This is my knee...

[Warning: The post contains a bare naked knee.]

This is it:

Pretty great knee, eh? I have another one that is much less fetching, having had 27 stitches sunk into it once when I  took an unfortunate plunge through a broken dock. With a rusty nail.

[Ewww!]

Back to the good knee. Here it is at some point last year, dressed up for a day on the town in Toronto:

Sorry about the blurry foot. [Pic was actually taken to demo Very Cool New Skull Scarf].


Regardless, this knee has a secret. It just LOOKS like a good knee. In truth, inside this perfectly functional-looking joint is a torn meniscus. The medial meniscus, if you want to get technical. I tore it last summer, August 20th, to be exact, taking a gazelle-like sideways leap across an embarrassingly low pylon in my boot-camp exercise class.

[I am going somewhere with this story....]

So, after the requisite time to allow the thing to heal, followed by the requisite denial phase, and the requisite 'I don't actually have a doctor, because the one I had moved to Vernon' phase, plus a number of pain-induced sleepless nights, I actually broke down and showed up at my friend Linda's office and asked her to have a look at it. [She is a doctor, needless to say, though not my doctor, as that would not be fair.] She told me she thought I had a torn meniscus, and sent me off to a series of experts, who all agreed with her. So did the MRI.

My friend Linda the doctor is very smart. She's also lived through a number of body-rending events with me so has learned to Expect The Worst.

As a result, there hasn't been much running done lately, by the knee you see pictured above. I'm scheduled for surgery sometime fairly soon to have the torn stuff scraped out.

But I digress.

Because this is my meniscus and not an ACL or other more important ligament, I can still do the elliptical trainer at the gym and swim and so on.

And yet, I fear. I fear the encroaching portliness. The avoirdupois. I fear becoming my other friend Norma's new favourite word, which happens to be zaftig. Also, you may not have noticed, but my particular profession requires a certain amount of sitting and typing, which when combined with the lack of running in my life, may lead to same.

No more.

[At last -- she gets to the point!]

All this to say, I have just set up a treadmill desk in my office. Not only that, but I've put a file on my desktop titled LIVE WRITER WALKING so I can record my progress [if any]. I tried it today for the first time with pretty decent success. Walked for an hour and a half at 2 km an hour [which is slightly over the recommended speed, but I couldn't get my rhythm at 1.6 km/hr...so 2 it was.] I actually forgot to record the distance, but according to the machine I managed to burn [and my guess is this is very approximate] 254 calories, which is likely a few more than I would have burned with my posterior in my desk chair.

Will keep you appraised of progress. Am thinking of walking across Canada for fun. Why not?

In other [more writerly] news, my friend Marsha Skrypuch has just opened registration for her summer Brantford Writing Workshop. You can find the details on her blog HERE. I can't recommend this camp enough -- if you are in the Brantford/Toronto region and have some time this summer -- THIS is the place to be.


And to finish, make sure you check THIS out - some amazing pictures of the paralympic Games, just about to wrap up here in Vancouver. The inspiration I get from watching these athletes is hard to measure. They are incredible!

Enjoy. I've got some walking to do...

~kc

Cool Author News

Cool Author News Item #1:

My writing friend (and mentor) Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch's book DAUGHTER OF WAR has been chosen as a USBBY (United States Board on Books for Young People) Outstanding International Book for 2009. This is yet another feather in the cap of this amazing and talented author. Congratulations, Marsha!

Cool Author News Item #2:

The hardest working author I know has put together a few YouTube videos of his latest endeavours. This first one is a promotion for his book FLASHMOB -- and only Eric Walters would think of a way to suit his actions to his words...





This next clip is an enactment of a scene from Eric's new book SKETCHES:




and finally, here is a clip of Eric reading from his new story ALEXANDRIA OF AFRICA. Of course, Eric being Eric -- he's reading (and dancing and feeding monkeys...) IN Kenya.






I have the coolest friends....

~kc

Top 8 of '08, with Guest Blogger Marsha Skrypuch

Only a couple of days left in the year, and it's time to take stock. What better way to do that than to gather together one's friends and listen to a few stories?

This is the first of a series of posts authored by guest writers who are just as crazy about blogging as I am. I've asked them to give me their 'Top 8 of '08', and then left open the category for each to explore. To start things up we have author Marsha Skrypuch.

To define Marsha as an author (not one, but TWO novels published in 2008: DAUGHTER OF WAR and CALL ME ARAM) is kinda like defining a tornado as a 'little dust-up'. She is an inventor, a librarian, a speaker, a listserv manager, a decorated Ukrainian hero, the co-founder of Author's Booking Service and the author of many books for young people. But she will always be, first and foremost, a passionate advocate of good writers and writing.

I first met Marsha many years ago in her role as section leader of the KidCrit and Writing For Young People sections of the CompuServe Books & Writers' Forum, and we have been friends ever since. Fitting, then, that Marsha has chosen to highlight her Top 8 up and coming writers. Here is the opening of Marsha's blog post on the subject. To read her choices in their entirety, click HERE.

Following the lead of my dear friend kc dyer, here is my top 8 of 08. She told me it could be any favourite 8s, but this is a year of many extraordinary new writers, and here are 8 of them:

ONE:

The hands down most promising new writer of 2008 is kidcrit's own Hélène Boudreau! Speak about an over-achiever! Having her first book published in 2008 wasn't enough for her. I've lost count, but I think she had four! Three were with Crabtree Publishing and one is her first novel, Acadian Star, published by Nimbus. Congratulations, my dear!!!

Read on...


Thanks for starting things off for us, Marsha. Stay tuned for more Top 8's of '08!

~kc

Georgetown Boys -- A Must See Event

This is the poster for the upcoming production of the play GEORGETOWN BOYS, being produced (where else?) in Georgetown, Ontario. The play is an adaptation of CALL ME ARAM and ARAM'S CHOICE, two novels by the wonderful Marsha Skrypuch. If you are in the Georgetown area this fall, make sure you take in the play -- I've heard it's not to be missed!

~kc

Cyber-Frustration...

My computer continues to drive me crazy. My wireless only works for the single wired computer in the house, my server is freezing or crashing several times a day, as is my email. All will be well soon enough, but for now the frustration is mounting. That aside, there's lots to report, so on with it.






First, in weather news (for a writing blog, I have a remarkable number of people who tune in just to check out the weather and environmental conditions here on the Wild West Coast...) -- flash snowstorms are ravaging the city and region this weekend. Bizarre pockets of snow all around the Lower Mainland -- a foot in Burnaby, for example, while the sun shone in Howe Sound. A firetruck rolled in Maple Ridge yesterday, according to the CBC website. This struck fear into my heart -- what happened to all the firemen? I didn't hear of any fatalities, but still -- if it's that snowy, stay home if you can. This after a week of sunshine, and the most remarkable full moon that hung in the sky well into the morning for a couple of days. This first picture is a shot of the moon, shining through the trees around 7 am. Not a great shot -- hard to pick up the contrast. But when I mess with the colour saturation a bit -- a better sense of what it looked like emerges.





Okay, so the sky wasn't really that colour, but the moon was truly beautiful, peering through the branches...

Next up, just heard of the advent of a new conference for children's and Y/A writers to be held in Calgary this year.

The Kaleidoscope Conference (http://www.kaleidoscopeconference.ca/index.html ) will be held November 6- 8, 2008.

From the site: "The Kaleidoscope Conference celebrates literature created for children and young adults and the interpretation of this literature through media, performance and illustration. This celebration aims to heighten the awareness and appreciation of the creative processes through interaction with authors, illustrators, publishers, producers and performers. "

Looks kinda cool -- check it out!

And speaking of kinda cool -- this just in over the weekend:

Canadian author (and my buddy) Marsha Skrypuch has just been given notice that she has been awarded the Order of Princess Olha, class III by Victor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine. According to the announcement, the state awards of Ukraine are the highest form of civilian honour of for outstanding achievements in development of economy, science, culture, social sphere, defense of Motherland, protection of man's constitutional rights and freedoms, state building and public activity, for other services before Ukraine.

In further researching this, I was struck by the incredible life of the award's bestower, Viktor Yuschenko. The survivor of a dastardly (and likely politically motivated poisoning) AND being hit by lightning whilst mountain climbing, remains on active duty as the President of the Ukraine.

Marsha's award (pictured above) is specifically to honour women for distinguished services in state, production, public, scientific, educational, cultural, charity and other spheres of public activity.

An incredible honour.

~kc

Day Five -- Go Bus Redux

Once again on the Go Bus at the crack of dawn -- this time destination King City via East Gwillimbury. Had a couple of great sessions at King City Secondary under the supervisorial eye of Lou Bruni, Librarian/English Teacher and all-round nice guy.

This logo is the motto of KCSS, and reflects pretty accurately my view of what makes a story great, too -- with a little flexibility in definition, of course.

After my two presentations at the high school, I was escorted across the road to the local library, where I put on a presentation for a group from King City Public School. Great kids -- very engaged in the story and lots of fun to talk with.

Go Bus back to Toronto in freezing rain, and then a quick walk through the city to Marsha Skrypuch's most excellent book launch for her newest novel: Prisoners in the Promised Land: The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk.

This is a beautiful book and a long labour of love for Marsha -- congratulations go out to her for this marvellous success!

Back to the hotel, where I connected with Anita Daher again, and we collectively failed to meet up with the other authors (RP McIntyre and Jeff Sinclair) who were crashing at the hotel.

~kc

This and That

Got a lovely review of Ms. Z this week, courtesy of Marsha Skrypuch. Marsha, who founded and is currently in the throes of running the Brantford Writers' Camp, submitted a series of book reviews to her local paper, The Brantford Expositor. They did a beautiful job of laying out the page. I wish more Canadian papers would devote this kind of space to great books for kids by local authors. Go Brantford Expositor! Go Marsha!

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=640375&catname=Books+%26+Literature&classif=

In other news, I've got two new blogs to add to my regular reads, both by excellent writers for young people. Mahtab Narsimham is a new Dundurn author and her blog can be found at http://mahtabnarsimhan.blogspot.com/

And the Most Excellent (and prolific!) author Shelley Hrdlitschka is now blogging too, at http://shelleyhrdlitschka.blogspot.com/

Be sure to check both these new sites out!

~kc

Book Expo Canada

Am blogging in the shadow of the CN Tower after a full day in Toronto. (My hotel is the tiny little brown building to the right of the base of the tower in the picture.) Got in this morning at 2:30 am and after a few hours sleep, hit the ground running. It's been a GREAT day, with lots of excitement in the works -- more details when I can. I shared the stage today for a brief while with a number of other authors as the Canadian Children's Book Centre sponsored a reading of some of their 'Our Choice' authors from last year. SHADES OF RED was an 'Our Choice' selection, and I had a lot of fun listening to the other authors speak about their work. Plan to chase down several to get them to sign their books for me!

Met with my wonderful agent, Carolyn Swayze, for a non-coffee chat after she'd been to the Christie Blatchford breakfast. It was great fun to see her, particularly since we both had to travel 3000 km to do so.

Ran into Eric Walters and was able to thank him in person for the great blurb he wrote for Ms. Z. I caught him signing at at least three booths today. Prolific man --and _really_ nice guy.

Many celebs from the CanLit world to be seen wandering around today, not to mention a Stockwell Day sighting in the airport. How could my day be any more complete?

Dinner with a goodly percentage of the CompuServe Writer's Forum KidCrit crew. I met several of the group for the first time in the flesh and it was great fun. Anita Daher is here celebrating SPIDER'S SONG and RACING FOR DIAMONDS. Marsha Skrypuch is celebrating the impending arrival of her DEAR CANADA book about the Spirit Lake internment camp. Marina Cohen was signing at the Vanwell booth. Helaine Becker was signing today for Maple Tree Press and tomorrow will be back to sign some of her many titles for Scholastic. Mahtab was celebrating her very first book --THE THIRD EYE, with Dundurn. Nancy, Helene and Deborah made the evening complete.

The Spring Book Hatching went off yesterday without a hitch. (Well -- the coffee arrived a little late. But that was it. So no hitches that couldn't be bourne....)

Will have SBH pictures and more detail soon. I have once again run out of day.

~kc

Brantford Book Camp (for Kids and Adults)

Here's a little news about the astounding Book Camp (for kids) and Summer Writing Workshops (for adults), founded by Marsha Skrypuch, and held every summer in Brantford, Ontario:

Brantford will be holding its 4th annual Book Camp for kids this coming August.
We have upped the maximum age of participants to 14 from 12 because we have so many kids who want to return each year. In past years, we've had kids come from Oshawa, Kitchener, Hamilton and Toronto.
And this is the second year for our Summer Writing Workshops. These workshops are for published and aspiring writers over the age of 16. Last year, participants came from Washington State and Winnipeg, as well as within driving distance of Brantford. Two of our unpublished participants from last year have since received book contracts. We have upped the enrollment from 16 to 24 and have tripled the number of workshop leaders. If you know of anyone who might be interested in attending either of these writing workshops, please pass on this link: http://calla.com/bookcamp/index.html


I'd like to add you can also check out Marsha's website at www.calla.com (it's in the list in the sidebar, too).


~kc