Author's Note: I have been allowing myself to be affected by "analysis paralysis" and procrastination for quite a while…and I apologize for that. The review that "DogMonday" left for chapter 107 of "By a Simple Twist of Fate" gave me impetus to get started again – as well as some specific writing suggestions that Kslchen recently shared with me. So…a big thank you to both of you for giving me a push in the right direction.
As a bit of explanation, I started scribbling my initial Anne's Diary entries last April, gathered my nerve to present the idea to Kslchen in May, and finally got brave enough to publish my first chapter in August. (As a timeline reference, the chapter that Kslchen published that same week included the tea party in Sandringham shortly before Ken and Rilla broke up.)
During this whole time, I have been writing outlines/full entries for future chapters based on whatever Kslchen was currently gifting us about our favorite couple. The current chapter of Twist lives in my head each week as I rehash it and anticipate what might come with Kslchen's next chapter. The current chapter usually inspires me quite quickly to immediately write an "Anne's Diary entry." In fact, Kslchen has already signed-off on a number of them (such as the one when Anne and Gilbert happened to interrupt Rilla and Ken during their reunion in Ingleside). So…the harder part of writing for me is to go backwards in time and write older diary entries – such as this one way back in the early Shoebox days. These are important diary entries because they give us Anne's view on things so I don't want to just skip over them. But some of them…like the one when Rilla finally tells Gilbert about Ken, or the diary entries that Anne would write about attending Rilla's graduation in NY and later in Oxford…I am finding it challenging to write these in Anne's voice.
I am fearful, though, that Alina will finish up "Twist" and give our favorite couple their HEA…and I will still be "years" behind. So…here's my pledge to continue moving forward with Anne's diary even if some of the chapters don't turn out the way I'd like them to. I guess in reality, some diary entries for some people are along the lines of "I survived today but don't have energy to write." Maybe Anne will have a few of those along the way… :-)
In any case, I hope you enjoy Anne's first real conversation with the prince in her daughter's life…please let me know what you think of it.
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- - - Anne's Diary - - - Anne's Diary - - - Anne's Diary - - -
April 2011
(Anne wrote this entry in her diary on the day of the events recorded in chapter 18 of "By a Simple Twist of Fate")
Dear Diary,
You'd think I'd be sitting around twiddling my thumbs these days. Dalhousie's Winter Term finished about three weeks ago and I still have two more weeks before Summer Term starts. I should be basking in lovely laziness right now. But my ever-resourceful editor and my industrious agent are both fully aware of my university schedule…and they have filled my "vacation" days with meeting after meeting! I know that when the book is published, I will be very glad for their persistence. But, right now, I'd like to shred my calendar, disable my email, and stand on the edge of the seawall and throw my phone out into the Atlantic. (Well, maybe I should just take the battery out of my phone…that'd be a less dramatic and less expensive solution.)
I also have added to my own full schedule by booking my routine medical and dental appointments during these weeks. Happily, my dermatologist gave me a "get out of jail free" card this morning because she didn't find any worrisome pre-cancerous spots this visit. (Red hair, freckles, and fair skin…coupled with the feeling of invincibility and disdain for sunblock back when I was a teen…means that I have to be very faithful about regular derm appointments now.)
Anyway, when I was in the waiting room this morning, they had one of those entertainment "news" shows on the TV and guess whose face showed up? Of course, it was just a speculation piece about how Ken is supposedly dating yet another famous model. While I am well aware that there is no actual truth to this report, I was immediately concerned that the tabloids might be homing in on Rilla because this model today had almost the same hairstyle and hair color as Rilla does. (The last one they showed him with had jet black hair, so no worries there.)
Since Rilla has actually been a bit more willing to converse about her and Ken's relationship these last few weeks, I called her with the intent to suggest that she mention the red-hair connection to Ken in case the tabloids might have discovered Rilla's existence. Since Rilla admitted to me recently that I was right to have suggested that she and Ken actually TALK to clarify their relationship status (amazing that a mother's recommendation might have some validity!?), I thought that she might let me bring up this point today. Wrong! She actually tried the old "distract Mum with a different topic" trick to try to keep me from bringing up anything else. Needless to say, raising seven children has taught me a thing or two about recognizing a stall tactic when I see (or hear) one!
Just as I thought I'd be able to briefly get to my point and mention my concern to her, she literally threw me to the wolves…well, to Ken. I assumed I would eventually get to meet him on a Skype call or maybe on speaker phone with both of them. I never assumed she'd just toss the phone at him and leave us to meet each other that way. Maybe I should get Marilla to give Rilla some more instruction about polite manners (especially if Rilla might be entering the world of high society). :-)
In any case, it was quite nice to speak with Ken. He was quite professional in his speech (as I would expect), listened to my concerns respectfully, and thought they were worthy of following up on. I will happily leave this in the hands of Ken and his staff. As he explained, the tabloids might have just chosen this red-head model on a whim – but he will have his staff try to quietly determine if there is anything more to the story of why they picked a woman with long red hair.
By the end of our conversation, I could hear much more warmth and friendliness in his voice. He also assured me that his focus is to keep Rilla safe and happy…and I believe him wholeheartedly. I suggested that it would be nice to do a Skype call with both him and Rilla – and he quickly agreed. Of course, since Gilbert still doesn't know about our daughter's relationship, I will have to carefully schedule the call for a time when he is otherwise occupied.
Now that the girls all know about Ken, I find myself wishing that Rilla would please tell Gilbert soon. I long for the freedom to talk with him about all of this…and to stop worrying about my conversations with Rilla or any of the girls accidently straying into Ken-territory within earshot of Gilbert. Maybe the next time I get past Rilla's conversational "wall," I will ask her when she is planning on revealing this to her father. Who knows, maybe she'll just toss the phone to Ken and make him introduce himself to Gilbert! :-)
[The rest of this diary entry has been intentionally omitted from this excerpt. It is about Anne's lunch with Bertha, the revision that her editor wants her to finish by Friday, comments about her phone call with Walter, and a description of the new curtains that Anne purchased for the kitchen window…and I leave all of these topics to your imagination.]