The wine!

Late saturday I got an invitation to go for an easy 5 k run on Sunday morning. Nice! Then we looked at the actual temperature, and worse, the windchill, and thought about where (can you say open and exposed to the wind) we had thought to run. We bailed. The consolation prize was this photo of a rainbow done with ice crystals.

Plus this one of the cats tussling. Very entertaining.

I spent the day puttering with the two wine kits I've got on the go. In an ideal world I'd have cleaned some bottles, but I didn't get there. They are both stabilized now, and I can bottle them in a month or so. The white is clearing very well. Sometimes they take longer.

Then in March the other 3 kits I ordered should be in, and I'll have a trip up to Red Deer. If anyone wants to get in on the action, I'd be happy to give them a ride. Just to warn you, it's nearly impossible to get out of there without picking up a kit or two. Or three. One of my work buddies carted out 18 kits one day.

I also got a long and thoughtful response from one of my readers. All the comments I've had so far have been really good, and much appreciated. They have all pointed out things I'd missed, so it's all good. So far though, it was all tweakable, even the several comments that there's lots going on. Then I got two separate comments that, at least for the moment, kill the way I've written it so far. One is an exchange between father and daughter. One reader pointed out the exchange took place about 8 to 10 years after any rational parent would have done it. I really like the scene (once a couple things were cut out), and there's no way it will work in the book now. The other comment is a related one, noting that there lots of discussion about things that have already happened. I had thought it was a point of view thing, so not quite right there. Of course, in many discussions there will be a reference to past events, but there's enough of it that it's pointing to a structure issue. My first thinking is that I need to change how the story is told, perhaps starting it with the characters all somewhat younger than they are now, and show the reader these scenes, rather than tell the reader about them. That might mean opening the book with Hardisty's bike crash. Hmmmm.

And the endings. I'm beginning to realize endings are hard. I've not been really happy with any of them, and neither have the readers. More work. I think I need to refine my idea of what the story is, and what it is not, and that might give me a bit of leverage on both the sub-plots and ending issues. Now I'm really beginning to understand why writers wander around looking distracted much of the time.

Going into the pool this morning I suddenly realized I didn't feel much like swimming, but did want to really have a good water running session. Katie was there, and we ran together for about 10 or 15 minutes at chatchatchat pace. Then once she climbed out I knuckled down and really started pushing. Sometimes really stretching my stroke out, sometimes lifting my knees really high, sometimes really churning them around like I was doing easy spin on the bike. This was about a half hour at an intensity where it would have been a little bit tough to hold up my end of a conversation. Then stretched after, feeling really good.

Tonight was the last bit of wine stabilization stuff, and a good core session. Plus forcible cat cuddling. There's another eternity in cat hell for me.