Going Places

Tuesday evening was the Olympic send off for Team Homan at the Ottawa Curling Club. CBC news broadcast live from the club and Mayor Watson and our MP, Minister Catherine McKenna both congratulated the girls and wished them well. Darren McEwan, who handles social media for Team Homan (and Team Koe in South Korea) helped organize the event and was MC. Earlier in the day, Darren and I were on CBC radio's All in a Day to talk about following the team to the Olympics.  Here is the link to the interview. I'm told Team Homan's first game at the Olympics is February 15 for those following along.

Proud parents with Lisa Weagle - off to the Olympics!

Then on Thursday morning, I caught the train to Toronto to attend the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Super Conference. I attended Tinlids Forestry of Reading breakfast early (for me) Friday morning, which was to celebrate the librarians who took part in organizing and selecting the finalists as well as the shortlisted authors. I chatted with fellow Golden Oak nominee Melodie Campbell, and Orca's Ruth Linka and Margaret Bryant (formally in marketing at Dundurn) and met Meredith Tutching, the chair of the Golden Oak nominating committee and the lead organizer of the Forestry of Reading program.

 Melodie Campbell and Margaret Bryant

Meredith Tutching

At 10:30, I joined Barbara Fradkin and Robin Harlick at the Dundurn booth on the main conference floor to sign copies of our recent books. While the advance literature said I'd be signing advance copies of Bleeding Darkness, I actually signed Shallow End but most of the librarians were new to the series so all good. Two nice interactions: a librarian from Peterborough  told me that my series was so popular, they ordered extra books to keep up with the demand! I also met up with Tamara whose parents both taught me in grade school. Tamara works as a librarian in Marathon, a town sixty miles east of my hometown Terrace Bay on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Her mom told her that I was the star in a grade three play, which believe it or not, I remember. I was the witch in Snow White and that performance marked the peak of my acting career.

 With Tamara

Barb, Robin and moi

The train ride to Toronto was a good opportunity to get some writing in. I'm still getting started on the seventh Stonechild book and am putting in some thinking time. I sense that writing won't start full on until after the Olympics in March. An exciting month ahead!