Raven's View

Here it is, July 1st. The year is now half over, the days are getting shorter. Soon summer will fade into the blustery days of fall, then the dark and dreary winter months. But do have a happy day.

While waiting for my apartment to cool down last night, I headed over to a local pub, the Carleton. A/C, cheap draft, good fries, free wi-fi, and a live band, Random. They were quite good, but also quite loud. Their amps were set for a full room, but it was almost empty. I suspect they had cranked them up to 11. I retreated to the room next door - a bit quieter and I could appreciate the music as I browsed through RSS feeds with my Feeddler reader.

Earlier on I'd dropped by the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair, at Jack Purcell Community Centre. It was mainly a collection of authors, but there were a few small publishers there, including Deux Voiliers Publishing. They are a small imprint, with a loose gathering of authors, artists, copy editors, and designers. Not a co-op, yet. Talking with them was inspiring, and motivated me to get back into the editing of my two draft novels. I need to edit enough so that I can decide if I should publish them or trash them. 

But not today. I'm heading out to celebrate the day - just NOT downtown. Been there, done that, fought the crowds. Today I'm just walking over to a friend's place, with a knapsack of wine, crackers, creton, and brie. Maybe watch some soccer, chat with friends, enjoy the fresh air.

Tomorrow the writing starts again in earnest, as it's the first day of round three for this year's ROW80. I still have to work on my objectives for this round, but will leave that until this evening. Tomorrow is also the first day Ottawa will start enforcing the new changes to the no-smoking bylaw - banning it on all outdoor patios and city parks. Have heard much talk of people staying home, of pubs shutting down, of smokers defying the bylaw. We'll see what happens - the fines are for both patrons and business owners.