October 24th, 2008

Radio radio

Oh yeah, can’t believe I didn’t add

I’ll be on CBC1’s Sunday Edition this Sunday, talking with Michael Enright about *Once*. Probably in the 10-11 hour, but not entirely sure. I think I’ll eventually be able to post a link to the archived broadcast for anyone who wanted to hear but missed it. Very excited about this!!

Waiting for signal
RR

Ottawa Writer’s Fest–Long-distance post

Hello from the Ottawa Writers’ Festival! Or, actually, a couple blocks away, at a cafe with wireless. I’ve been festival-free so far today, seeing the buildings wherein national power lies (did you know we have a National Press Building?) but you can feel the literature in the air. The fest has been lovely so far–I’ll go back for some poetry tomorrow–including the biographing poets reading, the music-performing writers concert and of course, the short story reading, with Pasha Malla, Ivan E. Coyote, and me! (I apologize for the lack of links in this post, the wireless here isn’t wicked fast).

I can’t really say that I had anything to overcome, since Pasha had the stomach flu and Ivan had been teaching for the previous 6 hours, and both of them read beautifully. But I can’t help but dwell upon the fact that I finally did trip on my way to the podium, something I’ve been worried about since I started doing readings. I didn’t actually hit the ground, but the stagger-step made quite a thump in my boots and I was already in the centre of the lit-up stage, so I found the moment almost as embarrassing as it is in my nightmares. But not quite–survivable, definitely–and as soon as I realized I was going to stay vertical, I made my very cautious way to the podium and got on with things.

Am I allowed to say that I think it was my best reading ever? Well, I do think that, vain or not. I actually usually think that–I am trying so hard to learn to do this–not cough or swallow my words or speak too fast, or choose an inappropriate passage to read–that I do feel an improvement almost every time I go read. Even when my ankle sort of hurts from tripping on the speaker stand.

I did *not* ace the Q&A, but that’s what co-readers are for. Ivan had some fascinating things to say about learning to write a novel from a story-writer’s perspective, and she and Pasha both had interesting comments on the editing process (wow, it’s really boring of me to say they were interesting and not say what they said, but since I don’t have exact quotations to hand, it would seem weird to provide the gist.) And the audience was really responsive and interested and good-question-asking. Too bad I so often found myself with my mouth open and my eyes wide and nothing coherent to say, but I did manage a somewhat gushy but heartfelt paen to Canada’s little magazines, and a few other things that weren’t entirely lame.

And then I signed some books and chatted with the other writers and some of the audience and the lovely Fred and then, whew, there was a party.

It’s fun here, but I do miss South-central Ontario. I’ll be back by the weekend.

Too many angles / too many factors to cover
RR

October 21st, 2008

Weetzie Bat

I can be heard reading one of my favourite favourite books over at Julie Wilson’s lovely site, Seen Reading. Doesn’t that first page make you want to read the whole thing? In my case, for the 40th time!!

You got to fight to stay in control of the situation
RR

October 20th, 2008

Getting around

If you notice a dearth of posts around here this week, that’s because I’ll be away doing a reading in Hamilton tomorrow and then one at the Ottawa Writers Festival on Wednesday. And then I’m going to frolic briefly, and return to report on the whole thing. So don’t you fret!

Poor helpless me
RR

I give up!

I love Hallowe’en more than I love most things, but this year I cannot come up with a costume. This is a sad and embarrassing failure; I wouldn’t blame you if you thought less of me, even stopped reading this blog. But if you are still reading, here are my excuses:

1) The party I am going to is TV-themed, and I haven’t had a working television in 4 years.
2) Prior to 2004, all my favourite shows were sitcoms, and all those characters look approximately like real people. How would you *know* I was dressed as Bailey Quarters, even if I straightened my hair?
3) I am insanely busy these days and will actually be away for most of this week. Even when I am not insanely busy, I am a poor seamstress and have had bad luck with hair dye. Whatever costume I wind up with cannot be complicated, blond, or bulky (the party is also very far away–I don’t want to spend an hour trying to keep my wings or antennae or whatever to myself).

Are these constraints not imposing? I am seriously thinking of covering my clothes with Styrofoam peanuts and going as no-signal snow… If you have a better idea (and almost any idea is better than that) please please share it. I will be forever in your debt. I’ll bring you candy!

After twelve / just as well
RR

October 17th, 2008

Rose-coloured Reviews Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate Chewy Granola Bar

I appreciate portable food as only a person who is forced to carry most her life in a shoulder bag can (side note: did I mention that when my bag broke last month, I was unable to find a woman’s purse that wasn’t horribly over-girled, and was forced to buy my purse in the men’s department? ha, the end of gender roles in sight!) I have worked my way through almost everything that comes in packet form from the grocery store, with particular attention to anything grainy. Granola and cereal bars are my favourites, the non-junky ones that aren’t covered in chocolate or “yoghurt” topping. I like the Quakers Chewy and the Special K ones, but both are pretty small and nutritionally arid. Delicious, though.

The more serious bars–the ones with nutrients, no artficial ingredients, etc., like the Kashi bars–cost more, which makes me reluctant to buy them, because I have no values. But if you actually read the box, you realize these are actually *bigger*, so it’s sorta worth it to spend the extra buck. Plus the cherry/dark chocolate idea sounded wonderful.

Eh, it’s not that wonderful, though it is pretty ok. The granola base is full of all the Kashi standards–wheat, oats, rye, barley, and lots of the lovely crispy rice stuff. But it’s not *that* much better than the Quaker combo. Let’s be honest, Special K is terrible, and I just like it because…I don’t know why, I know it’s awful, but… Ok, I do know why: Special K contains tonnes of sugar and salt, as does Quaker, and I have a serious love for salt. The Kashi bar contains very little, cause it’s healthy, yo. But that makes it sorta bland.

The dark chocolate chips were sort of a joke–the size of fruit flies and with their first ingredient being “evapourated cane juice”, they didn’t taste like anything at all. The cherries were actually very wonderful and cherry-like, but sparse–the actual test-bar for this review contained only two (this was an annomally, I ate several prior that contained more).

Nutrionally it’s pretty sound, 5g of protein and 4g of fibre, only 2g of fat (although .5g saturated!) That, plus the beguiling but amorphous phrase “all natural”, plus the lure of actually getting more bar, plus I don’t actually *need* more salt in my diet, will probably make me buy them again although honestly, this is kind of a meh review. They are fine, but the box says “naturally yummy” and that’s really pushing it.

Speak the truth and speak ever
RR

My autopsy will show

Every time I do myself yet another moronic small injury, I wonder if this will be the day I die under mysterious circumstances. Because, as we all know from hearing episodes of CSI recounted to us at parties*, when people die under mysterious circumstances an autopsy must be performed to unmystify them. And the county coroner, when autopsying (verb?), does not just investigate the subdural hematoma or gunshot wound or whatever the ostensible cause of death is. Oh, no, they examine all flaws and injuries of the entire body and somehow, in 49 minutes, knit these together into a brilliant recreation of the poor dead person’s last moments.

I worry about this. I worry that everyone who ever falls into the lake and drowns because his or her shoulder bag is too heavy and gets caught on his or her coat also has myriad other small injuries the originis of which can never be parsed by objective medical science. Examples off the top of my head:

–large round bruise in centre of back? Standing behind door when roommate burst in, euphoric due to larger-than-usual GST cheque. Caught doorknob in spine.
–small, slightly infected puncture wound on upper thigh? Stabbed with pen by toddler furious over denied banana. Ink and fabric fibres from jeans caused infection.
–shallow thick gash on back of wrist? Too fast, too vertical, too enthusiastic attempt to remove soda from soda machine.

And then there are the ever-present burn marks on the tops of my ears.

I wanna be the one to walk in the sun
RR

*I would be ok if no one ever told me about CSI ever again. The one time I tried to watch it, they found a severed head in a newspaper box in the first 90 seconds and then I had to go home.

October 16th, 2008

Writing fiction is not my job…

…because no one is making me do it–though I have tons of help and support, I could stop tomorrow and no one would mind. That’s a really good thing for me to remember when I’m tired and bitchy and writing the nth draft of something hard: no one asked me to write this, no one is dying to see it but me, but no one will write it if I don’t. That’s usually enough to keep me working, and when it isn’t, I probably shouldn’t have been writing that piece in the first place.

It’s probably dreadfully tacky to quote oneself, but the above is from me, in response to one of Leila Amiri’s thoughtful interview questions in our interview for the Concordia Link. I forget the above far too often, but putting it here might serve as a good reminder.

You were working as a waitress in a hotel bar
RR

October 15th, 2008

At least it’s not a majority

Almost more depressing than the election returns is the fact that they are the result of the lowest voter turn-out ever in Canada. How can there be democratic representation if the majority does not register an opinion to represent?

Other things that are stressing me out include ongoing Sturm und Drang over the Salon des Refuses/Penguin Anthology debate. Very interesting reading, all of it, but surely not designed to unknot one’s shoulders.

Also, my brief flirtation with blow-drying my hair must end, because over the past few weeks I have burnt the tops of both ears and, this morning, the back of neck. I think I would honestly rather go out with wet hair and risk catching my death. It’s worked every other year!

Though the post must have been stressful for the writer, more joyful reading is Emily Schultz’s great post on rewriting her novel at the Joyland blog. How wonderfully inspiring to know that books that seem so fully whole and complete when we read them as published fictions were once scrambled stacks of notes and nerves. It increases my awe, really, while at the same time, sparking a tiny voice in the back of my head that says, someday.

Not to mention fishing poles
RR

October 14th, 2008

Reading!

Tomorrow night launches Pivot Readings at the Press Club! I am so stoked to be a part of it, along with Leigh Nash, Alex Boyd and Paul Vermeersch. Here’s the deets, from mistress of ceremonies Carey Toane:

850 Dundas Street West, three blocks west of Bathurst on the north side of the street, and easily accessible by both the Dundas and Bathurst streetcars. The party starts at 8 and goes till late. No cover, no hat.

I think it’s going to be a wicked good night (a little bird told me that so many others are of the same opinion that one might wish to get there right at 8 to get a chair!) and I really hope you can make it. But certainly do not fret if you can’t, because Pivot will be proceeding apace with three new readers every second Wednesday–how’s that for service?

I will also be doing a couple more readings in Toronto in the next few weeks, if you should be interested. One for example will be on Tuesday November 11 at the Rivoli, 7ish, and feature Michael Bryson, Nathan Whitlock, Harold Hoefle and myself. Another swinging evening, I would say. And more to come!

Heart like a wheel
RR