I try to take a break from it. But I've been having fun too.

Sam said...

Those are gorgeous shots. It's raining here today too - I woke up early to the sound of thunder, and then the rain sent me back to sleep. It's very hot and muggy though - not cool at all. The grass is growing like it's June, lol. I'll have to mow on Monday.

Wynn Bexton said...

Holiday here today. Last day of the holidays and the sun made a valient attempt at shining but it wasn't very warm. I didn't get my last swim in at the pool but spent an afternoon with a friend walking the seawall. Lots of writing to get back to now. Holiday's are over!

Anonymous said...

Good to see you're back writing Shadow. You have such wonderfully busy and interesting days! d:)

Marie said...

Lovely photos. Good luck with Shadow.