Lucky Dog-Canada Council Funds Project Afterall

My dog Mortie leaping at birds was my metaphor for  how writers feel when they apply for  grants.  You have to keep jumping with your eye on the ultimate prize:  earning a living writing.  The Canada Council had sent me a letter letting me know my project "Death on Track" was highly recommended by the jury but that they had run out of funds.  Since that correspondence I've been sardonically muttering"well, we could have afforded that if the Canada Council hadn't run out of money" to every major imminently necessary expenditure:  tuneup for the car, tooth implant, upgrade for the MacBook, new roof, even trip to the hairdresser.

Then on Monday another package from them arrived.  Oh, great yet another survey to fill in to make us feel stupid for choosing the arts as a career.  Somewhere there would be a bunch of boxes to check about income earned from royalties and the figure might be embarrassingly low, depending on what time of year it was and whether the publishers had finally mailed the cheque. Maybe I should just wait for that cheque to open the stupid survey.

 I circled the coffee table and tried to ignore the big envelope.   Junk mail, a happy bulletin perhaps about how all the other writers and artists were lolling on the beach with their CC funds. Joyful photos of artists receiving their prizes and medals, sipping champagne in front of a their paintings.

Oh what the heck, let's declutter and get rid of all the mail.  The CC envelope was last to be opened.

Here's the first two lines:

You recently received a letter from the Canada Council for the Arts advising you that your grant application for the Grants to Professional Writers - Creative Writing program was highly recommended.

We are now pleased to advise you that your request will be funded.  

"Oh my gawd!"  I jumped up and down and called "Bob, Bob, Bob" (husband's name) "guess what!" 

Because that doesn't make a great photo I thought I'd use my "granddog" this time.  Warf is also the star of my latest book project.  In it he plays the part of a talking dog Brownie, who grins and has dimples.

One of the grant conditions is that I must supply financial details on how I used the monies. Mortgage payments, subsistence, staying alive.  But of course it may free up other income to accomplish the previously mentioned objectives.  To all my fellow writers who did not have a good year or response to their application, I feel deeply sorry.  The guilt of the granted.

But honestly, mostly, right now, I feel like a lucky dog. 

Battle of the Books--Official timer

Because so many children in Burlington are under the witness protection plan, I can't include a photo of them.

Teams from nineteen schools met at Burlington Public Library to battle over book knowledge.    They needed a timer.  I'm their "local author" and frankly, I just love this competition so I was happy to do it.  What happens is two teams face off in four different rooms of the library.  Each takes turns answering a question.  They must answer with the title of the book for three points and the author for two.  Lots of times they just recite a rosary bead sequence of Canadian authors although they often begin with Eric Walters.  The rest of us seem to only be known by our surnames.  Often the kids would include "McNicoll"in their prayers with  one bright lad starting straight at me to detect any clue by my expression.  "Bah, Eric Walters never wrote anything about dragons," I thought during the fantasy questions. Or did he?  Maybe I should suggest that to him. 

The team had 30 seconds to answer and then the other team got a crack.   It was a tough job frought with technology anxiety.  "Can't I just use my watch?" was the first thing I asked about the job.  But no. Here's the timer.

Note the almost exact timing of 30 seconds here.  For thirty-eight extra seconds I pondered the answer myself..

I practised clicking on, off and clear.  All set to go, pumped even.  Here's one of my favourite questions.
 "In which book does Luke's friend Gracie disappear during an unexpected tornado?"
The kids, of course, blurted out the same answer that popped into my brain.  "Eric Walters.  Safe House."
"Try again," said Marnie, our volunteer inquisitor.
"Little, McNicoll."
"Time!" I called expertly, I must say.

The answer.  I wish I could put it in tiny letters upside down so you would have to turn your screen upside down to read it:
Valerie Sherrard,  The Glory Wind

I'm looking forward to reading the book, and many more mentioned during this fearsome battle.  I return in a couple weeks for the final showdown and to introduce them to my new title crush.candy.corpse.

Signing success crush.candy.corpse at Queensway Chapters

Erica K., my first customer of the day emailed to tell me she read the book in two hours and loved it.

Pressure and anxiety--that's what an author feels when approaching a signing.  Years ago a Coles bookseller told me that selling 19 or 20 books on a day makes a successful event.  Remembering that an a writer clears about a dollar a book, that's $20 for four or five hours.  You never look to these as a cash cow.

You can't just sit back and read or write either and rarely will anyone approach you. You have to coax people to come to speak to you.  So I made my new favourite treat, Mars Bars Squares, and stood offering people these if they were anywhere within shouting distance.  That served as a warm up exercise.

It was the Saturday after a legal holiday, Good Friday, so there was an initial spurt of shoppers who felt deprived of a whole day of the retail experience.  Within an hour and a half I'd sold seven books and all the squares (there were tons) were gone.  Now the fall back line was, "would you like an autographed bookmark?"

Because of social media, you can count on some friends showing up.  Three in my case--that was nice. Deb Loughead, a great writer herself, sat and kept me company for an hour or so.

A high moment for me was when someone approached me to find mugs and Deb said she should buy a book at Chapters and go to Home Sense next door for the cups.  They were way cheaper.  High fives.

 My supportive editor, Carrie Gleason showed.

After that spurt though, the shoppers seemed to part around me.  My target audience often seemed so distant, without throwing myself on teen and preteens like some stalker, it was difficult to get their attention.  Deb watched as I asked the same young person about five times as she scurried around me in different directions whether she wanted a bookmark.

She was deliberately ignoring me, right?

No.  Because the sixth time, she opened up like the sky at sunrise.  She was delighted to chat about my books and receive the bookmark that in turn led to an autographed book.

Another time a young Indian girl with her dad, seemed oblivious to me several passes and then excitedly took the autograph.  No book.  Later as she left the store she made a point of coming back to me to thank me for the signed bookmark.  A warm fuzzy, that means a lot to me, no kuching for the publishing industry, however.


At five with a score of about 18 books if you count the promised ebook purchase, I was all set to pack up when a beautiful young woman (Donna A.) sat down with a laptop sat down opposite me.  She looked up from typing and asked me if the books on display were mine.  I told her I was, indeed, the author.  One thing led to the other and I ended up reading her poetry and chatting about books and writing.

As I was leaving, she told me she wanted to write novels and become a writer, but she didn't think she could survive a no--rejection in other words.

Oh boy,  give up, I thought.   But that's not great mentoring advice.  So I thought for another while.

Then I told her that I had sat there since one o'clock and approached strangers with squares and bookmarks, lots declined.  The only reason I could face that ordeal was because I was convinced that the story I had written if it landed in the right reader(s) hands would make an impact that could even be life changing.



She ran to ask her mother if she could buy the book, and honestly that had not been my intention.  In the end, she gave me my quota sale but she gave me something way better.  I enjoyed meeting a younger me, excited and nervous about her work, loved chatting with her about writing and books, loved reading her poetry. I won't know if my particular book changed her life but the signing experience definitely clicked at that moment.  And the advice I gave her, resonated in my own psyche.  I believe in my stories.  Even if every shopper clutched the Hunger Games trilogy in their hands, I believed that they could still read my book and love it.  If no one else on this planet would handsell my book on this particular day, then I would because of this belief.

Still, please don't ask me to do this every Saturday.

crush.candy.corpse-The Launch at A Different Drummer

It's been four years since my last book came out in Canada.  I have had six released in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Germany but it felt like there was no reflection in my mirror anymore.  With the publication of my thirtieth book, crush.candy. corpse (Lorimer) and this one in Canada, no less, it definitely seemed time to celebrate.  Especially since, Ian the owner of A Different Drummer Books, kept offering to host.  My main reason to stage the launch was simply to celebrate.

But every writer knows, a lot of nerves get played, during the days leading up to the event.  You add up your wine tab and the price of the cookie ingredients, and you realize the royalties from sales may never cover your expenditures.  Besides won't friends and family buy the book anyway?  The biggest fear, by far though, is that no one will show up.  We live in a distracted world.  

And so many of my fellow writing friends live too many traffic hours away.  If indeed no one shows up does that curse the book to failure?

Well, it was a dark and drizzly day and I awoke fighting a cold.  We headed for the store later than I had intended but still were able to enjoy the lovely ambience and great display of all of my books in advance of "the crowds".  Then my immediate family arrived, Robin and Kevin, bartenders with the backup books (oh, we only wish we needed those), Craig, my book trailer producer son next, and then Adam, my invite designer, and Jennifer, my social media director.   (The Burlington Post had also devoted a small corner to letting the general public know about the event.)  Three quarters of the grandkids came (one was celebrating her 2nd birthday and couldn't make it).  Already this intimate store came alive. Then the supportive writers arrived, some teachers, long lost relatives, people I had met on dog walks, students I had talked to on career day. What was especially heartwarming were the friends of my kids, now all adults with babes of their own, lining up to buy books for themselves.  Every birthday they used to get autographed books from us along with the trinket of the day.  My own kids cringed.  Little did I know I was building a fan base.

 So I will declare this booklaunch a huge success. Thanks to all who came out, thanks to Ian and his daughter Laura for setting everything up.  For those of you who couldn't make it, you can watch my presentation here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUzhM_2vJzg  or check out Jennifer Filipowicz's blog on it, to the right of my blog entry. Or you can raise a glass and celebrate Canadian books in whatever fashion you care to. ( But you can order a copy from A Different Drummer or order online from the box book stores, soft, hard or e-version, just sayin'.)

Eye on the Prize--Canada Council Grant

Before last Friday a lot of writers were watching the inbox on their computers or even their regular snailmail box for a  notice about the status of their Canada Council Grants.  I couldn't get a picture of anyone of them looking this hopeful.  But Mortie trains his eye every day on some birds nesting in a cross tube on the baseball fence in Brant Hills Park. He became their metaphor.  Mortie must know he's likely not to nab one of those birds but he goes through this exercise every day.  I know writers don't apply for grants as often. But they slog away at stories that may or may not be published, lauded or appreciated. 

 I don't know what Mortie will do if he every catches his elusive prize.  I had a list for my grant funds.  The money is supposed to be used for "subsistence" but what ever cash you normally use for mortgage and food can be channeled into VISA payments, dental work, computer upgrades, tickets to, say, War Horse.  

But I didn't win the lotto this time.  It was lovely to receive the verdict "Highly recommended but we ran out of funds."  It reminded me of how sniffing close I sometimes come to the bird. 

Coffee Beans and Writing Process

Getting ready for author visits  to discuss the writing process involved in the creation of my new book, crush.candy.corpse What really happened in the forty-first hour? I decided I had to make a coffee bean necklace.  My character, Sunny Ehret, suffers from a hypersensitive sense of smell and when she visits Paradise Manor, she's troubled by the "methane gas" odour.  Certainly,  I have been troubled by this smell when visiting my mom's residence back when she was alive.  Sunny's best friend suggests dabbing Vicks VapoRub under her nose. When Sunny visits the perfume counter instead, the clerk waves a coffee bean under her nose to clear the palate in order to better be able to smell the nuances of the next perfume sample.  Bingo, Sunny decides a coffee bean necklace might be a better solution than medicine up her nostrils.  The medicine idea was something caregivers in Mom's residence had suggested to me.

How does this tie in with writing process?  Well the primary question every author needs to try to address is where to you get your ideas?  The easy answer is always from a) my brain (and I carry a rubber brain around with me) b) from my real life--enter the coffee bean necklace and my anecdotes.

Another tie in--a practical prop to encourage using your sense of smell in writing.

And here's another way to tie in the coffee.  Laura Peetrom, one of my favourite editors, when reading the book in its infancy, suggested a plausibility issue.  Coffee bean necklaces, is that possible to make on your own?  Had I tried this?  Eek.  No.  I had just imagined it  possible.  So I googled and found out you needed to stick the beans in putty (see my lovely homemade purple playdough) and then drill holes on a slow speed.

Okay, I didn't try it at the time but I trusted the Internet and wrote that solution in.  Her brother Wolfie suggests the drill when she finds it hard to poke a needle through.  Now, when I actually have time to make the necklace, not really but I felt I needed to, I found that nine out of ten coffee beans cracked.

My  designer daughter Robin Forsyth from Rubicon Publishing suggested soakiing the beans.  I tried that.  Eight out ten beans cracked.  

Progress was very slow.

Then out of desperation, as I was threading what few beans had made it into bead form, I poked a needle through.  It didn't split.  I tried it again.  And again.  Some still split and I needed to kind of push the needle through with something hard that wasn't my finger.  Eventually I strung two great necklaces.

So you can see the second application of my coffee beans to writing process--the plausibility editorial comment.  To my readers who make their own necklace without seeing these blog corrections, I apologize.  "Course they'll never read this apology either.  To my fab editor, Laura Peetrom, thank you.   

Judging for the CCBC Writing Contest - Grade 10

Eighty-two stories came by Purolator from the Canadian Children's Book Centre.  That's not an overwhelming amount, in other years I've received boxes, well over a couple hundred.  The difference, however, is that these are from grade 10 students.  These stories are not just a packet of writing exercises assigned by a Toronto private school teacher and turned in.

These are poems, essays, and stories about holocaust, suicide, werewolves, dragons, bullying, Canada geese, lobster fishing and more.  They come from students from Nova Scotia, B.C., the Northwest Territories, and all the provinces in between.  Some are from homeschooled writers, others from urban collegiate students.

What's more all of them are good. Or let me correct that and say all have kernels of greatness in them, lyrical moments, an emotional turn of a phrase, a funny line, an profound insight, a window into a different kind of life or thinking.

When you receive that many entries, the temptation is to read until the first grammatical error or lapse in view point etc.  The first moment you're taken out of the storie by a miswrite, you flip it down on to the pile.

Not this time.  These entries deserved better. So I'm only reading them ten at a time, right through.  Sticking on little yellow post it notes to remind myself about the topic.  The best ones of the days go to the top of the pile.  Sometimes all ten go to the top.

Then I'll reread the top ones again.   While they all deserve applause and certainly this top pile, even more, I will have to be subjective in the end and just choose the story or poem that captures my heart the most. Almost there.

Three Secret Writing Tools

Everyone needs to embrace a ritual to get into right brain.  Mine is the morning walk.  I have a coach--see my middle photo where Mortie gives me a scornful eye for taking too long in gathering up my jacket, shoes, leash etc.  If I run back to answer a phone or worse, check email, the look becomes vociferous.  Not just barking, but shaped moans and groans.

The final photo shows a random hole in the sky.  The monotony of walking helps you think but to be creative in any of the arts you need to be open to serendipitous input.  You want to observe details closer.  My digital camera is helping me with that. So my three secret writing tools: a morning walk, a talking dog and my digital camera.

CANSCAIP Packaging Your Imagination Meeting Nov 10/2012

Packaging Your Imagination (PYI) is the pickhit conference extravaganza that sells out early and leaves everyone breathless with inspiration. Editors, writers and illustrators share their tips and just in time for Christmas, you can buy autographed copies of their work. February 11, 2012 we met to hammer out details of the November 10, 2012 PYI.  Everything from how much food to order to whom we should invite to give the keynote address got decided in a very cordial way.  Remember you heard it first here.  Shh, shh! This is top secret but some of the confirmed speakers so far include:  Paul Yee, Christopher Moore, Norma Charles, Carolyn Beck, Lena Coakley, Tim Wynne Jones, Clayton Hamner, Patricia Ocampo, Sheila Barry, Richard Scrimger, Vladyann KrykorkaRebecca Upjohn, and Helaine Becker.  More to come yet. Some of the people in the photos, wonderful creators in their own right, are Patricia Storms, of course sitting under theart, Sharon Jennings, Lena Coakley, Gisela Sherman, Karen Krossing and Mahtab Narsihman.  We're looking forward to November.

First Signing of candy. crush. corpse OLA Superconference

Not only is this the first signing of my latest novel due to actually be released in March, but it's the first time in my 24 years of writing that I'm autographing ARCs or advanced reading copies.  Here's a talented young writer Cheryl Rainfield (author of  Hunted) waiting for me to inscribe her ARC with some pithy wit.  "Best wishes". Authors often have difficulty concentrating enough to personalize a book and spell correctly.  Plus there's a feeling that you should be able to look into someone's soul and give them the exact three or four word message that will change their life and yet also endorse the overall mood and message of the story.

The lineup was decent and I enjoyed meeting many librarians from my past.  Arcs are of course complimentary so I'm not sure how they will work to boost my sales.  But it all felt very nice.

A couple of hours later, I emceed as 35 authors presented their new books in three minute infomercials.  The Annual CANSCAIP OLA Book launch, it's a fun kind of "Gong Show", who remembers that television game show? Authors dress up, sing, read from their books or reviews--it's a very celebratory event and librarians crush each other to get to it.  Just kidding.  About the crushing, I mean.  

crush.candy.corpse free signed arcs OLA Friday #535 10:20

Alright everybody.  Spot the difference between the last posted cover and this one. This is the final.  If you're attending the Ontario Library Associate Super Conference, please come to the Lorimer booth number 535 February 3, Friday,from 10:20 to 10:50 to meet me and get your free signed arc.  Copies will also be available at Reading for the Love of it.

I love it!

And the Winning Title is...

crush. candy. corpse.  

This is my first book with James Lorimer Company Ltd. Publishing and it's been a wonderful experience.  It should have happened back in 1987 when the acquisitions editor turned down my first novel ever:  Blueberries and Whipped Cream.  Such a lucky book that turned out to be, film options were sold, Australian rights, a couple of years ago German, Swedish and Norwegian rights.

But this is going to be an even luckier book because the spirit of my mother will bless it.
It's dedicated to her and she died as I was completing the last edit. Much of my experience visiting
with Mom in the Alzheimer's unit is fictionalized in this book.  Things that nearly happened, that I imagined happening as I sat hoping for some response from my mother.

Anyway, we've been agonizing for a couple months.  Or maybe it was just me.  But a reader, Charlotte Zronik, came up with the title and everyone, including the booksellers who previewed the mock cover, loved it.  Thank you Charlotte.  You may have a career in marketing and PR in the future.  Certainly you have an autographed book coming your way.

Coming from my magazine world, initially I thought, with the lower case letters, that the first three words were the "dek" and the all-caps WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FORTY-FIRST HOUR? was the title. But that's just cool graphics.  I do like alliteration but this is a bit of a tongue twister.  Say it quickly and you'll see.

But nobody really has to say anything out loud. They just need to buy the book and read it.

Skyping Freedom Middle School in Stone Mountain Georgia

Not my fans, at least not yet, these are a class of kids from Georgia who listened to Thunder Over Kandahar as a read a loud. Sharon McKay came over so I could help her skype in to answer their extremely thoughtful questions.  I thought Sharon was joking when she said she was bringing me a burqa to wear for the interview. I chuckled out loud. That Sharon.  Such a kidder.  Me dressing up for that tiny skype window.

She wasn't joking.  It felt a bit claustrophobic even though it was a pretty aqua coloured fabric with some nice embroidery.  I found it hard to breathe and stumbled to the computer. Sharon spoke about the detailed research she does, usually onsite, and how she relies on  a team of supporters from the culture to fact check.

She likes to write about what she wants to know rather than following the old adage of writing what you know.  

So the question she left the kids with was, should a white middle class woman write about the life of a young Muslim girl?  Should she ever write outside her culture?  

I think, since we're privileged to live in a free speaking country, we not only should write about other cultures, but it's our duty.  They can't always write about their own lives with impunity. Also a western woman can write in a mainstream way for western kids to find the story readable.  One young woman who had read the book before listening to it and speaking to Sharon, told us how it had changed her life and how grateful she was that Sharon had written the story.  Brought a lump to my throat.  It's what every author hopes for.  Netoba Watson said the skype visit was one of the highlights of her teaching career. All I can say is, it's teachers like her and Itaski Arnette that help kids achieve their full potential and Sharon and I, as moms, and grandmoms as well as authors,value them.  You're lucky Freedom Middle School.

Cobourg Library Writing Contest-St. Joseph and Dale Road School

After this photo, my camera disappeared underneath the carpet in the back of my passenger seat.  I only found it on Friday after a hunt through the house that turned up all kinds of other interesting things. So we travel back in time to November 18 when I enjoyed (re) meeting Rhonda Perry, Cobourg librarian extraordinaire.  Each year her library engages several authors to visit schools to celebrate and encourage their writing contest.  St. Joseph School was kind enough to allow a gifted class to join their audience on this particular visit. I walked them through my writing process on a book called Last Chance for Paris.  In trying new ways to explore metaphor and similes, I often use paint chips and ask the students for the best shade of white to describe snow and then tombstones.  I also explain what difficulty I had in coming up with new ways to describe blue eyes for the character Tyler.  His eyes can be glacier blue since Zanna the main character now lives near the icefields in Alberta.  Sometimes when he's friendlier, they're described as lake blue.  Last question of the day was how would I describe the blue of my top which you can barely make out in this photo.  It was a challenge rather than a genuine desire for information.  The young man wore a crooked grin as he asked it.  I explained that writers sometimes have to think long and hard about these things, they don't come instantly.  That the cliche answer was royal blue but that if pressed, I would probably choose an emotion to describe the colour: sincere blue.  I'd read somewhere that blue was a good colour to wear to job interviews because it's is considered a "true" colour, true-blue.  Visiting schools is like a job interview, if you "pass" the students believe some of your writing tips and often read your books.

Happy Journeys Mom June 7, 1931 - November 3, 2011

November 19th was Mom's sendoff party.  Five out of six grandchildren attended, six great grandchildren and my brother and I, with our spouses, plus many friends and some Condo mates. Mom would have loved it. One thing I learned is how much a person is remembered and loved for their idiosyncrasies for example:  feeding kids Smarties so they get smarter (wink-wink), sending postcards with birds on it to a granddaughter because she is named Robin, paying quarters for correct Jeopardy answers, dressing in cleavage displaying leopard fabrics, and sewing/weaving through calves liver with bacon.  Mom loved to swim and called on all the Condo ladies every morning to head off to the pool.  She also enjoyed the Sound of Music  Festival in Burlington every year, playing Rummy Cubes, 

reading, big family dinners with lots of kids running around.  She would have loved the rouladen, red cabbage, cabbage rolls, spaezle, Schnizel, potato salad, and cheese cake served at her sendoff.  She would have liked hearing her granddaughter singing You are my Sunshine.  Most of all she would have loved all her great and grand children.  Happy trails Mom.  Auf wiedersehen.

Last Chance for Paris wins Hamilton Award for YA Book

The biggest win wasn't the cheque, although thank you very much to Reliable Life Insurance for sponsoring my groceries for a week. (We eat a lot too and there may be crabs' legs this week) The amazing gift was that Ron Ulrich, Managing Artistic Director of Theatre Aquarius, read chapter six from Last Chance from Paris.  Imagine listening to seven minutes of a readingof your own work as you're standing in front of an audience.  He originally trained as an actor with the National Theatre School of Canada and his rendition was nothing short of spectacular.  You could feel the level of respect for children's literature and my book rising as he continued.  It's difficult for  writers to appreciate their own work when they've written and rewritten a piece and they've received all the reviews or (sometimes not received enough reviews) and gone through "recessionary" royalty statements.  But his reading made me appreciate my own talent.   It also made me think that literature needs to make use of every platform, whether electronic or auditory, to keep up the passion for the original medium: pages.

I enjoyed listing to all the readings but especially a surprise performance by Burlington Slam Poetry  http://burlingtonslam.wordpress.com/.  Apparently they host poetry readings every third Thursday of the month at Philthy McNasty's, cover charge of $5 goes to the winning poet. I will definitely make a point of going.

The end of the evening featured a reading of the winning adult fiction, Trevor Cole's Practical Jean, another book I must acquire. Life is never better than when you have a stack of books at your bedside ready for your enjoyment. Thank you Hamilton Arts Council and Ron Ulrich!

Writing with Hillfield S. Students at RBG

A Morning of Inspiration

The sweet scent of exotic blossom mingled with a heavier wet earth smell,

An orange and white flash of fins and tails,

The smooth gloss feeling of the leaf we're not supposed to touch,

The sound of pencils scratching against paper and silence,

The warm minced beef taste of a soft taco lunch to end the writing experience. 

On October 14 two sets of students headed out to share new writing inspirations with a) Hugh Brewster at Dundurn Castle and b) me at Royal Botanical Gardens.  I enjoyed our tropical garden atmosphere for walking and writing in. The at-home challenge was for the students to write a five sense poem about their own favourite sensations.  The poems all came in now and because I didn't ask permission to post, I've created one myself to remind them of our time together.

 

Norwegian translation of Dying to Go Viral: Tur-retur evigheten

In English I've titled this story Dying to Go Viral.  In Norwegian, it appears to be Tur-Retur evigheten. Fourteen-year old Jade dies "skitching", skateboarding hitched to the back of a car.  She promised her dad she would wear a helmet at all times but her boy crush wanted to video her with her long hair blowing in the wind.  She awakes in a beautiful Japanese garden and meets her long dead mom.  Jade begs for another chance at life but is only able to secure a retake of her last week.  Still no one will be able to make her perform that stupid stunt again.  Jade manages to change all kinds of destiny in a positive way but can she evade her death?  You have to hope an English speaking publisher picks up the title so you can read the end.

Witchlanders by Lena Coakley at the Eternal Flame in Ottawa

This is a historical post in that it refers back to October 18. Kelly Duffin (Executive Director of The Writers Union of Canada) and I were dashing in to hear the second reading of Bill C11, the copyright bill. But I stopped at the Eternal Flame to read Lena Coakley's brand new Witchlanders.   Okay not really.  I was reading it on the my Porter Airlines flight to and from but I didn't have anyone to photograph me there.  Instead, a fantasy in front of Parliament.  More dramatic and fitting I think. Witchlanders tells an engrossing story about witches and magic and my favourite, the Dredhounds.   The cover is beautiful I'll have to take a picture of it more close up.  Pale blue with strands of white ice on it.  The writing is pure magic too.  Get a copy and read it somewhere comfy.

Title Sudoku

As part of my job as magazine editor, I often help or come up with "cover lines", "heds" and "deks".
A "hed" is the title of an article, a "dek" is the preamble to further explain what's in the piece--both need to be catchy and cute.

Note the alliteration Catchy and Cute.  Alliteration is my favourite tool.

Sometimes I play with movie titles, as in a Greek restaurant review, I called it My Big Fat Greek Dinner (there were generous portions)  Everyone likes a double entendre although my  "Egg citing Breakfasts in the Annex" got voted off the island by my other editor.  Multiple entendres can seem like cliche puns.

I should be an expert on titles by now, after 27 books and five years of magazine editing. But the person who writes the piece, rarely is asked to title it.  That person needs an overview (for newspaper and magazine anyway) of what other titles are in the magazine, on the content page and on the cover (cover lines).  Yes, a piece often has three nomenclatures.

So back to my book: originally The Forty First Hour, named for the volunteers hours needed for the death/manslaughter to have taken place.

New additions to the title wars:  The Lesser Charge  (manslaughter is this)
We want to cue the reader that there is a trial as a major component of the story, so legal terms with double entendres might be good.  The senior with dementia in the home might be considered a low responsibility on the hierarchy of who is important to society hence, the dead 75 year old could be The Lesser Charge.
with an implied irony.

Irony is a good tone for the title because the character can be witty in a sarcastic way.

Suspicious    I just like this word and everything that happens in this story can play out so many different ways that it's all suspicious.

We could add other words  Truth and Suspicions.

Deliberate Actions

Nothing But the Truth

Sunny's Daze    (character's nickname is Sunny )

Circumstantial Evidence


Trial by Fire


Innocent Until Proven Guilty


A Reasonable Doubt


While I like playing title Sudoku, it reminds me of when we first brought our puppy home.  He had been named Willy by the breeder but my daughter was naming her newborn William and asked me to change it.  For three days we deliberated but until we decided it was very frustrating for us to call "Sit ...."  or "Be quiet  noname dog".  I'm very excited about this upcoming novel and I find myself wanting to tell librarians, teachers, booksellers and potential readers in general about it.  But to say I have this new book coming in March and not be able to quickly follow with "and it's called" is frustrating.

By the way, my puppy became Mortie as in "Be quiet, Mortimer".  Mortie  also sounds a bit like Willy to the dog so the transition was seemless.  He's mischievous, throwing huge boots or pillows around when he needs our attention, and very vocal.  He seems to try to articulate his barking into groans, whines and words.  I can't imagine him with any other name.

If you have any suggestions, please make them.  Feel free to combine titles that are already listed:
"Trial by Circumstance"  "Reasonable Evidence".  Or vote on your favourite.  My new title, when it's decided, will become the perfect match too.  Thanks.