cover girl

On newstands now!

This is the end product of the photo shoot with Guillaume Simoneau I wrote about here.  I was surprised when I saw the picture as I had seen a neat close-up picture he'd taken on his camera (my face next to one of the long, sesame-seed-covered wooden paddles they use for lifting bagels in and out of the oven), and for some reason I assumed the magazine would use that one.  But I love this and it makes me really happy it was taken inside Fairmount Bagel, which inspired the novel. (The photos inside the issue were taken at St-Viateur, which also makes a pretty unbeatable bagel).

I felt a little self-conscious when I went to buy a copy.  I picked up two, one for myself and one for my mom, and I was worried (why??) that the clerk would notice, but he didn't.  (Although Edmonton-based poet and writer Alexis Kienlen had someone ask her if she was the one on the cover when she picked up at copy!)       

But self-consciousness aside (which is mostly related to being designated as a "star" in large lettering...gulp), I am so excited about this!!  How could I not be?!  Quill & Quire is basically the only magazine I actually sit down and read from start to finish with any regularity.  When I was working hard to finish Mother Superior, I used to read the author profiles on the Quill site to give me motivation to get writing, and I daydreamed about having one about me there someday.  (Though I never once dreamed about the cover!)

Somehow, wonderfully, there has been so much coverage of Bone and Bread that I actually feel daunted and bashful about posting about all of it here, but I will try to catch up with mentioning everything over the next little while.

So along those lines, this is a very nice review/profile by Peter Robb that ran in the Ottawa Citizen -- my hometown newspaper!  

In other, regular life news, I am still knitting up a storm as my cold gradually (oh so slowly) ebbs away.  Last night's knitting group was hosted by J. at S's amazing studio and featured sparkling wine and chocolate babka from Cheskie's, among many other yummy snacks.  S. is a costume designer (right now she's designing for the opera!) who is also apprenticing to become a bespoke tailor, which sounds even more intense than you might imagine.  No pins!  And no electric sewing machines. 

Also, today at lunchtime I used my gift certificate to Paragraphe to pick up Swamplandia! by Karen Russell and The Dinner by Herman Koch.  Looking forward to starting one or both this weekend, and doing some real writing at last. 

Montreal launch and the four-day weekend

Thursday was the Montreal launch for Bone and Bread, and it went really well!  Thank you so, so much to everyone who came out.

Outside Drawn & Quarterly bookstore.

I met up with some writer friends beforehand, at Le Depanneur cafe, an hour before the Monday Night Choir performed in support of the launch.  (I'm not in this choir, though I've submitted my name to the long waiting list.)  Their set was amazing, and I cannot even describe how special it felt to have the evening start with music like this!  Below is a picture of them performing.  (This photo, and actually all the ones in this post were taken by amazing publicist K.)

Monday Night Choir performing at Le Depanneur cafe

Then we crossed the street to D & Q, where I read a couple of short sections of the novel.

A rare photo of me looking semi-normal while reading!!

This was followed by a fun Q & A with Drew Nelles, the editor of Maisonneuve Magazine, and then, deliriously happy that the public speaking part of the night was over, I signed books and chatted with people and generally felt like the luckiest girl on earth.  And we sold out of all the books!

The lovely peeps at D&Q also blogged about the night here.  

Chatting with Drew Nelles of Maisonneuve.

Post-reading, I've just been recovering.  My cold got worse after Toronto, and it was so bad just before the launch I actually had to miss a day and a half of work (which almost never happens), and it is in fact still going.  I have actually never seen this much green goo (yuck, sorry) in my whole life.

BUT...it's the four-day weekend!  One of the best things about the Easter weekend is that it always seems to sneak up on me and therefore feels like a surprise holiday.  In the past, I've used this weekend to write furiously, stay up late, and make a huge dent in a project.  Instead, I've been watching endless episodes of Homeland and knitting like mad.  (Shhh...don't tell my piles of laundry and taxes.)  I'm working on a new spring cowl that I'm looking forward to wearing with my leather jacket once the weather is warm enough.  And once I finish it.  I wonder which will come first?  Today the weather in Montreal is weird and windy.  I'm excited for a stretch of warm weather to come.

Hope everyone had a fun and restful long weekend!

Boston bound!

I should already be on the road to Boston right now, but we're running a little late.  Just late enough to squeeze in a blog post!  We're going to visit family and attend the AWP Conference, which I only just heard about for the first time this year and I'm excited it happened to be in Boston, where we can go and check it out.  The AWP is the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, an American organization, and the conference is three full days of writing-related panels.  It's actually staggering to me how many panels there are.  The United States is a big place with a lot of writers!

Yesterday, I had the privilege of going to CBC to tape a radio interview about Bone and Bread.  I won't name the show (just in case everything I said was terrible and ultimately unusable!), but in spite of my qualms, it was a really special experience to have a conversation with someone who is a generous and thoughtful reader.  I hope and expect to write more books, but there are no guarantees in life (sorry, blogging seems to draw out every profound platitude I've ever heard), and I want to remember these opportunities for the gifts that they really are.

Projected logo on the floor of the mothership, I mean, the CBC

Being interesting and charming on command, though....oooof.  I have more to say about this, I think...the difficulty of trying to be eloquent (or let's face it, coherent) when talking about one's one work...but I think all I can say right now is that I wish it came easier to me.  I know lots of writers who are wonderful storytellers in person as well as on paper, but I am afraid I am not one of them.  I need preparation and practice, always. 

The weekend was mostly quiet, except for the reading I gave at Nuit Blanche (which was short, but I think went well, in spite of my cold and general exhaustion).  I also finished my first hat (third project), which was the major triumph of the weekend. 

I finished my first hat! The pattern is Rosebud by Jared Flood.

Okay, departure is now imminent.  My bag is packed. I'm ready to go.  Boston, here we come!  If you're going to be at the AWP Conference, let me know which are the not-to-be-missed panels, or come and say hi if you see me.  I only know a couple of writers in the U.S. of A.

I'll be the girl in the yellow boots.

Knitaversary in North Hatley

What a lovely weekend.  My husband's parents were kind enough to let fourteen knitters (almost the whole group!) come and stay while they were away visiting friends of their own. We knit, walked, talked, and ate.  And ate.  There were three cakes, two kinds of muffins, beef stew, tortilla soup, croissants, cookies, chocolate chip pancakes, and tons of fruit, bread, cheese, and wine.  (As well as mulled wine and an inspired gin cocktail, thanks to P!)

There was also bacon.

Bacon on the grill!

My husband was amazed at how seemingly effortlessly and harmoniously all the food prep and cleanup seemed to go.  With fourteen kind and capable women on hand, I wasn't surprised, but it was wonderful nonetheless.  And A knew just how to perfectly clean a grill, even without a scraper.  (The secret ingredient is vinegar.)

Knitting in front of the fire.  

It was luxurious to knit in a room that held all of us comfortably (but still cozily)! Often we have to coordinate to bring chairs over to each other's apartments on knit night.  The resident speed-knitters K and J finished projects.  (Actually, I think a couple of other people may have as well.)  My hat grew an inch, but that’s about all I can say for it. Though  I've now added at least three more things I want to make to my what-to-knit-next-list.  There were also Tarot card readings and a fun game of Celebrity.

Snow-trudging in the round.

Sometimes it’s hard, with that many people around, to feel quite like myself.  But knitting is good for introverts.  I was also happy my knitting friends got a chance to know D a little better, and vice versa.  There was some teasing on the matter, but he did not in fact take up knitting before the weekend was over. 

Some of the photos below were taken by E and DD: 

Heading out on our cold walk before the sun went down. 

 (That's me in the red mitts.)

A photo from further out on the lake, where I didn't venture.

Paths and circles on the lake, heading out from the dock.

A. working on her circles.

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day.

Another season of the linden tree where D. and I were married.

I did bring three books with me (plus the one I'm reading on my phone), and I'm afraid I didn't open even one of them.  Nor my computer.  But for once I think that's just fine.

saying yes

It has been a few days of interesting invitations.  A couple of invitations to do readings...and a few to do even more interesting things, each one a little (or, okay, a lot) outside of my comfort zone. My inbox is a place of wonder these days.  Wonder (Can I do this?  Are you really asking me?) and excitement (I'm so excited to do this.  Excited and terrified.) Maybe it helps that most of them are a little ways off, but in each case, I said...yes.  The readings and the non-readings both.  (I'm excited to say what the non-readings are, but...soon!)    

Hopefully I'm not dooming myself to hours of anxiety as they approach.  With every reading, it does become a little easier.  But not easy.

This weekend, I'm planning not to think about any of these looming thrills and responsibilities.   To celebrate two years of our knitting group, we're going on a knitting retreat.

Lovely (blurry) ladies at a knit night at T's awhile back.

The knit goes on.

I'm looking forward to good food, good friends, a walk in the woods, and maybe even finishing my hat!  Wishing all of you a lovely and peaceful weekend, too.

Floods and disappearing cable needles

Well, it has been a week since my mom's operation, and she is continuing to do really well!  Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and good wishes.  (And if I owe you an email, I promise it's on its way.)  

It turns out that knitting is a better "sit and keep company" and "sit and wait" activity than writing fiction, so until yesterday, my hat-in-progress had come along further than my story.  (If anyone has a tip for how to not lose a cable needle, oh, about fifty times an hour, I'm all ears.) But now the story is coming on strong...I just need one of those pesky endings.  Right now I have the characters circling around one another, talking about this or that.  Before long they're liable to start checking their watches or something. 

In case you're not on Twitter (or maybe even if you are...some days there are a lot of links flying by), below are a few things I clicked on recently that were worthwhile...

This is a really interesting article by Samantha Francis for BookNet Canada on what makes a bestseller (according to sales data).  In case you've ever wondered what makes a bestseller in Canada.

We can’t reveal sales numbers, but to give you a very rough idea: when a book is in the “Top 10,” it’s usually sold several thousand copies across Canada in one week. 

An enjoyable Q&A by Ali Smith at The Daily Beast on "How I Write."  

A piece about how Canada's crime novelists are making a killing.  This was enough to make me pull out and revisit a plot outline for a light mystery novel I'd dreamed up last year during an idle afternoon, as well as another project close to my heart which has changed imaginary forms many times (TV show, screenplay, graphic novel), but which has finally come to rest (not surprisingly, given my actual skills) as what I hope will be a YA novel.  One day I'd love to write a mystery, and not just because it seems to be the one of the best ways for writers to make money these days.  

In other news, there was a ton of flooding at McGill yesterday (over 40 million litres!).  Below is a photo I took on Friday afternoon on my way across campus, of construction in progress on the reservoir pipes and the weathered old pipes on display (I think they're around  a hundred years old):

observations on knitting

Observed this last week:

Knitting is an excellent accompaniment to somebody else’s piano lesson. 

Knitting is a less successful accompaniment to a movie with subtitles.

Moreover:

I am an English-style knitter and all future attempts to try to speed-knit Continental-style should be abandoned before they begin.