Tag Archives: kc dyer

author visit, book signings, cafe, creative writing, Dungeons and Dragons, Festivals, Inspiration, kc dyer, Road Trips, travel, travelblog, Uncategorized, Workshops, Writer Stuff, Writing Life

SD 43’s Annual MACC Writers Conference

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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.

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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.

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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!

 

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book recommends, book reviews, book signings, booklaunch, Inspiration, Writer Stuff, Writing Life

James in his Jeep Getting Zombified? Rise of the One-Eyed King

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One of the great things about having friends who are writers, is that they do a wonderful job of offering advice when it’s needed. My original title, “One-Eyed King” has been recently over-used and so I wanted to change it.

kc dyer, one of my earliest readers of my novel, suggested, “Rise of the One-Eyed King.” As soon as I heard the suggestion, I knew that was it. That was the title.

Another friend of mine, fellow writer and storyteller Susan Cormier, worked with me on the summary (and my author profile). Again, she is an early reader and knew the story. And I loved her brilliant suggestions. Check out the link to her Vancouver Story Slam Page.

Want to know more about the book? You can pre-order a copy here:

A physical copy of the book.

A Kindle copy of the book.

If you are a blogger and would like to review an advance reader’s copy (in .pdf form) please send me an email.

Inspiration

Summer Vacation Day 2

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On Friday, right after seeing the new Bat Man movie (it was AWESOME), I scooted down to the airport and picked up my Mom. She’ll be visiting from Winnipeg for 10 days, so I can show her around my city and take her to the Summer Dream Literary Arts Festival this coming Saturday.

Yesterday was a blazing 26C, so we headed down to the water at Steveston Village. It’s a great little place in Richmond where one can buy fish right off the boat. Mom and I picked up shrimp and prawns, right after a great lunch of salmon and Caesar salad.

The shrimp and prawns we took back to my place where I BBQ’d them. Nothing quite like a meal of fresh seafood, along with skewered vegetables.

Today we went to Fort Langley(the woman in the sun hat who is looking directly at the camera is my Mom). This is a cool little place with a neat little fort (we didn’t go in – due to the $20 admission fee). For lunch we went to Wendel’s, and then we wandered up and down the streets looking at all the cool shops. Much of this place has been recreated to look like a town from the 1800s.

I found a cool little shop that sells amazing costumes and Goth ware. (Yes, there is Goth ware.) It’s called Hallowville Manor and you can check it out here. While I was there I found a very cool dragon candle holder as well as a dragon wall ornament. (Both are very Goth-looking.) Tomorrow after I unpack them I’ll snap photos. I also discovered that there is going to be a Renaissance festival at Fort Langley from August 29th until the 31st. You can check that out here. (Lee Fodi and I have plans to go – kc wants to, but she’ll be sending her daughter off to university that weekend.)

Tomorrow, we’ll be taking it easy, as our only committed plan is to have lunch with cousin Bob. In the future: Burnaby Mountain (thanks Jacquie!), Ikea, Kits Beach and Bowen Island.

author visit, book signings, booklaunch

Final Day of C&C Rocky Mountain Road Tour

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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.