Toronto!

Made it!



It's been a busy day, but as you can see, I've ended up in a very zen hotel. I also got to spend time tonight with my dear friend [and whirlwind] Kari-Lynn Winters.



Tomorrow, along with Kari and a group of other fantastic authors, I present A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW at the Ontario Library Association Superconference. I'm hoping to connect with as many writers, librarians, readers and friends as I can here over the course of my brief stay in this snowy province. [What are you thinking, Ontario? SNOW in FEBRUARY? Haven't you heard of cherry blossoms?]

If you're at the conference, come up and say hi!

And to finish, if you really feel like a taste of true zen, have a look HERE....and then HERE...

to see some of the world's most beautiful libraries, via The Huffington Post.

Tomorrow I'll do a proper post about the brilliance that was the W2 Real Writers of Vancouver finale last night on the downtown east side.

Short version: It rocked.

Long version: Tomorrow. [with pictures!]



See you then.

~kc

Forget Labour -- Viva Brazil!

I'm sitting in Dundas Square in Toronto, at the moment, typing on my knees and surfing the only free wifi I can find [outside my hotel room] on this Labour Day, 2009. Sheesh -- you'd think in Toronto I'd be able to work on this day to celebrate work, wouldn't you? But it's taken me two hours to get set up here.

And I am not alone. I am surrounded by crowds of rowdy Brazilians, celebrating their day in brilliant yellow and green and some very funky music. There is a band setting up on the stage, but the crowd aren't waiting -- they are singing along with each other in a big group in front of the stage. It's Brazilian Day Canada, the sun is shining, and Toronto is Brazilliant.

 

Getting ready to start the Viva Brazil party...

I'm here to meet with my publisher tomorrow, but today I need to get SiWC work done -- emails sent, schedules compiled and so on. So for you, dear readers -- a little round up of some of the arcana that has caught my eye recently:

• First, a nice little review of WALK on TheFreeLibrary.com HERE
  
• Care to find out how the internet sees you? Check out your Persona online.
  
• And finally, for those among you who are Mythbusters fans, [and who could not be?] Adam Savage has created a geekfest he's calling Wootstock. Looks like it'll just be in California, with dates set up in San Francisco and LA in October, but surely there'll be a geek or two livestreaming the thing, so here's hoping! http://tinyurl.com/mnwf6p

 Now, can someone tell me how to type without leaping up to salsa?

~kc

Montreal and Back Again...

I am back in Toronto in my terribly posh hotel, drinking hot chocolate and contemplating a speedy but lovely day in Montreal with the effervescent, triple-hitting Bulwyr-Lytton (AND record-holding SiWC Silly Writing contest winner) Pamela Patchet. Ferried about by her most excellent husband, the fine Dr. Hamilton, I had a chance to have a quick glimpse of the old city, whilst sharing lunch with a dear friend.

It was, in fact, a great deal snowier than this stock publicity shot would imply.

I did manage to take a few more seasonally accurate pictures that I will post on my return.

I glided back into Toronto, courtesy Via Rail, to the sight of a heroically green CN Tower, leading our Engineer to leap onto the crackly pa system (circa 1930, I am sure) to announce Saskatchewan's triumph in the Grey Cup. I walked off my train in Union Station as each and every member of the Grey Cup audience descended into the subway. A sea of people...

Sadly, at this hotel, they close the gym unconscionably early for people still keeping BC hours who have been sitting on a train much of the day and need a workout. Looks like tomorrow morning will have to do.

Instead, I am drinking lovely hot chocolate WITH whipped cream, just to console myself.

~kc

A Day with Anita...Day Two

Met up with my friend, Manitoba writer Anita Daher last night. Anita is the author of a bunch of great books for kids and teens including (most recently) SPIDER'S SONG and TWO FOOT PUNCH. She's touring Ontario during Book Week as well, and today was off to London and environs.

But last night we went for dinner at a Nepalese-Indian restaurant on Yonge Street. GREAT food. It turned out to be the first meal of the day for both of us, so we had quite a feast. I enjoyed a whole selection of vegetarian delicacies on my sampling platter (curried chickpeas, Gobi Aloo), and Anita bravely ate goat for the first time ever.

(This is NOT Anita's goat. She insists hers was much tastier... and I can vouch it had a little less beard and almost entirely no bell.)

Today we got a little lost in downtown Toronto (which, strangely enough, has happened before), finally found bookstores, signed whatever stock we could get our hands on to sign, (Eaton Centre Indigo and the World's Biggest Boookstore now have signed copies, if you are looking for 'em) and bid each other adieu until later in the week.

If you want to get your hands on Anita's fabulous new book TWO FOOT PUNCH, which is the only fiction out there right now on the subject of Parkour (and a fabulous book it is, I might add), my suggestion to you is to order it pdq from your nearest bookstore. While you are at it, you might suggest they bring in a few extra copies -- this book was sold out on Amazon before it even officially launched -- and the bookstore owners will thank you for the sure sales that will result.

Tomorrow brings an early start and four presentations, plus one tv interview. I'll let you know how it goes...

~kc

En Route to Toronto...

November 17.

Ten to twelve PST, but already ten to three in Toronto, if I were there yet, which I am not. Instead, I’m sitting in the aisle seat of the second row of the plane. I’m lusting after the bulkhead seat, which is sitting sinfully unoccupied in front of me.

My primary entertainment of the flight thus far has been the tiny lady sitting alone by the window in the coveted row in front of me. I recognize her as being the person who was driven to the gate in a cart and then wheeled down into her seat. Her English isn’t great – her second language, but she knows what’s what. Initially the flight attendant felt compelled to explain several times the need for the seatbelt on take-off. Subsequently, every time the attendant moved away from the front of the plane little front-row lady was out of her seat, stealing drinks from the cart. Mind you, these drinks were from the ‘free cart’, but nonetheless – she knew what she wanted and no seatbelt sign unjustly lit was going to keep her from her goal.

The flight attendant, off hawking the despicable ‘snack-paks’ for sale on the flight, had to dash to the front twice to pry the large water bottle from her hand and return front-row lady to her seat. The second time, front-row lady clutched the cap of the water bottle, refusing to relinquish it until her glass was safely filled.

I am reading THE NAMING OF THE DEAD. Haven’t actually been able to read any Rankin since I last left Edinburgh – some weird kind of homesickness thing. But it’s good to meet up with Rebus again, and I find that I have missed him.

Update....

Little front-row lady is now switching freely from the aisle seat to the window -- enjoying the luxury of movement, all the better to scope out the cart. But sadly, the staff are onto her now and everything is in full lock-down.

And finally...

My final view of front-row lady is the sight of her bolting up the gangway into Pearson International, nary a wheel-chair or electric cart in sight.

You've got to admire a woman who knows what she wants.

~kc