Two Months Until Canada

Two months.  Sixty days. In that short amount of time, we’ll be in Canada. With it being in the depths of winter, I’m often thinking about what it’ll be like in Canada. The two biggest things I think about are weather and food.

At that time of year, Vancouver’s weather should be somewhat similar to here, just wetter. Maybe a little cooler. But cherry trees will be blooming in both countries at the same time. That’ll be a nice sight to see. But our trip to Edmonton may be a snowy one. Since we’ll be going through the mountains by car, it could be snowy. But it might not be. Spring in Canada is unpredictable. I’m just hoping for nice weather so we’re not stuck inside.

Food is the other thing I think of. I keep wanting to eat at Harvey’s or having Canadian Chinese food.

Well, since there are two months to go, lots to do. Cleaning, packing, tying up loose ends. My biggest worry is sending our suitcases to the airport. I guess we’ll have them sent there and they’ll hold them until we get to the airport.

But for now, a couple more months of work. And that’s where I have to go now. Any suggestions for food I should eat in Canada?

Flash Fiction Weekly Series

Anyone remember What Will You Write? I’d mentioned that I wanted to bring it back eventually. Well, it sort of is coming back, but I want to run the idea I have for it by you first.

First of all, it will probably be under a different name. It’ll be competitive, and I want the name to reflect that.

Second, my idea for this is to have it as a weekly feature. With the success of Authors Answer, I’d like to ask for a group of people to submit weekly flash fiction of only 100 words. That’s much shorter than the original What Will You Write? And with only 100 words, it’s easier to write something every week.

Third, the group of people that will be writing will be the same each week. For this, I want those people to be absolutely sure they can submit something every week. I haven’t decided how many people will be able to participate, but I don’t think there’ll be a maximum. However, I’d like to keep the same group of people for a month at a time. Every month, new people can join and those who wish to stop participating can stop.

Finally, the way it will work is as follows. The participants will submit their stories to me by email. I will post the stories without their names in a post that contains a poll.  Anyone can vote in the poll for the story they like the best. This will be completely anonymous so that the participants have a fair chance of winning that week. Every week, I will post the stories with the winner or top three, and link back to the original post, which will have been edited with the authors’ names included. The following day, the new round starts.

Every month, I’ll write a spotlight post featuring the month’s winners, and at the end of a full year, I’ll post a ranking of all the winners. The top winner may receive something, but I have no idea what it would be at the moment.

I’d like to hear what you think. If you’re interested in participating in something like this, let me know in the comments. When I start this, I will make an announcement for people to apply to participate. If you leave a comment here, it’s not an official application, but I will do my best to try to contact you when it’s starting to see if you’re still interested. It will likely start in spring, after my move to Canada.

For everyone else, I’d like some feedback about this. What do you think? Any suggestions? Please leave a comment with your thoughts.