For you local folks, I’ll be doing an author event at the Richmond Public Library on October 3, from 4-5:00PM. Topic: Writing Dungeons and Dragons-style.
If you have the time, it would be great to see you there. Please consider registering!
You’ll have a chance to try out some of the techniques I use for crafting a story. And here are a few of the things I’ll be discussing:
The Surrey Public Library has a young adult writing contest going on, and some really great writing workshops coming this summer!
You can find out about all the workshops at this link, and there’s a poster for mine below.
When Cheryl A. of SD 43 asks you to participate in the annual MACC Writer’s conference for grades 6/7, the only response is to say yes and then figure out how to free your schedule. This year’s all-day event had around 300 students, and 11 authors teaching them the craft.
From left to right: (top) Lee Edward Fodi, Sean O’Reilly, Richard Dal Monte, CC Humphreys, kc dyer, and Rob Taylor. (bottom) Pia Guerra, Denise Jaden, Me, Tiffany Stone, and Tanya Lloyd Kai.
I talked about one of my favourite subjects–Dungeons and Dragons. As a collaborative storytelling game, it really is the perfect training ground for young writers.
But not all was school and writing and conference. I also stopped into a cafe along the way called, Coffee+Vanilla. If you’re in the Coquitlam/Maillardville area, this is a pretty sweet spot with very good coffee!
2017 had a pretty rough start for me, but it finished extremely strong. When I look back on the year I feel pretty happy about the accomplishments I have made. I’m almost done my lib tech course, I began learning the ukulele, adopted a dog, took some road trips, wrote a new book, started submitting my work to publishers, and I met a really amazing woman.
Here’s a list of my top 12 events. Some have links to longer blog posts or to other sites of interest.
That time I spent a night in a haunted hotel, and woke up the next day with the entire town dressed in steampunk costumes.
That time I met a dog, and he chose me to be his caretaker.
That time I took a ferry to a town in the San Juan Islands, and met a couple at a cafe who turned out to be a good friend’s uncle and aunt.
That time I went camping in a town that does Christmas all year long.
That time I went to a steampunk festival and wished that I was in a costume.
That time I discovered the beauty of just sitting by the ocean with a cup of coffee, a dog at my feet, and a notebook on my lap.
I wound up here by accident after taking a wrong turn. Then, after a second wrong turn, wound up finding the BEST homemade ice cream place I’ve ever discovered.
That time Denise Jaden and Eileen Cook asked me to be a part of their summer signing.
That time a part of my job was to create a digitization station for digitizing VHS, LPs, and cassettes. (It now does SO MUCH MORE!)
The quilt was 50 feet from my station, and it still took me weeks and weeks to notice I was on it. In fact, it was a patron who asked, “Are you the James McCann that’s on the literacy quilt?” And then when the quilt travelled to another library, I got an email from a coworker who realized I was the author of one of her favourite books as a teen.
My sister and mom came in July, and my nephew came in September. We took many road trips together and had an absolute blast.
My sister, Grinfinn, and I in Horseshoe Bay on our way to Whistler.
Hell’s Gate was one of the many trips my nephew and I took.
My nephew, Justin, in Hell’s Gate, BC
If you follow my Instagram, you may have noticed I’ve been spending a lot of time with a special someone, Jessica. Here we are writing at the Penny, a really cool cafe in Mission. You can read Jessica’s work on Wattpad.
And, I started learning the ukulele (as in actual lessons). I (almost always) end my blog posts with a song that fits the moment–so, here’s me playing the ukulele on week four.
Last week, I participated in a signing with some pretty fantastic people. The scary part of doing book signings is that you never know if anyone will show up–it has, on occasion, just been myself sitting at a table while passersby avert their gaze and ignore me. A common plight of being an author.
That was not the case with this signing. From left to right, I was there with Eileen Cook, Dawn Ius, Denise Jaden, myself, and D.R. Graham. And a BIG shout out to Sarah F., who is between Eileen and D.R. Graham, for bringing the event to Coles in Lougheed Mall.
We had plenty of people wander over to our table, ask about our books, and walk away with new reading material. This was a really fun event!
Of course, it didn’t hurt that I situated myself beside the cookies…
