there is ease. I keep telling myself, but I’m not quite believing it right now. I know it intrinsically, but I’m not *feeling* it if you know what I mean. We got the kitchen in on Monday. Beautiful granite counters, cabinets with that special type of closure where it doesn’t slam, I believe the colour […]

What a day it’s been! Started this morning with a presentation in west Saint John, New Brunswick. About seventy eager children arrived, many of whom had read WANTING MOR. I had to present in the main room of the library with women and babies weaving through the grade four and five kids sitting on the floor, […]

I’m writing this from my hotel room in Saint John New Brunswick, on tour with the Hackmatack award. The ceremony is on Friday the 13th (in three days or two–too tired to count) and WANTING MOR is up for the award but I doubt it will win. The old adage of it’s an honour to […]

But mostly downs. This week has been tough! Every morning I’ve been getting up early to go to a different school, and every night I haven’t been getting to bed in time. It’s definitely taking its toll on me. Of course there was the news on Sunday night that Osama was dead. Such a relief […]

I know I said I wouldn’t be blogging till I got back, but it’s kind of surprising how much time you have when you don’t have to do any housework! So I’ve actually been thinking of sharing my thoughts while I’m away. The last few weeks, I’ve been honestly too busy at home to think […]

Sometimes it amazes me what a body can put up with. Fifteen presentations in five days at ten different schools across an expanse of area that probably covered about a hundred and fifty kilometres. And on top of it all my GPS was moody. Sometimes when I needed it the most, it decided to stop […]

When I first started publishing I believed that getting the novel out there was the most important thing. Then I thought I could create a sort of grass roots movement to buoy my efforts. Haven’t we heard of people who got successful doing this kind of thing? Christopher Paolini self-published his book Eragon didn’t he? […]

Just got back from Calgary last night/early morning. Actually the plane landed at 12:30 am. Didn’t get home till past one. I had to do two presentations in two libraries in Calgary. It’s always fun to meet librarians, but this time was particularly a pleasure because a teacher at a private school in Calgary, who’d […]

In my excitement, I had forgotten about all the political protests that are wracking the state of Wisconsin and especially the capital Madison, where I went to collect my award! On Saturday they were expecting a hundred thousand people to march on state legislature, a white building with a cupola that looked a bit like […]

Ever see the circus performer spinning plates on the end of sticks? I feel like that. There was one in particular I saw, who actually had a kind of rack with different plates spinning on top, and while he set up other aspects of his performance, he’d go back and give a plate that was […]