I’m back from the east coast

Well, after another day of driving, the family and I arrived back in Toronto tonight after two weeks in Nova Scotia.  It was a wonderful break, even though the weather was less than ideal.

I did get some writing done while I was away.  Just before we left, I’d met with Beverley Slopen, my literary agent.  She’d read the first five chapters of the new novel manuscript and had some good advice to impart.  While in Nova Scotia, I reworked the first few chapters, incorporating some of her suggestions, and wrote a new chapter as well.  The progress is steady, but I’m feeling some pressure to get the manuscript written in time to meet my self-imposed fall deadline.  This will mean evening and weekend writing as I’m really focused and energized about my real job during the day.

Here’s a shot my wife took as I worked on the novel in the beautiful Irving Centre at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.  It may well my my favourite building in the world.  I wrote a few chapters of TBLP here, and now have written a chapter or two of the sequel there too.  (Forgive the golf shirt from the now very dated Garth Brooks line — I was on vacation!)

On the drive home, we spent two days in Montreal.  We took a tour of McGill University so that our older son, who has one more year of high school to go, could get a sense of this wonderful and history-rich school.  The Leacock Building was on the tour.  Yes, that Leacock.  Stephen Leacock taught economics at McGill.  In fact, it was the money earned from the economics text books he wrote that gave him the financial freedom to develop, write, and promote his humourous writings.  My wife couldn’t resist taking of shot of me in front of the Leacock Building.