Thursday, September 20, 2012

My Eden Mills Experience

Last weekend I was lucky enough to travel to Eden Mills for the Eden Mills Writers' Festival. Ever been? If not you should. It was a gorgeous warm sunny day, which was perfect for listening to readings and talks from writers of all different genres. And what a village! Charming and friendly.

My day started out with a rather long drive, but if you've hung around this blog for awhile (just check out my Transportation Tales thread) you know I'm used to driving. Anyway, the only thing of note other than the detour right before Eden Mills, which freaked me out because I'm never sure I'll get back on my planned route and I obsess about being late, was a roadside sign just as I crested a hill. Said homemade sign was impossible not to notice:
SLOW DOWN!!
YOU KILLED 
OUR CAT!!!!
That got my brain spinning. There's a sad story there, isn't there?

Anyway again, I strolled the street and browsed the display tables of literary events, places, publishers, and artists. I ate excellent ginger ice cream! And look at the stream and one of the concrete road bridges that runs through the village.
Creek? Stream? Idyllic however you label it.
What a bridge. They don't make them like this anymore.
I listened to as many of the readings in the children's area as I could. My turn came following Ted Staunton. Um, if you've never heard him, all you need to know is that he performs a chicken song which had us all bok-bokking and head bobbing along to his guitar and stellar singing voice. How do you say: hard act to follow???

The audience was terrific. I love that the plane flew overhead just as I got to the bushplane page in Let's Go!. Couldn't have ordered that better. And sharing Counting on Fall under the branches of huge shade tree just seemed appropriate. Of course The Bookshelf had all the festival authors' books displayed for sale. It was an honor to sign several books for people.

"Counting on Fall" on display. Yay!
Special thanks to Deb Loughead, organizer of the children's area programming, for inviting me. Loved talking with you over dinner! Janet Wilson you are so warm and welcoming and make amazing pies and artwork. Jill Bryant, it was a pleasure to sit at the signing table beside you and to get to know you. Other amazing creative people I was lucky to connect with: Teresa Toten, Helaine Becker, Susan Hughes and Lisa Dalrymple. In short: What an event!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Hitting the Road in September

I'm looking forward to sharing "Counting on Fall" at some upcoming events this month.

Eden Mills Literary Festival, Eden Mills, Ontario
http://edenmillswritersfestival.ca
September 16, 2012
I'll be at the children's tent on Sunday September 16th at 3:10pm.
And there lots of other amazing authors who will be in the children's area that day too.

Word on the Street, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/toronto
September 23, 2012
I'll be appearing with Ashley Barron, illustrator, as we both present our book in an interactive reading and craft activity at the Children's Activity Tent on Sunday September 23rd at 12:00pm. Then we'll be at the OwlKids booth at 1:15pm.

And both a Toronto and Muskoka book launch are in the works for dates in October. I'll have more details on those events when things are finalized.

Exciting days!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Ceremonious Opening of THE BOX


It was a regular summer morning when, rather inconveniently, the doorbell rang. I looked down at the night shirt I was still wearing even though I’d been up for hours. No way was I answering the door in that. I looked at my daughter. She was also sporting jammies, but she could answer the door in her jammies, right? I mean she’s only 9. Apparently she disagreed.

So I ran to my room to find a sweater and sweat pants to throw on over top. I guess in the meantime my daughter took pity on me because I reached the door in time to hear retreating footsteps on the gravel and see my daughter staggering to lower a big box to the floor--a big brown box, a big brown box with the Owlkids logo on it. OMG it could only be the advance copies of Counting on Fall!!!

I didn’t bother to close the door. I started shouting incoherently and jumping up and down like I was deranged. Was it my imagination or did I also hear a van peel out of the driveway? No doubt the driver was freaked out by the realization that a crazy woman resided inside.
Big brown box in hallway complete with shoe clutter.

Anyway, I admired the box and then...I went upstairs. What!? you’re thinking, right? I just left it there? Yes, that’s exactly what I did. Am I crazy? Maybe. But I’m also the type of kid who ate the best thing on her plate last. I’d draw out a good dessert with tiny little bites. As for the box, I needed to be in the right frame of mind, the right clothing, to savour the moment of opening it.

So it was an hour later when I was dressed, when I’d gathered my family, when we had the Ceremonious Opening of the Box.

It went like this:

  1. Be oh so careful with the blade of the scissors as you slice through the tape on top of the box. 
  2. Gently peel back the box flaps and the white packing paper underneath. 
  3. Gasp, ooh and ahh at the spectacular site of your books packed in the box, nested and cosy.
  4. Open the letter from the publisher’s assistant and smile. 
  5. Then finally pick up a copy of the book you have worked on for months but have never physically touched until this moment.
  6. Ahh, brings a tear to the eye, no?
  7. Pass around the single copy to family members so we don’t put our grimy fingerprints on more than one copy at a time.
  8. Realize once again that this is the best gig in the world.

Ashley Barron, illustrator, you are a genius. Thank you OwlKids for the stellar match making and for assembling such a fantastic team to bring this book to bookstores everywhere. It’ll be officially on sale and available at/through bookstores everywhere on September 15, 2012.