As you can probably tell from the lack of posts, it’s been a busy time over here. We got back from Des Moines on Friday, starting the day very early to catch a 7:05 a.m. flight. Despite that, the trip was pretty uneventful. We made our connection in Cincinnati and Vivian played in the much appreciated indoor playground for twenty minutes before boarding the flight to Toronto. There was some fun trying to pack three huge suitcases into the trunk of my father’s car at Pearson, but we made it.
And, for the weekend, we’ve been digging out of our packed laundry and getting set for Erin’s first day back at work since the holidays. And I’ve been getting my mind around the rewrite of The Night Girl. I’ve also spent far too much time in the comment forums of some other blogs, but that’s a subject I’ll write about at a later date.
In other news, I received a pleasant surprise in discovering the first review of The Young City in my local paper and the Guelph Mercury. It was a good review, with a colour picture of the book cover and a few paragraphs talking about the plot. In the end, it was called “a page turner”, which is a decent turn of phrase for an author to hear, let me tell you.
Later this week, I’m heading to Ottawa to attend the first launch party for The Young City. I just called Kaleidoscope Kids Books and they’re looking forward to having me. I’d just like to remind anybody in Ottawa who is reading this that the event takes place at the bookstore at 1115 Bank Street in Ottawa South at 3:00 p.m. this Saturday. After the event, wherein refreshments will be served and books will be read and signed, we’ll retire to the nearby pub, the Barley Mow, for food and drink. A good time should be had by all, and I’m looking forward to seeing you out there.
The week following is the Toronto launch at Nicholas Hoare Booksellers, 45 Front Street East on Sunday, January 18 at 3:00 p.m.. Mike Filey will be in attendance, to talk about Toronto in 1884 and to sign copies of his latest book, Toronto: The Way We Were. You don’t want to miss it, and afterward, we’ll be retiring across the street to the Flatiron and Firkin for dinner. Then, on Saturday, January 24 at 2:00 p.m., the Waterloo launch takes place at the Waterloo Public Library, which has been very kind in providing space and refreshments for every book launch I’ve had so far. Words Worth Books will be on hand to sell copies, which I’ll happily sign. All in all, a busy month.
As for blog posts, I have been thinking about the coming year of Doctor Who, what with the new actor (the young Matt Smith) announced. Of course, I have no choice but to reserve judgement. The previous choices for the Doctor have often come from left field, and I’ve yet to be disappointed by a contender. For my post, I’m more interested in trying to guess what direction the series will take once Stephen Moffat takes the helm. I think we have clues from his previous contributions to the program, and it seems to me that the show will still feel much the same, but there will be intriguing differences once he’s in charge.
Finally, partisanship seems to be the buzzword in the blogosphere this week, with people debating what it is, and what its merits are, if any. That’s worth a blog post, even if the word itself is basically meaningless. I’ve already noted that too many people believe the phrase “non-partisan” to mean “a-political”, which is patently untrue. On the other hand, I’m running this thing called the Blogging Alliance of Non-Partisan Canadians and its only criteria is roughly that members who apply aren’t at the time members of the partisan blogrolls — meaning, specifically, the Blogging Tories, the Libloggers, the Blogging Dippers and the Green Bloggers. Members of the Progressive Bloggers or the Liberty Bloggers aren’t excluded. So, the name doesn’t just mean ‘for the party’, and as a trait it isn’t always negative or positive. Anyway, look for that.
It’s late here, so I’ll turn in. Blogging may be slow this week as there is still lots of things to do, but I hope you’ll be patient with me. I will keep in touch.