Amazon

It is nice to see Nothing Sacred on Amazon, I have to say!

Of course, now you know I'm going to be forever checking my Amazon sales rankings. Among the many other time-wasting things I do on the information highway. Oh, well.

Bestseller again; Edmonton

I was pleased to see Nothing Sacred at number three on the Calgary Herald's bestseller list this morning. Just like its older sibling, Love Minus Zero. You try to be philosophical about this stuff. It doesn't really matter, you tell yourself. Or that's what I was telling myself last week when I didn't see it on last Sunday's list. But it does matter. When you've worked hard for years to get this stuff out into book form, the recognition is important. So it's very good to see.

The reading I did at the Central Library last Wednesday was fun. It was good to catch up with some of the library crowd and it was more than a little strange to be doing a reading in the very spot where the old circulation desk I used to work at once stood. In fact I'm at ye olde library right now, doing my residency office hours, about to do a consult with a writer shortly.

Also fun was Friday's AWCS Blue Pencil Cafe. I like the Alexandra Writers; I think they're people who are sincerely interested in making their writing the best they can and helping others to do the same. I really respect that attitude. Hoping to run my Life Into Story workshop for them again in the spring term.

Next on the agenda is my trip to Edmonton at the end of this week. I'll read from Nothing Sacred at Audrey's Books (10702 Jasper Ave.) on Thurs. the 29th at 7:30. Then the next night I'm facilitating the writers' circle at the Canadian Authors Association meeting, which I look forward to, should be a lot of fun.

And something I really look forward to is coming to the end of this little flurry of readings and public events I've been doing the last couple of months. Like many writers, I'm fairly introverted (in an extroverted kind of way. It's complicated) and I find public events to be real energy zappers. So to take a break from them and go back to being my hermit-like self soon will be a relief. I think.

Oct. 21 reading; Bestseller; Blue Pencil Cafe

Just finished my penultimate rehearsal for the reading I'm doing at noon this Wednesday in the New and Notable area of the main floor of the Central Library (616 Macleod Tr. SE), as part of the open house they're holding to celebrate Canadian Library Month. Got some bomber publicity for it in last Thursday's edition of Swerve Magazine (thanks, Swerve!) and I'm hoping a few folks will turn out. Must say it's going to be a little weird doing a reading right where I worked for quite a few years.

Nothing Sacred is currently number two on Pages on Kensington's bestseller list. Yeah! As a friend pointed out, I beat Margaret Atwood. Well.

This Friday from 6 - 9 PM I'm participating in The Alexandra Writers' Blue Pencil Cafe & Open Mic. Come on down, have an instructor look at your work, read for an appreciative audience, have a refreshment. I think it'll be a lot of fun.

The Canadian Authors Association residency is also keeping me busy. Getting to read a lot of interesting work. If you want to send me some, submission details can be found on the right side of this page.

Over and out for now.

Launch; office hours; Tofurky

Nothing Sacred's launch on October 8th was a great success, I'm happy to report. The weather was lousy, cold and snowy, but I still had a good turnout and sold lots of books. And I've finally started to get to the stage with readings where I enjoy them to some extent. This is a big improvement over feeling terrified, the way I used to. I guess I've done them enough times now that I'm getting used to them. I even took questions this time. And my boys came -- they had a blast! Dan said yesterday, " I can't stop thinking about your book launch!" Ah, chip off the obsessive old block. After the formalities, a bunch of us headed to the Hop Inn Brew Pub to celebrate -- had a great time! So thanks again to everybody who made the night a success.

Now that that's out of the way, I can concentrate a little more on my writer-in-residence gig. Manuscripts are rolling in at a nice, steady rate. Feel free to send one in if you care to. I'm also keeping office hours at the Central Library, 616 Macleod Tr. SE, in the fourth floor Program Room, Sundays 1 - 4 PM if you want to drop by. Which is where I am right now, as a matter of fact. Nice and quiet, reading manuscripts, drinking coffee.

But, this too shall pass. I need to start thinking about going home so I can get the Tofurky in the oven. Mind you, it's not quite like cooking a turkey. A fair bit less work. But you still have to make all the side dishes.

Happy thanksgiving, everyone.

Nothing Sacred launch this Thursday; Readingspalooza

Two more sleeps until the long-awaited Nothing Sacred launch, Thursday at 7 PM, Memorial Park Library, lower level 1221-2 St. SW. I'm looking forward to it, feel pretty good about the whole thing. It's so nice not to be as nervous as I was for the launch of Love Minus Zero last year. It really helps to have done it all before, and I've got the piece I'm reading (the title story, "Nothing Sacred") down. So come on down, join in the fun, have some wine and cheese.

Next is the launch of Jan Markley's Dead Frog on the Porch on Oct. 17 at Monkeyshines Books. Then I have a reading on Oct. 21 at noon in the New and Notable Area of the Central Library, as part of the open house the library is holding to celebrate Canadian Library Month. I'm taking part in the Alexandra Writers' Blue Pencil Cafe on the evening of Oct.23. And the following week, I do two nights in Edmonton: a reading at Audrey's Books on the 29th and then I lead the Writers' Circle at the Canadian Authors Association meeting the next night.

So, hope to see you Thursday and / or at one of the other events I'm doing this month.