been there, wrote that, got the t-shirt

It has been a really big few days for this book baby of mine! (And I feel duty bound to record it here...)

The Toronto launch at Type Books was really fun, and the only thing I would have changed would have been to build in some book shopping time for myself because Type is an extremely enticing store.

Before and after the reading, I met some truly lovely people for the first time in person, and there were many friendly faces of friends formerly of Ottawa and Montreal.  It was really nice to see everyone!  I was a little giddy and huggy, and (I hope) more or less coherent when chatting to a number of attendees who were kind enough to buy books to have signed.

And there were mini-eggs!  And a whole bowl of red gummi Big Foots!  And wine and beer and Sun Chips.  Andrew Kaufman was as sweet and hilarious as his novels, and the wonderful Kyle Buckley asked some great conversation-sparking questions.

A photo from Twitter taken during Andrew's reading

The next day, I was on live national television on Canada AM!  This meant getting up at 6 a.m. to get ready (and explore the world of powdered, non dairy creamer via the hotel room coffeemaker), before publicist K drove us out to Scarborough to be on air at 8:40 a.m.

I did my own makeup and hair, but when they asked me if I wanted more makeup, I of course said yes!  The makeup artist let me take some photos of her huge kit, which I loved seeing.

Just out of the frame: approximately 50 MAC lipsticks

I still haven't watched the clip because a) I was there and b) it's much nicer to just believe what all my friends and family said about it, which is that it went really well!  But you can watch it online, if you like.

K, the producer, shared this photo on Twitter 

of Marci Ien and I chatting before the segment.

I also got to visit the House of Anansi office for the first time!  It is a gorgeous, good-vibes place full of extremely nice and stylish employees.  K, publicist extraordinaire, was nice enough to let me leave with a T-shirt* and a bag full of books, both of which made me feel positively gleeful.

Still feeling A-listy after a great trip to Toronto

Somehow, before the day was over, there were also two more photo shoots and an interview, and even more improbably (or is it??), each one was with someone kind, funny, and talented, who did their best to put me at ease.  There was also some extremely rapid shoe shopping, with some excellent results.

The post-live-national-television-appearance red boots.

Descending back into Montreal, a mere 24 hours later.

As soon as I got home, I lost whatever adrenaline was keeping my little cold from turning into a big one.  But I hope to be fully over it in time for this Thursday's Montreal launch for Bone and Bread!

* This Anansi T-shirt is not only in my favourite colours, but specifically in my favourite T-shirt colour (my cool dozen grey t-shirts actually led to the great T-shirt embargo of 2011, though free T-shirts are a notable exception) and it is a high quality Roots t-shirt, which will perfectly complement the Roots sweatpants that make up the usual bottom half of my writing uniform.  Whoop!