…rocks!

Had a lovely visit there the other day. This is a shot of the amazing bulletin board teacher-librarian Kelly Boyd had waiting for me, along with a young fan [and aspiring writer] named Dylan.

Dylan was also responsible for giving me a Very Cool thank you card in the shape of a lighthouse, fashioned after the cover of my book SECRET OF LIGHT. Thanks to Dylan and his pals and all the other great kids and teachers at Summerside Intermediate. You made a very busy day a whole lot of fun!

Tonight I’m after me last gig on the Island, over at ta bookstore. [You know, it is near impossible to write in Island dialect. My mother was born in Summerside and I’ve known Island accents all my life, but I still struggle like mad with trying to document. So…for all our sake’s, I’ll stop trying now…]

Tonight’s event, my last on the Island for this visit, is at 7pm at Charlottetown Indigo. There’s still snow on the ground and it is the eve of the first long weekend of the year, but I’d still like to extend a warm invitation to any and all who might like to come out for a chat and a signed book from 7 -8pm or so. I had a very elegant set of monochromatic tights and high heels for tonight, but my neon pink boots have been such a hit here, I guess they’ll put in an appearance, just for fun.

Had a lovely chat with Karen Mair of CBC Charlottetown today, and if she puts up a link to the conversation, I’ll link to here on the blog. Now, it’s just about time to get ready, so off I go  — hope to see some of you there tonight!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

The Prince Edward Island tour continues — having a marvellous time here and feeling very welcomed by all the schools, teachers, librarians, book stores and students I’ve met. Thank you all for the warm reception. [But not the weather…. I am writing this now as the sleet fires needles against my window, sealing an icy layer across the snow that fell earlier today. Time for spring!]

While I’ve been here, I’ve had several conversations with kids who are interested in becoming writers. This means it’s high time for a post on resources for young people who would like to get published. I’m going to set this up here for now, and then will come back to add and update as things change.

Hope you find it helpful!

Before you send money to enter a contest, or send work to an on-line site, READ THIS:

Please! If you are considering entering ANY contest, read the rules carefully and think about the entry fees and what you get in return. Also? Have a look at this: A great article on writing contest scams!

If in doubt, check the site you are looking at on the Preditors and Editors website. This is an AWESOME resource for vetting the shady individuals and companies which inevitably haunt the publishing industry.

Writing Opportunities:

Deal.org: An on-line youth magazine.

Festival International de la Poesie: Poetry Competition pour youth en francais, out of Trois Rivieres.

Go! Teen on-line mag about transportation issues. Teen pov column pays $50 on publication.

Launch Pad: Kids & Teen on-line mag. Publication credit only.

New Moon Magazine: Moderated American site for girls 8-14.

The Poem Repair Shop: A radio show for aspiring young poets out of Guelph.

Prufrock Press for Creative Kids: A hard copy of the issue in which your submission appears.

Ramp: via the Toronto Public Library is looking for youth poems, stories and art.

TeenInk: American on-line magazine, by and for teens.

Uth Ink!: For aspiring playwrights.

What If?: A magazine for young writers, with a focus on literary fiction.

YouThink: A website for teens by teens.

 

Contests aimed at young writers:

Agent Story Contest: For writers aged 10-18.

Canadian Aboriginal Writing & Arts Challenge: For Canadian aboriginal writers aged 14-29.

Claremont Review Annual Contest: For writers aged 13-19.

Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest: For writers in grades 7-12.

Pandora’s Collective Poetry Contests: For writers of all ages.

Sheree Fitch Prize for Fiction: For writers 14-18.

Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: Grades 7-12.

Surrey Library Young Adult Writing Contest: Grades 8-12.

Other Contests — not just for young writers:

EduNorth: A collection of contest links from across North America.

Conferences geared to young writers:

www.siwc.ca

The Surrey International Writing Conference offers a special one-day rate for writers under 18, and is a fantastic opportunity for young writers to learn the ropes of getting published, ask the advice of published authors AND have a chance to pitch their work to editors, agents and publishers.

So…that should be enough to get you started! If you know of another resource for young writers and you’d like me to add it to my list, please email me or comment below. I’ll check it out and get …Write On It!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

So, it looks like my future as a best-selling time-travel author in China is pretty much toasted.

Just this week China Hush reports that time travel stories are now officially deemed disrespectful to history, and are no longer acceptable.

Read more HERE.

In the meantime…

Having a great time as the #kcdyerbooktour continues through Prince Edward Island. You can follow my journey on my twitter account [@kcdyer], if you’d like a bit more up-to-the-moment detail.

Had a fantastic visit at Summerside Intermediate today. Further detail [and pix!] shortly.

 

More soon…!

 

~kc

 

Man.

This is a big country. Takes a long time to fly across, even via the most direct route crossing many northern states. [It is still Seriously Snowy in North Dakota, by the way.]

But I made it at last, and ended up near O’Leary, Prince Edward Island sometime around 10 pm last night, after a couple of long flights, a de-icing and a long drive in a rainstorm.

Kicked off the PE Island tour today with a great visit to a school in O’Leary — toward the west side of the Island. Got a lovely warm reception at Hernewood Intermediate from teacher-librarian Nancy MacMillan and a group of 70 or so students from grades 7, 8 and 9. Very nice banner, too!

Hi guys! [waving] Go Hernewood Huskies!

O’Leary, of course, speaks to the Irish nature of many of the early immigrants to the region, and I was interested to hear elements of Ms. MacMillan’s family had arrived here aboard a coffin ship after fleeing the Irish Potato Famine. As Darby got to witness one of these ships first hand in A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW, I was very happy to hear Nancy enjoyed the book!

It is wonderful to be back on the Island again, and I am very happy to be bringing Darby and her crew to the shores that spawned her. Interestingly, I am having a little trouble chasing down wifi, as the coffee shop of choice around these parts is Tim Horton’s and they don’t cater to the hang-out-and-write-in-the-coffee-shop crowd that I usually run with.

Drove down the Island today in a sleet storm, so spring has not made up its mind to arrive here, as yet. But for now…I sit in the sunshine, grateful for my Edinburgh gauntlets, which make typing in the chill wind on stolen wifi so much easier. Looking forward to meeting a whole selection of Summerside Intermediate students tomorrow. Darby’s ready to say hello!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

Well.

That was odd.

My computer had a minor stroke last week, and the disembodied headline above was the result. It went into full meltdown on Sunday morning, but the good people at Mac Station in Yaletown managed to bring it back from the brink. [Seriously — if you ever meet a techie guy named Jacques from that place, be nice to him. He is a true gentleman.]

So now I have a new logic board, video card, battery, and 4 lovely gigs of RAM to make my machine hum. Jacques even replaced a bunch of keys of which I had, through excessive use, managed to render blank.

Lovely guy! Now, if I can only get the rest of my act together for this tour, all will be well.

Okay, here at last…is what you can share with your favourite teacher. It’s in reference, for now, anyway, to the presentations I’ll be giving on my jaunt through Prince Edward Island next week. Will be tweeting and blogging as much as possible for the duration, but in the meantime, if you — or someone like you — wants me to stop by your school on the beautiful Canadian Emerald Isle, this is what will result:

At your school, kc dyer will talk about the art and craft of writing, how to turn ideas (or daydreams!) into words, the joy of storytelling, and the fun of being able to “live” in different worlds and in different characters. Open the door to discovery and self-expression with kc dyer! Other topics include Canada’s multicultural heritage, the dark (and often more interesting) side of history, and –of course — time travel.

I can also announce [now that it’s firmed up] that I’ll be doing a reading and signing at the Charlottetown Indigo bookstore on Thursday, April 21st at 7 pm. Tell all your Island friends to come and say hello!

It’s going to be a hugely fun visit — I look forward to bringing Darby and her friends for a good look around.

 

More soon…

 

~kc

I’m getting ready to head off on a wee tour of Prince Edward Island, followed by a bit of off-the-grid r&r, so things are getting pretty crazy around here. I still have room to fit a last minute school visit or two in on the Island, so please email me if you’d like to see if we can work something out. I also tweeted this morning about doing a visit or two in Toronto, where I have to stop on my way home…so same deal applies. My contact email is below.

This is a shot of the Confederation Centre that I took on my last visit to the Island — the research trip for the Darby books [A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW  and FACING FIRE], as a matter of fact.

I’m really looking forward to going back, meeting all the kids and spreading the word about Darby and her adventures.

Lots of travels coming up this year — keep checking back for details!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

A wee followup post here, as I was [at last!] able to upload my supermoon pix, and got a couple that pleased me.

[Rant alert: My poor broken camera’s repair estimate just came in …at about $200 more than it will cost to replace the camera. This makes me CRAZY. Why can’t we fix things any more? Why do we have to just throw things away? And you kids…get off my lawn, wouldja?]

Ahem. THIS —-> pic comes via boingboing. Lovely surface shot.

 

My pix were shot, by necessity, when the moon was very high, past the line of mountains to my east, and quite late at night — around 2 am.

 

The first shot is through the trees, just for the cool contrast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second, as you can see, is in in the clear, black sky…with just a wisp of tree branch tracing the lower edge, looking more like fog than anything else.

 

And to finish, Ten Things You Didn’t Know About The Moon, via space.com. [If you do click the link, you’ll see a very cool moon picture, however it is a cheat, as they photoshopped the beautifully detailed moon face onto a starry sky, which of course you could not see if you were viewing the moon in that kind of detail. I kinda hate that, which is why I didn’t post a copy here…]

More soon…

 

~kc

…this one via twitter, specially dedicated to my friend A Novel Woman, as this flashmob is in her town of Montreal. Fist in the air for recycling!

 

More soon, of course… ~kc

…been meaning to put this astonishing clip up, but since the embedding is disabled, I kept forgetting.

You know when Terry Jones is involved, the result is bound to be …unique!

Here’s the link, though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23qDl1aH9l4

Well worth a watch!

More soon…

 

~kc

Oh, try not to look so startled… !I know this isn’t the usual thing, but you’ll get used to it soon enough.

 

Or that’s what I keep telling myself…

Yep. Have taken the trek back into the world of contact lenses. A new thing for me — they’ve got these lenses now that will accommodate astigmatism. [You didn’t think I had just _ordinary_ nearsightedness now, did you?] I used to have to wear rigid lenses, but now, I’ve got these new softies and they are pretty comfortable. Plus they don’t really show as much as the last set did.

Not actually going to be saying goodbye to my glasses, however…they’ll still be around on those days when there is too much going on and not enough day to do it all in.

 

Speaking of facial recognition…here’s something cool I’ve recently come across. If you check out this link:

http://www.faceblind.org/facetests/index.php

you’ll find the Cambridge on-line facial recognition test. A group of researchers are testing for Prosopagnosia…a condition that renders people unable to recognize the faces around them. [Dr. Oliver Sacks of ‘AWAKENINGS’ and ‘THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT’ fame is a prominent author and neuroscientist who not only studies the condition, but suffers from it himself.]

If you’ve got a few minutes, give the test a try. I’ve always thought I could recognize faces pretty well, as a rule, and my test scores bore that out. How did you fare?

 

Okay, one literary-minded thought has interceded that I should cover here…just read today about this MONDO prize for poetry, being offered by the Montreal International Poetry Prize. Apparently they are offering $50,000 to the winning poem. I hate to be a sceptic, but — that’s a whole lotta dough for a poem. Details are here: http://montrealprize.com/

Anyone know anything further about this competition? I’d love to hear if you do…

 

 

 

More soon…

 

~kc