Yes, I am alive
Apologies, but life got in the way of blogging... although, isn't blogging my life. Hmm.
Anyway, things have been hectic. I had to prep for some school visits and speaking engagements (namely Arts Day in Calgary), so I was a bit of a wreck. Hard to believe that only a few months ago, I was doing school visits almost every week and feeling like an old pro, and now I'm freaking out. I'm totally afraid that I'll forget what I need to say or mess up a joke. Yikes. Insecure. A little! No, a lot!
I'm feeling a bit better now that I've prepped for my two days of writing workshops in Airdrie, but the prep came at the expense of working on my writing projects. Sigh. I wish I had the energy of a 20 year old. No, I wish I had a 20 year old to be my assistant.
On the writing front, I pitched two article ideas to the Edmonton Journal Life editor. One is about email woes and how I can never clear out my inbox. The other one is a Halloween-themed article about staging a live version of Friday the 13th and finding out that drunk teenagers can't be scared. I just sent off the email article, but I have to put the Halloween article on hold while I work on another article for the Journal. The editor asked me to do an article about reading habits for their Raise-A-Reader issue.
If all goes well, I should clear out that article early next week. And if I have the energy for it, I should be able to finish the revisions to A Close Shave soon as well. I just need to buy some time to focus on the project. Still have to do some work on The Forbidden Phoenix graphic novel, but that's a lower priority.
I almost forgot... the picture book! True Story. My illustrator is back on the job and working hard to get me some sketches. She made some adjusts to the storyboard, and is now doing larger versions of the pages with more detail. If I approve of those, she moves on to colour versions. I hope to take some of the sketches to schools and get some feedback from kids. If you see me at your school, don't forget to ask about the sketeches.
That's all for now. Have to hit the road. Long drive ahead and I'm wiped. Hope I can stay awake.
Later.