CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

When I worked for At Second Glance Books in Kamloops I would occasionally receive a complimentary copy of a book from an up and coming local or regional author. The purpose was simply for me to read it so I could speak with some knowledge of the product if anyone asked. Fortunately with some titles nobody asked.

Last week while organizing my library I stumbled on a few of these self-published works. After shelving the other books into a somewhat systematized array I sat in my chair and did some selective reading and, of the three I scanned, I quickly discovered something they all had in common. The characters all spoke in much the same ‘voice’. The same patterns, rhythms, and sentence structure was used regardless of which character was involved in the dialogue. As much as I respect and congratulate people who self-publish we all have to be held to a certain standard and something this simple is actually easy to correct.

I’ve learned to distinguish voice patterns by eaves-dropping in public. If you listen carefully you’ll soon pick out the little oddities that make some people unique. Shorter sentences, a proliferation of ‘ums’, variance in pitch and pattern, a bit of a stutter…it’s all subtle yet obvious when you listen.

I picked up a copy of White Wolf Moon and did the same selective reading and breathed a sigh of relief. Mostly I had managed to create individual voices for my characters but there were a few areas that I could see readers having trouble following the dialogue especially with some of the longer conversations between Evan and Danny. The real life voices of these two men are surprisingly similar but there are subtleties that I didn’t manage to get across throughout the book. Without regular name tags I could see confusion.

The wonderful thing about publishing a first book is what you learn from it. Not just the whole publishing process but the mistakes you made in creating the book, the actual writing. Overall I’m pleased with the way White Wolf Moon turned out but there are some things I’m not anxious to repeat in the second book.

When I discovered the confusion in voice I started (once again) from the beginning of the new book and within three pages found areas where the dialogue needed clarification. As the writer you know what it’s supposed to say but the reader doesn’t know where the conversation is going until they get there. It’s important to make the journey as easy and stress-free as possible so I’ve made some minor clean-up changes.

I have some unique characters this time around. They speak in a specific dialect using colloquialisms and bad grammar. Those are easy to depict but the subtle differences between Danny and Evan need more work to convey. Mostly I believe it’s in the rhythm and sentence length. Evan is a bit of a thinker and his words are generally more deliberate while Danny talks off the top of his head in shorter, choppier sentences. As I said the differences are subtle but they have to be made obvious in order for the reader to hear which character is speaking. Yes I still need character name tags but I don’t want them every seventh or eighth line unless there’s an action involved.

Now comes the part where I digress.

As most of you know I am pro-wolf. I used to visit the anti-wolf pages just to get a laugh, mostly at the impressive lack of grasp of the English language that many of these folks possess. For a year or so I copied some of the more idiotic comments into a file simply called “Stupid Comments”. It is interesting to read these comments as a single unit. They reveal a mentality and attitude that borders on total “nutso” and I would think they could provide an in-depth study into some rather twisted psychological traits if analyzed but I’ll leave that for someone who’s interested in such things.

When I was creating a backwoods, less-than-educated character for the new book I wanted to use some of these comments as they are genuine and grass roots. Two things happened as I was reviewing these little treasures. One…I gave my character Fergus a couple of these lines and it sounded like a Saturday Night Live satirical skit. The words and dialect were actually too unbelievable for a fictional character. My people have to be real and poor ol’ Fergus…wasn’t. The second thing that happened was that I quickly realized the similarity in many of the comments especially the aforementioned speech patterns and rhythms. After grouping these comments I noticed that, even with different names, some are virtually identical. The same words were misspelled, the same lack of punctuation, and the same catch phrases. Some comments were completely identical even down to the placement of the same text shortcuts (lmao, lol etc.). There is no question that at least four of these “individuals” is the same person and is also an administrator on two different pages. One other individual is behind at least three pseudonyms and even has some interesting conversations with himself. Of course there are many other people on these pages who proudly display their shortcomings when it comes to communication skills. That’s pretty sad…especially when you read a comment like: “Its always a good hunting season just as long as your in the hills right, and my bad i didnt mean that bad really i giess i thought you did but now i know ypu wernt sorry.”. The sad (and shocking) part? If you click on his name it takes you to this man’s fb page where you discover that he is a professor at Idaho State University.

I’m not sure what to draw from this experience. These people can’t write and, judging by many of the comments, aren’t all that interested in reading either. Has this computer generation just become lazy or is the education system failing big time? I admit that this is a small segment of the population but it still amazes me that there’s even a segment that managed to fall through the cracks this badly. There’s probably a bigger social issue at play here but again I’ll leave that to someone who enjoys exploring that sort of thing.

I don’t frequent anti-wolf pages any more, it’s far too depressing. When I read the dialogue between Fergus and Evan I feel good. Fergus is fictional but real to me. When I gave him dialogue written by real people that I assumed would be of a similar character he became unreal, a caricature. Perhaps it’s like the old saying “Truth is stranger than fiction” and in this case I think I’ll stick with fiction.

DETAILS, DETAILS…TOO MUCH? TOO LITTLE?

A couple of lifetimes ago (the Seventies actually) I was a member of the IPMS (International Plastic Modeler’s Society)…yup, geekdom. I used to build military models and took great pains to add all the little details like rust and dents, shovels and saucepans. I did occasionally put together a muscle car or two, just for a change. It was here I learned more about details.

I was at a public show and contest and received good comments from my peers who knew what work went into my creations far more than the casual onlookers. It was the onlookers however that taught me more about this modeling thing than the other modelers. Along with my tanks and armored cars I displayed my MG-TC that I had spent months building. A ‘civilian’ studied it closely then commented that I’d forgotten to add the dipstick (it was there, he was looking in the wrong place). I figured out that you can add all the details you want but it’s the one thing you don’t add that some $m@rt@$$ will notice.

I’ve just finished the undercounter trim for our new kitchen and I’ve had to layer a shim of thin wood along the top. This required a little bit of filling and sanding to make sure it has a smooth transition. It took an extra couple of hours but it’s up under the counter where it’s not readily visible so why go to those lengths? Because if I don’t another Sm@rt@ss will comment on my shoddiness. Trust me.

What does this have to do with writing?

Details…particularly in narrative…how much is too much?

One of my favorite authors is Sharyn McCrumb and “She Walks These Hills” has continued to be one of my favorite books since I first read it back in the nineties. Sharyn describes a scene right down to the color of flowers nesting in a ditch by a country road.  She presents all the intricate details and she does it well. I once read an article (I think it was by Stephen King) that stated it’s best to give the reader only enough information to create a familiar scene in their own mind. His example was an antique shop. You describe the commonalities in every antique shop so that readers can hopefully imagine a real antique shop they visited. Thus, the scene becomes more meaningful and they become more involved. Which approach is right? Are they both right?

I followed the minimalist  logic in White Wolf Moon with my description of a bookshop (among other things). Other than the color of the walls (a necessary addition for my Kamloops readers) the store was generic yet everyone seemed to find their way around it easily. I think allowing the reader to create the image in their own mind without having to ‘fit’ my descriptions into place would make for an easier read…but maybe I’m wrong.

I’ve had no complaints with the narrative in the first book yet I find myself being more picky with the second and I’m not sure why.

I still prefer dialogue and character driven stories but this time around I’m more conscious of the setting. Someone suggested that it was because I’m growing and wanting to explore writing more. Dialogue is just talking and while you can say what you want to say in dialogue, normal speech patterns don’t allow for the descriptive adjectives that narration can supply. That makes sense.

A character might say: “Look at that old tractor over there!” But it’s unlikely he’d ever say: “Look at that overly-rusted Massey-Harris tractor in traditional red with dried and cracked grey rubber falling off the yellow rims over there!”

It’s obvious I need a blend of both approaches and perhaps that’s why this new scene-setting attitude seems to have created a rebirth as such. I have found myself going back to some of the first chapters and reconstructing them with narrative descriptions and they do feel better to me.

But now I’m beginning to wonder again…when is enough enough?

NOTHING BEATS ‘REAL’ BOOKS….

Last week I was sitting at the laptop working on some editing when there came a tap-tap on the door. It was Mr. Courier with a parcel I wasn’t expecting. I signed, closed the door and then spent the obligatory time trying to figure out what was inside that plastic envelope. I tore off the tabs and found a heavy cardboard box. Inside was a carefully bubble-wrapped book. Resisting the urge to ‘pop-pop-pop’ I removed the wrapping and found this:

It’s from a friend of mine that I haven’t seen since 1967 although we do get together by phone frequently and occasionally on facebook. “The Lords and the New Creatures” is Jim Morrison’s first book and this is a First Edition, First Printing hard cover. Other than minor edge and corner creasing and light surface wear to the dust jacket, it appears new. And it should. It was purchased from the 3 Rings bookshop in Monterey in 1970 and has been stored on a shelf or in boxes since then. It even ‘cracked’ when I opened it.

I’ve wanted this book for years but due to financial consideration could I only get a couple of well-used trade-size first editions. Had I not found those I suppose I could have downloaded it…no, I couldn’t. No matter how you cut it a downloaded copy of any book is not the same book. It’s a plastic screen versus the light perfume of age and the texture and the feel of real paper. It’s sticky-back vinyl woodgrain versus real hardwood…it’s just pretend.

As I held this book I sensed the value in my hands. Not just monetary (although it has that) but the plain, simple value of existence. Here is a book written and published in the late sixties. It bears the burden of ambiance…that feeling of being there when you flip through the pages. It’s that feeling that is the true value.

If you’d care to borrow this book…yeah, no. I have some paperback copies I’d lend you but this copy doesn’t leave my house. It’s in a safe spot, carefully protected (though still on display) so that fifty or one hundred years from now someone I’ll never know can hopefully have the appreciation for it that I have today.

For me this book is also a connection to a friend of nearly fifty years. Thank you Neil.

YOU WON’T FIND THIS ON KINDLE

When At Second Glance Books closed out in Kamloops last year I took quite a few books home with me (reading material for the rest of my life). Mostly I went with Canadian authored trade paperbacks and some by authors from all over that I had never read. On my way out the door one night I grabbed a box that was destined for recycle. There were a couple of older classics on top but I didn’t dig down to see what was buried beneath until today. Most of them were fairly beaten older copies of familiar titles but two of them really jumped out. One is a handwritten notebook from The London County Council (name and school not filled in) and appears to a writer’s daybook containing observations of the world around him/her. Aside from incredibly beautiful penmanship (a lost art) this notebook contains some smaller pages with handwritten notes for a walking tour of London, theater and concert listings/dates, and a list of London pubs with addresses. Entries are all dated 1955 except a handwritten copy of notes and comments from “The Philosophy of Insanity” by “a late inmate of the Glasgow Royal Asylum for Lunatics at Gartnavel” (published by Fireside Press, London, 1947). Then I uncovered the second book:

It’s in pretty poor condition but considering that all dated entries are from 1805-1810, I suppose this is to be expected. Once again impeccable penmanship but this one is a collection of cooking recipes, folk medicine cures, and general information. Held in place by traditional red sealing wax are a number of smaller notes as well as newspaper clippings with marriage and death announcements and instructions for the captains of British merchant vessels should they experience a cholera outbreak at sea. There’s also a six page written sermon about keeping the Sabbath. I suppose as the author is named “Lord”, this is appropriate. Based on most of the content I am assuming that J. P. Lord is male, although I’m not 100% sure of this. All pages are heavily browned, most have finger smudges and some have been cut out. A lot of notes have also successfully freed themselves from the wax but I still love this book.

This is an example of why we still need brick and mortar bookshops. Archive hand-written personal material like this doesn’t show up too often in stores but it will certainly never be available as a download and that’s too bad. These are personal insights into the times in which they were written. Times before television and other distractions…times when one would sit with pen and inkwell by the fireplace, perhaps an oil lamp on the roll-top, and document a personal glimpse into the events of the day in a quality of script rarely seen and in a voice like no other. I wonder how J.P. Lord would have reacted had he known that something he’d written would, 208 years later, be read by someone in Kamloops, BC, and then exposed on this thing called the World-Wide-Web. That two centuries later someone would be reading his recipe for Chutney or his handwritten personal diet for invalids especially for Mrs. Brown of No. 11 Grosvenor Place (plaster cast extra at a cost of one Guinea). Books like this are to be treasured and valued because once they’re gone a little bit of history disappears. People don’t take the time any more to just jot down thoughts and impressions. Perhaps we should…and on paper because who knows what kind of technology will be used two centuries from now when someone stumbles onto a hand-written personal insight into what it was like in the good old days of 2013.

I’d like to personally thank those people who had held onto this book for the past 200 years but I don’t know who they are. I’d like to know where in the world this book has been and I’d like to know why certain pages have been carefully cut from the binding and what was on those pages…but there’s no-one to ask. This will probably forever be a mystery but if you’ve ever wanted to solve the mystery of curing the common cold…this is how they did it back in 1805:

 

Here’s the address Mairi….

HEALTH ISSUES….off topic again.

The above photograph is all the promotion White Wolf Moon will get this time around.

I had a minor heart attack thirteen years ago although at the time nobody could convince me it was minor (just a warning shot I was told). I was pretty certain it was the end but the doctors were right and all is fine. For all these years I’ve been considered a “boring” patient in that all my test results have been “normal” and my cholesterol and blood pressure levels are static…no appreciable change…ever.

Until last week. All levels are up and, although not critical, they’re such a change from my norm it bears watching and a different medication. Doc asked me what had changed over the past few months and honestly I couldn’t come up with an answer other than I wasn’t doing my regular walks along the river and much less physical yardwork (due to winter, of course). Other than that I couldn’t think of anything. He assured me that a lot of it probably due to the lack of exercise I and should get back into something that pushed me a little.

On my drive home I went over the last few months, trying to figure out why all this had happened. I realized I have been on a computer far more lately what with the blog, sequel, and some music I’m trying to sort out but then it hit me….

The reason I have all this time to be on my butt in front of a screen is because the book shop I worked at closed. I’d spend days on my feet walking the entire store oft times carrying flats of books, sometimes banana boxes full. I’d be hopping up and down on milk crates to put books on the top shelf and I usually did the few block walk to the bank during the day. This is the exercise I’ve been missing. There were days I’d come home exhausted from the physical part of the job and now there is no part of my life that affords me that workout. It may not seem like a lot of exercise compared to someone who does a real physically demanding job (most of those guys are pretty fit) but it was a routine and now it’s gone. I’ve known so many people who retire and within a year or two health issues creep in, most gain weight (which I also have done), and a few have had serious heart attacks, one fatal.

The snow is starting to melt, we actually have grass in both yards, so I’ll soon be back to my walks along the river but I’ve also started going up and down the basement stairs for no other reason than they’re there. The first couple of times I could only do it three times without feeling pretty dragged out. That was two weeks ago. I just did it seven times and although I’m huffing a bit I figure I could go another couple of climbs but I don’t want to push it too much yet.

Besides it was on one of my climbs that I came up with the idea for this blog.

I also started a water regiment a week ago. A friend of mine suggested it and damned if it doesn’t seem to work although it might be a combined effect with the exercise as well. Simply I wake up in the morning and before my coffee and cereal (or toast) I down two glasses of water, again really tough the first few times. Before lunch and supper I drink one more glass and another one sometime between supper and bed-time. I don’t know if it’s psychological but I seem to be less tired and feeling a bit better about things in general but whatever it is…it’s good.

Anyway my little rant, such as it is, is done and it’s time to get back to work on my sequel….

 

COVER PHOTOGRAPHS

Years of working in a bookshop taught me a lot about books and book people. They’re a wonderful lot but sometimes a tad forgetful. They may not remember the author or the title of the book they’re looking for but most will remember the cover.

“It’s blue…with butterflies” or “It’s the Stephen King with the old school desks” or “There’s an old castle on the front…with a Viking helmet” or simply “It’s red and white with black letters”.

The cover therefore becomes the first-line sales tool. The cover usually indicates the genre immediately although romance novels have been treading on the western genre recently. It used to be that a cowboy on the cover meant horses, guns, and bad guys inside. Maybe it still does…I’ve never read a cowboy romance so I probably should refrain from further comment.

After I’d finished White Wolf Moon I asked for suggestions for the cover illustration and mostly I got the obvious. Wolf…moon…y’know. This wasn’t what I wanted. During my time at the bookshop I was subjected to covers of many kinds, from all genres. Mystery, romance, western, sci-fi…they all seem to have a format. When you see a book with a long-haired bare-chested male clutching a scantily clad buxom female against a six-pack it’s pretty clear we aren’t talking Captain Underpants. It’s instant genre identification and it works. General fiction is another story. I knew I had to come up with a cover for my book so I studied what the big publishers were doing. The ones that stood out for me were the simple presentations, a single photograph and minimal text. A lot of Canadian Vintage releases utilize this approach and I found myself reading the book description on the back just because the front cover had caught my eye.

The photograph I used on White Wolf Moon is a modification of a shot I took in 2008. I walked along the river behind my house experimenting with a new digital camera trying different settings, shutting off auto-balances and the like. When I loaded the images onto my computer one of them leapt off the screen.

It was taken at around 10 in the morning and for whatever reason this one had just the right feel about it. I wish I could remember how I messed up the exposure because, by accident, I ended up with one of my favorite photographs.

When I was going through my files to see if I had any photographs that would be suitable for the cover I stumbled on this one again. I tried darkening it and superimposing a moon to replace the sun but that looked pretty bad so I played with the color balance, turned it blue and came up with the cover shot.

The cover has garnered so many great comments and, I believe, a few sales. I appreciate this approach won’t work for everyone but just because you’re writing in a particular genre doesn’t mean you should be restricted to the norm as far as a cover is concerned. It’s the old “think outside the box” philosophy…experiment a little, try a totally different approach and steer away from the obvious. This is the first thing the book-buyer notices and you need to grab their attention and make them pick it up for a closer look. Play with some radical ideas before it comes time to send it off to the printer…get some other opinions. Mostly go with your gut…if it feels right then do it. If it doesn’t feel right you can always go back to the more accepted approach but you have, at the very least, checked out some options, stirred your imagination, and tested your creativity.

ODD’S ‘N ENDS….

This may ramble a bit…for that I apologize. I can’t seem to stay on task today.

As most of you know At Second Glance Books in Kamloops closed the doors on Saturday, December 1st, joining the record shops and most of the video shops in the city. We leave three used book stores to continue the fight and we wish them success. We have always been the go-to book shop and people would come to us before they went anywhere else. We have been the “Readers Choice” for best Second Hand Book store since the local paper created the category and, in the undulating universe of cosmic coincidence, we received the award for 2012…on the mourning of our last day.

Last Thursday a woman walked up to the counter and bought my book, White Wolf Moon. She said she’d been looking all over for it…a friend of hers had recommended it. I rang the sale through and asked if she wanted me to sign it. I received the strangest glare as she asked why she would want me to. I flipped through to the author photo, we had a laugh and I signed it for her. I asked what her friend had said about it and I got a slightly different answer than I’ve grown accustomed to getting. It was the thought behind some of Evan’s comments…the philosophies…that her friend had identified with. The customer asked (a) why I’d written it, (b) were those thoughts mine, (c) how much of it was biographical?

(a) Because I wanted to

(b) Pretty much

(c) More than I care to admit

I could certainly expand on those answers and I’ll probably do so in upcoming blogs but my mind has wandered again.

I’ve had friends tell me they’d love to read my book…if I had an extra copy I could give them. One of them paints houses. I asked if he would paint my house for free. Of course he wouldn’t. He works hard painting houses and his time is valuable. I told him that’s why I don’t give away copies of my book. He really couldn’t see how this was the same thing.

Most self-published writers aren’t in it for the money. If it comes then great…but it isn’t why we do what we do. We do it because we have something to say and whether we speak through a fictional character or in a non-fictional manner, we get our thoughts out there. We do it because we want to. We appreciate the recognition of those who are willing to spend their money on something we’ve created. Those of us that aren’t retired generally have a job away from those drafts to help support this writing habit. It isn’t money in the bank but every compliment, every press clipping, every radio interview or book signing makes it all worthwhile. The experience of publishing White Wolf Moon has been one of the most delightful rides I’ve ever been on and just when it appears to be slowing down, it picks up again. Some might say it all goes to feed the ego (and I agree) but after going through everything it takes to write a book and get it published I think I deserve a little ego-stroking.

On the other hand, to quote Evan Morris…“I’m too great a man to have an ego….”

REAL BOOK FOLKS

Tomorrow is the final day for At Second Glance Books, a store that has been my second home for a dozen or so years. This past week we have been selling our stock at 10 for the price of 1. This automatically increases the traffic at the till but the increased customer count isn’t the only thing that has slowed down our normally efficient service. It’s the real book folks who just want to spend a few extra minutes chatting and finding out why we’re closing and telling us how sad it all is.

Book folks, real book folks, are a wonderful lot. I can probably count on one hand the number of growly customers I’ve served over the last 12 years. Real book folks like to chat, to laugh, and sometimes just hang out and browse. They bring you coffee and sometimes doughnuts. I joked with a woman who bought a book of pizza recipes. I told her that part of the obligation was that she bring us a sample so that we can verify that we’re selling quality books. That was one great pizza! I did the same with a girl, probably twelve, who bought a kids cookie recipe book. Two days later I had a big bag of really terrific chocolate chip cookies personally delivered with my name on it.

One fella, another regular customer who lives on a farm well out of town, bought my book White Wolf Moon a few weeks ago. He came straight to the counter and didn’t look around the store at all. He knows I usually only work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and he’d made a special trip into Kamloops just to shake my hand and to tell me how much he’d enjoyed the story.

The regulars probably number in the hundreds. They all pretty much know my name…I can remember most. They’re coming in and feeling guilty and sad that they’re taking advantage of the sale. I’m happy they are. I know the books are going to people who want them…the people I’m truly going to miss. We’ve had other regional used book store owners come in to beef up their inventory. That’s cool too, and we wish them well.

We have also seen a different type of customer lately. The bargain hunter…so many people I’ve never seen before. I recognize a couple of them that have dealer tables at the flea market so I’m pretty sure of where those books are going. One even admitted she was stocking up for her spring yard sale. 10 for the price of 1 is a bargain but we still have people asking if they can get a better deal if they buy 30. One lady figured I should be retro-active and give her a better deal because she came in and bought a lot of books when they were 4 for 1 and I should have told her that eventually they’d be 10 for 1. It’s a totally different mentality…vultures trying to pick the last ounce of flesh from the bones.

But the biggest difference with the real book people? Generally their questions center around what going to happen to us, the staff. What will we be doing when the store closes and the like. The bargain people and dealers want to know what we’re going to do with the books when the store closes…one even suggested that he could take them off our hands, at no charge of course. He was also one of the customers who felt that 10 for the price of 1 was unreasonable…they should be 10 for $1.00. He didn’t buy any.

Mostly the books have homes…schools will be getting them and local charities, who will sell them as fund-raisers. They’ll go to the right people.

As for me…I’ll retire, write my sequel, and try to keep up with this blog.

I’m working tomorrow. I don’t usually work Saturdays, mostly because I don’t like working Saturdays…but tomorrow I’ll be there for the last shift of the day…the last shift. For whatever reason I want to be the one that turns out the lights and locks those doors for the last time.

Goodnight…At Second Glance….

50 SHADES OF BEIGE?

Last week I had one of the regular customers come into At Second Glance Books. She’s Ukrainian or Russian, probably in her late-fifties or older and always dresses up to shop. I’ve known her for a long time and she really is quite a character. Over the years she’s bought many books from me but they have always been cookbooks, philosophy, and the occasional non-fiction science, self-help or health title.

On this day she picked up a selection of cookbooks and, as she was paying for them, she reached across the counter and tapped my shoulder.

“Mikel,” she said, “I moost buy that book of yours before the store closes, yes?”

My book, White Wolf Moon, reminisces about the Sixties and a group of freethinking folk that spent a lot of time at a place called the Bar-Ass ranch where clothing was…well…optional. As such I felt I should warn her that some of the content might not be to her taste but before I could say anything she announced that she was currently reading 50 Shades of Grey.

I’ve always been able to fire back at any one-liner or dig that she throws at me but this…. All I could say was: “Really?”

“What’s the matter?” she asked. “I surprise you?”

Yes, she did. Apparently you can’t judge readers by their covers either. She was definitely one of the last people I would suspect would read 50 Shades of Grey. We talked about variety and balance…that everyone needs a bit of escape now and then. Then she said something that really hit home. She told me that just because she was older didn’t mean she wasn’t young once.

It hit home because this is one of the underlying themes of my book and, with her, I had made the same mistake a lot of people do.

I’m in my mid-sixties and seen by some as a grey-haired grandfather that’s content to sit around and read or watch television…the same way I used to view seniors when I was a lot younger. I was wrong then and White Wolf Moon is my attempt to tell the younger generation that we’re not always what we appear.

In the words of Jennifer MacAvoy, the twenty-year-old journalism major from White Wolf Moon:

“I used to think that sixty was ancient, that it had to be the end of life as I knew it. One day I realized my mum was sixty and there’s a lot of life still in her…thankfully not as much as when she was twenty. I see how all of you are and I can really understand Evan’s theory about being all ages. You carry on with the joking and flirting just like kids. It’s such an eye-opener for me. You are who you are…and I love who you are.”

Believe it or not kids, there was life before you came along. Life isn’t 50 shades of beige…there were girlfriends before Mum and boyfriends before Dad. Take some time to chat with your parents or grandparents about ‘those days’. You’ll may learn a lot…you might even be a little shocked…but you’ll probably end up thinking, to use Jennifer’s words again: “It’s like I’ve discovered a friend that was always there but I didn’t know.”

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LAYTON & I…TOGETHER.

The undulating universe of cosmic coincidence strikes again!!!

About three years ago I wrote a scene in “White Wolf Moon” that took place in a bookshop (At Second Glance Books in Kamloops). At the time there was an Irving Layton bio atop the poetry shelf. I described it this way:

“Evan moved back to the poetry shelves where a thick Irving Layton biography dominated a stack of thin, self-published works. He initially thought that it was sacrilege that Layton should be lumped in with those unknowns but then he thought better. Layton himself would have been the first to congratulate them for the perseverance and gumption they possessed to get even this far. Irving would have been right.

He leafed through the biography cluttered with fluorescent yellow highlighting and penned margin notes… a student perhaps. He was always curious about what other people deemed significant enough to underline or otherwise deface a book. He quickly browsed a few of the ‘important’ paragraphs. All of it had to do with the writing and not the man. As with all authors Layton was more than what he wrote and the more was usually far more interesting and insightful than the percentage of his soul bared in the work.”

Last Saturday I sold quite a few of my books at the signing. One gentleman, about my age, had me sign it for him. He was back in the store today and made some wonderful comments about the book. He told me that he’d laughed more than he has in years and that I’d done something that no other book has ever done…one scene brought him to tears. But the coolest thing about him buying my book? Three years ago he had bought the Layton book that I described. Now “White Wolf Moon” sits next to Irving Layton’s bio on his bookshelf.

Once again, one of the neat little things about having a book out there.