Out and About with Author Hat On

Whirlwind of a Weekend!

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In marked contrast to this past weekend, today was snowing (gack!) and full of duties such as sweeping up three days’ worth of shrapnel on the floors, making muffins, baking a cake, and entertaining two five-year-olds by having them roll dough balls in sugar to help me make cookies.

I say it was such a sharp contrast because this past weekend I was at the SCBWI Canada East chapter’s “Spring Thing” retreat-style conference where it was mostly sunny and I got to talk writing and illustrating with writers and illustrators ALL WEEKEND! Okay, so I was more than “at” the event given that I’m the chapter’s regional advisor.

Let me extend my personal thanks here to the terrific speakers (Molly O’Neill, assistant editor at the HarperCollins USA imprint the Bowen Press; Tim Gillner, art director at Boyds Mills Press; and Elizabeth MacLeod, author of more than 30 books for kids and former editor with Kids Can Press). Thanks too to the many volunteers because without you (Alma, Michelle, Chris, Peggy, Caroline) the event wouldn’t have happened, and another big thank you to all the attendees. I hope everyone returned home as determined to continue working on their craft as I did.

Returning home to everyday reality was a bit of an adjustment, but you have to think that you pretty nearly have it all when, after an exhausting and creatively invigorating two-plus days, upon your return your youngest child hands you a picture of a bright yellow flower with these words on it:

To moma
I love you.
I hope you had a great time at your conference.
I miss you.

To my wonderful family, the words don’t do my feelings justice, but let me just say:

Right back at you…quadrupled!

Evening of Words, Music, Art & Wine

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I had the pleasure of reading at the fifth annual Evening of Words, Music, Art & Wine in Dorset, Ontario on Friday April 11.

I read Let’s Go, of course. Thanks to James Jones, Dorset’s famed garlic farmer and the evening’s MC, for encouraging everyone to browse the book to see Scot Ritchie‘s fabulous illustrations for themselves.

The evening included display tables featuring the works of talented artists such as stone-carver Elise Muller, basket maker Sheila Ziman, painter Vicki Dodds, fibre artist and storyteller Fay Wilkinson, painter Karen Sloan, mixed media artist Naomi Brinkhof, and the team of Kevin Vallieres and Tara Gilchrist-Vallieres, a woodworker and potter.

We sampled cranberry, cranberry blueberry, and blueberry wines as well as the Red Maple dessert wine from Muskoka Lakes Winery. Music performances by Zoe Chilco and Albert John Saxby kept us all entertained. Word is the evening will be broadcast on Haliburton’s Canoe FM sometime in the future.

Thanks to Melissa Alfano for putting together such an enjoyable evening.