Marion Agnew

See? Here's what my most recent set of revisions looks like. I'm currently revising the manuscript of my essay collection, Reverberations , coming this October from Winnipeg publisher Signature Editions. Yes! A book! I'll share more details about it later. I've got manuscripts to take apart! Which means I may not post much in August. Happy rest of summer, everyone.

Because not every "dry well" is a metaphor. Especially in this warm stretch of July. Especially with family visiting. We expect the well to get low--and although we'd hoped to eke it out until the family was gone, we have a solution. Water. Energy. Which is also handy in several of the metaphorical senses of "dry well," too.

"Revision" sounds like "decision," and in fact consists of a lot of decisions. Which explains why I'm sort of punchy at the moment. Also why periodically I pick up our loppers and head into a clump of trees to open up a trail. Or take sandpaper to old wood and, later, fill a brush with paint and swipe back and forth on the sanded, wiped surface. Here's what the revisions look like. Note that we are still at the "duct tape" stage. In fact, the "layers of duct tape" stage. "Layers of duct tape in what may yet become complementary patterns" stage. I think the colour combination is already working, but that may be just me. That's what later stages of revision are FOR: making a coherent whole from disparate parts. Which means lots of decisions, mostly answering forms of the question, "how well is this working?" I do find answers--and eventual peace in making decisions--in trimming branches bloc...

Yes, breaking news. Books, though, really are awesome. I  mean, look at these: About being ordinary and extraordinary About fear and illusion and preconceived ideas I'm not buying books (and bags and boots) this year, except for when I am. Which is to say, when my "wear in public" boots don't fit any longer, or (for example) when I want to read a book that's important to my novel and don't have a copy. Which is the case with  Hound of the Baskervilles . And yes, I know it's in the public domain. Yes, I could read it online. But that doesn't work for me, for my revision process. So. So when Toronto's  Gladstone Press  advertised a Canada Day sale on Instagram, I jumped on it. And I got not only books but a bag. And they are all lovely. I mean--lookit that dog's paw with a fingerprint in it. It has a topographical map bookmark, too. (The one for Mrs. Dalloway is a picket fence.) Als...

Summer! Project season! Here's a couple of projects we finished recently. The table used to be unfinished cedar, several years old. We have another just like it. Plus a bench that will resemble the tables when it's finished. The chairs were always white but were also sporting a bit of rust, as one can do when one is 30 years old. Here's a project Nature has been working on. Lilacs sure are pretty, especially the ones growing high enough that the deer can't get them. These projects don't preclude others. I'm revising--even while applying paint to tables, I'm moving scenes around. I'm considering whether someone would choose the "really stupid dangerous" option or the "just dangerous" one. And I'm reviewing podcasts about story structure, with which I always could use some help. Then I go inside and apply fingers to keyboard to try out what I imagined. I hope your summer is blooming nicely!