Thursday.

Thursday done! I finished reading No New Land by M. G. Vassanji at lunch today – a good book. Truthfully, I only came to it because it’s on a required reading list for my comparative Canadian lit class…the course is about minority voices and representation in the so-called canon. Vassanji’s own feelings on the matter? If pressed, I describe myself as an IndoAfrican Canadian writer. Attempts to box me in I find abhorrent.

Also interesting is Vassanji’s notes on the book: Set in Toronto’s Don Mills, about an immigrant family from Dar es Salaam. Even the elevator is against you. Isn’t that the truth? I remember making the move from Toronto to Calgary, and it felt that way, too – I found myself identifying pretty strongly with the ‘alien’ aspects of a new home in the book.

It’s ostensibly about a man accused of assaulting a young woman, but the book spends most of its time filling in back story and explaining family relations. The actual accusation and the aftermath are dealt with in the first and last chapter, really. But I enjoyed that sense of storytelling – the idea that you had to understand the character and his family before you could really grasp what was happening to him.

Interesting. I’ve pulled an article to read for later – an editorial Vassanji wrote for Canadian Literature about whether or not he is a Canadian writer (the answer, at first blush, is yes):

This is what I am: I live on such and such a street, in Toronto or Winnipeg or wherever; I have lived before in other places that I could name for you; I have brought up two or three children, I pay my taxes, contribute to a few charities, try to mow my lawn regularly. I clear the snow, though I tend to wait a little in the hope that the sun will come out and do the job for me. This is what I can write about, this is what the inspiration was, where it took me: a street in Dar es Salaam, a village in Ghana, a tenement in Calcutta.

Hmm. Waiting for the sun to clear away the snow makes me think he’s living in Calgary. Or possibly Edmonton.

I like his idea of a shifting landscape for storytelling, too – it’s nifty.

If we are telling the stories of so many Canadians, aren’t we then telling the stories of Canada as well? What kind of Canada? This is not a Canada only of the Mounties and hockey, the north and Newfoundland, the beer commercials, into which newcomers assimilate; it is a Canada which constantly adjusts and redefines itself, though in degrees. It is a Canada that is as much urban as it is the north. If ten percent of a nation resides in one city, then a cityscape deserves to be recognized as being as essential, as essential as the Rockies, as the Prairies, the Atlantic. The Americans have done this; Canadians are embarrassed to do it.

I like that he’s breaking free of the grand wilderness narrative (or fishing village narrative) and acknowledging the significance of urban Canadian life.

Well worth it. I’m glad I had the chance to read this book. I’m moving on to Knife on the Table by Jacques Godbout – the course is giving a nod to Quebecois literature.

Inching ever closer to daylight saving.

I can’t say that I’m thrilled by the prospect of losing an hour on the same weekend I have to go in to work, but it will be nice to come home before the sun is setting.

I’m a little bummed to lose my early morning reading time at the bus stop, though. It’ll be back soon enough, but I’ve got just the right pair of gloves to turn pages with…

Tuesday.

I see we weren’t the only ones who got a 3am telemarketer call on Monday. Interesting how things like that make the news…it’s almost as if the indignity suffered by being jangled awake for a recorded coffee survey is somewhat lessened when you find out that other people shared in it.

Is it really only Tuesday evening? I pulled another ten hour day at the office, and now I’m thinking about spending some more quality time with my short story collection. Or perhaps just reading. Or perhaps just sitting in a chair in a worn out stupor.

I’m leaning towards stupor.

And that was Monday.

When I left for work this morning, it was warm enough to take off my scarf and open my coat. But by the time I left this evening? Holy cow! Cold! Not horribly cold, but enough to make me ask the bus driver when the temperature dropped and then to have a discussion about the quality of the wind (biting, we decided, but not frigid).

Alas. I have doomed all Calgary to more snow, and this is the reason why: on the weekend, I bought some capri pants. And a spring jacket.

What was I thinking?! Buying cropped pants and spring jacket…it surely has the same result as washing a car in the summer: guaranteed to bring bad weather. Ack. Sorry, everybody.

On the agenda tonight…more short story revising. And some reading. I’m working on No New Land. I had to smile at the description of Honest Ed’s in Toronto…I’ve been there, and I think Vassanji really nailed it.

I’d like to be able to write about Calgary that way. One day, I hope to. None of the stories in the collection are explicitly set in Calgary – I suppose some could be, but I’d like to be able to write about the city in a way that makes people see it in their imaginations. Easy to do with Toronto and New York, I suppose – a little harder when the city is younger and prone to tract housing.

Oh, and Random House sent me a couple of books to review…Leonard Cohen’s Book of Mercy and Paul Vermeersch’s The Reinvention of the Human Hand. Both poetry. The Leonard Cohen is pretty much a lock – I like his music, and I like his poetry. The Vermeersch is new, but it looks promising. Beautiful cover illustration, too…a good sign, always.

And that was pretty much the day. An hour and half commuting back and forth to work. Nine and a half hours spent in my cube. Another three and a half to spend at my desk here at home, editing, and then I’ll haul out the printer and to print out and sign my contract for Evolve, the pattern to knit @babybanff’s sweater, and maybe a couple of submissions to send to some magazines.

The submission date for the manuscript is coming up pretty quickly now, but I’m getting excited for it!

So ends another week.

Thanks for all of the comments and emails about yesterday’s interview – I really appreciate it. I’ve watched the interview a couple of times (okay, a bunch of times), and I’m torn between delight at seeing my name with ‘author’ as the by-line and an overwhelming sense of awkwardness. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea of holding a book with my work in it, and also that I gave a media interview for it…or that there’s still a book launch to do in a few more weeks. Crazy.

It sure felt good to finish that interview. That’s the publisher on the left, Brian Hades, and my friend Darla (and little Halle). And me with my giant ‘phew’ expression. Heh. Darla and I went out for breakfast after – bacon, eggs, toast, hash browns, juice, and gallons of coffee for me. It was a good way to finish out a stressful morning.

I think I’m still a little awkward about calling myself An Author in capital letters. But yesterday was kind of a taste of what it could be like, I guess, and I have to say that it tasted pretty darn good. It tasted a lot like a celebratory breakfast of bacon and eggs and toast and hash browns. I could get used to having more celebratory breakfasts in my life, too.

Meanwhile? I’m still working on revisions for my first full-length collection of short stories. I’m pacing myself for a March 31st deadline – timed for submission for the Hudson Prize. I have a tentative title – Lost Things – and when the revisions are done, I’ll figure out the order of the stories.

I’m cautiously optimistic about the collection. When I say that, I mean that there are times when I look at it and think ‘oh, hey! I like this!’ And then there are the times when I think ‘oh, man…what the heck am I thinking?’ I suspect that is pretty much the norm for most writers and their work, though. I hope it is, anyway!

After the collection is finished, I’ve got to get back to my term papers and reading. Both have been suffering – I’m still trapped in humanistic therapies in the psychotherapy class, and I’m falling a bit behind in my comparative Canadian literature class. I’ve been keeping up with the fiction reading, but the theory text reading? Not so much. I’ve got until the end of June for both, though. So it should still work out.

Reading wise, I’ve just finished Morley Callaghan’s Such Is My Beloved. Also read a play by Caterina Edwards, Homeground for the same class. And now I’m starting No New Land by M. G. Vassanji. All three are for the comparative lit class, and I’ve been enjoying them. You know those 52 books in 52 weeks reading challenges? I think I’m going to make it.

I’ve got some extra-curricular reading on the go, too. I’m about halfway through Misfits and Other Heroes by Suzanne Burns. Stacked up behind that are Migration Songs by Anna Quon, Transits: Stories from In-Between edited by Jaime Forsythe, and You and the Pirates by Jocelyne Allen.

The stack of books is probably not helping the homework situation. Or, I realize, the revision situation. Huh.

And so ends another week. It was a longish one, I’d say, but it ended well. I’ve got an overtime shift booked for next Saturday, so it’ll be a longer week coming up. I’ll try my best not to be grumbly about it.

No promises.

The lights, they are so blinding.

So. I was up at the crack of dawn for my interview. The anthology, Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead, is launching all across the country, and the publisher asked if I could do a short interview on our local morning news.

My publisher, Brian Hades, came to pick me up just after seven. We headed down to the studio to wait – the interview was scheduled for about 8:10am, so there was time to hang out in the lobby (nervously!).

Also time to peer into the control booth and take furtive pictures:

A producer came to take me back to the studio. Holy cow, I was nervous. But there was time for a posed picture with the book. I had to wear a visitor’s badge – I felt so official!

And then there was more waiting. Time to sit and fuss with my hair (and quietly freak out).

The lights, they were bright.

I would go so far as to say that they are blinding. I knew television sets were well-lit, but I wasn’t really expecting it to be quite so…uh…lit.

The interview went well, I think…

It’s truly awkward to watch yourself on tv. I had no idea, for example, that my right eyebrow moved with a mind all its own. Seriously. I was worried about crazy blinking and saying ‘like,’ but it seems I should have concentrated my fears on a rogue eyebrow.

Still, I made it through. I cracked a couple of corny jokes – I blame my rogue eyebrow – but I think I managed to tell my story without sounding too lame. And it really is a great anthology. I’m excited for it. My parents were excited, too…they were at home, watching me in their bathrobes. I’m betting it was a surreal experience for them, too. And when I checked my twitter after getting off the air, I found out that the Banff Centre had been watching (yay, Banff Centre!), as well as friends in Banff and Calgary. Very exciting! And lots of encouraging messages from friends patiently waiting for the Youtube posting.

I even signed a copy for the host – just like a real writer would. I still feel a bit like I’m just pretending or faking it…but I think a tv interview is probably as real as it gets.

Quite a day. The Calgary launch for the anthology is scheduled for April 15, 2010 at Pages on Kensington. Around seven in the evening. Say sevenish to be safe. It should be fun, and I’m looking forward to getting together with the other Calgary-area authors and signing some copies. That will be fun, too!

I think I need to go and have a lie-down now.

In a mild state of freak out.

So. The interview is tomorrow morning. Last night, I dreamed that I forgot what the book was about and what I wanted to say…and so I started talking about zucchinis and unicycles.

Oh, man.

Here’s my take on the interview. As long as I don’t start talking about zucchinis or unicycles, I should be okay. Or wake up with a giant pimple on my chin. That would also be bad.

Thursday already?

Yeesh, but this week is going by quickly. I think it has something to do with long hours at work – it feels like I come home, eat, read a little, have a shower, and then tumble into bed.

There is more exciting news about the anthology. I’ll be on Global Calgary this Saturday morning at 8:10, giving an interview about Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead. I’m…well, I’m half excited, and the other half of me feels sick to its stomach and is moaning about not wanting to go. The excited half is winning out.

It’s a three minute interview, so I’m fairly confident that it’s not enough time to do a fairly serious job of making one’s self appear to be an idiot. On the other hand, three minutes is a vast amount of time in which to, oh, tell bad jokes or start blinking uncontrollably. And to be flummoxed about questions about Twilight (I have read up on the whole team Edward and team Jacob thing – I think I’m prepared for it).

Would it be wrong, I wonder, to joke on television that the book launch was ‘BYOG – bring your own garlic’?

Hmm.

Anyhow – 8:10 am on Global Calgary on March 6th. I’ll try to get some kind of a clip on YouTube afterward so that the whole wide interwebs can experience my extreme early morning awkwardness.

Wow.

Hokay. Wordpress it is…I’m fully transmogrified (that was my word of the day from Merriam-Webster, oddly enough) and everything looks…hey, it looks good! I can’t take the credit for the work, though…it was done by Nate, programmer extraordinaire at Lexicom. And holy cow, did he ever do a nice job. Thanks, Nate!

I’m glad the Great Blogger Kiss-Off of ‘10 is over, too…no need for me to worry about the FTP thing anymore. And I can get back to blogging. I missed the daily posting!

What do you think? Do you like the new style? Anything you’d change?

It’s a huge relief to get this all settled. Whew. Coming up? News about the book launch. And…guess who’s going to be on tv (at an ungodly hour of the morning on a Saturday)?

The blog starts moving tomorrow.

I think. I’ll be posting sporadically over the next couple of days. If all goes well, the transition should be smooth and mostly seamless.