Getting Back to Business

The rain and cold air is keeping me inside and I must say I am glad . The newly tilled ground lies waiting to be planted and I anticipate the busy growing season ahead. But today I am in my office and back to work.I am attending to some writing business and then plan to work on the finishing of A Fear of Drowning.What a crazy, busy couple of weeks I have had culminating in a nasty head cold.Meg and the girls arrived a few days before the launch and we kept busy every waking hour. The weather was great the day of the launch and everything came together nicely. My sister in law Louisa brought author Lisa Dalrymple out from the city and she spent the night with us. She fit right in to the craziness as soon as she arrived and we all enjoyed getting to know her.The market was full again for the launch of my third book and I enjoyed every minute of it. Back at the house the stories and laughter continued. The next day Lisa and I participated in the many events of WFNB's Words Spring. What a great weekend! Meg and the girls left Tuesday and I took a deep breath. But my deep breath started a coughing jag that has just now started to lessen. I am blaming Paige for giving me her cold.So I will work today and look forward to the weeks ahead filled with gardening, some book signings,my first swim of the season and much more.

The Week of the Launch

It is Sunday morning. The sun has been shining for days which has been wonderfully uplifting after a cold,wet and dull beginning to Spring. The week begins with my making an extensive list for every day of what looks to be a very busy week ahead. My daughters inability this time to keep a secret gave me the heads up on her arrival for the launch which truth be known the real surprise would have been if she didn't come for it. My husband is famous for bringing her home for every important writing event I have had. The first time she popped out of my cousin's dining room the night I was to receive my AWC award and completely surprised me. She arrived late the night before my first launch and had my granddaughter jump on my bed waking me up. In August my daughter in law picked them up at the airport at night and they walked in to the yard the next morning surprising me as I was kneeling in the garden weeding bean rows. So after a series of surprises I have come to expect them. This time knowing the week before that they are coming has sent me in to a whirlwind of getting prepared for them . I have been avoiding for quite some time the final cleaning out of the bedroom that was Zac's then each of my teenage boys. I jokingly say I have not been in that room since 1995.My boys expressed their musical and cultural tastes by posters and painting a variety of interesting things on the walls. In the last while I have used this room as a catch all and just opened the door long enough to shove something in that I had no other place for. But this week I decided to reclaim that room for my granddaughters.Luckily one of my creative sons is a drywaller/crackfiller and he has prepared the walls for me to paint. We bought bunkbeds for the girls and by the time they arrive Tuesday night it will be an entirely different looking room.I am celebrating the way life takes us from one stage to another and enjoying the frenzy of getting ready for my launch. Amid the craziness I vow to relish every moment.

My Old Sewing Basket

This is the sewing basket my father bought me when I was in grade seven. It is this sewing basket that gave me the idea for the fictional story I wrote that became "The Sewing Basket" which I will hold in my hands next week.I find it intriguing and encouraging that a seed of an idea can come from an object, a brief experience ,something heard , or just about anything. As a writer, that is good to know but the challenging part is to pay close attention to the seeds that have potential to grow and let some others go that seem at the time to be brilliant . The hard part is taking the idea and letting it take shape and the most exciting part is that it doesn't always take the shape you think it is going to take. If you let it the story takes over and finds its way out through you or in spite of you. The process is hard to explain or even to understand but again I must say how truly grateful I am to have the time and the inclination to let those stories come. My friend and talented photographer, Kathy Thornhill of Sparrowhawk Photography took a series of photographs of my sewing basket.She took my old sewing basket and found such beauty in it.She made several of the photos in to bookmarks that I will give out at my launch on May 9th. She also created the beautiful pansy bookmarks I gave out with Ten Thousand Truths.Thank you Kathy!

Cover For The Sewing Basket

I am only stopping here to write a short entry. I want to finish book #4 by the end of this month. Part of me feels that I am hurtling toward the finish whereas another part of me is holding back not entirely certain I know what it will take to finish this story.So those two sides are battling with each other and the rational referee that is also in me must make the determined effort to get to it. But I do want to enjoy the feeling I have this morning after receiving what I think will be the cover of The Sewing Basket. It is completely different than the one I envisioned but through the capable work of Matt Reid and his designing skills I think we have come to another perfect cover . I have been very happy with the two covers he previously designed for me and have gotten lots of positive comments about both.I have the three spread out on my office floor seeing them as a collection of my work which thrills me . Next step is to hold it as a book and launch it out in to the reading atmosphere. With all the current debate about books vs e-books, are books still relevant?, are people reading? etc. for me the important thing right now is the story that began with a small flash of idea ,has taken shape and will come together in a book. What more could I ask for at this time? Nothing! I am perfectly content in it's progression. Now get to work on the stage that the next one is in this morning and move it along.

Indian Horse

I finished reading Richard Wagamese's Indian Horse while sitting on a plane coming from Edmonton. I wanted to hold the book to my heart and cry which for me is the sign of a good book.I also wanted to shout to the plane full of people that this is a book Canada should read.I read most of the book while visiting my daughter and two little granddaughters and on more than one occasion I hollered out as I read of such cruelty and heartlessness at St. Jerome's. As a mother , grandmother and teacher I could not even imagine being witness to such evil disregard for individual value. It is really beyond grasping how a child can be stripped of everything that matters to their very being and then casually buried out back. Then I struggled through the blatant racism in small town Canada and in sport. I know this is reality and I am ashamed of it.I also know that there are layers to this racism that are age old and complicated but definitely worthy of honest reflection and debate. I listened every day to the debates of Canada Reads and I registered some of the comments made about Indian Horse but had not read the book so didn't really engage in the debate. I read February and certainly would take nothing away from Lisa Moore's win. But come on people. How could some of the comments made about Indian Horse have been made if they had really read and embraced the writing at all. I don't know how Richard kept from losing his mind upon hearing remarks like "The sport should have been lacrosse". Really! The powers at St. Jerome's stripped the residents of everything "Indian " but would have encouraged Saul to play Lacrosse? "No redeeming white character." I found one but Erv Swift didn't ride in and save the day and I would have been pissed off if he had. "No hope." That is the biggest unfair statement of all.Hope was the powerful message of this book. Saul's mere survival showed hope and the fact that he explored the horrific events of his childhood brought hope from the only real and lasting place it can come from,a place deep within that sees where the soul has been but where by choice it can find a place to reside that gives it a reason for hope. This is what made me want to sob and what will give Indian Horse a place of honor on my book shelf.

Great Day in Fredericton

Yesterday I had a very enjoyable day in Fredericton. Fredericton holds a special place in my heart and I always look forward to time spent there. I lived in Fredericton from age seven to eleven. Anyone who knows me at all has heard me talk about 619 Regent St.That address has found it's way into two of my books.In fact Fredericton is the setting of "The Sewing Basket" which comes out in May and my main character lives where else but 619 Regent St.In 1976 I went to Fredericton to attend St. Thomas University and remember those days as a student in Fredericton very fondly.I started my Fredericton day by meeting with Joan Clark who is spending this year in NB as UNB's Writer in Residence. She generously gave up her morning to share her wisdom , experience and perspective. I came away from that meeting with some of my questions answered and a good feeling about the trajectory of my writing career.What a wonderful example she is for other authors.I spent the afternoon in Sara Belong's classroom at George St. Middle School. I would love to list the names of all the seventeen students I met and could probably remember most of them but I wouldn't want to leave anyone out so I won't try. Each one of them was delightful and welcomed me with such enthusiasm. When you hear a boy exclaim that he will buy every book I write it makes me very happy even though I imagine he will soon forget his claim. Then there was the thrilling comment I received when after reading just a short passage from Ten Thousand Truths ,Chantay remarked that it made her think of Anne of Green Gables. That is the best compliment I could ever get about that book.I spent two hours reading from my three books, sharing some of my favourite books and authors and having the kids do some writing. I ran out of time and was very disappointed when the bell rang . They presented me a gift of appreciation , a few pictures were taken ,I hurriedly signed bookmarks and said goodbye.I look forward to visiting there again next year. Thank you Ms. Belong.