Words, music, food ,dogs ,children and lots of books.

My usual Sunday evening blog was delayed due to extreme fatigue and sore feet. Well that's an exaggeration but after walking around for hours in the hot sun at the book and magazine festival "Word on the Street" I was not up to any blogging or much of anything.

I have been going to this festival since it started in 1990 and only missed a few. This was the best year yet. I don't know how many thousands were there but the setting is great at Queen's park and very well organized. Tents were in abundance with workshops and readings. Booths of booksellers and magazines and signings. Lots of music and I saw oddles of different breeds of well behaved dogs.

A large area was taken over by the folks at Sony who were promoting ebooks. I know, I know, technology is with us but... and there is a place for them. But how do you take one of those things to bed and get comfy? Or when your friend wants to borrow the book you have been raving about... and what about the feel and smell of books. and what would I do with my lovely bookcases? I have a better affinity with Audio Books as they are perfect for a walk or run or in the car.

One of the busiest tents and booths were the children's readings and the selling of the phenomena of graphic novels. Not comics but whole novels with some of the most amazing drawings and the kids were loving them.
The jury is still out on those but as long as they are reading... My grandsons read them but also read regular books.

Did I mention food! I ended up with a Malaysian....... Not sure what it was. Watched it being made but had a problem eating it.

Met up with John Moss, a super mystery writer and his wife Beverley Haun.

http://johnmossmysteryblog.blogspot.com/ Check his latest "Grave Doubts" a Quinn and Morgan mystery.

and also Vicki Delaney a very prolific writer with her Constable Molly Smith books and her latest is "Winter of Secrets" out fall 2009.

http://www.vickidelany.com/?page_id=270

Of course my main objective was to hopefully meet an agent who could not wait to get their hands on our manuscript but alas.. I did attend a workshop with a very prominent agent from Toronto so I will be doing as she suggested and she will be hearing from us soon.

Talk later.

Slainte,

Pam

An afternoon in Eden

Eden Mills that is. The 21st Eden Mills Literary Festival was this weekend and I managed a trip there to listen to some smashing authors. Liz had another committment so could not be there. Eden Mills is on her home turf so I am sure she would have enjoyed it.

It could not have been a more glorious day. The readings took place at different venues but the authors I wanted to see were beside an old mill. The were placed on a small island with a moat seperating them from the audience. Most were sitting on blankets or lawn chairs and Glory be! I could hear everything. Before I settled down with my lawn chair I wandered down Publishers way and checked out all the books for sale. I am glad they only took cash and as I don't have any ... well just enough to buy one. I bought Louise Penny's latest book that has not even launched yet. Yipee!. It is called The Brutal Telling and I can't wait to get started on it. She of course signed it and put, To Pam, the third signed book in the whole world. She also read from the book so that was the start of the launch. http://www.louisepenny.com/

The other author I really enjoyed was John Ralston Saul. Very good speaker and funny.
http://www.johnralstonsaul.com/menu_en.html Check out his website.

There were many more and I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon in the sun, relaxing and listening to my favourite authors. Of course no afternoon in the sun is complete without an icecream but this time I had it in a cup!!.

I ended my day by getting lost on the way home. I must invest in either a compass or one of those GPS thingies. All the countryside looks the same to me but I was going in the right direction , I think ... but why do I keep seeing these beautiful horses in every field. Amid wonderful horse farms and winding roads with trees starting to turn golden and orange I finally came to a road that I recognized. I enjoyed the trip but it might have been different at night.

Liz has sent me two more revised chapters of Body so she has been busy tonight. Think I will have an early night with my new book.

Talk later,

Slainte,
Pam

Injuried by a Vanilla Caramel cone.

Only I could be injured by an ice cream cone! It was such a beautiful day, temp 25 and the lake beckoning. Just perfect for skipping stones and slurping on an ice cream. I took the two eldest g, kids and headed straight for the ice cream store as they were not want to linger in the 70%!!!off boutiques. They will change their minds when they have wife's of their own.

The three of us had the Vanilla/caramel. The boys in a cup but I enjoy a cone. One of those big waffle thingies. Yummy. We had only gone about 5mins towards the lake when the sharp edge of the cone pierced my bottom lip. Now you need to know that I have absolutely no pain tolerance and the boys thought I was over -reacting. Not much sympathy there. I managed to eat the rest of my ice cream amid my whimpering and after 20 mins of skipping stones and a cursory look at the yachts I had them back in the car and brought them home.

I now have a fat lip and an ache in my teeth,imagining that I have blood poisoning. We have had an invasion of wasps this year and my husband, who loves to give graphic details of things I would rather not know, suggested it was probably a wasp stinging me before he died!!! If that was the case, where did the wasp gooooooooo. Right now my tongue feels swollen too.

Before you start to send the sympathy cards let me tell you what I accomplished before my adventure today.

Trying to find the right agent is a job in itself. By the right agent I mean that the criteria that they insist on has to match your book. When researching different agents I would go off on a tangent on suggested sites and before you knew it three hours had past. Not time wasted as I organized my favourites to suit me better and my list is getting longer of the agents I want to zero in on.
Sent said list to Liz for approval and this week we will get a few more queries sent out.

Hope you have enjoyed the super weather and stayed away from the wasps, or ice cream cones.

Talk soon,

Slainte,

Pam

Labor or Labour....

Labor or Labour Day, depending on where you come from, has morphed into a holiday for most and a time to prepare the kids getting back to school the next day. A big thanks to those who went on strike to get us a 54 hour work week!!!! We are so grateful we are now at 37.5. In Canada it is usually the end of travelling to cottage country and vacations with a change to warmer clothing.

September and October are my favourite months. Within driving distance we have loads of fall festivals and fairs and I love fall clothing. I am not one for showing off my lily white skin to one and all and like nothing better than a cosy cardy and sitting by the fire with a book and tapping away on the laptop. The fall colours should be super this year with all the moisture we have had.

One of the festivals I am looking forward to is the Eden Mills Writer's Festival on September 20th. Eden Mills is about 15 mins from Guelph and is Liz's home turf. Lots of publishers so we can do a bit of smoozing and networking while taking in the readings of some favourite authors.
http://www.edenmillswritersfestival.ca/schedule.html

This summer both Liz and I have had many different commitments and the writing slowed down but we are both raring to go and I have finally got my groove back. It's back to revising "Body Perfect" and the exchanging of chapters. I am working on the ending while Liz is wading through the earlier chapters to beef up omissions and do an edit. It won't be long until we have a flow again.

This is "Homecoming Scotland 2009" and is a series of events put on for all those making the trip to the "Homeland" from distant parts. My sister Rosemary lives in Peterborough, England and my sister Caroline lives in Allmere in the Netherlands.
Both of our brothers Raymond and Alister live in Edinburgh. So the clan gathers without me.!! I know they are meeting with the "cousins" and nieces and nephews and hope they all have a wonderful time. I will be thinking about them.

I brought ten books back from the conference "Bloody Words" and I am now finishing the tenth. I am definately stuck on this genre...mystery, crime, police, thriller,PI and some romance. So we will write what we like to read as Liz and I enjoy the same authors.

Talk soon,

Slainte,

Pam