Out and About with Author Hat On

Book Week Ending

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• by Lizann Flatt
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It was the train back to T.O. Saturday morning, November 21. You’ve noticed the date of this post? You’re wondering what happened to me posting promptly? Answer: It took about 30 seconds for my regular life to swamp me and divest me of book touring “star” status, ha ha!

Sights Seen from a Train

• the many marvelous and varied shades of November brown
• the staggered and stacked irregular rectangles of the Niagara Escarpment‘s limestone cliffs
• deer snacking in a cornfield

Most Memorable Moments

• seeing the girl diagonally ahead of me sleep slumped over her book as it rested on the pullout tray (as someone who has huge difficulty sleeping in any sort of moving vehicle, this was a marvel to me)
• the wonderful lady beside Scot who was going to give our book to her grandchild
• waiting to see if Scot would be kicked off the train for not having his ticket 
• In his defense, the London lineup was colossal so we each went to different automatic ticket machines, fondly nicknamed “useless buckets of job killing bolts” by one employee early this week. Scot scanned his e-ticket and then, while the machine was preparing to print the real ticket, it promptly went out of service. This meant the next machine didn’t recognize the e-ticket as valid. Train pulls in. No person to speak to. We both got on the train anyway. Suspense ensues. Scot tells his tale to a helpful conductor who found out that the ticket was indeed printed after that original machine came online, not that that was any good by that time. Still, Scot was not kicked off the train.

So then it was a car ride back home where my family was very glad to see me. Okay, so technically I found myself in an arena before I even made it home…such is my regular life.

Day Five Down

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• by Lizann Flatt
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Off to London early in the morning.

Sights Seen from a Train

• crumpled and lonely leaflet litter see-sawing in the breeze on a station platform
• the scraped and scarred land of a gravel pit adorned with a rectangular jewel of turquoise water
• fog shrouded barns and silos
• combed cornfields rolling off into the distance

Most Memorable Moments

• the two student greeters who made Scot and I feel so welcome at their school
• posters on the school door and library made especially for us about our book
• the respectful quiet clap of appreciation to welcome us
• the girl who proudly handed us her autograph and drawings
• seeing all the different writing projects from many grades proudly displayed all over school

And today’s bonus
Sight Seen from a Taxi: Fatty Patty’s Restaurant (complete with tagline proclaiming it to be A Food Experience). In fact, it might actually bump the Hefty Hoagie from the other day out of the running as the name of a super setting for a small town drama novel.

The Book Week presentations are now finished. Hard to believe! I’m sad to be done although admittedly a bit worn out. More profound thoughts (maybe) and pictures later.

Day Four Down

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Toronto today. What a busy day!

Most Memorable Moments

• the boy who had written and illustrated his transportation story and read it to Scot and I in front of his fellow students
• the beautiful pink potted plant given to me 
• the audience of kids who, despite an indoor recess and pent up energy, were amazing attentive listeners

Sights Seen from a Train

• for the first time in five days, no train today!

And the CCBC and TD Book Awards gala at night. Wonderful to see the winners announced and hear them speak. Self-centeredly even better to see my book displayed on a screen maybe 20 feet tall. I will have to write on it all later. Sensory overload!!!!