Smouldering Coals of Inspiration

Since I've been on the road to recovery from my stupid torn tendon, I've had a lot of people ask me if I'm still writing. For me, it's a pretty loaded question. In my head, I'm almost always thinking about an aspect or idea of/for a book, but writing is a discipline and when I was in enough pain that I couldn't concentrate on TV, let alone the creative process, I disconnected from that particular skill and it's really hard to get back. Add to that a middling review and my creative flame is out.(Yeah, I thought I was made of stronger stuff, too.)

That's the bad news, but the good news is that somewhere deep down in where ever the words come from are the embers that have burned since I knew what a story was. So, somewhere in me is another book, maybe more, if I can just get back to the discipline of it. I've got three on the go, but that can't continue, I've got to focus on one  and get down to business.

I wish is was as easy as stating that, but we've got trips to plan, an apartment to organize for visitors and the daily grind of chores, exercise and, of course, socializing. (Not to mention training for our Camino de Santiago walk.) Sometimes, getting coals to reignite, takes more effort than others, but I'm willing to put in the work, just to satisfy my soul.

Here's to a brisk wind, coming from the right direction, to aid me along. I must remember:
"You may not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page." Jodi Picoult

The Little Blog that Could

The very first picture on this blog

When I first started this blog, it was kind of an exercise in vanity as well as an easy way to keep our family and friends up to speed with what we were up to. We had moved more than 6,000 kilometres away and this was our equivalent to the annual Christmas letter.

Our one time home

That was over 6 years ago and my little blog has expanded into something bigger. It's a place for wannabe expats and first time travelers to get info, as well as a glimpse into the lives of people living abroad, and a place for the fam to see what's going on, where we are and, occasionally, to see what we look like.  (Not to mention, a place to shamelessly flog my books!)

A rare sighting of the black jacketed
Robertsons

Well, as of today, I've had hits from 99 countries (6 of the seven continents)...who knows where the 100th is going to be from! I'm slowly sliding towards 40,000 hits (less than a thousand to go) and am hoping to get there before year end. By no means is this a wildly successful blog, but for what it is, it's doing pretty well.

Home, for now

Despite the world upheaval, some people just want to get a little  peak at someone else's life and we're happy to oblige, no matter how dull it seems in the heat of the moment.

My forever home

So here's to the 100th county, whomever you will be and to the 40,000 reader. Here's to all of you who got us this far and to whatever lies in the future. 

Thank you!

"Regenesis", Sequel to "Last Farmer" Now for Sale!

Regenesis is available for sale! Here's the description of the second book in the "Last Farmer Series"

 Having abandoned his sterile existence in the government controlled domes; Dax has crossed the desiccated wastelands of the Burn Zone and found an unlikely Eden that seems to offer the life he’s always dreamed of. But all is not well in his new home. The Resistance is losing ground while the government and the Triad, to whom they answer, are seeking to solidify their power. Still, there is hope.

An ancient legend will require him to leave behind the wonders of his island sanctuary to protect the very things he has come to cherish. Can he live up to the promise of the prophecy and become the hero that history demands or will he find only failure in the impossible task?

It's been a long 9 months since the release of "Last Farmer" and I'm so grateful for your patience! The sequel is out in e-book format and available at:

Amazon.ca 

Amazon.com

You can order early bird hard copies at: createspace.com
Hard copies will be available through Amazon.com in the next three to five days on Amazon.com and up to 30 days on amazon.ca

Hello Russia! Привет Россия!

Добро пожаловат! (Welcome!)

(Hope that's correct, but I'm using google translate...) Just wanted to say a quick "hello" to all of you Russians, suddenly interested in my blog. You've been inundating my site with views and I'm curious to know who you are and how you're doing!

Let me know if you have any questions about Canada or Ecuador and I'll do my best to answer them.

All the best from the Southern Hemisphere!

Clean Slate - 2016

It goes (almost) without saying that time flies. (I wish I had the patience to count how many times I've said that on this blog!) 

So a new year is starting and many of us are heading back to the gym, cutting back on the cheer and trying to improve ourselves as part of the learning curve that is life. Years ago I resolved not to make any more New Year's resolutions and as far as I can remember it's the only one I've actually stuck to.

As Anne of Green Gables says "Tomorrow is a whole new day with no mistakes in it!" The thought used to make me smile with hope, but I'm a bit more jaded now and always mentally add the word "yet" onto the sentence. Be that as it may, like her, I hope not to make the same mistakes twice and learn from the mistakes I do make. (Oh so lofty!)

Not to get existential or philosophical, but I understand that a year passing is just an arbitrary marker of time (does it really pass? are we really here?), but it seems right to do a little postmortem on the old year and set out some plans and goals for the upcoming one. I think it's human nature. (Except for Ron, who pretty well takes each day as it comes with little or no expectations...I know...he's a hero.) It was a pretty good year...new digs, a once in a lifetime travel experience and getting to spend time with family and friends in beautiful Vancouver. Were there problems? Of course, but that is the way of the world. (Don't believe all those people on Facebook, their lives aren't perfect!) So all in all I'll give this year an 8.5 out of ten. (My brother-in-law would probably rate it a solid 5.5...but he's a pessimist.) 

I finally managed to write one blog for every week of the year (+ 1!), which has ever been my goal, but taken me 5 years to achieve. We've reached 72 countries and have doubled viewership (bloggership?) monthly, so that feels pretty satisfying. We even had to delete our first comment this year. I don't like doing it, but it contributed nothing and kind of hurt my feelings.

What the year ahead holds is a mystery and I hesitate to even make a guess. (What's that saying? "Man plans and God laughs"...that's mostly been my experience.) There will be the release of the sequel to 'Last Farmer'...I promise. The first draft is done and all it needs is a heap of editing. There'll definitely be travel...that's the whole point of this crazy adventure we're on, and probably some stress and sadness, but it does me good to remind myself that life is good. That we are healthy and blessed and not matter what life throws our way, we have each other. 

On a more personal note, I just want to acknowledge the people I love. All the wacky ups and downs have made me...well...me and for that I thank you. I have to give a nod to the man who's made this wild adventure possible. You took a risk on a young woman, only half formed, maybe seeing the potential that was there (and ignoring the crazy) almost 25 years ago and I cannot imagine where I'd be without you. We've had a pretty banner year, Love, and it's all because of you. I love you, Ron Robertson! I know people thought we were nuts, getting together, but maybe that was what we both needed. (Cue Billy Joel.)



To everyone who stops by this little blog: I wish you success with your resolutions, a year of prosperity, fulfillment and joy, tinged only lightly with strife or sadness, for that makes us appreciate the happiness all the more.

To you and yours from us and ours. Happy New Year!

Should We Stay or Should We Go? Resident Travel Restrictions

Thank you Clash for the title! 

One of the most frustrating things about being in Ecuador is the conflicting information that floats around about things that are near and dear to your heart. The list is almost endless, but most of the truly worrying things have to do with getting your residency or keeping your residency.  Part of the trouble is that these things are fluid - things change even while you're in process of applying for something. The good news is that you're usually granfathered into the old rules. The bad news is that if something goes wrong or gets rejected, you may have to start from scratch.

All that is pretty much behind us now, except for the sticky travel rules that we have to obey in the first two years. So here's how it breaks down as of 27 August 2015:

- During the first two years, you may only be out of the country for 90 days per year and the allowance is not cumulative, also based on the date of your Visa in your passport. 

- If you don't plan on getting your citizenship (resident status only) your anniversary date is based on the Visa date in your passport. Once you've gone two years past that Visa date, you're off restricted travel and can leave the country for up to 18 months at one time. (I did not ask if that was an in and out privilege, meaning if you come back for a day, can you leave for another 18 months without issue.)The world can finally be your oyster.

- If you want to obtain your naturalization (citizenship) you cannot be out of the country for more than 90 days over a three year period based on your Cedula date. If you go out of the country over the allotted time, I assume that you must start a new 3 year/90 day stretch. (I can't imagine that they'd just ban you forever from getting your citizenship...but who knows...after all this is Ecuador.) Take heart, if this is your choice...there are amazing places to see here in good old Ecuador, you won't need to go away to have a holiday.

Pumapungo Ruins

Las Cajas

Other things of note: most flights leave Ecuador for places outside of South America just before midnight. That means you lose the whole day, as the Aduana will stamp you as leaving the county before midnight. That sucks, but it's the way of things. If you clear customs after midnight on your return to Ecuador, you will also lose that day, so padding when you're doing your calculations is necessary. If you want a precise log of your movements the Policia Mobilaria have an excellent record of your ins and outs which they can go over with you. If you want a print out, you will be charged. (The last time we paid is was $5 each.)

Now, I can't  guarantee how long that information will be good for, but it stands right now and that's what we're using as a basis for further travels next year. I got this information directly from the same office where we received our Visa's, after a mostly futile visit with the office of the Aduana. They did however redirect me to the Visa office.

Hope that helps, I know there's a lot of debate about the right and wrong of it out there. If you want to be 100% certain, it's best to go to the Visa office yourself. Consider that my warning to avoid being held responsible for errors.

Safe travels!

Five Years In

Well, I just realized that I've been writing this little blog for five years. Where does the time go? No, I'm serious...five years have passed in a blink and my mind boggles at it. The pictures illustrate part of my personal philosophy of life.
 

Dance when you can.

Five years, over 200 posts, 62 countries reached, two books published and another on the way. During the time I've crossed Canada 6 times, traveled to three continents (if you count the stop in Central America) and logged 1000's of kilometers on airplanes, automobiles and on foot. It makes me wonder where I'll be in five years from now. In truth, it could be almost anywhere - the interesting part will be how I arrive there.
 

Try to eat well.

But eat a dessert (or three) now and then

So happy birthday to me! Another half decade under the belt, a new year ahead of me and unknown adventures waiting around the corner with my trusty husband Ron at my side (& vice versa). Life would have been so much less interesting if he hadn't been around. I can't imagine my life without him, so thanks Babe, for all the great moments and for putting up with me.
 

Do something that scares you.

I'm so glad for those of you that have been with me on the journey or have hitched a ride along the way. Janette, you're the best BBFB a girl could have! Love and heaps of gratitude to my sisters and Dad and my extended family and friends, you make it easier to be on the planet.

Love and be loved.

Creativity Isn't for the Faint of Heart

Anyone that I've known who tries to offer their creativity to the public, live in their own private little hell. For me it usually comes in the middle of a project; when it's too late to just give up and too heart rending (not to mention exhausting) to ponder ripping everything apart. It makes me question everything...not just the plot line of the story or what the point of even writing is, but my own purpose, my own worth - the very thing that I am. 

It's gutting and I often need to just walk away and let things stew, but that's where I'm at right now. More than half way in to a sequel for "Last Farmer" and I'm contemplating having to redo everything. It's enough to make me want to abandon it all together. It's worse knowing that the predecessor was actually a good book. It's received all 5 star reviews and ratings and now, I have to at least equal it, if not surpass. Oh the pressure!

I'm certain that other people feel this way, be it over a painting, a complicated proposal or sales pitch, a sculpture or even midway through rehearsals for a play. I guess what separates the men from the boys (so to speak, insert women from the girls if that works better for you) is those who muscle through it and those who pack it in. I will not be one of the latter. If it needs a complete rework, so be it, if I need to start from the beginning, it will be done. But I need some rest first, maybe a glass of wine before I get back to working on the sequel.

 You have my word people who care! (PS I can count you on my fingers and toes, but you're still important to me!)

Visiting vs. Residing

Before we decided to make moving a profession (so to speak) we traveled quite a bit. Actually, even as we developed our packing and moving skills, we still traveled. Some of the places we traveled to were potential new homes and we almost always loved them. Why do we move so much? It's in our blood, neither of us stayed in any one place very long, even as children. Our longest stay at one address is 7 years and that includes our childhoods.

Amazing blue skies!

So what's my point, you might ask? There is a fundamental difference between visiting a place and actually living there. I know that everyone understands that, at least logically, but when you visit somewhere new, it's like being on a honeymoon. The colours are brighter, the food tastier, the people friendlier...you get my drift. Even if you have your mind wrapped around that idea, you can still get fooled. Until you've spent at least a year in a certain spot, you can't really know whether you can tolerate it or not. Three to six months will refine it down to "maybe" or "good Lord, no!" But that's about it. Until you've experienced all of the seasons, celebrated (or avoided) the holidays, paid bills, dealt with some level of government, gone grocery shopping 52 times (give or take) you can't really be certain. Even then, sometimes, you wonder.

Exotic plants!

There is a gentleman who goes by the monicker cccmedia on expat-blog.com that offers very firm (even insistent) advice about not buying property in Ecuador until you've lived in the area for at least a year. A year ago, I might have said that he was exaggerating, but he's not. It's actually scary for me to see all the people ready to come to Ecuador, sight unseen, buying property before they get here, selling everything they have and arriving here with their "we-loved-it-when-we-came-here-on-holiday" mentality, or worse yet the "how-different-can-it-be?" frame of mind.

New types of wild life!

It can be VERY different; foreign even. They speak an entirely different language, have a radically different sense of time, urgency and priorities. You don't really get to understand that with a two week visit, not even a one month visit. I'm still figuring it out almost two years later. Fortunately, for us, we're used to change; we did things that prepared us for such a radical step and we're resilient, but I'd be lying if I said the transition has been easy.

Crazy stuff you'd never see at home!
(Christmas decorations combined with Halloween masks!)

My advice to you; get your feet on the ground, rent a place that's fully furnished and check everything out. Go to the government offices to find out what you need to become a resident, talk to the banks about services, talk to doctors and dentists, other immigrants, get to know the locals and let the blush of the vacation mentality wear off. It's not just about dollars and cents, folks, it's about quality of life. We've been so brainwashed into thinking that money is the key, that we don't even realize when we've got a good thing going. So don't jump out of the frying pan and in to the fire. Make sure you're well educated before making the biggest financial gamble of your life and moving to a different country. (Especially from the first world to the second or third.)

If you've already made the leap, weigh in and make a comment. If you have questions about our experience, feel free to ask. Just know that my intention isn't to deter you, but to make the transition easier, if you decide to make the leap.

Where are you?

Two posts ago was actually my 200th entry, something that (I guess) should really be celebrated. It's amazing that I can be deluded enough that people care about anything I have to say for that long!

I've been keeping track of who's checking out the blog and we've had readers (or at the very least, looky-loos) from 62 countries that represent all the continents (excluding the Arctic and Antarctic). I admit that it's not a mind boggling stat, as I'm only cruising up to 30,000 hits. While I'm not running with the big boys, I appreciate each and every view that I get and I really want to know who you are and where you're from. What do you want to know and what were you looking for?

Seriously, enough about me. If I'm tired of hearing myself talk (even though I still do it) you must be equally so! Tell the rest of us where you're from and who you are in the comments, consider it a little social experiment.

Just know that I'm thankful for your interest and eternally curious about how and why you arrived at this little blog. I'm so excited to see where the next viewers come from! Thank you very much for your support.

If you have any ideas about what I should write in upcoming blog posts, drop me a line in the comments. Thanks for reading. I look forward (with some angst) to my next 100 blogs!

LAST FARMER SEQUEL UPDATE:

If any of you are curious as to where I'm at on the sequel to "Last Farmer" I've hit over 47,000 words, which means I'm almost half way there (give or take), this constitutes 11 chapters (one is still under progress) with an anticipated additional 64,000 words to complete the book. If you've read "Last Farmer" can you please either review it on Amazon (if you've actually ever bought a book from them online) or Good Reads, if you're a member. This will help move the book up the ranks and hopefully increase sales.

The Agony and the Ecstasty

There is little worse than being a creative spirit. Nor is there anything better. (Yes, it's like A Tale of Two Cities.) The process of creating is both invigorating, soul sucking, uplifting and devastating. In general...it's amazing.

Then comes the presentation. For writers, it's not just about writing the book, no. You also have to worry about the whole publishing process. Just because your book has been professionally edited it doesn't mean that it's mistake free. You can have three, five, twenty people go through it and there will still be mistakes. (Cue frowny face.) Then there's after your baby (yes, that's what it is) is published. There's this thing called marketing. Some people (creative people) live for this. I do not. It's really hard for me to sell myself. If I read my work, I think it's brilliant, but then I read it again and hate almost every part of it. There is no such thing as perspective.

Anyhow, it's been almost a month since I released my latest book and I've watched the sales, the free downloads and the reviews. The word is in, at least in a small degree. (Remember, I'm not good at selling myself.)  I've had 5 reviews and they are all 5 stars...out of 5. I know. This makes me feel good. Okay, so I've only sold 12 copies, but when I was giving it away free 260 copies were downloaded. This is also good.

This is the glory and the pain. I remember CBC Weekend Sports used to have a reel and the voice over that said "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" and that is my experience with the writing process.

Thanks for the support, those of you that bought or downloaded and for those of you who couldn't thanks for the moral support.

Just as a teaser, I'm almost 23,000 words in to the sequel.

Gratuitous Promotion of my second book - "Last Farmer"

It's been two years in the making and I'm almost ready to launch my next book through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. Like all things creative, I'm excited and terrified, but I hope that you'll like the book. I'm adding the book cover and the "back cover blurb". 

Please, feel free to comment,  all input is helpful for me.

"In the dusty ruins of once verdant Earth, humanity is forced to live in bio-domes that protect them from the harsh environment of the Burn Zone. In the government controlled domes, life is highly regimented and Dax, a high school history teacher, is tired of his tedious existence, but he has a plan to fix all that.

Unfortunately for Dax, an orphan named Jake has different ideas. The boy wants Dax to abandon his dream of a cushy professorship to look for something that must surely be a fable. The government insists that the only thing outside the comfort of the domes is death, but the two will have to cross the void in an attempt to fulfill the boy’s quest.

Can Dax give up his dreams, defy his government and survive the Burn Zone, just on the whim of his student, Jake? And if he does, can he protect them both from the unknown dangers of the outside world?"


So here's the deal: I'm on an exclusive contract with Kindle for 90 days. They do provide a free app for PCs, Macs and mobile devices (including tablets) so you can read their books without owning a Kindle reader. I'm not sure how, or if, I can get the book into other formats once the 90 days is up. (Well, I know I can PDF it, but that's about it.)


The book is available on most Amazon country specific websites. The link, on the book cover, above is for the Canadian site, here's the US link: LAST FARMER


I'm the only one promoting this book, so if you can share this blog I'd be grateful! Thanks for supporting me and my endeavours, I really hope you enjoy the book.