ANITA BIRT'S - NOTE BOOK

Are  you still there the countless readers of my blog who are too shy to comment or too busy to type a comment or too weary of this world to do anything.

IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS and we are supposed to be full of good cheer, liquid or otherwise. Liquid is better. It works fast.

We are having west coast winter weather, grey skies and lots of rain, not very cold and that is a comfort. No snow to shovel so we are blessed in that regard.

The book I'm writing is coming along. My daily output is slow so I'm trying to write at lease two pages a day or three when the spirit moves me. When I was much  younger and writing romance I'd write for three to four hours daily. Age is taking its toll but I'm blessed to write at all.

A cozy English mystery. I"m not editing myself as I write. This is a first draft for goodness sake, I'm not expecting a miracle to surface and do the writing for me.

If this was a proper blog I'd deal with a topic engaging readers. I have stepped back from life and find many topics of limited interest.

Big News! Luke Magnotta has been charged with murder and sentenced to life in prison. It took the 12 jurors seven days to reach a decision. The case was complicated. Read about it or watch it on television if you're a Canadian.

I'm away. Have a pleasant holiday. Take time to sit back and think about who you are and how you became who  you are.

Anita Birt
www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT'S - NOTE BOOK

Alas this blog is dying an indecent death through lack of interest on my part  and the absolute absence of  comments from someone - anyone - a talking gorilla, any comment is welcome. So before I consign this blog to a blog grave on which will be written, "No one cared so I'm going to the great  blog heaven in the sky."

Christmas is fast approaching. Are you ready?

I urge you to give copies of my romance novels to the woman in  your who likes to curl up with a good read while you pour her a glass of chilled white wine or a gin and tonic or a Scotch on the wrongs or a hot toddy made with whisky, a squeeze of lemon, a little brown sugar and pour in boiling water, just enough! Don't drown the Scotch.

A VERY DIFFICULT MAN, a historical romance.

ISABELLE'S DIARY, a contemorary  romance

ISABELLE'S STORY,  historical romance linked to ISABELLE'S DIARY

RING AROUND THE MOON , a time travel romance. Very romantic!

TOO YOUNG TO DIE - a page turner involving a nanny, a baby and thugs threatening to kill both of them. It's a romance! Enjoy its twists and turns.

For to-day my Blog lives but it will die unless you send in a comment. I feel like Tinkerbell in Peter Pan. Remember when we thought she was dying. If we wanted Tinkerbell to live we had to clap our hands!! I clapped like mad so did my children and grandchildren.

Save my blog. Send in a comment.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT'S - NOTE BOOK

My blog to-day is about feet. Your feet, my feet, all God's children's feet. Give a thought to your feet. I thought abut my feet a couple of days ago and wondered at the miracle of my feet. I walked when I was a year old, I walk on the same feet to-day. Think about that.

My feet are no longer things of beauty but they still work and don't crave a lot of attention. I think of all the places I've lived and all the places I've visited. Did you trod jungle tracks? Snowy mountains. Farmed an acre or two. Climbed trees. Hung upside down on railings. Ran from a bully. Kicked a football. Jumped rope. Tip toed watching for Santa. Danced in high heels.

Imagine the working feet of a ballerina.

Have a look at your feet before you go to bed. Sit on the bed and hold a foot. Examine it and wonder at the miracle of that foot . Examine the other one and think about where it has been and what it has experienced.

Feet develop hurtful things like bunions, corns, hammer toes and sundry other ills but with care they will still do what they are supposed to do. Stand up! Walk!

How are  your feet? Have you noticed them to-day? Acknowledge the miracle of your feet.
As I'm typing I'm wiggling my feet in my shoes. Same feet I started with over ninety years ago.
Still working. Still taking me on long walks. I think of them as miracles.

Think about your feet.

I leave you thinking. 

Anita Birt
 www,anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT'S - NOTE BOOK

So much to think about and without the ways and means to do anything about it. Gwyn Morgan has an article in the Globe and Mail titled. "Maybe it's time to rewire and unplug the next generation."

Are young people? Can they Internet addicted? Are they distracted by their gadgets to the extant they have lost the skill of thinking clearly and solving problems. Are their brains trained to think in bits and pieces?  I quote from the column. "It's dangerous from a social standpoint because constantly distracted people who are incapable of long-form thinking will have difficulty managing their lives."

"Business in a globally competitive world requires  undivided focus, analytical accuracy, creative problem solving, innovative thinking and team working skills."

Did that make you think?

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, please put a penny in the old man's, if you haven't got a penny,  a ha'penny will, do if you haven't got a ha'penny, God Bless You.

An old poem that just popped into my head.

Buy my books on line. Give your friends a treat. All my books are available in trade paperback.

 A VERY DIFFICULT MAN.  ISABELLE'S DIARY.  ISABELLE'S STORY.  RING AROUND THE MOON.  TOO YOUNG TO DIE.

The Isabelle books are available in a stand alone book -  ISABELLE. A contemporary and historical romance novel. A great gift.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT'S - NOTE BOOK

Have you done your Christmas book shopping? For the women in your life who enjoy reading well written romance novels, I suggest you give them a treat, wrapped up under the tree one of them will find, A VERY DIFFICULT MAN, a historical romance. It takes place in an English country mansion, 1865 but all is not peaceful and quiet. A wounded soldier returned from the Crimea does not want a companion foisted on him by his worried family. A female? Probably belongs to the Temperance Union. He makes her life as miserable as possible but she fights back.

My book is selling well in England. I promise your friend a great read.

Now back to the present time. Already the shops are dressed for Christmas. It's important to order your books early so they will arrive for Christmas but isn't November a bit early for Christmas trees with jiggling bells and candles flickering? They've already had the Santa Claus parade in Toronto so the one in Victoria will not be far behind.

I think my granddaughter Melissa will have a difficult time keeping three year old Willa from spinning like a top as she listens to Christmas songs.

My little Great Granddaughter in England is too little to figure out what's going on. She's been to London but the Queen wasn't in. I wonder if she saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace?

Must go and write in my diary and think about the review I must write for Richard Flanagan's book, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. It won The Man Booker Prize for fiction. I recommend it.

Anita Birt
www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT'S - NOTE BOOK

My fingers are all thumbs these days. Must be age or my brain is sending wrong messages to my fingers. Say it isn't so! I like my brain working just as it is. I have a bit of arthritis in two of my fingers. Let's blame arthritis.

Southern Vancouver Island is the place to live if you enjoy mild (not always) weather during the winter months but, be prepared for wild wind storms that stir up the giants living under the sea who raise heaving white caps sending water over the breakwaters showering parked cars. Sea water is not nice to cars and damage the paint.

I am supposed to be writing  a review of, "THE PAPER TRAIL," an Unexpected History of the World's Greatest Invention.

"This is the story of how that soft and supple substance became the vehicle and the conduit for landmark innovations and mass movement across the world. "

It began two thousand years ago in China and moved on from writing on silk, to writing on bamboo scrolls to mashing up sold rags to make a kind of paper. The Paper Trail is a a long read and not for the faint of heart. I read it in stages so I could remember what I'd read!

The Paper Trail takes us into the highways and byways of  governments  and the important of keeping records.

That is for that. The book is physically heavy but it's worth the effort to delve into the earliest of paper making to the present time. 

In the meantime! Remember to buy a romance novel for one of the women in your life. A VERY DIFFICULT MAN,  for the woman who enjoys a historical romance.

ISABELLE: For a woman in  your life who likes to solve a mystery in the very first chapter of ISABELLE'S DIARY. Was there a ghost?  

ISABELLE'S STORY is a historical romance. A broken heart. A pregnancy. Feeling abandoned. Many twists and turns and the good heart of a shepherd. Do read it. There are good and bad people in the world. Let the good triumph.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

ANITA BIRT'S - NOTE BOOOK

Time is marching on and soon, it will be - are you ready  for this - soon it will be time to get out your Christmas lists and try to figure out what gifts to give to whom?

I have a suggestion for women on your list who enjoy reading a historical romance, and another suggestion for a reader of historical romance linked to a contemporary romance.

A VERY DIFFICULT MAN - set in England 1858. My hero returned badly injured from the Crimean war  has withdrawn from society to his large estate. He refuses to socialize. Even his fiancee is unable to shake him loose from his isolation.

In a moment of desperation, his mother has their solicitor advertise for a young lady to live in the country and read to an invalid injured in a riding accident. She expects to read to a young lady like herself, to act as her companion,  and is horrified to discover the invalid is a bad tempered young man who does not want a companion, male or female, and does everything in his power to get rid of her. He throws books at her!

A VERY DIFFICULT MAN  is everything you want in a historical romance. A plucky female and a man, hell bent in getting rid of her. Order my book in trade paper back from Amazon.ca or Amazon.co.uk. It's available as an e-book but give the trade paperback edition to someone who likes holding a book in her hands.

ISABELLE -  A contemporary romance novel and a historical romance. My publisher put my two Isabelle books together. ISABELLE'S DIARY,a contemporary romance and ISABELLE'S STORY, a historical romance.

 Is there a ghost or not? Read the two books and decide for yourself. The cover of ISABELLE is absolutely beautiful. Give the book to someone who appreciates well written stories and a cover to please the eye.

Order ISABELLE from Amazon.ca or Amazon.co.uk or from my publisher, Ellora's Cave Publishing Inc. in the United States.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com