Blog no. 207
I’m worried that I’m going to mess this one up and forget something, because I seem to have a lot of events on the horizon. Often I’ll go to one or two a month (I try to get at least that regularly) and sometimes an opportunity arises and I’ll take on a third, but this is starting to get exciting. Events are being planned as far out as February, which seems farther than it actually is, but that’s still only four months. Plus there may be one or two private things happening where it’s an event for me, but you aren’t invited.
I didn’t mean that to sound as rude as it did. Maybe. One of the events is the yearly Writers Retreat. This year we’ve planned it for February and invited another author to come with. Also, rather than it being a simple retreat, it’s going to act as the First Annual (hopefully) Adventure Worlds Press Summit. We plan on laying out the next year in better detail and even considering the future. That’s all you get on that for now though. I’ll have to leave you in partial suspense.
I did want to briefly talk about BookFest though. I went this year for the first time in a few years and enjoyed it more than expected. When BookFest first started I was an English student at the U and eagerly paid the money for a full weekend pass. After the first few years, when I was moving out of school, I stopped going. While I have a deep love for some poetry and I thoroughly enjoyed studying it in school, the things that weren’t poetry seemed increasingly less accessible. I didn’t recognize anyone on their list of guests and I didn’t have the time or money to go. If any of the ones I missed were like this years, I wish I’d been more of a regular 
attendee. Granted, because my business ‘partner’ (that word still gets us into trouble) Christian was on the board, I was welcome into the green room and got to hang out with some of the authors.
I did help out briefly, using my pro skills of setting up tables and chairs (learned at work) for a setup switch between panels. But I was offered food and no one seemed to mind me tagging along. If I just talk about the experience of going to one panel, it was enjoyable and definitely worth the five bucks. There were a few I wasn’t sad I missed, but at least a couple I would have liked to have peeked in on. Wow, how wishy-washy a comment is that? I suppose what I mean is that it wasn’t what I’d expected and I assume my increased interest in writing and authors was helpful for that. But it was fun and I will be taking a larger part of it next year.
I suppose there is little left to do than list some of the events I have formally scheduled. Some are still in the works and there is at least a couple I just can’t seem to remember right now. (How terrible is that). So, consider this a partial list that will be updated. It will also be available under the events tab on this site and over at Adventure Worlds Press.
- Christmas Craft and Gift Show, Nov 27th from 10 – 4 pm at the Serbian Centre (We will also be selling Christine Hayton’s book Childhood Fears)
- Ford City Twilight Market, Dec 15th from 6 – 10 pm at the Heimat Banquet Centre
- By the River Poetry and Prose, Jan 18th from 6:30 – 8 pm at Riverside Public Library
Ben Van Dongen 