February 4th, 2012
Lit Live and Rowers Pub Reading Series
Just a quick note to remind you that I’m reading Sunday night in Hamilton at the Lit Live Reading Series and Monday night at the Rowers Pub Reading Series here in Toronto. Twould be lovely to see you at one or the other.
Happy weekend!!
January 15th, 2012
What’s Going On
The Big Dream came out four months ago this coming Friday (yes, I do celebrate book birthdays) and it is still enjoying some nice attention. The Globe and Mail ran a very happy-making review on Saturday, and I have a number of events coming up. If you’re not sick of me/this book quite yet, I hope you’ll make it to one. And, as ever, if there isn’t event in your area and you wish there were, let me know–couldn’t hurt.
Hope to see your smiling faces at one of these! Drop me a line if you need more info.
October 10th, 2011
Tour and Thanksgiving
So the WOSS tour ended on Friday night with a lovely reading at Cafe Bettina in Montreal, hosted by Kathleen Winter and attended by many lovely folks, including a few that maybe weren’t aware that a reading was going to take place until it actually did.
I got the train home at sunrise yesterday (a rather rosy dawn over the “Farine Five Roses” sign) to celebrate several days of Thanksgiving with lots and lots of people, and lots of food. I have to get back to that in a moment, but since I am thankful for the opportunity to go on this tour, this post fits today, so below is a picture by our loyal fan/tour photographer Ray Boudreau, of the team at the Hamilton reading:
And here is a link to a little video that was shown on Windsor Today, taken on the first night of the tour. It really amazes me that the power of video-editing has made us all look so sane and calm. Thanks, Jeff!!
It was a wonderful experience, the WOSS tour. But now for some family, some kitten playing, and (yet more) pie.
September 27th, 2011
Storyville
Hi again! My story “How to Keep Your Day Job” is on the Storyville App, which means if you subscribe to the app–for iPads and iPhones and perhaps some other things–you get my story as well as many other wonderful-looking ones, for $4.99 for a 6-month subscription. I think short-story apps are wonderful, and quite possibly the way the form will wind up going. Sort of makes me want to get a cellphone of some kind.
September 20th, 2011
I’ve been…
I’ve been getting interviewed by Michael Bryson at The Danforth Review and Julie Wilson at Canadian Bookshelf. That last one was bonus-good, because it was a co-interview with Mark Sampson. I’ve also been making muffins and buying tights and rehearsing my reading because tonight is the Book Launch for The Big Dream.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
As you were. Hope you can make it tonight–it should be a wild party, or at least, one with a lot of friends and sugar.
September 8th, 2011
Vancouver to Halifax (but not in that order)–The Dream Tour
A couple nights ago, I dreamed I was Dave Barry. If you are not familiar with him, Dave Barry is a very sucessful American humourist who has written tonnes of books and newspaper columns, and used to do a lot of book tours and speaking engagements that took him all over the world. Then he would write subsequent books and newspaper columns about how he hated touring.
When I am awake, I don’t think I’ll ever be Dave Barry–as far as I’m concerned, all readings are thrilling. And I have a lot of thrills ahead on the upcoming Dream Tour–I’m a little in awe about hitting 7 provinces and doing close to 20 readings in the next few months. Of the cities I’m slated to visit, I’ve never set foot in 4 of them (I bet regular Rose-coloured readers can guess which). And I’m touring with cool people throughout, so I don’t think I’ll have many dull moments.
If you are in or near any of the following spots on the right days, please do come out and tell your friends and associates to join us. I will no doubt be talking up all of these events individually as they get closer, and of course some things might get added (or subtracted, I suppose) but for now, here’s the plan:
September 20, Toronto The Big Dream Book Launch at the Dora Keogh (141 Danforth), 7pm–featuring a stage interview with Kerry Clare, a short reading, books for sale, and a muffin tray–what more could you want??
October 2, Windsor Women of the Short Story Kickoff event in Windsor at the Phog Lounge, 7:30, in concert with Laura Boudreau and Cathy Stonehouse
October 3, London, with Cathy and Laura at the London Public Library, 3rd Floor, 7pm
October 4, Hamilton, with Laura and Cathy, at Bryan Prince Booksellers
October 5, Toronto, with Cathy and Laura, at Type Books on Queen Street, 6pm
October 6, Ottawa, with Laura and Cathy, at Collected Works
October 7, Montreal, with Cathy and Laura, at Cafe Matina
Then–a nap. Well, then Thanksgiving, then a nap, then some work. And then,
October 19, Peterborough, a solo reading at Trent University
November 6, Toronto (venue TBD), the Literary Deathmatch, Golden Girls edition, with Carolyn Black, Dani Couture, and Grace O’Connell, hosted by Julie Wilson
And then, oh my god, in an airplane. WITH WINGS!
November 22, Calgary, with Ray Roberson, at Pages on Kensington
November 23, Vancouver, with Ray and Cathy (remember her from October?), at Incite (scroll down), 7:30pm
November 24, Winnipeg, with Ray, at McNally Robinson Grant Park, 7pm
Then a whole bunch more work, the winter holidays, 2012, and then (you aren’t tired of this yet, are you?)
February 5, Hamilton, at Lit Live, Line up TBD, 7:30
February 6, Toronto, at The Rowers Pub Reading Series, Line up TBD, 7:30
Then work, and snow, and then OMG another airplane! Hopefully this one has wings too!
March 27, Halifax, with Amy Jones, at…details to come
March 28, Wolfville, with Amy, details to come
March 29, Fredericton, with Amy, details to come
~~
Ok, that’s a lot of readings, but stretched over 7 months it should actually be just about perfect–no Barry-esque kvetching from this corner. I also do the occasional school or book club visit, but I’m not including those here since they aren’t public. If you want to talk about that possibility in your school/book club, please drop me a line.
Also, if you are distant from all of the above readings and wish I were doing one closer to you, please let me know. Not just because it’s an ego boost for me, but because it’s helpful to know where I could schedule a reading and not be faced with a sea of empty chairs. Obviously, if you’re knowledgable about good venues to read in and that sort of thing, that’s helpful, but no problem if you just want to say, “Come read in Saskatoon (etc.)!”
Really hoping to see many of your lovely faces at some of these events!
August 31st, 2011
*The Big Dream* Book Launch Facebook Invitation
Because it’s not an event until it’s a until it’s a Facebook event (at least, not in this town!) Hope you can make it!
August 28th, 2011
I made a tiny movie!
I think everyone’s heard of Xtranormal now. Even if you haven’t, you’ve probably seen one of those very static movies with people bantering in robot voices–those are done on Xtranormal. It’s a very tempting site for those of us who think it would be a fun to make a movie but don’t know how, and don’t want to invest the many hours necessary to learn.
All you do on this site is choose a basic setting, some characters’ bodies (well, 1 or 2–they can’t do more than that [yet]) and feed in your dialogue. You can make pauses, and some small gestures/facial expressions, but basically, it’s people standing around talking to each other.
A major criticism of my work might be that there’s too much of people standing around talking to each other, so I thought this site would be perfect for me. Bonus, I realized when I started making my film, that stilted robot voices are perfect for rendering awkward office talk, which is a major component of the dialogue in my book. Still, it was trickier than anticipated–I am really not a playwright, and a lot of my dialogue doesn’t make sense without the surrounding narrative, or at least more detailed action than Xtranormal is really capable of (yet).
So I’m not sure how great my movie is–it’s sort of…stilted and static. I was conceiving of it as a little book trailer (23 days and counting until launch!) as you’ll be able to tell by the bits of cover bumpf I’ve put on the intertitles. But as I say, it came out oddly, so I don’t know if it’s a great marketing device.
And yet, I sort of like it–maybe you will too? It’s only 2 minutes long! Please take a look.
If you love it, hate it, are indifferent to it, or have some Xtranormal usage tips you wish to impart, please let me know. I have some leftover $$ on the site (you have to pay for things in points, which you buy in bundles of more than you need–annoying) so I could maybe make another, better video later on. In case this one isn’t already awesome, I mean.
August 8th, 2011
What’s Happening
Saturday: The Big Dream received its first review, in Publishers Weekly and it was good! I am hoping this starts a trend!
Sunday: Mark and I had our first Co-habitational Reading Challenge chat about Owen Meaney. We tried to record it for you, but it turned out the batteries in the recorder, *and* the spare batteries in the drawer were dead (???) I blame the kitten. Anyway, we’re both really loving the book this time round, which is a relief since it’s awfully long. We both love nervous, OCD Owen and his all-caps diction, and the way Irving is in such complete control of his narrative that it can swoop and dive in time and the reader never gets lost. I also have a soft spot for crotchety Grandmother Wheelwright (“it’s that boy again!”)
Monday (that’s today!): I am reading at the Toronto launch of the Fiddlehead fiction issue, tonight at the Dora Keogh on the Danforth. Mark Jarman, Leon Rooke, Kathleen Brown, and yours truly–so excited.
Thursday August 25: Jeff Bursey is launching his new novel at Type Books, and Mark and I are reading too. This will probably be my last reading before TBD launches, so I’ll probably read from *Once*–I haven’t in ages–for old time’s sakes.
What more could you ask from August? Well, actually, one of my most beloved-est friends is getting married on Sunday and I am maid-of-honouring it up, so this week may well be a write-off, writing-wise–there may be a mini-break in the blogging in order to attend rehearsal dinner, hair appointments, and sundry other fun frivolity. If someone takes a picture of me in my adorable be-crinolined purple dress and I don’t look insane, I promise to post it.
August 5th, 2011
Mentions
Just FYI, the current print editions of Quill and Quire and Fashion both have little bits about The Big Dream. They aren’t reviews, just mentions that the book is coming out in the fall–though the one in *Fashion* does call the stories “Coupland-esque,” which is rather nice. But it’s also just nice to know they know, you know?
