*Note: This post is a wee bit photo-heavy. If you’d rather not wait for the upload, you can check out my flickr page HERE for a more detailed view.

A guided tour of my speedy visit to the beautiful city [that truly lived up to its windy reputation]…

I only got a very few city-scape shots, but each one was filled with surprises for me. Such a lovely place!

A few daytime shots to begin…

A view up Michigan Avenue…

 

 

 

 

….followed by a shot of the El. 

 

 

 

One of the guardians of the Art Institute of Chicago [which will get its own post later].

 

Some marvellous stained glass — note each window has its own character…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And to finish, a shot of my friend Lee Edward Fodi, when we found ourselves at the end of a long, strange journey to be at the very place where the yellow brick road began…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More soon!

 

~kc

I’m here in Chicago, having a great time in the very short visit that time allows. I’ve never been to this city before — have only touched down at the airport and jetted elsewhere prior to this.

What was I thinking? This place is AMAZING!

I’m here with Lee Edward Fodi, Lori Sherritt-Fleming and the one and only Kari-Lynn Winters, and the four of us today gave a kicker of a presentation to the NCTE — National Council for Teachers of English. This is a mammoth yearly conference for educators from all over the US, and we talked about finding ways to make time for the Arts in regular curriculum — and having fun while doing it. The talk was great, and we all feel very welcomed by the lovely folks of this city.

Last night we walked the city and had [thanks to the terrific advice of @LukeRyanSays] the best deep-dish pizza I’ve ever eaten. Today, after the NCTE gig, Lee and I took off on a typical Lee & kc adventure, getting massively lost in the Art Institute of Chicago and then finding our way along the yellow brick road just before sunset to make a pilgrimmage to Lee’s childhood hero L. Frank Baum’s neighbourhood.

Pictoral evidence HERE.

Totally so much fun. The happy look on Lee’s face says it all — it was worth the wind and the hike to share the space with Dorothy [whose shoes, I’m afraid, kinda paled next to the now very well-travelled Pink Docs], the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Straw Man.

Lovely.

But this is not to belittle the trip to the AIoC. Holy crow. I got to see the iconic Georgia O’Keefe painting, a huge Seurat in all its pixellated glory, an astonishing interpretation of the picture of Dorian Grey, originals by Monet, Toulouse Latrec, Manet and the unmistakeable American Gothic.

I have the best job in the world.

Now, for some reason, I can’t get any of today’s photos to post at the moment, and I am now late to go meet my gang. We’re heading off for a midnight showing of Second City. Might feel a little rough at my lunchtime gig tomorrow, but hey…how can I visit Chicago without seeing the seat of much of what I have found funny my entire life?

Will post pix to my flickr page and add some to this blog as soon as the Internet gods smile on me. In the meantime, I blow kisses to you from the windy City, which is SO living up to its name!

More soon…

 

~kc

And Trudy? I’m typing this in a Chicago Starbucks while Sarah McLaughlin sings the First Noel. Definitely Christmassy!



Last year, as an act of Rememberance on November 11th,  I posted a listing of the 152 Canadian casualties in the Afghan conflict. [You can review the posts here, here and here, if you so choose.] Since that time, five more soldiers have died in combat.

Cpl Steve Martin was killed by an IED on December 18, 2010, two days before he would have turned 25.

Cpl Yannick Scherrer, also 24, was killed March 27, 2011 by an IED while on foot patrol.

Bombardier Karl Manning was 31 when he died in what was referred to as a ‘non-hostile, non-accident incident’, likely a reference to the fact he took his own life.

Master Cpl Francis Roy, a member of the special forces team, was found dead June 25th. His death was described as non-combat related, without further detail.

And less than two weeks ago, Master Cpl Byron Greff was killed in a suicide attack. He was 28 years old.

In 2008, our country set 2011 as a withdrawal date from active duty in the conflict — all active Canadian Forces personnel were to exit by the end of December this year. However, the way things stand now, it looks to me like they plan to end active combat, but intend to remain in the region, continuing to aid in training Afghani forces.

I profoundly disagree with Canada’s involvement in this war, but want to send my support to all the families of these soldiers, the forces themselves, and the civilian support team for their incredible sacrifices in the face of an almost entirely hopeless and thankless situation.

I don’t want to add a single name to this list next year.

 

~kc

So, here is a sweet story of just how desperate the situation for writers is these days…

I received this letter today. [Transcribed as received, sics and all, with a single exception. Took out the site wherein they phished my name, to protect the innocent.]

Respected Kc Dyer,

 I am Prof. Justin Orton from King’s College Campus Here in London UK.
We want you to be our guest Speaker at this Year King’s college Seminar which will take place here in UK. We are writing to invite and confirm your booking to be our guest Speaker at this year’s event.

King’s College Campus.

The Venue as follows:
VENUE: King’s College campus in Strand
London, United Kingdom
POST CODE:WC2R 2LS
Expected audience: 850  people
Duration of speech per speaker: 1  Hour
Name of Organization: King’s College Campus.
Topic: ”THE ACT OF CREATIVITY”
Date:8th November 2011

 We came across your profile on xxx and we say it’s up to standard and we will be very glad to have such an outstanding personality in our mist for these overwhelming gathering. Arrangements to welcome you here will be discussed as soon as you honor our invitation. If you have any more publicity material, please do not
hesitate to contact us.

 A formal Letter of invitation and Contract agreement would be sent to you as soon as you honor our Invitation. We are taking care of your traveling and Hotel Accommodation expenses including your Speaking
Fee. If you will be available for our event, include your speaking fees In your email so it can be included in your CONTRACT AGREEMENT.

Stay Blessed
Prof.Justin Orton
King’s College Campus.

Tel: + 44 702 408 2535

 

Now….let’s just take a closer look at this, shall we?

Respected Kc Dyer,

[Respected? Why thank you! You _did_ mis-case my name, Professor, which makes me feel a little less revered, I have to say. And yet — King’s College. Your KC is definitely Upper Case, as well as Upper Class. I am feeling better by the moment!]

 I am Prof. Justin Orton from King’s College Campus Here in London UK.

[Professor Orton. I’m afraid I must draw your attention to your unfortunate tendency to capitalize and punctuate randomly. It makes me fear, sir, for the future of your dear students.]

We want you to be our guest Speaker at this Year King’s college Seminar which will take place here in UK. We are writing to invite and confirm your booking to be our guest Speaker at this year’s event.

King’s College Campus.

[Also, dear professor, your repetition of the venue location — would that indicate emphasis? Are you proud of your post-secondary institution? I am ever so impressed, especially now that you mentioned it twice!]

The Venue as follows:
VENUE: King’s College campus in Strand

[Ah. A third time. Just in case I hadn’t been paying attention?]

London, United Kingdom
POST CODE:WC2R 2LS

[Now THIS little detail convinces me of the veracity of your request. Bravo, sir!]

Expected audience: 850  people

[Oh, I do like a good crowd.]

Duration of speech per speaker: 1  Hour

[Nice. Not too much time to fill. I think I can manage an hour.]

Name of Organization: King’s College Campus.
Topic: ”THE ACT OF CREATIVITY”

[Ah. My specialty. How clever of you to notice!]

Date:8th November 2011

[So soon? Gosh, I do hope my calendar is still open….]

 We came across your profile on xxx and we say it’s up to standard

[Oh, goodness. This is a relief. I’d hate to feel I didn’t meet the standard.]

and we will be very glad to have such an outstanding personality

[…you DO make me blush, sir.]

in our mist

[in your…in your _mist_? Oh, of course — that famous London pea-soup fog. I quite understand!]

for these overwhelming gathering.

[_these_ gathering? Clearly a typo. Yes, yes, one can never get good secretarial help this days…]

Arrangements to welcome you here will be discussed as soon as you honor

[Honor? HONOR? Do you MOCK me, sir? I may well be a denizen of North America, but MY Canada still includes the ‘u’ in honour!]

our invitation. If you have any more publicity material, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 A formal Letter of invitation and Contract agreement would be sent to you as soon as you honor

[A-again? I…I…I fear I begin to doubt your sincerity, Professor.]

our Invitation. We are taking care of your traveling and Hotel Accommodation expenses including your Speaking Fee.

[Taking care of my expenses? And — clearly I can name my own fee? Well, in that case, forget the damn ‘u’ in honour. I am your girl!]

If you will be available for our event, include your speaking fees In your email so it can be included in your CONTRACT AGREEMENT.

[Please notice, dear professor, how your random capitalization is no longer fazing me. Am calculating my expenses as I type this…]

Stay Blessed

[Indeed, dear sir! How could I be anything BUT blessed by your honorable offer? {See what I did there, Professor?} I am deeply blessed. Deeply. Blessed. And also stricken with an urge to randomly; punctuate.]

Prof.Justin Orton
King’s College Campus.

[My thanks to you, dear sir, for your kind invitation. I accept! Lovingly — and blessedly — I remain…]

 

~kc dyer

 

 

PS  What does it say about the state of my industry that writers are now considered the new Nigerian Email Scam ‘London Speaking Engagement’ rubes? Gussy up the location, throw in a little request for creativity and an unlimited budget to sweeten the bait, and we are prime candidates for fleecing.

Discuss!

 

PPS Oh — and here’s the professor’s phone number again, in case anyone wants to give him a chatty call. Don’t forget to reverse the charges — he IS covering expenses after all!  + 44 702 408 2535

 

 

More soon…

 

~kc [fer real this time]

Dealing with some interesting housing issues at the moment, so for today, I’d like to point you to a couple of posts I’ve put up for the Surrey International Writers’ Conference blog. I moderated a social media panel again this year, and mucho fun was had by all. But some great info came out of it, too.

Here’s a link to a summary of the panel: http://www.siwc.ca/blogs/kcdyer/exploring-social-media-panel-links-0

And here’s one to the post that Miss 604 put online: http://www.siwc.ca/blogs/kcdyer/social-media-101

 

Enjoy!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

…courtesy of the redoubtable Sean Cranbury and his gang at the W2!

Here’s a chance to put some real fun into the celebration of all things literary in Canada, and to do it in the heart of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The W2 Media Centre is a beautiful phoenix that has risen out of the ashes of the old Woodwards building, and here’s your chance to see it in all its glory.

Sean’s take on the subject of this particular party:

Just a note to let you know that VIWF’s Hal Wake has agreed to the the Giller Vancouver event along with local poet, actor and former Duthie Books bookseller, Dina Del Bucchia. It’s amazing to have two great supporters of local books and writing leading the event.

Check the announcement here: http://gillervancouver.com/2011/10/27/announcing-the-giller-vancouver-2011-hosts-hal-wake-and-dina-del-bucchia/

Here are the event details:

 

 Me again.

Sean is the Executive Editor and host of Books on the Radio, the Advent Book Blog, the W2 Real Vancouver Writers’ Series and many other nefarious pursuits. You can find him on-line here:

booksontheradio.ca
facebook.com/booksontheradio
youtube.com/booksontheradio

And here is what he looks like when he’s hosting. [This was taken at the W2 Real Writers gig last year during the cultural olympiad, at which I read — and clearly — took pictures.]

So — come to the party for the Gillers.

There will be wine!

There will be song!

There will be kc dyer, hiding behind a camera [Yeah, yeah…it’s what I do at things like this. It’s the centre of attention for me or nothing, it seems…].

 

I’m really looking forward to it. Hope to see you there!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

This year’s Surrey International Writers’ Conference has come and gone in a blaze of brimstone and nirvana; and from all accounts I’ve heard, was the best conference we’ve ever pulled off. the pope at the bar, photo by I. Monaghan

I remember it only in glimpses, like a dream upon waking — being trapped on the 15th floor as a pair of ex-US Presidents were spirited into the building, inflicting writer’s cramp on a roomful of beginning scribes, laughing and crying with the winners of the writing contest, wielding egg beaters with Anne Perry to simulate heavy machinery as we aurally ground a boy to bits in Michael Slade’s version of The Monkey’s Paw, racing our Super Sekrit Lovecraft monster back to his Granville Island hotel in the middle of the night, signing books and blue pencilling new manuscripts and juggling a collection of social media brains much swifter than my own.

And from the pictures here, you’ll see how in one night we went from the decadance of the pope hanging out at the bar, to…well, to an author giving his all to raise money for a conference who really, REALLY like him. 

Mind-blowing fun, in other words.

The success stories were many, far more than I can number — but here’s a start:

• My favourite mountie in the world, Cpl Tyner Gillies, began the weekend with a request for his manuscript — before he’d even made it into the building! — and followed that up with two more during the course of the weekend.
• @IronicMom, [aka the wonderful Leanne Shirtliff from Calgary, who put together our Contest Anthology this year] was signed — on the spot — by an agent for her non-fiction work. This was a rare and wonderful happening, even in the hallowed halls of the Surrey conference.
• Long time friend of the conference Lorna Suzuki stopped me to describe how she’s working with a major Hollywood studio to produce her books into a movie.
• And of course, thriller writer Bob Dugoni was parted from his t-shirt. [I take no responsibility for all the YouTube versions of this out there, Bob. None at all…] 

If you have any favourite memories you’d like to add [and maybe help me fill in some of the sketchier parts of my memory], please feel free to do so in the comments. And if you are a writer and you know what’s good for you, save your pennies and come join us next year. The 20th year celebration is going to be a doozy.

Frowzy faerie cheers in background as uber-agent removes apparel from NYT bestselling writer. Photo by CarmenMerrells.

More soon…

 

~kc

Going into the biggest, busiest week of my year — and this year, that’s saying something.

It’s time for the Surrey International Writers’ Conference. Nineteenth edition. I’m not _quite_ sure, but I think I’ve been attending for thirteen of those years. [I have trouble remembering if the first year I went was 1998 or 1999….]

Anyway, the conference is the absolute highlight of my year. I have met some of my best friends there. I have learned SO much. I even coordinated the thing for three years. These days I’m on the Board of Directors for the Society that puts the conference on. A harder-working group you will NEVER meet. They are awesome.

I’m also one of the presenters. This time round I will be doing my first Thursday Master class — not for master writers, actually — but for absolute beginners. We’re calling it a ‘Beginner Intensive’ class, and my goal is that everyone who attends walks away with a serious case of writer’s cramp. I’ll be covering the A to Z of getting the most out of the conference, along with as much of what you need to know as a beginning writer with a goal to getting published that I can cram into 3 hours.

It’s going to be fun.

[I have a vivid memory of the author Michael Slade running down the stairs on a break from his Master Class a few years ago — bathed in sweat and waving his arms around, completely in love with what he was doing and how well it was going. We writers may be crazy, but we are an enthusiastic lot!]

SiWC is no festival. It is not for dilettantes. This is the largest professional development conference for writers in Canada. And it has, more often than can be by coincidence, been named the best in the world. This year there will be 50 writers, publishers, editors, agents, social media experts and film producers there to talk about the world of writing in all its forms — craft, production, promotion, distribution — all the gritty details that make up our world. There will be more than 70 workshops, panels, special events, banquets and surprises enough to inspire you right through the dark doldrums of winter.

And my job will be to introduce you to the party.

Hope you can make it!

More soon…*

 

~kc

*If things get too crazy to blog, you can follow me on twitter @kcdyer and this year’s conference hashtag is #siwc2011

Part two of my tour last week involved a high-speed trip to Pentiction, where writer-whirlwind Yasmin John-Thorpe and her Raise-a-Reader crew had worked a few miracles. Authors Lee Edward Fodi and Kallie George had been there earlier in the week, signing hundreds of books and visiting elementary schools. I joined my buddy, author James McCann and we headed into the Okanagan for two crazy days.

This was with a very happy group of grade 6 kids at KVR Middle School. Note teeny author in vast ocean of student humanity!

In all, I signed about 600 books, I think, and with my colleagues, left behind more than 2000 books in Penticton schools. I LOVE doing events where everybody gets a book!

I think this is my favourite picture, because I might be in a sea of happy faces, but the boy in front couldn’t be bothered with a picture — he wanted to read, already!

Many thanks to Yasmin [and her helpers Norma and Alan, without whom I could not have survived!] and to McNichol, KVR, Summerland and Skaha Lake Middle Schools for the warm and cheery welcome.

James and I left feeling very happy to see all our books in the hands of so many eager readers. Our final stop in the Okanagan gave James the opportunity to pick up some of his favourite Okanagan jam, and hang out in a crowd of a different sort.

For me, the crazy fall season continues, with the Surrey International Writing Conference next week, in Surrey British Columbia. There are still spots available for eager writers, and trust me when I tell you — there is no better way to spend your weekend _anywhere_ if you are interested in learning the business and craft of writing.

More soon…!

 

~kc

Had a great book tour last week through the libraries of the Fraser Valley. I had the chance to meet a whole bunch of great kids, teachers and librarians while scooting along the back roads of Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Langley and Yarrow.

This is just before my presentation at the Muriel Arneson Library in Langley, BC. The library space was not large enough for the GIANT crowd of kids coming to listen, so we rocked the reading in the Langley Council Chambers. Too much fun!

Many thanks to librarian Terrill Scott for organizing such a wonderful tour. And thanks also to Smitty the Evil Children’s Librarian at Clearbrook Library, the staff at Chilliwack and Muriel Arneson, and Wanda from Yarrow Library.

After I finished this tour, I leapt into the jeep, raced down the road to Abbotsford, picked up the intrepid James McCann, and headed east for Penticton and Raise-A-Reader events there. SO much fun — such a crazy week!

More on that…soon!

 

~kc