Archive for October, 2007

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.

Reading next week!

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

Rough Drafts
Tuesday October 30, 7 pm at Bolen Books

Singers will often do small club gigs to road-test new material. Broadway shows do out-of-torn try-outs. Operas and ballets do open dress rehearsals. Join Bolen Books tonight as we take a peek behind the curtains of the writing life as three of Victoria’s finest writers read from unpublished material and works-in-progress and answer questions about the creative process.

Robert J. Wiersema’s Before I Wake was a bestseller in hardcover last year, and is now available in paperback. The novel has also been shortlisted for the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Wiersema — who spends his days as bookseller and event coordinator for Bolen Books — continues his exploration of the fantastic and the domestic in his forthcoming, untitled novel, which he will read from tonight.

John Gould’s last collection of very short fiction, Kilter, was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, vaulting the Victoria writer and writing teacher to national attention. When not teaching at the University of Victoria or serving as Executive Director of the Victoria School of Writing, Gould has been working on a new book, his first novel, which he will unveil tonight.

Bill Gaston is one of Victoria’s most popular, and most acclaimed, writers, comfortable in a variety of forms, including short stories, novels and non-fiction. His last collection of short stories, Gargoyles, has been shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and was awarded the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize. Ever-writing, Gaston will read from his latest work in progress.

This event will be moderated by Jo-Ann Roberts of CBC Radio One's All Points West, and will be recorded for broadcast as an "Off The Page" event.