Sunday, April 29, 2007

Banff the final days

Yep, I missed a few days. Such an incredibly busy time I just didn't get a chance to post. So many things happened during this week, the most amazing was I actually said something almost pithy. Of course I waited until the final party (last night). We were talking about revising and how our natural instinct is to fight against cutting or changing our story. My sense is that behind that defensiveness is sometimes a fear that you won't be able to create something better than what you've already written. And part of that whole act of cutting and letting parts of stories go, is having the faith that something better will replace that original draft or idea. We just have to learn that creativity is an endless well. Wow, only took a whole week!

Here's my class, my very own group of seven. All brilliant and talented and we became a team.


There's me, Sondra, Harriet, Alissa, Brenda, Laurel, Antje, and Lynn. Watch for them. They're going to set the children's lit world on fire (in a good way). It was a real honour working with them.

As one of our class excursions we walked down to the book store in Banff. I was hoping to show them one of my books on the shelf of the store. It was that whole "some day you, too, will have a book on these shelves" lesson. Except the bookstore had none of my books. Instead the lesson was my students got to watch the humble author introduce himself to the staff and suggest they should order his book so that he can feed his wife and child and his cookie habit.

Here's an obligatory shot of a mountain.

Taken from the top of Lloyd Hall.

There were so many positive elements to take away from this experience. We had our last supper, our last party, and, just a few minutes ago, the last breakfast. Now all my students are gone and I'm just finishing this up before my airporter bus arrives. And, to cap the whole week off, it's snowing.



It's actually the perfect way for things to end. Snow to cover up our tracks and let the next class make new ones. Goodbye class, goodbye Banff.

Hello, real world.


Art

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz award nod

Nice piece of news! Yesterday Mark Abley, the creative non-fiction instructor here, came up to me and said he was reading the CBC website and that one of my books was nominated for an award. Great way to start the day. And you can trust those creative non-fiction types when they say things cause it's all non-fiction, right? It's real. Anyway, it's great to see Megiddo's Shadow receive another nod. My little "boy" is growing up an achieving things. I remember when he was just a couple thousand words and an outline.

The Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz award is particularly nice because it's named after two strong supporters of children's literature. A short list is chosen by judges and a group of students get to choose the winner from that shortlist. Seems a fitting way for a winner to be chosen.

The nominated titles for the young adult/middle reader category are:
I Am a Taxi, by Deborah Ellis.
Megiddo's Shadow, by Arthur Slade.
Odd Man Out, by Sarah Ellis.
Rex Zero and the End of the World, by Tim Wynne-Jones.
Skinnybones and the Wrinkle Queen, by Glen Huser.


An intimidating list. An honor to be nominated.

Did I mention the prize included $5000.00? All modesty aside, I'd really enjoy winning. : )

But if Megiddo doesn't win, I will then at least ask the winner for a loan...

Cheers,
Art

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Banff Day3

Well, just a short post. Both evenings of readings have been really wonderful. The whole experience of jumping from a poet, to a children's writer, to a creative non-fictioner, to a novelist is brain boggling (in a good way). Each person has seven minutes and it's just the right amount of time to leave you wanting more. For some they are reading brand new work and getting that first audience reaction. It's a rush!

Again I must lament that time is passing too quickly.

Art

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Banf Day2

In the middle of day two of the "Writing for Children" course at Banff Centre. Time flies by very quickly here. It's such a positive atmosphere. There's a quick sense of community that develops. It's not very often that writers, especially beginning writers, get together in the same place. It's as though we've all landed on Mars (I'm thinking Bradbury here) and most everyone is a writer and those who don't write seem to be content cheering you on. Well, or feeding you at least (notice how it always comes back to food).

The important thing is that the poets, creative-non fictioners, children's writers and novelists all get a chance to live and breath their work (through workshopping) and talk shop. That doesn't happen most days back at their homes, I assume. Usually writers are outnumbered a thousand to one in the real world. Here, we're in the majority. So everyone has questions about other people's work. Everyone is willing to listen to others talk about their work and, of course, willing to talk about their own work. And share ideas and tips. And not think about laundry, picking up the kids for soccer, paying bills etc., They'll probably have to drag us away from here on Sunday.

It is a busy schedule, though. And a real balance to workshop others work and to work on your own. As an instructor I'm not finding much time for writing, but that's not the point. It's energizing to see the fervor of the students. An inspiring to read their work.

And tonight will be the first readings. It'll be a real mixture of styles.

There's lots of wildlife (mother nature kind and others) that just wander around. Here's a deer loitering around below my balcony.
And here's the view outside our workshopping room.


Cheers,

Art

Monday, April 23, 2007

Banff--Writing with Style Class

All this week I'm teaching a "Writing for Children" course at Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta. It's an intensive workshopping course with 2 1/2 hours of group workshopping in the morning and the afternoon is individual sessions with the instructor (me that is). Did I mention the readings in the evening? I have seven students in all. I won't be writing about individual events or the students, but more about the overall experience.

Banff, for those who haven't seen it, is one of Canada's National parks and it's...uh...abundantly beautiful. Mountains everywhere. They fill up the sky. They fill up your mind. Can you tell I'm a prairie boy? I've been to the centre several times and it has always been an inspiring and creative time (I'm especially creative lounging about in the hot spring pool, I find, or trolling through the many candy stores). As you can imagine the atmosphere is rich with the arts. There are several other groups (poetry, creative non-fiction, Chapter One (novel) all staying in the same building. At the opening party there was quite a bit of energy. Most people, I assume, are taking time off from work or family to really concentrate on their writing. They've travelled from all over the country and the US to be here (and maybe further). And there's also that nervousness, too, "will they like my work?' "Will I get enough done?" My sense is that we're here as a team, to inspire and push each other on. I'm certainly having to examine the why's and the how's of my own writing, which I assume can only be good for my process. We're all facing the same questions here. Why do I write? How do I make my writing better? Is it good enough? And we're all facing the same blank page (or screen, I guess). The nice thing is that when we need a moment's rest from staring at the page we can stare at a mountain. Or a deer. Yes, they seem to be tame here, just hanging around. Bears, though, not so tame.

Here's the view outside my window. Mostly trees, but it gives you an idea of the place.

Did I mention the lovely dining room? Not having to make your own meals sure frees up the time for writing. But I better be sure to go for a few long walks.

Ah, almost time for the first class. Let the adventure begin!

Art

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

A good Mail day

It was a great day for stuff in the mail. I assume I'm like most writers, I watch for the postperson like a dog. Of course, I don't want to bite them. I just run up and go, "Got anything for me? Got anything for me?"

Well today two good items. The first copies of my new book "Invasion of the IQ Snatchers" arrived. I love the cover. And inside there are all sorts of ants (or images of ants, I should say). And the final proofs of "Villainology" arrived at the same time. It'll be out in the fall. Take a peek at both (and my messy desk).



Cheerio,

Art

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Heavy Metal rules : )

Got a big kick out of this article:

"The most gifted teenagers often love heavy metal music because it relieves the pressure of being smart, says a British psychologist who has boosted the images of bright kids and metalheads together."

Click here: Headbanging is cool and good for your brain!

Ah, I know. I'm a softy for good ol' Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and the Scorpions and...well, I could go on. But for someone who grew up loving science fiction and fantasy, these were the best bands to listen to. What could be more cool than Priest singing about Metal Gods? Maiden doing their 13 minute epic version of The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner? I still listen to those bands, especially since I've been chipping away on a Victorian project. And Maiden's last album (did I just write Album) is one of their best.

Up the Irons! No Sleep 'til Hammersmith!

Art

P.S. On a completely unrelated note, isn't the new Battlestar Galactica a great show? Just finished watching the 1st season. Now have to save up my loonies and toonies to get the next season.

Mini Tour

Just wanted to share a few of the dates from my mini-tour:
Vancouver: Vancouver Kidsbooks April 30th 4PM just signing a few books
Nanaimo: Harbourfront Library 1:30 PM May 2nd For the launch of Invasion of the IQ Snatchers
Saskatoon: Mcnally Robinson May 26th 2PM For another launch of Invasion of the IQ Snatchers

It's actually a lot busier than that, but the rest of the time is at schools, oh and I spend a week in Banff teaching children's writing at the Banff Centre of the Arts.
Art
Here's the fancy invite my publisher created...