SiWC

Posted on October 22, 2008 5:57 pm by James Alfred McCann

Tonight I head off to Surrey to enjoy one of Canada’s best writer’s conferences – located right in my own backyard! (Not literally, of course – though that, too, would be tres cool…)

This will be a weekend of sharing experiences; mine with those who are struggling to get to where I am, and other’s with me as I struggle to get where they are. I’m teaching two workshops, one master class with good friend and fellow author Lee Fodi, and one on my own about visualizing your story onto paper. I’ll also be sitting on two panels, one on sci-fi and another on kid lit. Lastly, I’ll be offering my advice in the Blue Pencil discussions – hopefully I can find helpful things to say in a very short time.

Here’s a teaser of my workshop, as I introduce myself and talk about what was important to me as a teenager.

I used Comic Life to create this little slide show, and will be giving away 10 copies of the program at the conference – courtesy of the creators, Plasq. Do check it out, it’s an incredibly easy to use program (and very cost effective, too).

Hopefully there’ll be Internet access at the hotel, as well as time (and energy) for me to blog. I’ll be seeing quite a few familiar faces, and some famous faces whom I’ll be meeting for the first time. I’ll do my best to take you all there with me!

Final Day of C&C Rocky Mountain Road Tour

Posted on July 14, 2008 5:18 am by James Alfred McCann

This was the final day in the Chocolate and Chat Rocky Mountain Road Tour. Whew! After seven days we did nine venues – seven bookstores and two libraries. Sometimes we had great turnouts, and sometimes we had modest turnouts. (Yes, at one stop we even outnumbered the audience.) Yet, no matter what the outcome, this was a tour worth taking. We met some great people along the way, were introduced to some very nice bookstore staff, had a fun lunch with the children’s librarians in Red Deer, got to meet Terrence in Cochrane (one of the nicest fellows I’ve ever met!) and, best of all, kc and I had a chance to get to know one another even better.

Big thanks to Comic Life for sponsoring us with awesome giveaways that everyone was so excited to receive. Just so everyone knows, that’s the program I’ve been using to blog our trip. Head on over to their website and check it out!

Rather than recap what kc has already blogged, I’m leaving my farewell with the comics. For a more in depth read of our travels over the last few days head on over to kc dyer’s blog.

Chocolate and Chat Tour – Day Four

Posted on July 12, 2008 5:47 am by James Alfred McCann

So far, this has been a whirlwind tour where every stop is different than the last. I must admit that last night when kc and I arrived at our “home,” (kc’s sister was nice enough to give us a roof over our heads,) I was so exhausted that I just went to sleep.

So, what was our day like yesterday that I was so tired?

The day began with a drive from Calgary to Red Deer on the #2 Highway. To say the drivers on this highway are CRAZY would be an understatement of the extreme. Most of the trip was stormy with hail seen on the side of the road. There were even sightings of tornadoes in the area (of which kc and I were both unaware). The speed limit was 110 kms/hr, and I was driving pretty close to it.

Other drivers, even giant semis hauling cement cylinders that could crush two or three cars with a single slip, were doing about 140. My favourite was the guy on the cell phone who, when driving in front of me, insisted on doing 10-20 kms slower than I was going, but, whenever I attempted to pass, sped up to 150.

Thankfully, we made it to the Red Deer Public Library alive! Jen Waters was there to greet us, as well as to take us out to lunch with the other children’s librarians. Jen is a very special librarian to me, because she and I met seven years ago while working at Vancouver Kidsbooks. We bonded over the International Film Festival, and have been great friends ever since. To do an event in a library where she works, for me, is a dream come true. To have such a great turnout and see such wonderful enthusiasm with those kids is a testament to Jen’s ability as a librarian to inspire young readers/writers!

After Red Deer, we immediately left for Cochrane, where we were to speak at the Nan Booth Memorial Library. We were greeted there by Terrance who runs the events at the library. He had advertised the program well, though we had but a modest turnout. Truthfully, kc and I were beat tired by this point and were grateful for the chance to sit by a fireplace with a few writers and chat about publishing. This group had some great questions, and, as always with these events, I got to learn a little more about kc. We left that library feeling very positive about our Chocolate and Chat Tour!