dim sum diaries

North Park Wilson School hosted the Willow Award Gala, and they knocked it out of the park. The entertainment was awesome, and the ceremonies were over in under an hour. I was thrilled to hear the response from the students when my name was announced. I was so nervous I forgot to thank them all for voting for The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul. I'd like to give a big shout out to all the students who voted for my book, and to all the students who read all of the books on the nominee list.

The other winners of the day were Art Slade and David Ward. They were so gracious in their acceptance speeches. I will definitely track down their books now. Megiddo's Shadow won the Snow Willow Award, while the Hockey Tree picked up the Shining Willow Award.

The only disappointing moment of the whole event was the fact that my camera died, so I don't have very many pictures of the gala. If anyone has photos, please send them to me.

In the afternoon, I visited two schools: Dr. John G. Egnatoff and Buena Vista. Thanks to an unfortunate mix-up in scheduling, I had to see the students at Buena Vista at the end of the day, but they were cool with it. The students at Egnatoff mobbed me at the end. They were so enthusiastic. My favourite moment of the day was the student at Bueva Vista who bought The Mystery of the Frozen Brains before I did the presentation, then decided to also pick up The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul after my presentation.

Anyway, it was a fantastic way to wrap up an excellent week in Saskatoon. Before we hit the road, my wife and I tried out Avocado Grill, a Mexican restaurant... um... big mistake. Expensive burritos with no taste is no way to win over customers. Oh well, at least I was able to get some nachos. For some reason, I'm always craving nachos.

I'm shutting down for a couple of days, so I can recharge my batteries and bang out another Edmonton Journal article. This one's about public speaking and awards ceremony speeches, and I hope to get it ready to run in this week's Journal, which would be right before the Writers Guild of Alberta Awards. I'm up for the R. Ross Annett Award for Children's Literature. I have no idea if I'm going to win, but I figure I'd write an article about the fear of giving speeches and forgetting to thank key people.

Posted by marty at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The results are in. The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul won the Diamond Willow Award. Yay! More later when I get to a computer. I'm writing from my Ipod Touch.

Posted by marty at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

What a fantastic day. I spent the morning at North Park Wilson School with some keen students. This school is the site for the Willow Awards Gala tomorrow morning, and I could see some of the preparations going on. Phew! It looks like a lot of work to put together the ceremony, and I'm impressed at how the staff and students poured all their hearts into this event. It's great to see so many people caring about a young readers' choice award. I hope to win tomorrow, but I'll be happy with whoever takes the prize home.

In the afternoon, I chatted with the students at Silverspring. I think this was the largest group yet (350 students). The kids were awesome. I was really impressed with the quality of the writers. In the writing workshop, I heard some wonderful stories with excellent details. I also heard some fantastic ideas from the students.

All in all, I've been very impressed with the students on this Saskatoon tour.

Oh, and if you're wondering, my wife and I visited Yip Hong's restaurant last night. The food was authentic Chinese, but the service was slow. Oh well, life's not an adventure unless you get on the wrong road every now and then.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow's award!!!

Posted by marty at 04:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phew! My voice is starting to give out a bit. I did presentations at three schools today, and I had blast with all the students.

I started the morning with a visit to Wildwood School with a library presentation for grades 2 - 8. The kids were so respectful. It was interesting trying to tell stories that would work for the younger kids and for the older kids. Hopefully, the grades 7 and 8 students enjoyed what I had to say. I had a blast with the younger kids, who seemed to really like yelling "aiya."

The second morning visit was really fun. I ended up at Prince Philip School, and the kids had some pretty smart questions. I love that the students have picked up on the illustrators "eye theme," where all the covers have the character looking at something.

I spent the afternoon at Dundonald School and had an amazing time. The gym presentation was for grades 5 - 8. This time, I talked about The Bone House to engage the older students but after the session, I found out there were grade four students in the session. Yikes! Apologies to the teachers. If I had known, I would have kept the story in my back pocket. The writing workshop at the end of the day was totally cool. I've never had a room with of students so eager to write at the end of a school day. When the teachers told me these kids were motivated writers, they weren't kidding.

Anyway, a great way to end the day. I'm off for a walk and then some dinner. Yip Hongs is on the list, but the principal at Dundonald recommended an Italian restaurant as well. I'll have to ask my wife what she'd like to eat. I'm off to see Bridge City!!!

Posted by marty at 03:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Another fantastic day. I visited Lawson Heights and Greystone Heights. The sessions were in libraries, and I was taken with the incredible questions from the students.

My favourite moment of the day was working with a group of students in the afternoon. We did a group demonstration of the cheat code and I had some very funny actors. They were a hoot. Thanks for doing a great job, but be careful not to make fun of real people. It's a good thing that Mrs. Barton had a good sense of humour. Phew!

Today, I also had a great chat with my publisher at Thistledown Press. We're talking about future projects, and I'm hoping to be able to get some more attention for my books.

Finally, the day finished with a trip to a local restaurant called Gibsons. This fish and chip restaurant seemed pretty popular and the food was excellent. I'd highly recommend this restaurant if you're in the mood for fish and chips.

Okay, I'm going to figure out if I have enough energy to go for a walk. If not, I'm relaxing in front of the hotel TV and watching Andromeda Strain.

Posted by marty at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm enjoying the wonderful weather in Saskatoon as I tour several schools in the city. Today, I paid a visit to W.P. Bate and Confederation Park Schools. The odd thing that I had to get used to was the fact that Saskatchewan has no junior high schools. The schools go from K - 8 and then 9 - 12. Once I got over the fact that kindergarten kids were going to be in the same sessions as teenagers, I was able to figure out how to tell stories that were appropriate to both age groups. The kids were great. Both schools were very welcoming. I had an awesome time.

My memorable moment of the day was finding a restaurant that looked like a grain elevator. It was a steakhouse called the Granary, and I was lucky enough to show up during a lobster special. Now I am stuffed.

Posted by marty at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes, great minds think alike. My director gave me a shout while he was auditioning actors in Toronto for the show. He left a message saying he found a way to solve the Phoenix problem. He always had a problem that the Phoenix's daughter was a bolt of silk. The daughter couldn't be human because we had to tie her to an arrow and send her across the waterfall. The arrow hits Monkey King's son in the chest. It's a major plot point, but the problem was that we had to be emotionally connected to a piece of silk. Ron said he had an idea that would make the whole thing work and add a bit of magic to the show. The message was cryptic, and the first thought that jumped into my mind was the fact that the silk should turn into a human at the end of the play when the arrow is pulled out of Laosan's chest. Then she could sing the Phoenix's final song. That's exactly what Ron was thinking.

I love the idea because it saves me a ton of work, but also it captures exactly what I want to say at the end of the play. Phoenix is not reborn, but she continues through her children. And we must care for her children or else we will end up in a barren world.

Anyway, this was a bright spot in a week of bad experiences. I've learned a hard lesson about trusting folks, and I don't plan on making the same mistakes twice.

Posted by marty at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a lovely surprise. My article about my food frenzy showed up today. I sent the article to my editor about a week ago, but I didn't expect it to get published this quickly. Yay! Here's the article.

And now I'm working off the 8 pounds I packed on since the feast.

Posted by marty at 09:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm just back from a road trip to Calgary. I spoke to Calgary Catholic School librarians in the morning and then students from Sunnyside Community School in the afternoon. The whole day wrapped up with a book signing at Monkeyshines. The morning session was wonderful. I was humbled when I learned that the host of the event had bought a copy of each of my books for every librarian at the event. Wow. That was very cool.

The kids at Sunnyside were also an awesome audience. The grade three students were playing telephone just before I started, and I'm thinking of working this bit into my next book.

The end of the day was a real treat. I spent time in a bookstore devoted to kids books. Sue, the owner of Monkeyshines, was incredibly supportive. She had a wall filled with autographs from visiting authors. I had a blast, and I bought a bunch of picture books on Sue's recommendation.

For any visitors to Calgary, I do have a recommendation of my own... visit Globalfish if you like sushi. My wife and I paid a visit and had some great sushi rolls. Okay, now off to bed. In the morning, I'm going to have to hit the gym and work off all the sushi I ate.

Posted by marty at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not the best way to start the week, but it looks like I'm not going to be working on the China non-fiction book. The publisher had some concerns about the proposal and wanted significant changes. He asked me to resubmit a proposal incorporating all the changes.

Here's the problem. There's no guarantee of a contract even if I do another pitch, and the time I'd need to get this right would take away from the time I need to work on The Forbidden Phoenix. Over the last month, I've been feeling pretty rundown, and I'm pretty sure it has to do with overbooking myself with school visits and writing projects.

Rather than try to knock myself out to do this pitch and lose the time needed to finish out The Forbidden Phoenix, I think I'm going to have to bow out of the China book. I just can't devote that much time to something that might not come to be. If I had nothing else cooking over the summer, I'd go for it. I don't mind revising a pitch, but if I had to choose between a paying gig and a freebie, I have to choose the paying job. Argh. I wish I had more energy to do all the things I wanted to do.

I'll sleep on the decision and contact the publisher tomorrow.

Posted by marty at 09:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's been a long week of teaching and writing, and I'm happy to finally get some rest. I'm shutting down for a few days and not even thinking about anything related to writing. Have a happy one!

Posted by marty at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm in the middle of a great residency at Mayfield School. The kids are coming up with some great ideas and their sense of story is really sharp. I have to stay on my toes, because these guys are coming up with better stories than I can. It's a relief to work with students who are excited about writing and with staff who really care about the kids. Other than getting lost a couple of times in the hallways, I've been having a great time.

Posted by marty at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm slogging away at my next article (about entree envy). Boy, can I tell that the evening is not my most creative time. I have no choice but to work at night, because I'm doing writing workshops all week long at Mayfield School. The students are pretty eager and I can't wait to see their stories take shape. But this does make for very long days. I'm hoping to get this article finished tonight, but I won't send it out until tomorrow, after I had a chance to sleep on it and do another polish. I'm about 150 words away from finishing. Hmmm, didn't I just burn off 150 words with this blog. Darn it! I've got to learn to write my articles first and then blog about them.

Posted by marty at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm back from the Red Deer Young Writers Conference. I was thrilled to be a part of the 20th anniversary year. Georgia Graham painted a picture to commemorate the 20 years. Some of the presenters had been with the conference from the beginning. I had a fabulous time and I hope the students walked away with some happy memories and good advice about writing and illustrating.

Now on to a school residency at Mayfield. I'm going to have to pull double duty as I owe the Journal an article and the University of Alberta another article. Plus, I have to find time to revised The Forbidden Phoenix. I'm going to try to pace myself this week and divide my time between all the projects so that I don't get overwhelmed by the mountain of work that I have to do.

Posted by marty at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just pitched the Edmonton Journal another Life article. This one's all about food envy, the jealous that diners experience when their neighbours order a better looking entree. I'm going to try to get this article out this week, but I also need time to revise Forbidden Phoenix. I think I just bit off more than I can chew. Ironic that this would happen on an article about food. Sigh. Who needs sleep?

Posted by marty at 03:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A big shout out to the students that I spoke to in Grande Cache. The trip was fantastic. The town is beautiful, nestled in the mountains and the people were so warm and friendly. I hope everyone enjoyed the sessions. My favourite moment was watching one of my actors "smash" the other other person's cell phone. Hilarious scene. Thanks for being such good sports.

Also, I'm giving a special shout out to the Bistro in Grande Cache. I had an excellent meal there, and I'd love to go back. If you're ever in the area, track it down. The sign says Plaza Bistro.

Okay, I'm taking a day to recover from the trip and then it's into some major work on The Forbidden Phoenix.

Posted by marty at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I worked with a group of grades 7, 8 and 9 on writing techniques. What a great bunch. They were all smart and witty. I have to say, doing a workshop is so much more fun when everyone is motivated. My favourite moment was trying to figure out how a muffin and a crush would fit into the same story. Great working with everyone. You rock the house... or is that saying too 2003?

Posted by marty at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just heard from my sister-in-law. She liked the article in the Journal this morning. Phew! Since I had made mention of my brother's wedding, I wanted to make sure there was no family lynch mob after me. Here's the article.

Posted by marty at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The book proposal/outline is finished and off to the publisher. I bashed away at it for the last couple of days with some very helpful notes from my agent. The toughest thing was to try to boil the thing down and even at that, I'm looking at 13 pages. For a book that's supposed to be 5,800 words long, I might as well have just written the first draft and handed it in as a book proposal, but I figured if I get the contract, this will save me a ton of work.

The only thing that worries me is that I'll go cold waiting to hear from the publisher. I think what I just might do is keep researching and digging deeper on some of the subjects so that I'm still in the right mindset when I hear from the publisher. If they turn down the proposal, there's no harm done because I'll know a lot more about China, and if they say yes, I'll be able to get a really good jump on the first draft.

Posted by marty at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)