You were assigned male at birth, well actually, at ultrasound.
You’re still discovering what you like and who you are. Somedays peanut butter sandwiches are “disgusting” and other days they’re the best thing in the world.
There are some things that you are firm on for now; you love Doctor Who, blueberries, your sister, Encanto, and dresses.
A few weeks ago, you sat and had a serious conversation with your mum. You asked if you could wear a dress for your birthday. One of the pretty dresses that Grannie made.
I’m embarrassed to say that my first instinct was to say no. Your mum reacted quicker than I did and said yes with only a little hesitation. I was a little worried at first about how people would react, how family might react, but a few days later we got a dress from Grannie (who was overjoyed someone else would get to wear the dresses that she worked so hard on.)
You’ve worn a few dresses now and honestly, it doesn’t feel weird. I’m glad you get the chance to wear pretty things. It’s something I remember wanting to do when I was young, but felt too embarrassed to ask.
I asked you tonight if you thought you were a boy or a girl and you answered, “Neither. I’m Pegasus.” (Okay, you said your name, not Pegasus.) I asked if you wanted me to use he, she, or they and you repeated, “I’m just Pegasus.” So that was fine. We’ll revisit that another time.
I’m not sure if you’ll grow up wanting to wear dresses, realize your trans, or just not care and do what you want. We’ll support you no matter what.
I really hope the world you grow up in gets better. A lot of us are trying, but even the most progressive among us have to step back and think about what we’re doing. It’s also important to listen to those that have come before.
No matter what you decide, you’re our child and we love you,
Your trying Papa. (Yes, yes, in both senses of the word trying.)
For a Disney animated show in the 90’s, it was groundbreaking. Looking at it through a modern lens, it’s predictable and slow paced.
As much as it was packaged as a movie, it’s not really a movie. It’s obviously a first episode to a television show.
Score: 0.5
Characters
The characters are iconic, not just because of the fantastic voice actors but because of the story arcs throughout the run of the show.
That being said, there are fat jokes that make me roll my eyes and very little development of anyone but Goliath.
I do have to give it it’s due in that it’s one of the most diverse casts of the 90’s.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
The odd plethora of accents in the Gargoyles is weird. I wish they’d made a quick mention of why they weren’t speaking Gaelic or Middle English.
The introduction of slang was funny and well played.
Some of the lines were great, but there was a lot of dialogue that felt overly verbose for no reason.
I did appreciate how everything Xanatos said could be taken in multiple ways.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The animation was standard Disney television from the 80’s and 90’s. It was uneven with spots of brilliance.
The music was impressive for what it was. I’m very impressed with it.
Score: 0.5
Fun
This was a lot of fun. Both kids loved it (despite the 5yo not wanting to watch it to start with). I enjoyed it and the rest of the adults were long time fans.
Score: 1
Overall
Despite some uneven pacing and animation, the movie delivers an excellent introduction for the classic television show that follows, but it doesn’t stand on its own.
My half grown out fingernails keep catching on the strings when I do finger picking for the theme. This makes me think that I should wait to do the recording until they’re fully grown in. Probably (hopefully?) next week.
I made numerous mistakes today in my songs, but not as many as yesterday.
Mar 18: No pick
I tried to play without the pick today. It went pretty well, tbh.
I tried to add the notes in mountain king that I wasn’t able to add before. It didn’t go well. Hilariously bad, actually. That’s okay. I knew it would be hard to add them, that’s why I’ve been skipping them.
The theme went well. I made some tiny mistakes. My fingernails are growing in nicely. Hopefully I won’t damage them before I can record next week.
It was so nice to be able to play my songs without the pick. It sounds so much nicer without it, IMHO.
Mar 19: Allergies
I don’t notice when I’m having a bad allergy day most of the time.
Unless I sing.
And omg I was all over the place today. I couldn’t get on pitch. I felt like my guitar was drastically out of tune (I tune it before playing every day, so it obviously wasn’t out of tune).
So yeah, that’s how my songs went today. 🙄
My theme practice went alright. I still need practice.
Mar 20: Decisions
I have decided that the ballad will be played with a pick rather than my fingernails. It sounds better and doesn’t destroy my nails.
But the other two are definitely not going to be played with a pick. It just sounds better.
I’m not making much progress on the song in the learning app, but I am being patient.
The first time I tried the theme today, I made mistakes on each part. But the second time, I didn’t notice any mistakes!
Mar 21: Spring
Did you know it’s spring now?
I thought it was still mid-February.
Struggling with the learning app song still. I think I’m going to try only playing one of the additional notes rather than both. Work up to it. I’ll see how that goes tomorrow.
I managed to get the theme on the third try. Still practicing.
My songs went pretty well today. Still having trouble singing thanks to allergies.
Mar 22: Old school
I had a bit of extra time after I finished playing my usual practice routine.
I had a lot of trouble today. My throat felt raw, so singing was rough. I kept getting distracted and losing my place in my songs. It was very frustrating.
The theme practice went well.
Then I decided I’d pull out the guitar book on Kobo that I bought a couple months ago. It has a bunch of songs that only use 3 chords: G, C, and D. They’re all old school songs from the sixties and seventies. I have several issues with this book. One, it appears to be a scan of the music and it is not scalable, so I cannot make the font size bigger. Two, the music and lyrics are blurry.
But I found a couple songs I know well enough that those issues don’t matter; Rock Around the Clock and Surfin’ USA.
My publisher is looking for people to read submissions. I would love to do it, but I’m not eligible since I keep submitting books to them.
Read below, and if you’re interested in helping choose what awesome books get published, go ahead and apply.
Thank you,
Éric
There are so many amazing stories out there, and every time we open ourselves to submissions, we become inundated with them, and it’s become evident that we need help! Please read below to see if this is something that might interest you, and please share this call with your network!
What will I be reading?
Renaissance is interested in stories that live in liminal spaces; between genres, between identities, between states. We love to publish stories of joy, triumph, hope, and optimism; but the optimism which takes work and commitment, the joys which come from radical hope and love. These are the stories we hope to receive, and we hope those will be the ones you will read.
What is the time commitment?
You get to choose your level of commitment, whether that is a manuscript once every few years, or one a month, you are only obligated to read and evaluate the manuscripts you’ve committed to, at the frequency of your choice.
How will I rate the books?
We have a comprehensive form for you to fill out which will guide you through the process of commenting by asking you questions about the plot, characters, style, and our specific editorial concerns. We strongly encourage you to read the questions before you read the manuscript so that you are familiar with what you are looking for, and we will send you those questions on a word document along with the manuscript, and most of the questions are answered on a scale of one to ten, with requests for you to comment on why you chose that number (the final submission for your comments is done via Google Forms.)
Who makes the final decision?
We take your comments under serious advisement! However, you do not bear the burden of the final decision. We make sure that a minimum of three readers read each submission; after that, we look at the results of your evaluation, and based on these cumulative results, we determine whether or not the final acquisitions committee will read the manuscript. When the committee does, they will come to a final decision on the manuscript; your role in the selection process is to filter what ends up on their plate.
What’s in it for me?
References
Even though this reading work is done on a volunteer basis, this still counts as work experience, which allows us to act as professional references for you in future employment endeavours!
Industry contacts
Renaissance is a member of the Association of English Language Publishers of Quebec, the Association of Canadian Pubilshers, and the Literary Press Group of Canada. One of our co-founders, Nathan, also sits on the board of directors of LitDistCo. We get all their newsletters, and we keep very informed of what is going on at other independent presses, which means we can easily pass on job opportunities and other industry news to you, as well as invite you to meetings you might be interested to sit in on, which often provide trainings and/or insights in the current Canadian publishing landscape.
Fun books to read
We have received SO MANY amazing stories every time we have opened for submissions in the past, it was sometimes physically painful to say no to some of them. One of (in our opinion) the best perks of reading our incoming manuscripts.
Please apply now if you are interested, and share widely with your network!
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Confidentiality
Authors who submit to us trust us with their precious book babies, and we owe it to them to exercise the utmost discretion with it. Be respectful of their creative labour and do not disclose anything you read about the manuscript outside of filling the forms and speaking to Renaissance staff, whether positive or negative; authors deserve to know their ideas, characters, and worlds are safe with us.
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If you have published a book with Renaissance before, please know you cannot be a reader for us until three years have passed since original publication.
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If you choose to be a reader for Renaissance, please know that you cannot also submit a manuscript for our consideration. You must wait at least two years after your resignation from reading for us before you may submit a manuscript.
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You may not be a reader for Renaissance the same calendar year as a member of your immediate family, such as a spouse, parent, or child, submits a work for publication.
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Please make use of judgement when evaluating whether a conflict of interest exists. You are required to disclose any conflict of interest immediately as they arise.
I have a bad habit. I like to feed the local wildlife every year. This is my eighth year gardening and other than a few times, I haven’t been extremely successful.
Dragon with a massive zucchini from 2017
That was the last year we were able to grow more than a few zucchini.
So I decided to completely revamp my garden and backyard.
Dragon modelling where we’re going to put the new pear tree.
Arial shot of my backyard.
I took apart all my boxes and spread the dirt across the yard before seeding white clover. I’d like a “lawn” of clover, mint, and dandelions.
Dragon and Pegasus lying in the bed. I guess they helped make it so…
We bought and built 3 new garden beds and set them up, re-purposing our old beds in new places.
The garden boxes are placed, now I just needed plants, dirt, and a tree.
I ordered dirt and a tree and then I just had to wait. I ordered a Flemish Beauty from Peter Knipple Garden Centre. I’m extremely happy with their work.
Our new tree, called Agent P or Peary the Pear Tree
Agent P looked a little sad to start with, but has perked up since. Maybe he knew that we were in for a severe thunderstorm later that afternoon.
With dirt and tree, I spent two weekends moving and planting and then everything was in.
A lot changed and I was still not done. Another arial view of an almost finished back yard.
The last part was adding the potatoes and I also added a chickenwire fence around the tree to protect it from the large rodents.
Final arial view of the back yard.
Now everything is in place. I’ve seeded more white clover and all I need now it to weed, wait, and water.
Let’s hope I’ll be able to harvest and eat things this year. At the very least, the herbs, spices, a chives, and rhubarb are killing it.
The concept is Roger Rabbit, but the story is a traditional buddy cop reunion. It has a good amount of humour and lots of interesting moments.
Score: 0.5
Characters
Despite being the actors behind the characters, they’re still fairly similar, which is great. The writers even comment on it in one of the last scenes. I appreciated that they didn’t try and give them a dark backstory, but overall they were okay.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
The dialogue was clever and aimed at kids, regular people, and animation nerds. There was a great balance of quips and references along with exposition.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
I am extremely impressed that they managed to make so many animation styles work together without it being jarring. Very well done. Combined with the camera and composition, this movie was pretty impressive.
The music was good and did its job.
Score: 1
Fun
The whole family loved it. I found it dragged a little in the middle, but overall it was a lot of fun with lots of laughs.
Score: 1
Overall
What the movie lacks in story, it more than makes up in visuals and jokes. This is an homage to the best buddy cop comedies and it does a great job.
Today’s practice went well. I’m definitely getting closer to recording the theme for Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers and I’m trying not to get too excited about that.
My thumbnail being too short to use as of yet is very frustrating. It means that the skin of my thumb is sore and the sound isn’t quite right (dull instead of vibrant).
On the plus side, I have been getting more confident with the pick. I do still prefer the sound from just my fingernails, but this is an acceptable substitute.
Mar 12: Figuring out bass line
Today was a little different. I did not do my learning app, or my first two songs.
Instead, I spent the bulk of my practice time playing the ballad because my husband @ericdesmarais and I were trying to figure out the bass line for it, and by extension, the theme for Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers.
I think we’ve got it, actually.
I couldn’t really hear it over the ballad, because if I don’t focus all my attention on what I’m doing, I mess up.
But when we switched to the theme, I could hear it.
It sounds great.
Of course, I can only hear the bass with the harmony or the bass with the melody because I can’t play the harmony and melody at the same time, but it sounded really nice with both of them.
I’m excited.
Oh, and my index fingernail needed to be cut super short, so at least now the finger picking sounds the same in both directions… I’m not too upset about that
Mar 14a: Belated. Oops
I forgot to write my post yesterday. I did play.
I did well.
I stood up to play my first two songs. Holding the pick and playing standing up is very different from sitting.
The theme gave me some trouble today.
Mar 14b: Preparing
I am feeling a little more prepared to record the theme.
Note to self: do not practice a lot before recording
Oh, and last night I got to see the cover for Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers.
I am so happy with it, you have no idea. I can’t wait to show you (although I do have to wait, I’m sorry).
Mar 15: Feeling good
I tried playing the theme immediately following the learning app songs. It went much better. My fingers weren’t as sore, so I wasn’t making as many mistakes.
I’ll keep this up for the next few days, and then I’ll be ready to record!
Meep!
I then played my songs. I’m very pleased with my rhythm progress. I’m sounding much more consistent, especially in the wedding song.
Mar 16: That did not go well
I don’t know what was up with me today. I missed so many notes in the learning app that I almost failed the song.
I struggled to get the finger picking for the theme.
I dropped the pick and messed up the rhythm so many times in my songs.
Our newest work in progress has been called The Untitled Shawna and Randal Book through the writing of the first seventeen chapters. Before that, it was called Guise and Dolls, before that, it was called Dolls of the Magic Shop.
A lot has changed in the story since it’s initial concept, and with Jen’s help, it’s infinitely better.
So without further ado, the new novel is called: Faymous
After the strangest New Year’s Eve ever, Shawna and Randal wake up in Fay. Nothing is as it seems, they can’t remember how they got there, and someone or something is hunting them. With luck, stubbornness, and a ukulele, they’ll flirt, fight, and sing their way home.
We have three chapters and two epilogues left before we’re done, but I already love this novel.
I can’t wait to share it with all of you. (Unfortunately, with editing, submissions, and schedules, we’re looking at 3-6 years)
If you’re interested in Beta reading, we’re more than happy to have the help.
