Happy Tuesday!

Things continue to hop like an acid-lovin’ frog around here, and Tuesdays are going to be no exception. Beginning a week from today, you’ll find a special post devoted to Indie publishing and those who live it.

The first featured blogger will be author-columnist-blogger Ev Bishop. Ev’s new book WEDDING BANDS is the first in her River’s Sigh series, and follows her great success with her first published novel BIGGER THINGS. She’ll be talking about the experience of bringing her books into the world, and I have word that there is going to be a FREE giveaway of digital copies of her new book — so stay tuned!

This is going to be a regular feature henceforth, so if you have an Indie writer dear to your heart who you’d like to see featured here, point ’em my way!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

Well. Where to begin…?

I guess, really, to go back to the beginning, I’ll need you to travel back a few years and come into the shower with me.

Metaphorically, obviously.

The Very Long version of this story revolves around big projects, and the life of a writer and all kinds of esoteric hoo-haw, so let’s go with the short version, shall we? Suffice to say, I had been [and continue to be] working on a really big project, and over the course of it had found myself occasionally discouraged at the length and magnitude and general overwhelmedness that comes with such a thing. [More on THAT project later…]

As the life of a writer can be a lonely one, I periodically gather somewhere central with others of my ilk, and together we work on our individual projects in sullen silence.This, my friends, is how anti-social writers bond.

Anyway, on this particular day, I was in the shower preperatory to meeting my friend [the writer Kathy Kenzie] for just such a work session. Forced by Kathy’s odd expectation that I be clean when we meet, I was in the shower when an idea hit. It made me laugh out loud.

Ablutions finished, I hurried off to see what Kathy thought. It made her laugh, too.

On a day when both of us were feeling somewhat discouraged by the mixture of torpor and insanity that is our life’s calling, we both laughed at this one, silly idea. People have gone to war for less.

So, of course, I wrote the book.

It’s not my usual sort of thing. It’s not YA. Although ENIRELY fictional, it treads a line between the real world and the imaginary in such a way that it could have met a short, sharp end many times before it was even finished. As a result, by its very nature, it has been a Super Sekrit project since Day One.

But here we are. It looks like the universe is unfolding so that this Super Sekrit project is, in fact, going to see the light of day in 2015. It’s going to mean a lot of changes for me, and for those who follow my work.

The first thing you might notice will be this website, as it will be undergoing a bit of a facelift in the coming weeks. Other exciting things are in store, too, and I will talk more about those in upcoming posts. But let’s finish today’s musings with a bit about the project itself, shall we?

Because I’m going to need your help.

For all kinds of reasons, I’ve decided to step away from traditional publishing for this project. Let’s call it an experimental foray into self-publishing. Giant learning curve involved, and so far it’s been equal parts fun and nerve-wracking.

Now that the head-down, anti-social, book-writin’ part is done, I’ve decided to pull back the curtain on everything else, and walk through the self-publishing process in public. It IS an experiment, after all, and maybe we’ll learn something together. This is not to say I’ve walked away from traditional publishing in any way. My first six books have emerged through major publishing houses, and I have every expectation that the aforementioned major project I’ve been working on will go that route, too. But this time, I’m going to bring a book to you on my own, and hopefully learn something in the process.

Whew! This sekrit sharing is no easy task, especially when you’ve been holding on to something for so long. But this story is very dear to my heart, and I hope you are going to enjoy it, too. The story takes the form of what you might call a romantic comedy for grownups. It’s called FINDING FRASER, and now that all the sekrits are out there, I’ll tell you more about it when next we chat, okay?

 

More soon…

 

~kc

Finished Kate Atkinson’s novel last night around 2-ish, and I felt so rumpled about it, I decided I should throw it up for discussion here. [This review is pretty much spoiler-free, but I expect to address actual plot items in the comments, so you may want to avoid reading those if you plan to read this story one day..]

…

I’d heard many good things about LIFE AFTER LIFE before reading, but the story ended up being nothing remotely like what I expected. Don’t get me wrong — Atkinson is a lovely writer, with a gift for an ascerbic turn of phrase that made me laugh out loud more than once.

However, this is NOT a funny book. Taken as historical fiction, it is a heart-breaking look at the immensity of the loss the English middle classes suffered during the two largest wars of the twentieth century. It veers sharply away from nostalgia, with even the pastoral pre-war years being pretty much fraught with unexpected cataclysm underlying the every day life of its protagonist Ursula Todd.

[There is a small side-note equating Ursula’s patronym with a fox — Tod — but it’s more likely the German etymology that Atkinson was employing here…]

Though I might have a quarrel with the way the story unfolds (particularly in the tricky middle chapters), and some of the world-building choices made by the author; by the end of the story I came to accept LIFE AFTER LIFE as a rumination on Ursula’s search for herself. I wasn’t satisfied by the ending, and I’m pretty sure that was the intention, but I will remember this book, without question. It will live on in my mind as a sort of unsatisfactory, double-exposed snapshot of the first half of the twentieth century, awash in all the ghosts of what might have been. 

Have you read LIFE AFTER LIFE? What did you think? Let’s talk it out in the comments!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

You may remember that I am a proponent of the treadmill desk as a way to stave off some of the posterior-widening that so often comes to those in my line of work. I acquired my machine in March of 2010, after a knee injury [torn meniscus] left me unable to run. I strapped a plastic surf-shelf to the digital display and began to write down the distances I walked each day with a goal in mind to virtually make it across Canada. When I finally got rid of the pesky meniscus, I started running again, but kept the walking going as a part of my working day.

By the end of 2013, as you can see here, I made it across Canada, mostly following the Trans-Canada highway.  So this year, while the walking continued, I had a conundrum…where to walk next? I always like a challenge, so — first Canada, now … the world?

But which route to take?

With one thing and another, I had a kind of poor year for recording my distances in 2014, but in the end I added 1888 km to my total [of which more than 1100 km were running — it was a GREAT year for that, at least]. And now, even though roads are not always an option for travelling around the world, I’ve decided to follow the major land masses as best I can. I’m going to head [still virtually] north and east, along the coast of BC and up to Alaska to cross the Bering Strait into Russia.

Why not?

Google maps, which has been my friend throughout the whole of the virtual journey so far, is proving less than useful for this leg. My 2014 mileage has taken me along the coastline of BC, up through Prince Rupert and into Alaska, but I haven’t found a way to measure this exactly just yet.

If you know a decent piece of mapping software for walkers, I’d love it if you could let me know!

I will continue my own research, and as always, keep you apprised. In the meantime, why not let me know what posterior-widening avoidance techniques you have embraced for 2015? I’d love to cheer you on!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and we have a new year on hand. What to do, what to do?

Make lists, of course!

Lists get me through life. I have always had a terrible memory for stuff I’m supposed to get done, and I have boxes full of used notebooks full of life’s minutiae from years past. Today’s new notebook came to me from lovely chair Camille Netherton and the rest of the SiWC board, and I look forward to filling it up in style. 

But this year, I am going to try something different. In the spirit of the success that writer Kathy Chung [and others!] have had with The Famous Yahtzee Method, I’m going to go a step further this year. Making a list is just step one. SCHEDULING the items on the list — now THAT is the challenge! This is my task today — to sort out a reasonable schedule within which to fit at least some of the items on my various lists.

Not sure how it’s going to work out. I’ll report back for sure. If you want to join me in this endeavour — please do! I’d like to hear how you get organized for a new year — list, schedule… or something else? Feel free to share in the comments! And however you do it — welcome to 2015. It’s been the best day of the year so far, wouldn’t you say?

More soon…

 

~kc

This has been a crazy fall, and will likely prove to be an even busier winter [though I expect you’ll be seeing a bit more of me soon]!

But for now, from my house to yours…

 

Happy New Year!

See you in 2015.

 

More soon…

 

~kc

Once again this year, we don’t have to remember too far back, as Canadians are once again serving overseas. My grampa served in the First World War, and one hundred years on, Canadians continue to sacrifice their lives to the machinations of governments around the world.

 

Who do you remember?

 

~kc

The Surrey International Writers’ Conference has come and gone for 2014. It was amazing fun, reconnecting with old friends and garnering inspiration from all the giant brains in attendence. The conference has eaten my head for the past two months [hence the scanty posting here] but has provided me with all kinds of interesting projects I’ll be talking about over the next few months. And I’ll post a few pix soon, too.

But…

I have come home to a little mystery this week that I thought I might ask your help with. All ideas welcome!

I received a small packet in the mail; a book [one that I already own, interestingly enough] called ‘The Meanwhile Chronicles’ by Roddy Doyle. It’s technically a used edition — Scholastic paperback version, a bit yellowed, but the spine uncracked. It was sent to me via Amazon.ca with no shipping label from Better World Books in Chicago.

I HAVE NO IDEA WHY.

I mean — I love Roddy Doyle. I own just about every book he’s ever written, including this one. And I love getting books — who doesn’t? But I didn’t order this one, and Amazon can’t tell me who did.

DID YOU????

I mean, I totally know you would send me a book if you could. But if you didn’t send this one, can you help me figure out who did? Let’s solve the puzzle together, shall we?

 

More soon…

 

~kc

So, last night the ALS challenge finally came home to roost here at kc dyer central, bestowed upon me by the ever-innovative and evil Mike Carson.

Here’s his challenge.

 

Brilliant, yes? I could not hope to compete with that.

But as competition is not the spirit of the thing — [hint: GIVING to support ALS] — I decided to at least provide a writerly angle to my response.

And, ever the gentleman, Mr. Edgar Allan Poe stepped in to assist…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also? I hereby challenge my writer friends Tyner Gillies, James McCann and Lee Edward Fodi to participate in ice-bucketing themselves [or their literaray counterparts] on behalf of ALS. You’ve got 24 hours, guys!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

I love coming across weird signs when I travel. Here are a few that piqued my interest recently…

In London, bridges were a bit of an issue:

Make sure to break step…

Um…this left me worried.

 

When I spied this one I had NO idea to what it referred…

Is it like…cow tipping?

 

Okay, so don’t dump your garbage on the fly!

Signs on public transport can offer intrigue:

Definately in the UK.

Who knew these had become enough of a part of the zeitgeist to warrent a sign!

Reykjavik graffiti [on the side of an art gallery]

 

Clear Icelandic directions.

Extremely clear Python directions.

And, to finish, a little bit of Canada I found atop Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh…

 

More soon…

 

~kc