Gerald Brandt

Just a quick update for today.

Well, the boys were pretty tired today, and you could see it in the way they pushed things. Still, overall it was a good day. For lunch we went to the park for a picnic, and Jared and Ryan found some kids to play with. By the time we got home, they only had a few minutes to play before we went to pick up the new van.

The new van is a gorgeous blue, and it already came with the tinted windows and roof rack. It’s the exact same kind as we had before, a Toyota Sienna, but this one is a 2006. We’ve only had it a few hours, but boy is it nice being a two vehicle family again. With Marnie using her car for work, the kids and I were pretty much stranded at home or within walking distance. It was okay, but it made things like grocery shopping quite difficult. Marnie took the bus to work some days, but then she was inconvenienced for visiting clients. Well, problem solved and life moves on.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
Lynn Viehl describes her method for starting a novel at http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2005/01/novel-i-imagine.html

Well, with the new van coming, I needed to get my license plates off of the old one.  Of course, since it’s in Brandon (about 2.5 hours away), it turned into a whole day event with the kids.  We left in the morning at about 10:00 AM, and started the long drive.  I loaded up the car with my laptop and GPS, so I had tunes for the whole trip, which was good.  I also put the DVD player in there, so the kids could watch movies for the trip, which makes it a lot easier for all of us.  The DVD kind of broke Jareds punishment for the week, but I didn’t want a trip from hell.

On the way home, we stopped in at Spruce Woods Provincial Park to walk to the Spirit Sands area.  It can’t be called a desert, since it gets 300-500 mm of rain a year, but it sure feels like one.  The day was hot and windy, and after a 1.6 km hike we were in the middle of the sand dunes.  Really cool stuff.  Both boys walked the whole way on their own, a total of 3.2 km, with no complaint.  We all drank lots of water and had an absolute blast.  We finally got home at 9:30 PM, two hours past the boys bedtimes, and we all went to bed happy and exhausted.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
During the entire hike, I made an effort to use words to describe what I saw.  A skill every writer should have.  I talked to myself (in my head) about the way the sand rippled and the way the trees waved in the wind.  I tried different approaches, using plain language and using flowery language.  Thinking of words I rarely used to describe motion, colour and emotion.  All in all fun stuff.  Then Ryan, my 3 year old, looked at the trees, and said “Dad, the trees are dancing!”  Short, descriptive, and accurate.  I stood in awe.

What a day.  I didn’t even have a chance to get on the computer it was so busy.  So, todays post will be just a quick summary.

• bought a new van to replace the one we hit a deer with.  I pick it up on Wednesday.
• Jared pushed Ryan off of the play structure.  It was accidental, I’m sure, but a punishment was needed:
• 1. no tv/computer for the rest of the week
  2. no bedtime snacks for the rest of the week
  3. no playdates/friends over for the rest of the week

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
Nothing today, again.  What a busy day.

What a glorious day.  The sun was hot and the beach was cool.  I knew it was going to be a stinking hot day, so I piled the boys into Marnie’s car at 8:30 AM, and we drove to Smitty’s for breakfast.  After breakfast we hit the beach and had a blast.  We were outta there by 1:00 PM, before the heat really kicked in, and got slurpies on the way home.  Just a sweet, sweet morning.

This afternoon I enjoyed a beer as the boys had thier slurpies, and after we all played for awhile.  Then I read a book and enjoyed the afternoon.   Just before supper, me and the boys took a stroll by the playground and river.  A quick supper, followed by a bath and a cleanup of their bedrooms before Marnie got home, and all’s well.

Ryan feel asleep on the couch during bedtime snack, so he was easy to put to bed.  Jared stretched things out a bit, but he too eventually slept.  Both boys slept together last night, which essentially means that they woke up every two hours to play for 1/2 hour or so, before falling asleep again.  It made for a long night for me, but a fun one for them.  It also made them bicker a bit near the end of the day, but I expected that, so it wasn’t too bad.

I’m about to watch V for Vendetta. I know I should write instead, but I’m too tired right now anyway.  Tomorrow…

Reading
Kushiel’s Avater (Jaqueline Carey)

Writing
No writing, but I did re-read some of the plot outline for the novel.  It feels good, but maybe a bit thin.  I think I’d be able to get 100,000 words out of what I have, but it may be a stretch.  I think I’ll have to give the antagonist a more active role, which should also increase the conflict and tension throughout.

I don’t think I’ll normally post on weekends, but this blog is still new so here goes…

What a great day.  The boys and I got along perfectly today, and we all had a fun time.  I took them to coffee with me, since Marnie is in Miami, and they ate and played and had a wonderfull time.  They never once asked to go home. When I finally said it was time to go, at about 3:00 PM, they were actually a tad upset.  That would be 3 1/2 hours at a coffee shop.  Well done.

After coffee, I had a kind of ‘adult withdrawal’.  It’s been 4 days with just the boys, and I craved some more adult interaction.  I love the boys to pieces, but for my sanity, I really need to maintain adult contact.  When Jared was at school, it wasn’t too bad.  I met the other parents when I dropped off and picked him up (plus some additional activities).  The summer is a little bit harder.  Maybe, as I mentioned in yesterdays post, routine is something I need as well.

So Gavin came over for supper (hot dogs) and beer.  It was good to talk about adult stuff.  The boys ended up sleeping together, and all is quiet.

Reading
nothing
Writing
this blog

11:30 AM
This is truly the first time I’ve felt like giving up.  Finding another job and putting the kids back in daycare.  I will title this ‘The week from hell’, although it’s really been almost two weeks.

Ever since the van accident, Marnie and I have been short with the kids (2 weeks, go figure).  This week though, I thought things had gone back to normal.  But, I must have done something that first week to justify this.  The boys just will not listen.  If I repeat myself in a ‘strong and firm’ voice over a half hour period or more, whatever I’m asking about will be ignored.  The boys refuse to do anything until I yell at them, and I’m telling you, after a half hour of being ignored, my yelling is not pleasant.  I’m not sure what got them into this mode, but I sure as hell hope I can figure out how to get them out of it.  ‘Cause I’m done.

Maybe it’s because their pattern is broken.  School has been over for 2 and a bit weeks, and thier usual morning/daily routine has competely disappeared.  Ok, so starting tomorrow, a new routine will be created for them.  Lets see if that will help.

7:30 PM
Well, to say the day ended on a higher note is not saying enough.  I sat down with the boys(again) and had a chat.  This one seemed to take a bit.  We also had a playdate this afternoon.  Fellow writer Mirrielle came for a visit and brought her son.  We chatted about various things including writing and kids, and all three boys played like angels.

Reading
nothing

Writing
This blog, that’s it.

We are thinking of starting a local writing group.  So far there is just the two of us, and we hope to have a third really soon.  Three or four sounds like a good number to me.  We’ll see what develops, and we hope to meet in three weeks.  We’ll send each other some samples of our work, and do a critique on them.  Heck, even the visiting is worth it.

With the visit, and the research I’ve been doing, I once again have a great urge to write.  I lost the urge for a few weeks, when I received some really bad critiques of my latest short.  Normally, bad critiques don’t bother me too much, but for some reason this one did.  Maybe I was too close, and didn’t see its defects.

2006 counter
2 rejections 0 acceptances

Gerald Brandt, an aspiring writer, is starting his blog.  The main question is why?  What on earth would make a non-published writer like myself start a blog?

Well, I guess the main answer is that I finally registered my domain name, and I had to put something up here.  I don’t imagine that many (or even any) people will read it though.  We’ll see if I can keep it up.

So what am I going to put up here?  Just some odd facts from my day-to-day life as a stay at home dad, a little bit of my private life (maybe), and I’ll also keep track of my writing here.  I’ll post about my current project(s), things like word counts, where I am in the project, etc.  I’ll try to break things up into sections, but sometimes the edges of my world blur and this blog will reflect that.

I’m using CityDesk 2.0 to create this blog.  It may be a lot more work than using software made for blogging, but I bought a licence many years ago and I may as well put my money to use.  This first incarnation took me about 3 hours to set-up and put together.

The kids were good today.  Jared started the day by calling to me (as he usually does) “Daddy, I’m awake.”  I managed to drag myself out of bed, to find Jared dressed, wearing his Harry Potter glasses and his new baseball cap, and grinning like a demon.  God, I love that kid.

We went to the library, and they both loved the “Super Heroes” reading session.  I got to relax for 45 minutes and enjoy my coffee.  The good feelings lasted until about 4:00 PM, when all hell broke loose.  They stopped listening and behaving, and I stopped being a sentient being.  We worked it out in the end, but not before there were some tears and hurt feelings.  It was a rough couple of hours.

Reading
The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)

Writing
Nothing today really, I spent too much time setting up the blog.

2006 counter
2 rejections, 0 acceptions