Thank you Canada Reads! As I’ve noted before in this space, winning Canada Reads has been an extraordinary blessing. In case there are doubters out there, here is some more evidence to pound home my point. Bookmanager, a company that tracks book sales across the country, has released their topselling fiction list for all of 2011. I don’t mean the Canadian ficiton list, but all fiction, regardless of origin. As you can see, The Best Laid Plans came home in third place for the year. What a thrill. Again, I say, thank you Canada Reads.
Archive for the ‘CBC Radio’ Category
TBLP was Canada’s #3 novel in 2011
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012It’s shaping up to be a busy spring/summer…
Monday, January 30th, 2012
With my role as resident blogger for Canada Reads winding down, I’ve started to look ahead to what’s coming up for me on the book front in the next several months. It’s going to be a very hectic, but fun, time. I’m on the road a bit (Moncton, Vancouver Island, Winnipeg, Moose Jaw, and Ottawa), which is always a bit of challenge given that I work fulltime. It means that I use a few vacation days to make it all work. It also helps that my colleagues here at Thornley Fallis are very supportive and understanding. Anyway, here’s what the sched through to the end of the summer looks like, though it changes day-to-day as new gigs come in. To see it all, click here, or on the Appearances tab up on the upper-left side of this blog. With my third novel, Up and Down, being released by McClelland & Stewart on September 16th, the autumn is filling up, too!
Coming up…
- Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 7:30 p.m.: A talk and reading at a book club in Richmond Hill, Ontario.
- Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 1:00 p.m.: Participating in an e-book signing with Wilfrid Laurier University Bookstore and Idolvine.
- Tuesday, February 7, 2012, 7:30 p.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at the Heliconian Literary Lecture Series, Toronto.
- Thursday, February 9, 2012, 12:00 noon: A luncheon talk to the Ontario Bar Association, Toronto.
- Thursday, February 9, 2012, 6:00 p.m.: Fulfilling authorial duties at The Book Lover’s Ball, Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Ontario.
- Monday, February 20, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk and reading at a private book club in Toronto.
- Monday, March 5, 2012, 4:00 p.m.: A talk to a CanLit class at Lakehead University that is studying The Best Laid Plans, Orillia, Ontario.
- Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk and reading at a private book club in Toronto.
- Thursday, March 15, 2012, 10:00 a.m.: A talk and reading at the Twin Lakes Probus Club in Orillia, Ontario.
- Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at the L. P. Fisher Public Library, in Woodstock, New Brunswick.
- Friday, March 23 – Saturday, March 24, 2012: Talks, readings, and signings at the Words on the Water Writers’ Festival, Campbell River, Vancouver Island, B.C.
- Thursday, March 29, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk and reading at the Brantford Public Library, Brantford, Ontario.
- Saturday
, April 7, 2012, Time: TBD: A talk and reading at the Listowel Public Library, Listowel, Ontario.
- Thursday, April 12, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at the Taylor Branch of the Toronto Public Library.
- Sunday, April 15, 2012, 1:00 p.m.: A reading and signing for the Writers & Friends, a fundraiser for Horizons of Friendship, Memorial Hall, Kingston City Hall, Kingston, Ontario.
- Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 11:00 a.m.: A talk and reading at the Gateway Probus Club in Collingwood, Ontario.
- Thursday, April 19, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk and reading at the Tweed Public Library, Tweed, Ontario.
- Friday, April 20, 2012, 1:30 p.m.: A talk and reading at a private book club in Bobcaygeon, Ontario.
- Friday, April 20, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at Dunsford United Church in Bobcaygeon, Ontario.
- Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 7:30 p.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at the Township of Russell Public Library, Russell, Ontario.
- Wednesday, April 25, 2012, 6:00 p.m.: Fulfilling authorial duties at the annual Writers’ Trust Politics and the Pen Gala, Ottawa, Ontario.
- Thursday, April 26, 2012, 1:00 p.m.: Talks to students at College Avenue Secondary School, as part of Woodstock Reads in Woodstock, Ontario.
- Thursday, April 26, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk, reading and signing for Woodstock Reads at the Woodstock Public Library, Woodstock, Ontario.
- Friday, April 27 – Sunday April 29, 2012, Time TBC: Talks, readings, and signings at schools and other venues as part of the Frye Festival, Moncton, New Brunswick.
- Thursday, May 3, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk, reading, and signing in Dundas for the Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale Federal Liberal Association.
- Wednesday, May 8, 2012, 10:00 a.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at the Probus Club of South Muskoka, Bracebridge, Ontario.
- Wednesday, May 9, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk and reading at a private book club in Toronto.
- Monday, June 4, 2012, 10:00 a.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at the New Appleby Burlington Probus Club, Burlington, Ontario.
- Wednesday, June 6, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at the Innisfil Public Library, Cookstown, Ontario.
- Thursday, June 7, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at the Literary Evening of the annual conference of the College Association of Language and Literacy hosted by Seneca College, Toronto.
- Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 2:00 p.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at a Women’s Probus Club in Collingwood, Ontario.
- Thursday, June 14, 2012, 10:00 a.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at the Probus Club of Wasaga Beach, Wasaga Beach, Ontario.
- Monday, June 18, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at McNally Robinson Grant Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
- Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: A talk and signing at the Canadian Engineering Education Association annual conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
- Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 12:00 noon: A talk and reading at a book club at St. Christopher’s Church, Burlington, Ontario.
- Thursday, July 5, 2012, 10:00 a.m.: A talk, reading, and signing at the Midland-Huronia Probus Club, Midland, Ontario.
- Thursday, July 19 – Sunday July 22, 2012: Talks, readings, and signings at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
- Thursday, July 26, 2012, 12:00 noon: A talk and reading at a private book club in Scarborough, Ontario.
- Tuesday, August 21, 2012, 7:00 p.m.: Keynote at the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, Ottawa Convention Centre, Ottawa, Ontario.
Phew… I’m tired… but no time to rest, the new novel and a busy autumn beckon…
Five years later…
Sunday, January 1st, 2012
Time to look back on my writing year, as I’ve done annually since starting this blog back in January, 2007. It was another year of counting my literary blessings. Here are a few highlights that made 2011 such a memorable year for me:
- I did 95 talks and readings over the course of the year, a pace of nearly two each week. I travelled to Vancouver, Whistler, the Sunshine Coast, Calgary, Banff, Halifax, Ottawa, and all through Ontario.
- In early February, The Best Laid Plans, due largely to Ali Velshi’s stellar advocacy, snared the 2011 Canada Reads crown. This put TBLP on the bestsellers list for much of the year and even dragged The High Road on to the list in its wake.
- In June, I started teaching at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies Creative Writing program. I developed, and have now twice taught, a five week course on how to build an audience for your writing.
- In late October, I finished the manuscript for my third novel, tentatively entitled Up and Down, and in November, passed it along to my wonderful editor and publisher at M&S, Douglas Gibson.
- Also in November, CBC announced that it is developing The Best Laid Plans as a six-part television miniseries.
- In December, the City of Woodstock announced that The High Road had been chosen as the official Woodstock Reads 2012 selection.
- Finally, to close out the year, Margaret Atwood “tweeted” very positively to her nearly 289,000 followers after reading The Best Laid Plans.
As you can see, it was a very happy fifth year in my life as a writer. I am one, very grateful novelist.
Looking ahead, there’s more excitement coming in 2012. First and foremost, my third novel will hit bookstore shelves in September. Beyond that, who knows?
My Canada Reads posts now in one place
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
I’m more than halfway through my stint as this year’s Canada Reads resident blogger. Each week I’ve written a post for the Canada Reads site, which partly explains why I seem to be posting on my own blog less frequently lately. I’m enjoying the role after surmounting the weekly moments of anxiety as I try to figure out what to write about that week. Erin Balser at CBC Canada Reads has been very helpful in suggesting ideas for posts and has made my life much easier. In fact, she’s just done it again. Erin has created a page on the Canada Reads site that aggregates all of my posts to date. Thanks, Erin.
Not coincidentally, my final five posts will be about the final five books, tackling each one in turn, starting on January 4th.
I’m the Canada Reads 2012 resident blogger
Sunday, November 6th, 2011This is going to be fun. In fact, it’s already been fun. Winning Canada Reads last February quite literally changed my life as a writer. I am so grateful for the experience. So I’m thrilled that I get to hang on to Canada Reads a little longer as the resident blogger for the 2012 annual battle of the books. If you’ve noticed that I’ve been posting less and less frequently on my blog of late, part of the reason is that I’m deep into reading the Canada Reads Top 10 that were unveiled on November 1st. As well, I’ve already written my first official Canada Reads blog post and it went live last Wednesday. I’ll be blogging every week throughout Canada Reads 2012. I’ll also be moderating the online chats with each author, attending the offiical launch later in November, and I’m sure happily doing a few other things along the way.
So there may be slim pickings here on my own blog in the coming weeks, but I hope you’ll follow my Canada Reads 2012 posts each week. In the meantime, why don’t you head out to your favourite book store and pick up some of the Canada Reads Top 10 books? It’s non-fiction this year for a change. Trust me. You’ll be amazed and captivated by the storytelling.










