Blogs are inexorable, did you know that? If you write one you do. You may think you’re ahead if you finish one early in the day but - lo and behold! - the day goes by and the night and another day and you have to write another blog before it’s over. Like now. What I like best about blogs is he chance to make an assessment and/or to learn something. Every day is a learning opportunity; I just have to stop and try to recognize it.

I’ve been busy, going over my tweaked book manuscript, updating and checking for typos and stuff. It always goes more slowly than I think it will but I can’ t cut corners. I am a nitpicker and very patient. No stone unturned and all that. Even so, I make mistakes, all the time, and that’s a good thing because a mistake means there’s something I didn’t know and I should know better. I’ll tell you about one I learned today: a mistake and a correction. It has nothing to do with the book.

My Icelandic grandparents influenced my life profoundly. My mother was the only one of her generation to marry outside the Icelandic line but her parents made sure the line held secure; they gave my parents a cottage as a wedding present. That meant I spent every summer of my life in Gimli (on Lake Winnipeg, in Manitoba) in a little house two doors away from the big family home. I’ve written a lot about it and them. I tried to learn Icelandic - too late, I fear. (I can count to twenty.) I also did a little Icelandic cooking and I still bake Icelandic brown bread. I learned to make the special Icelandic cake the immigrants brought with them in their first major inlfux in the late 19th century. I used to make it as my family’s Christmas cake. It took a long time to make. I don’t do it any more and I don’t have to because an Icelandic-Canadian friend (purer blood lines) has made it her business - I should say career - to make it for everyone. She has formed a company and the word is spreading, including the correct spelling and pronunciation of the cake: vinarterta.

I was calling it vinar terta - two words. Originally the Icelanders adapted it from Vienna torte (two words, with whipped cream). When the Western Icelanders (as those who have left Iceland for the new world are called) arrived, vinarterta became a tangible symbol of their past, and they kept on making it, their specialty, now a legend.. Today in Iceland no one knows what they’re talking about when they ask about vinarterta.

I did it again. I pushed Delete by mistake after I had written a couple of paragraphs and I lost them. I can edit some of what I said before I cut to the point—-

-and then I got turned off by a tired battery. So it’s another day. Where was I? Well, first I dealt with my basket full of potential blogs that turned out to be overkill or underwhelming . Then I considered what I’ve been doing with two projects: First, my ageing book that I have tweaked and am checking over before sending it to my publishers for editorial comments. I’ve had one editor already, who tore me apart and then I did the same to an earlier draft (new outline, new approach). Now I have to think about my bad habits and how attached I am to them.

Second, my screenplay. My partner, whose excellent non-fiction book inspired me to turn into a movie, has been invaluable with authentic information on which I can hang plot points but she does not have screen-writing expertise . Neither did I, not enough. Though I had taken three brief (long-weekend ) courses in screenwriting with famous teachers (Michael Hauge, Syd Field and Robert McKee) and actually won a couple of Geminis ( the Canadian equivalent of an Emmy or a Golden Globe) working with a brilliant co-writer (Donald Martin), I realized early on that I needed to know more and had to augment my not-yet-10,000 hours of training. So I took the ScreenwritingU online course: 7 months, an assignment every 24 hours, with a 3-4-day catch-up and possible consult with fellow students every 5 weeks, drafting an original screenplay for my “thesis”. In addition, at the behest of a director who has taken an interest in our work-in-progress, I transferred from the Screenwriter program to Final Draft, which cost me more money and another learning curve. I returned to my partner and our project this year and we have reached an impasse. My friend refuses to use the word or recognize the need for arbitration, but she has conceded that we should let other people read and give us their reactions (judgement?) to help us decide what to do. She has talked to four friends.

I have asked one person for this assistance. She was a pupil of mine for two summer courses I taught in Creative Writing almost 30 years ago. She has become over the years my friend, peer and mentor. She took the same degree level course I did from ScreenwritingU and is completing her Masters degree now and negotiating her first Hollywood movie. In spite of all the time and energy you must realize this is costing her (and she is not well), she has generously given me her time and expertise to go over our script and give me a detailed analysis: formatting, dialogue, plotting, character development - the works. You can’t buy service or scrutiny like that. I am so blessed and so grateful.

I shouldn’t be telling you all this. This is not blog material. Perhaps, if any writers happen to catch my bleats, it might be useful to them. We can all use all the help we can get.