What's Happening?

Lots, actually.

I'm working on the edits for my new book, emerging this spring, now called A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW. I got a first look at the cover this week. It needs a bit of tweaking still, but bodes well...

Dale McGladdery and I did our first SiWC podcast yesterday. I think we may need a bit of a re-do, though, for while the traffic thundering along the Kingsway in Surrey didn't prove to be a problem at all, the noisy guys at the next table were.







This is Dale, setting up the equipment at our coffee-shop podcast site.












However, we are meeting again this weekend at Summer Dream, where we plan to buttonhole a few of the other SiWC 2008 presenters for our podcast. (We're currently calling it the SiWC Soapbox, but are offering a little contest prize for anyone who comes up with a name we like better. Check out the SiWC blog here if you have an idea you'd care to share.)

After our abortive podcast attempt, Dale and I attended the July edition of the SiWC Board meeting. Here's the evidence...


This is transportation goddess Sue Goddard, travel and journalism genius Ursula Maxwell and Webwizard Dale. (You might also notice the meeting ended at 6:10 pm...)













And here the irreplaceable Carmen Merrells tells me to 'talk to the hand', while Volunteer Vixen Camille Netherton gives her opinion on Carmen.









The Board is made up of a fantastic group of very talented people -- our meetings are always fun and fruitful. Next time I'll get shots of The Missing...Estelle Bogoch Stelmach, Tara Holt, and Carrie Higgins.

After I get my edits in to Doubleday next week, I'm off to Portland for a few days to take in the Willamette Writing Conference. My first time to Portland (tho' not to Oregon) and to this conference. I'm _really_ looking forward to it and will blog all I see and do while there.

In another editorial note, I'd like to offer a warm BC welcome to Barry Jowett, my editor at Dundurn, who has just announced he'll be leaving the company and moving west. Invermere will gain what Toronto has lost -- Barry is a wonderful editor, and when he gets set up in his new life, I'll make sure to link to his new office here.

~kc

Chocolate & Chat Chugging Along Charmingly

The latest version of the C&C tour is really starting to come together. We now have seven (or maybe eight) stops along the way from Vancouver through Calgary to Red Deer and back. Dates will be from July 7-15th, 2008.

James and I will be stopping in Banff, Cochrane, Kelowna and Salmon Arm, along with several dates in Calgary. We've got room for maybe one more gig and that's it -- a full itinerary!

This trip is all about the writing -- we'll be talking about our own books, of course, but also about how to go about becoming a published writer, particularly if you want to write for children or teens.

We'll be blogging and podcasting the tour along the way -- so if you are interested in learning more about the process of getting published, or if you'd just like to listen to someone read to you for a while, we'll see you on the road! One of our sponsors will be Comic Life, so we'll be having some amazing give-aways, too. I'll put up the final itinerary here as soon as we get everything confirmed.

***

In SiWC news, make sure to head over to the site at www.siwc.ca and take a peek at the new 'SiWC In The Media' page. You'll find it as the first listing under the News & Media link on the home page (or by clicking here). It's where we'll be listing anything exciting we find in traditional media, in blogs or on-line about SiWC and its denizens.

I spent the day today ironing out some of the last corrections for the SiWC brochure today, and once everything is in place, it'll be off to the printers. This means that you can expect programming for this year to start appearing on the website very soon...

I am really happy to find myself also in the midst of working on the edits for my next book, coming out next spring with Doubleday. The book is called A WALK THROUGH THE WINDOW, and it is the first of a new series of time-shift novels set in and among some of the most exciting events in Canada's past.

Not much time for sleep these days...

~kc