I’m not an Oprah fan – I’ve only ever seen her show a handful of times, but I love this quote!  It can apply to just about every situation I can think of today; friendship, family relationships, exercise goals, teaching, writing, – even world peace! The possibilities at the beginning of a new year seem endless…

Finally, at the end of 2011, and after ten long years of receiving rejection letters,  I can describe myself as a working writer.  I have three book projects underway as 2012 begins, and a dozen other ideas  – can’t ask for much more than that.  As my kids are thinking about potential career paths, I can only hope they’ll find something equally satisfying and rewarding – hopefully a few years before they hit 51!

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”

I wish you excellent health, lots of occasions when you laugh until you cry, and plenty of warm times with people you love (furry and otherwise) in 2012, and beyond.  Cheers!  Hope you enjoy this video…

So, thanks to the wonderful Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia and my publisher, Red Deer Press, I did get to go to Rideau Hall last week for the GG ceremony. It was a grand event, and I spent the evening with Kate Watson of the Hackmatack program and Trecia Schell of the Pictou Antigonish Regional Library.  The pictures are with His Excellency The Right Honourable David Johnston (I think that’s his correct title…); with son Liam and our MP, Scott Brison; with Christopher Moore, winner of the GG for Children’s Text for his non-fiction book, “From Then to Now”; the room where the ceremony was held; and with Patrick DeWitt, fiction winner for “The Sisters Brothers”.

I had a chance to talk to one of the jury members for my category and hear a little of how they sorted through the 260 books nominated in the children’s text category – about a quarter of  the 1,000 English language books nominated  in all 7 English categories – seems to me there should at least be separate categories for younger and older children’s text (ie. picture books vs. novels). At the moment, they’re all lumped together, with a separate category for illustrations. Hmmm…

Liam and I had a lovely visit with Kings Hants MP  Scott Brison.  He gave us a tour of the Parliament Building and is a most amiable and personable guy. I was most impressed by his various references to fairly obscure details from my blog – he obviously did some research before our visit! Liam didn’t actually get to go to the GG ceremony – I can’t figure out how they give out the invitations (240) – all I do know is that the finalists aren’t invited, which seems kind of strange to me.  Most of the people I spoke to there didn’t really know why they had received an invitation, other than that they have some connection to the book world.  Rideau Hall is beautiful, and I had a nice chat with Mrs. Sharon Johnston who told me she likes to write and has a book-length manuscript almost completed. What a busy life it must be for them! They have 8 grandchildren who I’m sure love to visit them in that palatial space!  We found a few random plastic dinosaurs and Christmas elves in the greenhouses of Rideau Hall – cute!

While in Ottawa, I signed a few books at Kaleidoscope Kids, a cozy children’s bookstore on Bank Street. Thanks, Kim  and Kelly! I finished my trip with a 24-hour whirlwind visit to Kingston. Liam’s already in his 4th year at Queen’s.  Where does the time go?

Congratulations to Christopher Moore,  who has just won the Governor General’s Literary Award (Children’s Text), for his book , From Then to Now (non-fiction history of the world).  As a “loser”, I’m in good company – Deborah Ellis, Kenneth Oppel and Tim Wynne-Jones. Of course, I would love to have had HARE chosen, but I honestly had little expectation of that happening, considering the other contenders all are about a dozen novels ahead of me, or so.  No trip to Toronto, or Rideau Hall for me, not this year, at least…And as my editor has said, being a GG Finalist for my first novel is an achievement I’ll always have and cherish.  I do have two new projects on the go, in addition to the full-length novel I’ve been working on for about a year and a half.  I’ll be retelling a classic novel for JLS, the Korean publisher – condensing a 100-page novel into about 25, so that should be an interesting challenge.  Another editor called last week expressing interest in a novel for reluctant middle-school readers, so I expect to get a contract signed for that in the near future, as well.

One thing I gained from my GG nomination experience is becoming more comfortable being interviewed.  I had a great live chat with Carmen Klassen of CBC Radio’s “Close to Home” last week – she’s very good at her job, and made me feel as though we were just having a personal chat on the telephone. It’s a little awkward because the GG people tell the “losers” about a week ahead of the announcement date, so I had to spend a week pretending I didn’t know I hadn’t won. One question Carmen asked was what I had learned from writing HARE; I wasn’t expecting that question, and very quickly said I learned that you can do “good” through your writing; not just in a financial way (as in supporting Wadeng Wings of Hope), but also in opening young readers’ eyes to situations in which children in other parts of the world find themselves; helping build empathy.

So many people have called and written expressing their support for HARE’s nomination and this segment of my writing journey  – thank you everybody for that!  I tend to be fairly goal-oriented, so maybe a new goal for me should be winning a Governor General’s Award – next time!  Back to work…

My apologies in advance to my Facebook friends who’ve already shown their support for this, but I had to do a little blog post.  When the publicist at Red Deer Press, Cheryl Chen, called me yesterday, I’d just returned from banging my head against the writing wall at the Acadia Library for four hours; I was shocked to hear the news, to say the least.  I cried, in fact, briefly…Then, I was excited to be able to get on the phone to my editor, Peter Carver, who is still in Port Joli, and share the news with him and Kathy Stinson, and to email my mentor, Gary Blackwood. Still haven’t connected with Jacob, who’s no doubt busy working and parenting three small children!

I went for a walk on the dykes later in the day, just to mull things over, and all I could think of was how proud my parents (who gave me my love of words)  would be, and how I wish they were still here so I could call them…my sister, Nancy, does her best to fill their big shoes!

I believe I’m the only one of the five finalists who hasn’t previously won at least one GG, so I’ll be wildly intimidated, but I do plan on being at Rideau Hall on November 24th, win or lose.  I figure it’s gotta be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing! (PS: Since writing this, I’ve found out only winners are invited to Rideau Hall…so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!)

Spent the day in Springhill today, researching the manuscript I’m working on.  The CAO of the Town, Don Tabor, was incredibly hospitable and gave me lots of great material to work with. If you’re ever in Springhill, stop by the library (the former Miner’s Hall)  – it’s beautiful!

At least I have more than a month to figure out what to wear!

This post heading pretty much sums up my experience at the Carver/Stinson seaside writing retreat last week.  Don’t get me wrong – it was an amazing experience, the other writers were all great (see picture)  – super friendly and helpful, the weather was fantastic, we had lots of laughs, and I learned tons (including that my current manuscript is still far from being ready for publication:() But here’s the kicker.  Like a lot of things in life, the more I learn, the harder I realize I have to work to get to where I need to be. The prospect of yet another massive revision can be daunting, but overall I enjoy the process,  because I know it’s bound to result in a better story, especially given the in-depth advice and suggestions I received from the other writers and editor, Peter Carver.

I read at Word on the Street in Halifax this year – I hadn’t been at WOTS since Rainbows in the Dark came out in 2005. What an amazing event!  And most of it put together by volunteers.  I had a chance to meet Carmen Klassen from CBC Radio as she was introducing the authors in the Young Adult tent.  She was most gracious and welcoming, and had done her homework!  The first thing she mentioned was the picture of Charlie she’d seen on my blog:)  I had a chance to see new friends from the PJ retreat again; Marcia Barss, Jill MacLean and Jackie Halsey. Thanks to a particularly tricky charade one evening during the retreat, we’ll never forget that our main characters simply must yearn for something, even if it’s only a glass of water (thanks, Kurt Vonnegut!)  Here’s a picture of the old fish house in which I’ve now spent dozens of blissful and wonderfully-productive writing hours.  Sigh…Time to take Charlie outside – again!

So, even though I’m away at the Carver/Stinson writing workshop in Port Joli all next week, we have a new puppy!  Her name is Charlie, and she’s a reddish golden retriever.  She seems very sweet and smart – maybe too smart as we haven’t found a way to keep her confined to the bathroom while we’re out, yet…Even with plywood wired onto the baby gate, she managed to get enough traction to get over the top in about 30 seconds!  It’s hilarious to watch her work at it – love her sticktoitiveness, but we need a solution as I’m not comfortable keeping her in her crate for long periods of time when we’re both out.  It feels so great to have a dog around again – it’s been four months since Bailey died. As soon as we saw the puppies, as Don said, my IQ dropped 75 points, and my voice went up two octaves, I’m sure…think I’m hardwired for baby talk:)

Also on the baby front, Jacob and his wife Jenty welcomed a daughter to their family last week – Adau Heaven, after Jacob’s mother.  I haven’t met her yet, but I’m sure their household is crazy busy with three small children now.  No doubt Deng and Jabu are being helpful big brothers.  Jacob will be guest speaker at the SMU Alumni dinner during Homecoming weekend this year which will be a great opportunity for him to talk about his work with Wadeng Wings of Hope (www.wadeng.org)

Thanks to Access Copyright, I’m leaving on Sunday to spend the week with seven other children’s writers (including MY editor,  Peter Carver, and his partner, Kathy Stinson).  Access Copyright gave me a professional development grant for the workshop.  I’ve been twice before, and it’s a super-productive writing time.  I’ve been obsessed with Charlie lately, so it’ll be nice to concentrate on my writing life for a few days and connect with other writers.  Charlie’s been staying in her crate for 5-6 hours at night – hope that continues so Don can get through the teaching week without collapsing in exhaustion…He should be really happy to see me when I arrive home next Saturday:)

Shannon and I spent two gorgeous sunny days in Inverness this week – the area, formerly known as Broad Cove,  is apparently the beach glass capital of the world!  The woman working at the desk told me there was an article in the Globe and Mail  five years ago about all the beach glass and since then they’ve had a steady stream of jewelery makers, particularly from New York and the eastern States.  We, of course, lugged home a few pounds with great plans for filling glass containers, making jewelery, etc.  We’ll see…but it was so much fun treasure hunting while walking the beach!  I’m sure it must be the nicest beach in Nova Scotia.  A river feeds into the ocean just below MacLeod’s Beach Village cottages, and it’s a great place for kids to enjoy some warmish, fresh water swimming/ playing (when they’re not hunting for beach glass).  Interestingly,although some of the glass is old (she showed me a few pieces that an archaeologist-type told her would have been ballast hundreds of years ago – they looked like stones to me), there was once a dump in that area so a lot of the glass no doubt came from there (pre-recycling).

We took in some step-dancing and fiddle music at the fire hall and had a cold beverage at The Hoff.  Stopped in Mabou for breakfast on the way home, and had the pleasure of seeing a real-life cowboy ride into the cafe parking lot just ahead of us, dismount with a great flourish, buy a cuppa and ride off – said he was on his way to Judique, but couldn’t let his horse “open up” because of the speed limit and all:)

When I go on little jaunts like this, I always wish I had a notebook – so many interesting things pop up that I just know I’ll forget immediately – took a few pictures to help me remember.  Some of them are even half-decent!

This week, I’ll be back at my writing and pursuing my current obsession with the puppy section on Kijiji! We met a beautiful Irish Water Spaniel on our travels, but I think they’re pretty rare  (read – EXPENSIVE!)

I haven’t received my author copies of these four books, yet, but they’re in the mail! I’ve written eleven books so far for JLS – their ESL curriculum is entirely based on story.  As you can see, I’m using a couple of pen names; Ada Pearson (my late  mother’s maiden name), and Lynn Mingo (my middle and maiden names).  The illustrators for the JLS books live in various parts of the world, and, of course, I’ve never met them, but so far I’ve been very  happy with their versions of my stories. Unfortunately, the JLS books aren’t available to the general public, as they’re used only in their ESL schools, both in North America and Korea.

I also received my IPPY medal today; a national silver medal in the multicultural young readers’ category of the US-based Independent Publishers awards  – it’s really heavy and comes with a lanyard so I can wear it around the house!!

One great thing about summer is it sometimes means connecting with old friends. Seems as we get older there are fewer and fewer people who’ve known us for most of our entire lives.  Brenda and I have been friends since about 1965, although she’s lived in Calgary for many years.  The really wonderful thing about old friends is how quickly you can pick up, despite not having seen each other for a few years.  We weren’t together for five minutes before we were laughing so hard that we were crying into our egg salad sandwiches, just like we used to when we were ten years old.  Excellent therapy for whatever ails you, I’m sure! She and her partner, Pierre, are planning to retire to the Tatamagouche area in four years, so it’ll be nice for two little girls to reconnect as two little old ladies (not!)

A Hare in the Elephant’s Trunk is now available as an e-book, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.  I guess reading books electronically was inevitable, but I’ll always be a fan of actually holding the paper in my hands – egotistically, I suppose, it makes a book, and the blood, sweat and tears poured into it, seem more valuable as something you can actually pick up from a shelf; feel the weight of it in your hands.  But then again, I’m old-fashioned… I’ll be interested to see how many people, if any, choose to read it as an e-book.

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Hare-in-the-Elephants-Trunk/book-7TA8yq35VkaSK0Px_5jL-A/page1.html

And finally, family vacations.  Don, Liam, Shannon and I just spent a couple of nights in a cottage on the Northumberland Strait, and other than a 5-hour ER room wait for strep throat, it was an extremely pleasant time for our family – I’m aware on a daily basis of how increasingly limited these occasions are becoming as the kids get ready to become fully independent, and it’s so great to connect as four adults now – in fact, I’m pretty sure I’m the least mature of the bunch in many ways:)

http://www.juniormagazine.co.uk/books/the-top-100-childrens-books/60.html

This list of “top 100 children’s books” as voted on by readers of Junior Magazine in the UK, made me think about my relationships with book characters over the years, both as mom and kid.  Heidi, Charlotte & Wilbur, Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy, the Cat in the Hat, The Jolly Postman, James and the BFG, all of them made this UK list, but there are so many more.  If I were to make up such a list, as a parent, I’d have to include some Robert Munsch titles like Love You Forever, I Am Small  (Sheree Fitch), Red is Best (Kathy Stinson), Mr. Patapoum’s First Trip (Gilles Tibo), The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams), and The Giving Tree (Shel Silverstein)

The list of picture books that stand out for me from my own childhood would include Blueberries for Sal, Snipp, Snapp and Snurr (3 Swedish boys), The Elves and the Shoemaker, Ollie Bakes a Cake, The Thornton W. Burgess books, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden and so many more, the names of which I forget, but I’d love to have a chance to revisit my childhood library, as it was in 1965, or so. Characters in books become genuine friends for kids, and I guess as writers, our challenge is in trying to create those real-life, living, breathing, thinking, feeling human beings (or animals) in print, as people for young readers to get to know and spend time with as friends.

As a footnote, I had to resort to Google more than once as I was writing this post:(  Who do you remember from the pages of your childhood?