Rejection #1

Well, it's been a while blogging, but it's also (sad to say) been a while for writing.

Sigh.

Short: My time off from the Festival this winter season has not really been used for writing, as it has for relaxing. I seemed to have really burned out after this last festival, and my batteries usually need a bit of charging after such a big under taking (not to mention the fact that right after the festival I have to submit three grant applications in October).

Anyhoos...as I've said before, It's Not What You Haven't Done But What You're Doing!

And so it goes.

At the end of January I submitted no less than 10 queries of the Ghostcatcher Club to publishers. I've meant to send it to more, but that's a good start.

And the first rejection was today! Yay! Annick Press (big surprise). Typical form letter. Ah well. It shall have place of prominence on my wall of shame (heh).

In other Writing News:

(1) Review for Rubarb: I was approached by Sarah Klassen the other day, and she asked if I would be interested in reviewing a graphic novel for Rubarb magazine. As Anita Daher says (and I paraphrase): "being a poor Canadian writer, I said YES!" It's due on Monday, and it's all Christian-super-hero-like. Interesting...

(2) New Writing Group in the Formative Stages:
Yup. You heard it right here first. I'm going to be joining a new writing group!
And since I know that at least two of my former WWGers read this blog, I'll tread carefully over what I'll say next, and be careful not to bash my former group! (heh-heh-heh!) I wouldn't do that anyways, cuz I learned lots from those peeps!

Okay, the basic info.
Who: Me, my good friend Mr. Jason Booth, and one or two women from his crea-comm class.
What: Writing. Specifically fiction. More specifically sci fi/fantasy. Even more specifically novels.
When: First meeting soon. Maybe in a week or so. Then we'll meet over the summer between their classes. That's the initial plan. It might change if they want to meet more frequently or sooner.
Where: TBA
Why: Because my good friend Mr. Jason Booth asked me!

So, it sounds pretty good. I've suggested we all meet very soon to discuss why we want to meet, what we want to get out of a writing group, and to share some of our work with each other (i.e. read it out loud!). What I think will be really great is that we're all working on the same type of project: fiction, novel, sci-fi/fantasy. Coolness.

I've got a few projects to share: A 4th draft of The Flute of the NorthWind. The beginnings of a pretty awesome story (if I do say so myself) that looks at a reworking of the three classic monsters of our age (the Frankenstein monster/golem, werewolves and vampires).
And of course, I have my collection of short stories based on the world that the FotNW takes place in.

In any case, I've got stuff to work on, and maybe this writing group is what I need to kick myself in the pants!
I just haven't had the "bug" to write, which sounds stupid, but there it is.
Sigh.

Soon though...soon.

Northern Town Girl Really Knows How To Write Poetry

I was at Rosanna Deerchild's launch tonight for her brand new poetry book "this is a small northern town." It was fabo (as I thought it would be).

Rosanna is such a great person. Very energetic and exciting and...crazy. Yeah, a little bit nuts. ;-)

Her poetry is really, really good. Very visual. It can be hard or sweet. I love hearing poetry read aloud - I get a lot more out of it than just reading it myself. Maybe that's just me.

Jane Munro, a visiting poet at THIN AIR 2008, said that she doesn't feel like her poetry is "finished" until it's been read out loud - truly delivered, to the audience. That's how I feel about poetry. I love hearing it.

Rosanna and I met through the Writers Festival, THIN AIR 2005 to be precise. My first festival, when I was a lowly Advertising Assistant (with lots of production lacky thrown in). I was volunteered to drive Rosanna and Marty Chan up on the Rural Tour that year - heading out to Portage la Prairie and Minnedosa.

Basically, the short of the long is, a few weeks before the festival Rosanna was unsure if she would be able to make the tour at all. I emailed her a few times, and to my recollection (I'm sure she would disagree here - heh!), I was sure she said she wasn't coming.

Well, the early early morning of the tour comes, and I meet Marty at the hotel, and we load into the car, and take off. We're like 10 minutes past the perimeter when my cell phone rings and Tavia is shouting "You forgot Rosanna!"

WTF?!? What do you mean I forgot her?!

Well, I felt kinda bad, obviously! Luckily it all worked out - Charlene jumped in her car and drove Rosanna out to meet us at Portage la Prairie, and we took it from there.

It was a great drive, and great to hang out with her, and hear her poetry for the first time. It's cool to hear some of those poems now, again, in their "final" form, in her new book.

Congratulations Rosanna!!

Rejection stings even when you're kinda expecting it

Sigh.

Well, my query letter came back from Orca books the other day - rejected.

The editor wrote a really nice personal letter, which I really appreciate. I was really hoping this would be the one! But alas, it was not.

BUT! One can not give up hope on one rejection! Stephen King had hundreds, thousands, millions (okay, maybe not MILLIONS, but lots) of rejections before he became famous! I can't give up! I won't give up!

As the Orca editor said, this story wasn't for her, but maybe it will be for some other editor at another publishing house. We can only hope! I plan on sending out about 10-15 query letters in the next two weeks (probably in two weeks after my PBN articles and my editing for Steve's second D&D module for RITE Publishing is finished by November 3).

And then the waiting begins anew...

Navels and Birds

Well, Ariel Gordon, alumnist of the WWG (that's Wolseley Writers Group) had her book launch tonight at Aqua Books.
Yay Ariel!

I was the only member able to make it out to support her. Frank and David were busy at work, Polly had some pathetic excuse about living in a different city ;-) so it was up to me to carry the WWG flag! Heh!

It was a nice event. It was not only the launch of the chapbook (Navel Gazing) but also the start of the Western Canadian tour for Kerry Ryan and Ariel (four cities in 7 days! Woo-hoo! Or something like that). It should be cool.

Bucking the traditional reading trend, Ariel forced members of her family and a friend to read her poems instead of herself (heh!). Well, I guess "forced" is a little strong. And it was kinda cool. Ariel herself read first and last.

And then, there was a draw to buy her book! Really! She only had 10 available for sale, so people had to put their names in a hat to buy one. And I got one! Yay! Nine were drawn, and the tenth was auctioned off to support the AquaBooksLandsdowne Poetry prize. Cool.

And I'm still waiting to hear back from Orca books in regards to my query letter - hopefully they'll ask to see the manuscript! Hopefully!!

THIN AIR 2008 Over!

Well, it was a week of hard work (well, a year's worth of hard work, culminating into a week of deadly, hard work), but THIN AIR 2008 is over, and it was a rousing success! AGAIN!

It seemed to go a bit smoother this year (although we were super uber understaffed AGAIN!). All of the problems seemed smaller, and more manageable, although we were all very busy.

The writers were great, the audiences were great (and increased I think) and everything was great! Yahoo!

Highlights:
- getting to hang out with Arthur Slade
- telling Art that he was my biggest fan (yes, I really said this after only a minute after meeting him...my brain was getting tired, what can I say. Although it makes for a great story now)
- hanging out a bit with Kenneth Oppel
- listening to Paul Quarrington sing at the AfterWords series
- finding out that Aqua Books is a really good venue for our AfterWords and Pint of Bitter Murder and our Volunteer Appreciation party
- finding out that the Big Ideas series is a big hit!
- meeting Judith Keenan from Bookshorts
- having a movie Matinee at MTYP on Sunday (and selling popcorn!)
- Tanya taking vacation during Festival week so she could keep the house in order and hang out with me every night at Mainstage! Yay!
- meeting (again) lots of really nifty, great, kind, intelligent writers!

Now...we begin the process all over again!

Ugh.

THIN AIR 2008 Opening Night!

Okay, I would totally be a dolt if I didn't at least blog a bit about my job, which is totally "writing related" as it pertains to bringing in tons of writers from across Canada and the world, to read, read, read to very appreciative readers of all ages and tastes for a whole darn week each September.

THIN AIR 2008 started tonight with a beautiful Opening Night at the Oodena Ceremonial Circle at the Forks in Winnipeg. Greetings were brought by various government types, and 5 readers read original writings about our place of Winnipeg: Jordan Wheeler, Chandra Mayor, Carol Matas, nereO Eugenio, and Marc Prescott. All wonderful readings, with wonderful sound (thank God for that this year!) and all outside under the starts amid a few literary appreciative mosquitos.

Very cool. We're off to a great start. Now let the Week Begin!
Tomorrow, I get to set up the whole sheebang of the Mainstage, hang out with Kenneth Oppel for a bit (well, okay, maybe not "hang out" but talk with him about his first performance, which I'll be helping to set up for him). I'm looking forward to talking with him, not as a groupie standing in line, but as a professional Arts Administrator ("ahem!") and struggling children's writer myself (well, I'll downplay the last part...I'm sure he hears "I'm a writer too!" all the time).

In any case, we're ready to soar after tonight's Lift Off!

Gone, gone, gone!

Okay, well, the manuscript didn't make it out the door the next day, but it DID make it out the door the next, next day! Thursday, September 4 and it's in the mail to Orca!

Woo-hoo! Now...we wait. Could be 3 to 4 months.

In other news: two weeks till THIN AIR 2008!?! WTF?!?! In three weeks it will pretty well be over. Wow!!

Our media conference went quite well on Wednesday - CTV did a great piece on it for the news. Also, our Watch & Win prize packs were well showcased last week at noon (and I've got one on tape to prove it!).

This weekend's plan: Relax. Try to get the energy back. I'll need it for the weeks to come. Some of our media stuff has taken up lots of my time, time I need to concentrate on my other 5 "jobs" (we all do like 10 different jobs in the office, thanks to having such a small staff). But it should be good. It will mean a few late nights, but that's okay. The payoff is gold.

Next week's Book Launches: Monday, Michael Van Rooy, Wednesday, David Bergen, Thursday, Joan Thomas (which I'll have to miss because it's Tany'as birthday that day...although I'm trying to fit in a book launch for the birthday evening - heh!).

Also, the Prairie Fire board starts up again! Ack! I just remembered I haven't sent them any minutes or agenda for next Tuesday's meeting! Crap! Well, I guess I know what I'm doing for part of my weekend now. Doh.

It's Finally Going Out the Door!

As Margaret Buffie once told me: eventually you just have to pack it a lunch, and let it out the door!

By "it" I mean my manuscript!!!

Okay, okay, okay. So, I finally kicked my ass enough to write my submission letter, scribbled out and reduced, reduced, reduced my synopsis, and polished up the first 20 pages (4 chapters) of The Ghostcatcher Club and now it really, really IS going out the door!

TOMORROW!

I'm sending it to Orca Books because they are advertising on their site that they are accepting submissions right now in all genres. Woo-hoo! I can only hope!!
First step is done: submit submission letter with sample chapters and synopsis.
Second step: pray they ask for the whole manuscript! (this could take 3 to 4 months).

I'm also thinking of submitting it to a whole host of other publishing houses (Annick, Random House, KidsCanPress, etc) but I think I'll wait until October now. Mostly because I want to give Orca first crack at asking for the manuscript, but also because I'm friggen busy at the Festival right now!

But...it's actually going out!!!

More and more Book Launches!

I did indeed attend the launch of the Prairie Bridesmaid for Daria Salamon. Wow! Lots of great support for her at that one! McNally Robinson Booksellers (Grant Park) in the Prairie Ink cafe was PACKED and overflowing with peopley goodness. And there were overseers as well in the kids balcony up, up, waaaaay up!

It was a great event. As part of the book's promotion, Daria found musicians who donated fresh, new and original songs to the book - basically a soundtrack! They're available for free download if you buy the book (you get a download code). How cool is that!!

Anyways, I mention them because three of the musicians were at the launch and played songs at the beginning, in the middle and near the end. Interspersed with her readings and playful, fun stories, it was a really, really great event. Much more than just a reading and Q&A!

Tonight, I was at the the launch for Miriam Toew's The Flying Troutman. It was PACKED as well. She was on the central staircase at MNR (Grant Park). She read and talked for a bit (she's very funny), and took lots of Q&A (lots more than I expected). I didn't stay for the signing because, well, she's coming to the Festival and I'll have at least one chance then to get her to sign my book! Tonight I also found out that some of the books have red lettering, and others silver. I have red...not sure if that is more rare, because everyone at McNally's who bought the book had silver (maybe because I received mine earlier? Who knows...).

Next up: Michael Van Rooy and David Bergen! Whew!

Let the Book Launches Begin!

It's that time of season again. THIN AIR 2008 is right around the corner (put on by yours truly at the Winnipeg International Writers Festival of course) and that means lots of new books to be released in the Fall!

Some of the writers launching in August and September will be appearing on our stages at the festival...I can't say more until September 3rd, when our official press conference takes place, but suffice it to say we've got lots of great local talent this year!

Two nights ago I attended perhaps this city's most anticipated book launch of 2008: Andrew Davidson with his first book, "The Gargoyle." Why so much anticipation? Because he received a 1.25 million dollar advance from Random House. Oh, and his book has also been sold in over 20 countries, so after all those advances he's now looking at more like 2.5 million in advances.

We call him the "Million Dollar Man" at the office. And I can safely tell you that he is coming to THIN AIR 2008.

Anyhoos, the launch.
Well, it was quite the party. Close to 250 people packed into the McNally Robinson (Polo Park) events alcove, and it was very roomy (the new location kicks ass, quite personally). Most of the people there were family and friends, but that's what most first book launches are, right? And this one, as he himself mentioned in an interview and at the launch, was perhaps his most important event because of that.

I got to meet with him briefly before everything started. He seems really nice, down to earth, and he's excited as all hell to be part of the festival! As for his reading, he was quite animated, funny, played the crowd really well, and read nicely. Exactly what you hope for in a writer! (many times a writer is great on paper...and not so great a performer).

Next up on the old book launch list: Daria Salamon's Bitchy Bridesmaid...sorry! That should be "Prairie Bridesmaid." (heh-heh) Quite a good book, although the narrator is quite the pessimist, hates everything and everyone, and kinda gets on your nerves by the 3/4 point. But, that's who she is and you better deal with it as a reader! Overall, very well written, and to quote a phrase from David Bergen, perfect "Prairie Angst!"

Time to get back on the Blog Saddle!

Well, it has been a while!

I had had good intentions to keep up the blogging for a bit, particularly during the Fringe...and I kinda fell off the wagon. Oops.

Okay, quick update: yes, Tanya and I did see lots of Fringe shows, fifteen in total to be exact. Most were quite excellent. On the second Wednesday we saw 5 in one day! For those of you who actually Fringe, the excitement of being in the midst of all that energy is such a thrill. Walking through the market, buying the food from the vendors, wandering through the little kiosks, standing in line (yes, standing in line for Fringe shows is cool...don't ask me why). In general, just being surrounded by other people excited to watch Fringe plays, and getting to talk to the actors afterwards is very thrilling. It is, really.

Some shows of note:

Die Roten Punkte (the red dots); german punk band, modelled after the White Stripes. Basically, the concept is that you are at their concert, and they sing for you (quite good) and banter back and forth with the audience and each other. Awesomeness.

The Bush Ladies; four literary powerhouses during the early colonists, these four women tell their tales of early pioneers in Canada. Fantastic.

The Movies: Abridged; the two dudes from Killing Kevin Spacey and an english dude...not so good. Disappointing, really. Some two-bit impressions and bad jokes. Meh.

Teaching the Fringe; a veteran of the Fringe circuit talks about getting a nasty letter after one Fringe show he did in Winnipeg, and his reaction to it, along with other hilarious tidbits of doing Fringe shows around the world. Really great.

The Wizard of One; one-man show, muliple characters, retelling of the wizard of oz from inside an old folks home. Loved it. Excellent!

Spiral Dive; WWII pilots. Fantastic drama. Amazing rendition of the flying - the actor/pilot would sit in a chair, weave back and forth, pretending to be using controls, while sound effects and music played, and two other actors moved wood-cut models of the planes in question beside him. Sounds silly, but it worked wonderfully.

All in all, an excellent Fringe Experience! And basically, after all costs involved, our big vacation for the year. Eep!