A Bit of Fry and Shirley...

Not a big award show fan [unless Ricky Gervais is hosting...] but this one is SO deserved.

Why is he not yet Sir Stephen?



Now, to close a few tabs...

THIS is for my Knitting Maniac Friends [whom I whole-wooledly support...], A Novel Woman, Sarah the Librarian, and Leanne the Yarn Bomber.
[via boingboing, of course]

And THIS brilliant hand-ninja is for my favourite ninja author, James McCann.

And to finish? I saw this little number this weekend on a boingboing series of dance numbers, and I have to say, Shirley just blew me away. Talk about Dancing with the Stars! Enjoy...



~kc

I'm Blushing...

Blushing, I tell you.

Here's what I received this morning from Books On The Nightstand...

Our Grand Prize winner is KC Dyer and her mapped-out nightstand. Michael and I loved the annotations and the Powell's Map on the top of the stack! KC will receive an autographed ARC of Blindspot by Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore, a book that I loved. It comes out in December and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Yes, yes...it's true. GRAND prize winner -- no less.

Apparently no one has a nightstand quite so ...so... special as this one:



In my candid and simpering acceptance speech [televised last night, right after the Emmys] I promised to remember the little people -- and by little people I mean every one of you out there who suffers under the burden of a _tidy_ bedside table, books replaced in bookcases -- perhaps even --dare I say it? -- DUSTED upon occasion. I know one look at the photo above leads you to clutch a handkerchief to your bosom, longingly dreaming of the day when YOUR bedside table can look like this one.

Yes, yes -- it is not a pipe-dream. If I can attain this pinnacle, this... this epitome of teetering literary merit, well, anyone can. [ I am typing this like I almost mean it, I swear.]

My dear friend A Novel Woman may have won the Bulwer Lytton contest more times than I can count, but now she is forced to allow me to join her vaulted ranks. For this Grand Prize...is the Bulwer Lytton of Book Ownership.

And for bestowing upon me this esteemed and deserved award, I humbly thank Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness of Books on the Nightstand, and also a certain owner of the pink Octopus (whom, I might add, is a bridesmaid to my triumph, having been selected in the far less esteemed category as one of the four random winners. There, there Janet dear. There must surely be a next time. )

And now, dear friends and earnest also-rans, I must hie off to my mailbox to await my Grand Prize.

I have the perfect pile of books to add it to....


~kc

Miserable No More...

This is entirely aimed at one of my loyal blog-readers -- the incredible A Novel Woman...

purely for her love of Le Miz...





Enjoy!

~kc

Typing Between Coughs...

The other night I was invited to speak with The Novel Knickers, a book club at Christianne's Lyceum of Literature and Art in Kitsilano.

I was there to speak about my novel Ms. Zephyr's Notebook -- and I must say I had a fabulous time.

The group was made up of 11 or 12 avid readers and their parents, and they all ensured I had a wonderful time, sharing thoughts, observations and questions about my book. The treats were splendid (I even got to take home Purdy's chocolate!), the conversation sublime. Many thanks to Christianne Hayward and her marvellous staff for hosting such a wonderful evening. And thanks to all for putting up with my alternatingly squeaky and gravelly voice.


Posts are flying fast and furious over at Linda Gerber's blog, in celebration of her new book DEATH BY BIKINI. You can check out my guest post here -- and if you leave a comment, your name goes in a draw not only for a personalized copy of MS. ZEPHYR'S NOTEBOOK, but for a bunch of other prizes, too.

I noticed that one of the early winners was sister writer, photography nut and blogger extraordinaire A Novel Woman -- who also, I recall, seems to have remarkable luck when it comes to winning things.

Not much else going on around here. I am currently stricken with some dreadful plague, the details of which I will spare you. Am trying to work with the SiWC's amazing webmaster (and Drupal genius) Dale McGladdery to help get our new site up and running, and pull together the 2008 brochure to deliver into the hands of designer and web genius Laurel Hickey...but mostly I am coughing, napping and reading PG Wodehouse.

I have to send out a huge thank you to sister scribe Meg Tilly for stepping in to take on a big speech off my germ-laden hands. Thank you, Meg!



And to finish, here is one of my favourite recent pictures of my own little mermaid, doing one of the things she does best -- the backstroke.

Just last weekend, she got her triple A (provincial standard) time in 100m Back, a feat which has made us all very proud.




~kc

This and That

Ah -- spring time in Canada!

Today on the Wet Coast, we've had sleet, snow, freezing rain and brilliant sunshine.

And yet, we must count ourselves lucky for a mere 3500 km away, the weather has a more tenuous hold on the denizens of the east.

For my dear friend the Novel Woman, I post an update of my neighbour's cherry tree, in response to her Easter weekend cottage photo, which you can find here:

http://anovelwoman.blogspot.com/2008/03/romantic-easter-weekend.html

Spring will come again to Montreal, dear NW, I promise!

I am in the middle of finalizing the SiWC roster for this year, and simultaneously trying to set up the brochure for publication. I also find myself amidst another rewrite of DEADLINE, tightening the focus and removing the many extraneous plot complications that somehow (without my cooperation) manage to insinuate themselves into my work. (In my defense, this may well be a reflection of the extraneous plot complications of my life...). AND, I am expecting to receive the edits for my new book any day now, adding extreme urgency to these other tasks.

Yet, somehow, I am stricken by the need to post the following ...







Step one -- find decent mud puddle. Drink contents.












Step Two -- launch sneak attack on unsuspecting sibling, previously relaxing and minding his own business. Note aggressive ear positioning.









Step Three -- savage sibling mercilessly, to mutual delight.












Step Four -- pause to catch breath.
















Step Five -- leap back in to finish the job.













Step Six -- ensure photographer is still paying attention.










Step Seven -- one down, who's next?








~kc, back to work....

Signs of Spring...

Note to all my friends in the Great White East (especially A Novel Woman, adrift in Montreal)-- Physical evidence that springtime will come again: these crocuses (croci?) have pushed their way through the muck in the woods above my house in the last day or two. Sending warm western winds your way!


Spent much of the day struggling with the computer transfer. Most things going smoothly -- managed to network the old computer and the new to the ADSL today, AND I learned how to import images directly from my camera into Iphoto. But I have still not figured out how to export/import my address book to Mac Mail. Somewhere there has to be a video tutorial for this.

I think I will break down and buy the OSX Leopard for Dummies book tomorrow. However, I am now so spoiled by the speed and ease of the Mac that when Blogger took longer than usual to load the accompanying photos, I found myself quite perturbed. How quickly we forget...

In dog news, I made some progress today with distracting the noble beast (at right) from jumping up on people at the park. I can't seem to train him OUT of anything, so instead am focusing on 'Come' and 'Sit', reinforced with bacon-bit bribery every time he looks like he might want to greet a passer-by with a leaping French Kiss (his specialty). Met with moderate success. Seamus is very excited about the new training regimen, as he is such a good boy, he also scores bacon-bit benefits. The joys of being the well-behaved big brother!

A final peek at spring -- my neighbour's cherry tree, just beginning to break into blossom...




~kc