Island; Canadian Literature

Been on Vancouver Island the last week. Enjoyed Nanaimo, Tofino and Ucluelet over the weekend and early part of this week. Cold and foggy out on the west side, especially since we camped at Pacific Rim National Park three nights. Now we're back on the mild and calm east side, hoping to visit Comox and Mount Washington tomorrow. More Qualicum and Bowser relaxing until Monday when we go to Victoria for three days starting Monday and then make the trek back to Alberta starting Thursday.


I was very pleased to see Timothy Dugdale's review of  Love Minus Zero (along with Silver Salts by Mark Blagrave) for an upcoming issue of Canadian Literature, available on the web here. Cool!


Well, enough of this stuff. Too much like work. Back to relaxing!

Betty's Run; Summertide; Beer; Writing

This year's Betty's Run for ALS raised almost $400,000. When the website is updated I'll link to it here. Thanks again to everyone who made a donation on behalf of my mom. Took my dog along for the walk and I was amazed at the number of other participants who were there for someone else. It certainly puts things into perspective, something that I've really needed lately. For a supposedly rare condition, it amazes me how many people I talk to who know someone who's had to deal with it.

In other news, summer is upon us again and now that Nick and Dan are becoming more prodigious sleepers I find myself defaulting to my natural sleep patttern, which is heading to bed around 12:30 - 1:00 and getting up around 8:30. We are looking forward to setting off for Van Isle later in the month.

Went to a session on crafting an Alberta Foundation for the Arts grant proposal last night (this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now) and picked up some tips. Then headed out for beer with Rona and Maureen. Yum. Talked books all night of course. What else is there?

And have been doing pretty well, I think, with ye olde writing. Pumped out the first draft of another (!) new story for a proposed anthology I've been invited to submit to. And yes, there's that novel, which I'll be getting back at as soon as I get this grant application off the ground. Really. Speaking of which...

Exporting Alberta; Betty's Run; Alberta Acrostic

These are the flowers my good friend Suzanne Harris took home after reading for me at the Canadian Authors Association Exporting Alberta Awards ceremony in Edmonton on Friday night. And although Nothing Sacred did not win the award, I am very pleased to say it did get Honourable Mention. And now I have these flowers to enjoy forever, how about that?


So on June 13th I'm taking part in Betty's Walk / Run for ALS in Calgary. My mother was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) in November and I feel this is at least something constructive I can do. Things like this put everything into perspective, no question.


On the lighter side, today my copy of Alberta Views magazine arrived  and get this, Love Minus Zero is the subject of the monthly acrostic puzzle. There's a quote from the book (the bit about Alberta blowing up hospitals and never changing the government -- yeah!) and the first letter of the clues spell out my name and the title of the book. Honestly, it was the weirdest thing to do this puzzle. Weird but fun.

Fiddlehead review; WitWorks 3 rocked it!; I wrote a story!

Thanks to The Fiddlehead and Ian Colford for the great review of Love Minus Zero in the spring issue. You can't actually read the review there, but you can see the table of contents. What I've read of the issue so far is excellent. Perhaps you should just run out and buy it.

Our third annual Writing in the Works event at Memorial Park Library on Thursday night was a huge success. We had a big crowd, awesome readings, tasty refreshments and succulent Wild Rose beers at the Hop In Brew Pub afterward. Nice work, everyone!

Finished that story I was working on, with the help of my dear friend, Diane Girard. It's on its way, in the mail. That does feel good.

Bridesmaid; Writing in the Works 3, yet; Weird!

The family and I had a great time in Edmonton last weekend, and although I did not win the Georges Bugnet award (Michael Davie was the winner for Fishing For Bacon), I am still honoured to have made it on to the shortlist at all. Congratulations once again to all the winners and shortlistees. Good to catch up with all my Edmonton friends and of course visit the mind-boggling West Edmonton Mall. Whoa, WEM -- build another couple of washrooms, eh? Standing in line at a mall? I don't think so.

Tonight is the third annual Writing in the Works event, 7 PM at Memorial Park Library, 1221 - 2 St SW. This year's lineup is Faye Reineberg Holt, Elaine Morin, Jane Cawthorne, Donna Sales and Judith Galbraith. And I am pleased to say that this evening I am not reading. I'll be hanging around whining, getting in people's way and helping myself to the wine. Heh. Seriously, come on down for some fine readings, vino and snacks, book sales and camaraderie.

Finally, on to the weird part: I'm almost done (I think) a short story. Haven't written one of those, or any fiction in fact, since last summer. It did feel good to get through it, since I was kind of afraid I'd forgot how to do it. It's now in the hands of my gracious first reader. Phew!

Well, best get ready for the show, now.

Shortlist readings; Gala; snow again

The Calgary Shortlist readings event at 100 Wines turned out to be a lot of fun. Good readings, good wine, good food and a nice turnout for the event. And here I am, eating the mike and standing in front of more Dom Perignon than I ever dreamed of. Thanks to my intrepid photographer, Jan Markley.

It already seems so long ago, maybe because it actually wasn't snowing that day. But it wouldn't be the month of May in Calgary if we didn't have some wet snow. And having it we are. That is all I'm going to say about it.

So next up is the Writers Guild of Alberta's Literary Awards Gala, May 14th in Edmonton. Looking forward to that very much. There are going to be a lot of Calgarians in the crowd -- hell, there'll be a lot of Calgarians at my table -- and we intend to rock it. Should be a blast!

Alberta Literary Awards Calgary Shortlist Readings This Friday!

THE WRITERS GUILD OF ALBERTA & 100 WINES PRESENT: 

THE 2010 ALBERTA LITERARY AWARDS SHORTLIST CELEBRATION—WINE & LITERARY PAIRINGS, SLAM READINGS AND MORE! 

Friday, April 30, 2010

100 Wines

1109 Olympic Way SE, Calgary

7PM

Free admission & open to the public

As a prelude to this year's Alberta Literary Awards Gala—come out and raise your glasses to the 2010 nominated authors at Calgary's exquisite 100 Wines.  The celebration will feature a complimentary wine tasting and tapas (tasty!), wine & literary pairings (fun!), a series of slam readings (entertainment!), book sales courtesy of Owl’s Nest Books (shopping!), and an opportunity to relax and socialize with friends.  Many of the shortlisted authors will be available for signings.  Nominated readers include Will Ferguson, Lori Hahnel and Lee Kvern among others—check out the full shortlist here:http://www.writersguild.ab.ca/pdf/2010AlbertaLiteraryAwardsShortlist.pdf.

For catering purposes, please RSVP to swarwick@writersguild.ab.ca

Venue, map & parking info: www.davidwalkerwines.com

(or call the store at 403 452 8820)