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Link-apalooza

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Good morning, y'all.

If you're joining us from the Advent Books blog, drawn, no doubt, by my sly wit, my cogent commentary and my rakish good looks, well… sorry. That was a bit of false advertising — there'll be none of that here. This is a place for obsessive minutaie-gazing, occasional personal commentary, and a fair bit about music. Nevertheless – welcome! There's coffee on (because, as my agent says, "Rob, it's always the damn coffee with you!"), and a lot to explore…

And for my regular readers, all both of you: hey. How are ya?

Had a bit of a rough morning, writing-wise. I got the words down, but it was a bit like pulling teeth. The nice thing I've found, though, is that when I re-read a full draft of a story or book, I can't discern between the rough writing days and the "so in the groove I don't want to stop" writing days.

I've got to get ready for work, but my computer has been running slow so I figure I should start closing some tabs.

First up, my piece at the previously mentioned Advent Books blog — a recommendation of The Absolute V for Vendetta. And if you aren't already watching that blog, you should be — Sean and Julie are putting together a month's worth of book recommendations from folks across the spectrum of the book trade in Canada. Bookmark it!

And secondly — much to my surprise, it was a hat-trick weekend last weekend, review-wise. New pieces in three different papers:

My review of Amy Foster's When Autumn Leaves at the Vancouver Sun.

My review of a couple of Fables titles at the Edmonton Journal.

And my graphic novel omnibus piece at the National Post, featuring Neil Gaiman's Absolute Death, Jeff Lemire's Complete Essex County, and The Book of Genesis, Illustrated by R. Crumb.

Hmm… you know, it I didn't know better, it might look like I do nothing but read comic books all day. I wish…

Okay, off to work.

Posted in Life, Music, Pop culture detritus, Reviewing, Site, Writing | 1 Comment »

Blogging means never having to say you're sorry

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

So I'm not going to.
I mean, I'll fully cop to being neglectful of this little corner of the internets. Almost three months between posts? Awful. Unforgivable, really. I wouldn't be surprised if both of you, faithful readers, have moved on to greener pastures.

Assuming you haven't, however, there is an explanation for my lengthy absence. A couple of explanations, actually. Not excuses — genuine explanations.

So let's see, what have I done since last I posted? Hmm… I've gone to Miami, the Canary Islands, Morocco, Valencia, Barcelona, Cannes and Florence. I've spent a week in Rome. I've spent ten days in Toronto. There have been meetings with editors, publicists, fellow writers and CanLit stalkers. There have been interviews and radio shows and photo sessions, and more to come. There has been prize-jurying and gala-going. There have been family reunions and lonely weekends. There have been Atlantic crossings and staggers across the Strait.

Oh, and the book is done.

That's actually the main reason for my lack of blogging (and it's certainly formed a sub-text… counter-point?… one of those things… to all of the above activities) — the book is done.

Well, done-ish.

If you've been reading this site with any regularity (yes, you two), you'll have a sense of how I write: fountain pens. Notebooks. Almost illegible scrawl. Which is a perfect system for me, even putting aside its charming old-fashionedness, simply because it works.

Except… I've now, with two books in a row (three if you count the short stories) made the SAME mistake. That is, not typing as I go.

Which means I have a done book, a couple of looming deadlines, and 1400 pages of manuscript to type. 1400 pages of my scrawl to transcribe. I'd hire it out to someone, but I can barely read it myself (resulting in my ending up making stuff up to fit the context as I go, usually), so it really all falls to me.

You would think, after the first time this happened (with Before I Wake) I would have learned my lesson. Think again. And let me tell you, 1400 illegible pages takes one hell of a long time to type. Just how long? I'll let you know when I'm done.

So that, in a nutshell, is my explanation for not being around these parts (and I see there's a little house-work to be done, site-wise, when I've got a free moment, as well). The writing took over my life in a significant way, leaving me little in the way of energy or intelligence for these sorts of posts (all appearances to the contrary, they do require at least a modicum of both), and the typing is taking up — almost literally — all of my time.

So, no apologies, just explanations. And my word that I'll be back when all of this gets tucked away. I know, I know, you can hardly wait. Thanks for sticking it out.

Posted in Before I Wake, Life, Site, The new novel, Writing | No Comments »

Mea culpa

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

It has been noted by some of this blog's more astute readers that the flurry of postings this week might, just possibly, have something to do with my participation on the 'writers who blog' panel at this weekend's Northern Voice conference.

What can I say? I've spent my life as a not-quite-tall person — I'm used to overcompensating for my shortcomings.

Posted in Life, Site, Uncategorized | No Comments »

When asked to account for his actions, or lack thereof…

Monday, February 18th, 2008

A few years ago, I was invited to appear on a panel at BookExpo Canada. Having attended BEC for a number of years, I was thrilled to be invited to be part of the process (and, let's face it, I've never met a microphone I didn't yearn to have a long-term relationship with). Ironically, however, the subject of the panel was co-op.

To explain a bit (which will no doubt be too much): co-op is the process by which booksellers and publishers partner to cover costs of advertising and promotion (for me, it means getting publishers to pony up part of the costs for advertising that their writers are appearing at the store). It's not a difficult process, but it requires a certain amount of clarity of thinking, attention to detail, filing, scrupulous invoicing, etc. If you know me at all, you know that while I'm confident about many of my abilities, the above listed things are simply beyond me.

So, to be invited to appear at a panel on co-op? Yeesh. I did it (naturally, considering my inveterate desire for the spotlight, no matter how little I deserve it), and opened my introduction by saying that I was "the poster child for bad co-op". The audience, many of whom had been on the receiving end of my late, disordered, poorly reasoned and usually badly crumpled co-op invoices and paperwork, laughed heartily.

Which brings me to Saturday.

I was thrilled last month when I was invited to appear as a panelist at the Northern Voice conference, to be held at UBC February 22&23. THRILLED. Another panel, another microphone, another opportunity to woo the spotlight… How could I say no?

The subject of the panel? Writers who blog.

I'll wait while you finish snickering.

Done now? Okay, we'll move on.

As you can see from the panel description, I'll likely be introducing myself as "poster child for bad blogging". I mean, could I be any more outclassed? With other panel members including Meg Tilly, kc dyer, Crawford Killian and Pete McCormack, I'm starting to be convinced that I've been invited as comic relief. And that's in a good moment. In my bad moments, I'm convinced I'm there as the "and here's what not to do"…

Sigh.

And all under the watchful eye of Monique Trottier, the name of who's blog is, I'm guessing, a subtle reference to my being invited… so misguided indeed.

So that's what I'm doing Saturday morning — a little humiliation and immolation are good for the soul, right?

Posted in Life, Site | 1 Comment »

Now having gotten that out of the way…

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

Where the hell did the time go?
I blink and all of a sudden it's more than a month since my last post. What's going on here?

Oh, right. Fall.

Another fall, with all the craziness, the events, the unceasing pull and tug… Though, really, I wouldn't have it any other way.

And I suppose I'm adding to the tension with this whole "writing" thing. Yup, that's my main excuse for not weighing in here more often — my words are otherwise occupied. And some (most?) of you will be pleased to know that, no, I'm not writing any more short stories at the moment. And yes, the new novel is coming along. I'm not going to say how it's going (cough*well*cough) for fear of jinxing things, but the notebook seems to be filling up and I'm having to fill my pens fairly regularly.

Which would explain the large, walnut covered splotch on the living room carpet. A piece of advice: don't drop a nearly full bottle of Noodler's Walnut ink onto the floor. Especially if there's a bowl down there from a bit of ice cream earlier. First off, the sound it makes as it hits the bowl is terrible, a dull, popping crack that sounds like a really weak bottle of champagne. And the effect is largely the same, with fluid gushing out all over everywhere… Except you can clean up champagne, rather easily. The same is not true of Noodler's Walnut, which I use often not only for its very fine colour, but for its permanence. For the record, it is as permanent on carpet as it is on paper…

So let's see… the writing went well, Cori's surgery went well, the events are going well, Xander's harping is going well… Things are going well, generally. In an exhausted, cranky, stressed kind of way. We seem to be having a fall.

One of the highlights of the fall, though, is going to be the Rough Drafts event I mentioned in the previous post, a chance for the three of us writers to read a bit from new work and to talk about the process… Hope to see some of you there.

And I do hope to write here more. I make no promises, save that I'll try.

Posted in Before I Wake, Life, Site, Writing | No Comments »

I'm still alive, he said

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

Seriously. It may not seem like it, but I am actually still alive.

Apologies again for the paucity of blogging. I feel I owe you (both of you, the dedicated ones still checking this in vain hope) a bit of an explanation. My absence from these pages is not, all appearances to the contrary, owing to sloth. Well, no more so than usual. And it's not that I'm not writing — I'm just not writing here.

I've been in the final stages of the final story of the possible collection for the last several weeks. I've been promising people "Just a couple of days more" for a long, long time. The story, however, isn't cooperating. It just keeps getting longer. Which, as far as problems a writer should have, is a pretty good one.

It's just about done now, though. I mean it this time. Really. Tomorrow morning should put the first draft (weighing in at, oh, about 22,000 words) behind me. And then the revision, and a bit of tweaking on the other stories, and the collection is done, and Toronto-bound and out of my hands.

The last story? Well, I don't want to say too much, but let's see. It's called Winter's Tale, and it uses for its epigraph that line from the Shakespeare play of the same name, "… a sad tale's best for winter". I don't tend to write on demand too much, but this one's for Cori, the girl who worries about the state of my sanity given the darkness of some of my recent stories. Does this one have a happy ending? With a title like that?

Anyway, I promise, I will be doing more blogging shortly. There's lots to talk about, including birthdays and anniversaries, lunar eclipses and learning to fall on Bowen Island. But those are each entries in and of themselves and right now it's bedtime, that I might rise early and strong and write through to The End.

Stay well, everybody.

Posted in Life, Site, Writing | No Comments »