anniversary

(Above: Jeff and me during our honeymoon in Algonquin Park, 15 years ago. Check out my funky glasses! Photo by Gord Gibson.)

So my friend John Chew has smugly forwarded a Tropical Storm Debby warning. The "smugly" was implied because there was no personal comment added, just the official bulletin from the National Hurricane Centre. But I can imagine his expression as he forwarded it. :-)



Jeff and I have been married 15 years as of today. Jeff has happily pointed out that this month also marks the 15th anniversary of the birth of the World Wide Web. We are such glorious nerds.

To celebrate (our anniversary, that is), we are going to Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto Restaurant (6435 Dixie Rd., 905-670-5559). Hashimoto is one of my all-time favourite restaurants. From what I understand (kaiseki experts out there should feel free to correct me), kaiseki usually consists of a number of small courses, chef's choice, which use seasonal fresh ingredients. Here's a Toronto Life review, and if you're interested, you can also read my Blathering after a visit in 2002.

Drool.

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. Congrats to Teri Walsh for coming up with Who's Laughing Now, the title of Mimi's new horror novel.



Thanks for all the encouragement after I Blathered about rejections. Tanya Huff's post was especially appreciated:

As a general rule, if an editor takes the time to make detailed comments what they're actually saying is "if you make these changes, I would love to consider the book again, more seriously". They've already given you the commitment of their time but because they're not willing to offer a more concrete commitment, they can't ask. To a certain extent, they're wondering if you're capable of rewriting to editorial demand. Unless you vehemently disagree with the changes they've suggested, it might be worth your while to email them and find out if this is one of those times.

When Sheila first read CHILD OF THE GROVE, she sent me a detailed two page letter explaining what she liked and didn't like about it. I phoned her, thanked her for taking the time and asked her if I rewrote taking her points under consideration would she be willing to read it again. And she said, "Duh."

This observation intrigued me enough that I've talked to my agent, and she's going to find out if the editor would be willing to re-read my manuscript if I revised it to incorporate her comments. Even if the editor still decides to pass, I'm going to look at this kind of rejection letter differently from now on, as a possible editorial test rather than a flat rejection. Thanks, Tanya. :-)

Thanks also to those of you who posted stories of successful fiction writers who have experienced multiple rejections. I'm going to start accumulating these stories on this page, both for my own inspiration and other writers who may be going through something similar. :-)

In my CSS course on Lynda.com, so far I've learned about XHTML, validation and error correction, browser and user styles, different types of author styles (inline, imbedded, linked and imported), conflict resolution in CSS. Both the instructors are involved with the Web Standards Project. Jeff (the sweetie) is also lending me his copy of O'Reilly's Cascading Style Sheets book.

I've been checking out Wordpress more thoroughly, and I'm disappointed by the fact that there currently seems to be no reliable way to administer multiple blogs from ONE administrative interface. This could be a make-or-break factor for me when it comes to switching from MT to Wordpress. Any Wordpress users out there have advice?

10 more hours until Hashimoto...



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