Saturday, November 17, 2012

Saturday Morning Underway

This was the cozy set-up for my signing at Books on Beechwood last Saturday afternoon. I sold a decent amount of books, met some new readers and browsed through the mystery book selection. Books on Beechwood is hosting a mystery evening on December 13th and I'll be there alongside Mary Jane Maffini, Barbara Fradkin, C.B. Forrest, Robin Harlick and Linda Wiken. It's your last chance before Christmas to come out and meet the gang and get some Christmas shopping done at the same time. Sadly, Books on Beechwood is closing at the end of January - we're really going to miss Jean and her crew. They've been supportive of us as local authors and often sell books at our launches.

My launch video by Patrick Walton is now on Youtube.  You can access it here hopefully and if not, just copy this link into Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX9vOdtpf1U. Kind of a funky little piece. Patrick also recorded remarks by Counsellor Katherine Hobbs and MPP Yasir Naqvi and my brief reading from Second Chances and will be posting that on Youtube as well this week. The videos may never go viral since I'm not singing Justin Bieber songs in my nightgown alone in my bedroom with an adorable puppy, but fun memories nonetheless.

I've played hooky from writing this week. I'm on an assignment at work for five weeks and busy learning the ropes so a bit tired when I come home. I also curled Monday and Tuesday evenings and then went to Capital Crime Writers on Wednesday evening. We had a fascinating speaker, retired Staff Sergeant Syd Gravel, who spoke about the post traumatic stress he suffered after shooting and killing a robbery suspect in 1987. He held us spellbound as he walked us through that evening step by step and the event that changed him forever. I gained insight into the trauma from which police officers are not immune whether they shoot someone or are shot themselves in the line of duty. Seargent Gravel's moving presentation will stay with me and will certainly inform my writing (which I will be getting back to today) (I promise).

Did I mention that I am also on the Program Committee for Capital Crime Writers? You might wonder where I'm finding the time. I'm beginning to wonder myself. In any event, I'm organizing the annual Christmas dinner next month and have lined up two-time Governor General award-winning author Tim Wynne-Jones as our guest speaker. I'm most excited to hear Tim talk about his writing and he will also be reading from his work.

So, a bit of writing this morning before I head off to do some Christmas shopping along Wellington Street. Then home to watch some curling on tv (while I write) (I promise). My daughter Lisa is curling with Rachel Homan and they have qualified for the quarter-finals in a grand slam event in Brantford. Some of the games are being televised - Homan plays tonight at 8:30 and while they likely won't be the feature game since the men and women are also playing at the same time, there are updates and key shots shown from all the sheets. Go team!

And now, for a little de-stresser as we all get our day underway, with a photo of our first fire in the grate last weekend - picture the room in darkness, you with a glass of wine, good music on the turn table and nothing that can't wait for the next hour  or two . . .

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