May 2006 Archives

I paid a visit to the grades 4 - 6 students at Calgary's Sunalta School. They were awesome. I had a lovely lunch with some of the staff before the readings, and then I presented two back to back sessions. There were lots of cool questions, and someone asked if I was related to Jackie Chan. No reading is complete until I get that question. Sunalta students, you were great! Thanks very much for the hospitality.

I'm doing a reading tonight at Annie's Book Company, and then tomorrow is a full day of media interviews and school visits. This Calgary trip is going to have me hopping.

Sorry for not updating the blog. I've been wiped out with the flu for the last three days. Today is the first day that I feel semi-normal. I still have congestion in my ears, but I'm not as dizzy as I was before and my appetite is coming back. I have to get ready for my Calgary trip. I'll be speaking at a few schools and I look forward to talking to students about the new book. Everything caps off with a book signing at McNally Robinson. I hope people in Calgary can come out.

This is a response to a teacher at Exshaw School. His students had finished reading The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul and had a question about Trina Brewster and where I came up with this character. Below is my answer:

Trina Brewster in real life was based on a couple of schoolmates. One was my first ever crush, and I was devastated when I found out she liked someone else in grade five. The other girl was my arch rival in school; she was a smart kid who had lots of money, and I never really got along with her. I merged the two real life people into Trina Brewster, so that the "Marty" character would have a crush on his worst enemy.

Sadly, I do not know what became of the girl I had a crush on, because her family moved away, before we started junior high school.

My thanks to the students at Exshaw for their questions.

I blitzed Sherwood Park and visited Westboro, Wes Hosford and Lakeland Ridge Schools. Each session was only a half hour long, and it all seems like a blur now, but what great reactions from the students. My confidence is building in my Buddy the Cat story. I definitely will turn that into my next book. I'm still telling the clothes shopping story rather than reading it to the kids because I just have way more fun telling the story. At some point I know that I'll have to retire the story and find a new one to tell, but for now I'm having fun. The kids rocked, and I was so glad to have met everyone. I hope the students come out to the Chapters tomorrow (Saturday, May 27) at 3:00 pm. I'd sure like to see some friendly faces when I'm signing books at the store.

I finished the revisions on the Monkey King, and I'm pretty happy with the changes. I made the play more about the relationship between Monkey King and Dragon, because that's where all the conflict/drama was. I have to remind myself now that when I write for theatre, I have to think about the most dramatic elements and not about the narrative. I keep wanting to tell a story, but I keep forgetting that the fun of theatre is in the details of character conflict. Glad to have this reminder now instead of two hours after the show is done.

I'm pretty beat up after a full day of workshops at Grasmere School. I went in with a bad sinus cold and I didn't feel like I was in the right head space all morning. I perked up a bit in the afternoon, but being stuffed up and talking for several hours is tough. The students were great, and I was actually pretty excited to do some presentations that I hadn't done in a while (The Gift and All The World's a Stage). The students were great, but I have to remember to try to direct the practical demonstrations more so that it doesn't become a shouting match of suggestions. The students had brilliant ideas, but I could only take one suggestion at a time, and I fear I may have missed out on some of the students' ideas. Anyway, I had a blast with the grades 5 and 6 students, and I was thrilled to tell the clothes shopping story to the elementary kids and jr. high students. The day ended with some storytelling for K - 3. I wanted to tell a new Asian folktale to the younger students, but I chickened out at the last minute. One of these days, I'm going to have to tell the story of the frog and the tiger. Anyway, I had a wonderful time and the students at Grasmere were full of energy and enthusiasm. They were great.

I'm revising the Monkey King script for Concrete Theatre's Sprouts Festival in June. The play is very short, but I tried too hard to work in everything from the folktale. I'm going to focus on the first part and forget about trying to retell the original folktale, because I only have 15 minutes max, and I just don't have the time to do the whole story. Sometimes, you have to be aware of the amount of time or space you have. I don't want to overwrite a story and bore the audience (there are three other plays scheduled for the same performance). The other cool news I heard about Sprouts is that there will be a reading of my kids' play "Nearly Normal." I'm don't know if there will be changes for that reading. If I have time, I may do some work, but my main priority is the Monkey King play.

My final day in Halifax was action packed. I started with a drive out to Fall River, where I read at Ash Lee Jefferson Elementary. I had to deal with some Halifax fog, and it made for an interesting drive on the highway, but white knuckles aside, the drive was uneventful. The sessions, however, were awesome. The grade five and grade six students were full of energy that morning and I had a blast talking to everyone.

Then I took the scenic route from Fall River to Lower Sackville and visited Gertrude Parker Elementary School. I arrived just as a big rain storm hit and I was glad to be inside. The kids were awesome, and I was tickled to see that one teacher couldn't stop laughing and had to cover her mouth. The only thing that was weird during the session was a bug tried to upstage me. The kids in the front row freaked out and I leapt into action and stepped on it... except the bug didn't die. Either I've lost way too much weight or this bug was a cockroach. Anyway, it took a few stomps to get the scene stealing insect off the stage. The kids were awesome and I had such a great time.

After the visits, I had to drive to Peggy's Cove. Again, the drive was beautiful. Lots of winding roads along the coastline. There was too much wind for me to get close to the water, so I just walked to the lighthouse and snapped a couple of pictures, then I headed into the gift shop to grab stuff for folks back home. Of course, I had to have some seafood chowder and a lobster sandwich.

The day ended with dinner at my library host's home. I met some wonderful people, including another author (Jackie Halsey) who wrote Peggy's Letters, which has been shortlisted for some awards. I'm going to have to read the book now.

Anyway, Halifax is a beautiful city, and I want to go back the first chance I get. I highly recommend it as a tourist destination. Just be prepared for a full range of weather.

I just finished an author visit at Halifax North. The kids were full of questions and afternoon energy. It was pretty cool. They just launched into questions before I finished my session, and I had to tap dance around to get to the clothes shopping story. I loved the questions. They were very insightful. Now I'm off to dinner and a reading for adults. I don't know if I'll get near a computer tomorrow, but I have readings in Fall River and Lower Sackville, and I hope to drive down to Peggy's Cove before I call it a day.

Last night, I headed home through the Public Gardens, which were beautiful, but the ducks rule the roost. I had to be careful where I stepped if you know what I mean. The woman who runs the B & B where I'm staying said that a hurricane damaged a lot of the big trees in the Public Garden about 3 years ago, but the community banded together to raise the funds to restore the site.

This morning, I had a wonderful session at the Spring Garden Library Branch. The kids had lots of questions, and I was able to tell the story of my grandmother. I'm off to lunch at a place called the Fireside and then I read at Halifax North this afternoon. I'm very excited about dinner tonight, because I get to meet Allison Maher, another Thistledown author. Her book, I, The Spy is great. I read it on the plane coming to Halifax. It's got gadgets, humour and action. It's got the makings of a series. I'll find out if Allison is going to work on another in the series or start a new book. We're supposed to be reading at the Sackville Library Branch tonight for an adult audience. It should be pretty fun.

I arrived last night in the middle of the first thunder storm of the season. Boy, it literally was raining buckets. There was so much water, my car's windshield wipers couldn't clear it fast enough. The lightning works in the sky were beautiful.

Today, the skies cleared and it was warm enough to walk around after my readings at Captain William Spry Branch and at Salmon River Elementary (in Truro). The kids at both sessions were great. There were about 30 kids at the library reading and 250 kids in Salmon River.

Afterward, I hit the streets and walked all the way to the waterfront. I hiked up the Halifax Citadel (the fort) and ran around for free because the gates were closing in 10 minutes. Then I hustled to the harbour and saw the Theodore Tugboat in the dock. At the recommendation of a former Halifax resident, I dined at Salty's. Very good seafood. Then I stepped on the local ferry to Dartmouth and did a round trip. I saw Halifax from the Dartmouth side. It reminded me of what Hong Kong would have been like before it became a thriving metropolis. Halifax is beautiful and its citizens are the friendliest I've ever met since I was in Ireland. My only regret is that I wished I had more time in the city to explore. Oh well, that's what happens when you book so many readings in a short period of time. I have 3 readings tomorrow and 3 on Friday, then I'm back to Edmonton on Saturday. If I get the chance to report more sights and sounds, I will. Off to walk the streets of Halifax.

As I prepare for a quick trip to Halifax for my readings, I have to decide how many books I can possibly read while I'm on the road. I factor in two long flights and then the few nights that I'm hanging around the bed and breakfast. My problem is that I want to catch up on my reading (and after all my book promotions, I really have fallen behind), but I usually bring too many books or my mood changes when I get to my destination and I don't feel like reading any of the books I've brought. I also want to pack light for the trip, so I don't want to bring a library. Argh!

So, after I made all my jokes about getting older (I just turned 41), I learned that I am getting older. My optometrist just informed me that I will need Progressive Lenses, which is the new politically correct way of calling bifocals. Ugh, I'm not happy at all. I'm not getting the new lenses until the summer. I haven't been doing a lot of reading or writing lately because I'm touring so much, but I suspect that when I try to crack open a book and fighting eye strain that I'll be begging to get the bifocals. In general, I don't like change and this one is a big change. Sigh.

I spent the morning in Onoway Elementary School and the early part of the afternoon speaking at Rich Valley School. The students at both schools were really enthusiastic and cool. Everyone seems to have a farting pet of some sort, so I'm thinking there might be some kind of flatulence outbreak in Alberta. I was so glad to talk about the first book again. It's fun to introduce students to the series, and I hope they read both books. Anyway, I had a blast in Onoway and a wild time in Rich Valley.

The party's over. I can't believe how fast the book launch went by. There was a wonderful turn out of friends and fans, and a lot of students from Greenfield and Meadowlark. A friend had dropped off some balloons to congratulate me on the launch and to celebrate my birthday. I was very touched by the support from everyone. Thank you to all who made it to the launch, and thank you to everyone who sent well wishes!

Well, I finished the last of my Education Week visits, and boy is my voice tired. I spoke to St. Albert students this morning in a very cool library. The students were great and full of questions. I even met a couple of teachers who lived in Morinville. The session was great.

Then I capped off the week with two sessions at Holyrood. The kids in the first session were keen to hear the pants story. Some of them heard a snippet of it on CBC Radio and wanted to hear the rest of the story. It was the first time that I had a story request. Very cool. The second session was awesome as well. I even met my friend's daughter in the session. She's grown a lot since last I saw her, and it was cool to chat briefly with her. Overall, I had a great week and I'm really proud of the students I met and how incredible they all were.

Weird thing happened at the end of the day. I had an interview of CBC Radioactive, and I had a brain freeze. I blanked out for a couple of seconds at the end of my interview and had a weird look on my face that the host noticed. He thought he had given the wrong info about my book launch, but I had just zoned out for a second. I think I'm a bit tired from all the school visits over the last two weeks. I think I might take this weekend off after the book launch, just so that I can get charged up for the rest of the month's readings and school visits.

Wow! I should be tired but I'm so charged up from my visits to the three Edmonton schools. St. Stanislaus was set in a gym and the kids were great. I met Mrs. Stuart, the wife of my former social studies teacher. Mrs. Stuart was also the family which owned the IGA, my dad's competition in Morinville. Very cool to talk to her and it was great to get the students reactions.

Meadowlark blew me away. Students already had copies of the book and they were so excited about the presentation. Originally, I had said I could speak to no more than 100 kids at once, but that meant that a grade four group would not be part of the session. The librarian mentioned that the kids were disappointed to be left out, so I decided that they could be a part of the session, and was I ever glad that they came in. They added a whole new energy to the group, and there were tons of laughs and some really great questions. What really impressed me was how many budding writers there were in the room. A lot of the students had been published in Magpie and other publications. This was an awesome school.

I wrapped my day up at Garneau School, and I had a blast upstairs in the library. I recognized a couple of the students from the Bennett Centre. The session was very cool, but the room was a little hot (it was on the third floor and the sun beat down on the building all morning). Anyway, I loved talking to the kids, and there were a few kids who shared their pet farting stories with me. I'm glad to know my cat isn't the only one with a farting problem.

I had the pleasure of stepping back in time this morning as I watched Flying Bob perform his street show in the gym of a Millet school. I felt like it was the mid-90s again and I was chomping a mini-donut and watching the street performers at the Edmonton Fringe. Very cool. I had a couple of presentations as part of the Literacy Fair, and I was able to visit a couple of theatre folk who had set up Toy Theatre (pop up theatre). I'm now totally curious about this theatrical form and I want to learn more. The students were pretty cool. I talked to a budding writer who spent the noon hour typing out her short story. Now that's dedication. I hope she finished her story. The other students were great. They were all intrigued by The Bone House, and it just confirms that I should bring that play back to Edmonton.

In the afternoon, I visited Guthrie school to help kick start their reading program. I was thrilled to see a performance by some of the kids, and I was honoured to be recognized by the Guthrie staff and the parents. I was impressed with the turn out, and I was filled with great hope that the parents were going to read books with their children. I think I made some of the teachers nervous when I started talking about the origin of the second book, but everyone had a good laugh. Guthrie, as always, you guys totally rock.

I had a great session with the grade 5/6 students of Windsor Park school. The students were so enthusiastic. I found out that one of them did a research project about me. I wonder what kind of mark she got. Another student gave me a ghoul pendant, and I thought it was the best gift I'd ever received at a school. Thank you much for it. I loved it. If anyone from Windsor Park is reading this blog, leave me a comment. Let me know what you think of the website... and did you find the photos of Buddy and Max yet?

Remember, my launch is this Saturday at 11:30 am (check out my events page for info). Take care. Windsor Park rules!

I'm on a quick break before I run off to another school, but I just wanted to say thanks to the students and staff at Greenfield Elementary. I had two presentations in the libray with the grades 4, 5, and 6s. The kids were awesome. This was the first time that I was swarmed for flyers and bookmarks. I hope that everyone got a copy of the flyer or the bookmark, and I really hope that they enjoyed the presentations. I had an awesome time. I even liked chatting about the Oilers game with some boys before the first session. These guys sure knew their hockey. I felt like I was talking three younger versions of Don Cherry. Very cool.

I visited three schools today: Rutherford, Belgravia and Allendale. The students were totally awesome at all three schools. Everyone loves the Buddy story, but I worry that someone will scold me for talking about farts in the school. Anyway, I hope the students come out to my launch on Saturday, but more importantly, I hope they enjoyed the sessions.