Daniel Cook, Stripe and meat floss

TVO sent Ruth a DVD with her This Is Daniel Cook episode, so we got to watch it last night. To my surprise, Daniel seems like a pretty normal kid.

Here's Daniel with Stripe:



And I love the fact that they listed "'Stripe' - The Guinea Pig" in the credits at the end of the show:



You can check out when This Is Daniel Cook is airing in your area here.

I took a break from work yesterday to have dim sum at Asian Legend with Jeff, Parki and Ray. Among other items, we ordered Meat Floss! See Ray's photo below:



The anticipation outweighed the actual experience; I found the Meat Floss to be a bit too dry for my tastes, reminding me of flavoured shredded wood.

After brunch, we visited the Pacific Mall, North America's largest indoor Asian mall and browsed the shops; I especially enjoyed seeing the wide variety of snack foods available...where else would I be able to find "Varied Cow Organ," for example?





And a survey: if you were to choose ONE item from the menus above, what would it be?

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The Not So Glamorous Life of a Freelance Writer

Worked most of yesterday on a book proposal that I plan to submit early this week. I've decided that even if the publisher doesn't go for it, I'm definitely submitting it elsewhere. In fact, my agent has suggested that I should consider putting together other non-fiction book proposals as well. Two publishers have approached me about doing projects, after all; usually it's the other way around.

So now I'm starting to brainstorm about ideas in addition to working on my novels. I still plan to pitch shorter pieces to magazine markets meanwhile, but the idea of having my agent pitch book-length ideas at the same time is highly appealing. I love my agent.

It takes a great deal of time to research and put together a proper magazine article query, sometimes longer than writing the actual piece, which is why I try to focus only on articles that have a wide range of potential markets...that way if one is rejected (either at the pitch stage or after I've written it), I can send it elsewhere.

Pitchpitchpitch. Anyone who thinks freelancing writing is glamorous is living in another dimension. So much of it is about promotion and marketing, as well as learning how to deal with rejection. Unless you're very lucky, a LOT of rejection. Hm, I should do a Will Write For Chocolate column about this topic sometime.

Despite the above, however, I should point out that I love being a writer, and am immensely grateful that I have such a supportive spouse. I wake up every morning excited about my work and still marvelling at the fact that people are paying me to do something I love doing anyway.

Glamorous? No. But it feeds my soul, and I feel like one of the luckiest people in the world for having it.

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Waiting For Frodo...again?

Thanks to Elizabeth Popiel for the strip idea. I think I'm going to have some fun with this. :-) Elizabeth had actually suggested temporarily resurrecting a special edition of Waiting For Frodo, but I swore a while ago that WFF was retired for good.

BUT I never swore they wouldn't make guest appearances in my other comics, did I?

:-)

By the way, I posted the incorrect URL for Ruth's updated Web site yesterday. The MAIN page of the site is http://www.ruthohi.com/.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Stripe the Star!

Above: My nieces' guinea pig, Stripe, proudly poses beside my sister's latest picture book; Stripe was the model for the guinea pigs in the story. Thanks to Ruth for the photo, which she is going to be using in her school presentations. Clara and the Bossy is scheduled to be released next month! I just finished updating my sister's Web site; feel free to check it out. Stripe also appeared in a recent episode of TVO's This Is Daniel Cook, along with my sister.

I never had a guinea pig when I was a child, though we did have hermit crabs, zebra finches, a dog and a gerbil. My favourite pet was the dog, a slightly neurotic Australian terrier we named Trudi. My parents said no when my brother, sister and I first asked for a dog. Dogs were too big, noisy, aggressive, they said. Unwilling to give up, the three of us went into intense research mode, combing library resources as well as dog magazines, looking for a breed that WASN'T big, noisy or aggressive.

After weeks of research, Jim, Ruth and I presented a binder of information and photocopied pictures that was basically focussed on "Why We Should Get A Dog And Here's The Dog We Should Get."

My parents said yes. :-)

Here's a painting of Trudi that Ruth did when she was in high school:



Finished Bloody Jack and loved it. I've definitely got to read the next two in the series. I was pleased to see the main character learn to play the penny whistle, especially when she started playing tunes that I know!

Now reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini and Chords & Harmony: Music Theory for Real-World Musicians by Jim Aikin.

Listening to Carbon Leaf: 5 Alive!, part of my Christmas gift from my sister and her family. Thanks to Erin for telling me about this CD. For those of you not familiar with this group, Carbon Leaf's music is a sort of Celtic-folk-rock hybrid. I love the high energy and "feel good" vibe of their music, especially great for when I'm feeling somewhat down. I hope to see them perform live someday!

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Dreamdoodle

In my attempt to continue improving my drawing skills, I've been doodling regularly using Corel Painter 8 and my Wacom Artpad as well as going through books recommended by my friend Kate Parkinson.

Anyway, my favourite type of drawing these days is the visual equivalent of stream-of-consciousness writing, where I don't really have a particular topic in mind but just let my Wacom pen lead me where it likes. That's how the drawing above got created. I have no idea where it came from except I was in a somewhat melancholy mood at the time.

My current reading material:

Get Fuzzy: Groovitude: By Darby Conley. I won this comic book in the raffle at the National Cartoonists Society Christmas party. Started reading it but got distracted by something else so am finishing it now. LOVE the characters in this comic, especially Bucky. :-)

Bloody Jack: By L.A. Meyer. Thanks to Ruth for telling me about this book for young people. I started it last night and had to force myself to stop reading it because I knew I'd suffer in the morning otherwise, plus it was SO good that I wanted to be able to read it when I was fully awake. Will probably finish it tonight.

An Understandable Guide to Music Theory: The Most Useful Aspects of Theory for Rock, Jazz & Blues Musicians: By Chaz Bufe.

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