The Power of Imagination

Blog No. 304

I’m not sure where to start this week. I don’t think there is anything new to tell you, but, maybe some things have new information (or deserve to be said again). I’m a little hesitant since I’m not sure if I’m just boring people with the same stuff over an over again, or if I somehow (with my magic powers of creativity) make the mundane aspects of my life remotely interesting. Or I could just be screaming into a vacuum like so many others. Either way, my first audience for everything I do is me, and I like to do this every week because sometimes just writing about what’s going on (even if it’s the same things all the time or just reminders about upcoming events) helps me get my head around stuff. That’s a pretty valuable tool. I suppose I’ll just do what I always do and meander on for a while until I get sick of reading my own words and come to some stagnate conclusion. At least on Tuesday evening I went writing after work.

Hard to Top

Blog No. 289

The First ChiSeries Windsor of the year was last week. You should already know because you should have been there and because you should have read last week’s blog post about how I was going to cover it this week because I didn’t want to write the post on Wednesday night for Thursday morning. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, it was awesome! I was hopeful before the event, but it really turned out to be a great night. It stormed like the dickens right before we finished, forcing folks who did come out to brave the rain to get to their cars, but it was right near the end, and I can’t control the weather (yet) so I’m taking myself off the hook and assuming they all thought it was worthwhile.

ChiSeries Sandwich

Blog No. 287

Driving to Toronto is old hat for most Windsorites. I think. It’s certainly not a big deal for a lot of folks I know. Sometimes I take the train, when prices are reasonable and it’s just me. It’s gotten to the point where the cost of gas and parking is about the same as a train ticket anyway, so it’s all dependent on scheduling and specifics. Since I was going to the ChiSeries reading with Christian, and we could split the gas, driving was the way to go. And let me tell you, it’s not always as smooth a drive as it was last Wednesday. Construction was minimal, traffic was reasonable, and the inevitable movie and book conversations makes the time go by. The only part that could be considered a challenge was getting to the hotel and figuring out where to park.

Driving Wile You Read This

Blog No. 286

I think this was from last year’s ChiSeries Toronto. Or it was SPCS?

I’ll have a more in depth post about last night’s ChiSeries Toronto reading next week, but as this is being posted, I’ll be on the road, guzzling coffee. That’s the weird thing that happens when you have an event the day before a blog post day. I could possibly stay up late and write the post for the morning, or I could push the post back. I could even just guess at how everything will go and write the thing as if that’s what went down, but I won’t. I’ll do this instead. I’m going to vaguely write some stuff about it and save the real post for when I can sit down and appropriately convey the essence of the event. I can tell you that I am super excited for another Toronto reading, especially with the ChiZine folks. As it stands, though, I am unsure of how the reading went.

Toronto, I Hardly Knew Ye

Blog No. 285

The list of events is dwindling rapidly, but boy, has it been worth it! I’m not going to lie. While rushing to try to get The Thinking Machine released, the long list of events was a miasma of promise and stress. Now that I’m down to three left and I’ve sold more than half of the initial run of The Thinking Machine, I’m feeling pretty good. I may even have to order more copies by the end of the month. That does mean another big dump of cash, but if I’m at that point, I should be close to getting back what I spent on the first batch. My only big concern about that is saturating the market, but Cristian and I sold a good 800 – 900 copies of No Light Tomorrow over its run, so I still have some ways to go before I max out on Thinking Machine. Just having some solid sales at the last few events has been encouraging, though. Most were sold at Shock Stock, but I did manage to get a few sold at the Biblioasis reading.

250

Blog No. 250

Hey, look at that number right above this sentence. That’s 250 weekly blog posts and all but about ten of those have been in a row. When I first started this page, I had no idea what I was going to do, where I was going, or what my writing future would be. I wanted it to be something big, but it was all wishful thinking. It wasn’t until a few years later that I actually decided to take writing seriously and the blog had been ignored. Part of the reason I initially stopped was because I had gotten sick (and that lasted a year) but mostly it was because I didn’t have a vision. Now that the focus is on writing and the routine has been built, the weekly posts seem natural. Really this is about 240 in a row, but those original posts are still way at the bottom (if you ever want to read them). For now, I think  the rest of this post is going to be a grab-bag because I have a few things to talk about, but none of them are big (or really well thought out). Here we go.

Now’s Your Chance

Blog No. 248

Next Wednesday (in six days from now) is the second quarterly ChiSeries Windsor reading. You may have remembered my post about it a few weeks ago (or at least the title if you don’t actually read this blog). To refresh your memory, this may end up being the last ChiSeries Windsor reading, or maybe the last for a while, since their normal funding hasn’t come through. I say they because there is a dedicated group of people from ChiZine Publications who started and support the series (at the moment from their own pockets) but I suppose I’m part of that now. Even thought I said it last time, I think it’s really important to stress how big a deal this is and what a great thing it can be for Windsor.

The National Chiaroscuro Reading Series

Blog No. 245

I’ve mentioned the ChiSeries here a few times already. Back in February, Christian and I went up to Toronto to take part in a reading up there. It all happened to fast. We went in, met folks, had a drink, did some readings, and hung out for the rest of the night. At time time, before we headed back to the hotel, we had agreed to start hosting a ChiSeries in Windsor in the next few months. In the span of a few hours, we had been completely indoctrinated into the Chiaroscuro Series family, given a taste of the life of a genera writer with friends, and took up the charge to bring the experience home. The whole night shows what happens when like-minded people hang out.

ChiSeries Windsor

Blog No. 235

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it, but likely not as much as I should, but I am part of bringing a great national reading series to Windsor. When Christian and I went to Toronto earlier in the year for the Chiaroscuro Reading Series, we were lucky enough to get paid. More importantly, we met some fantastic people who share some of our ideas behind writing, publishing, reading, and the book culture in general. They asked us if we were interested in doing spreading the ChiSeries to the city and we jumped on it. My hands are already pretty full, but being part of a national series that pays authors and musicians is too good to pass up. Windsor has a lot of cool stuff going on (no matter what some people may think) and now I get to add to it in a meaningful way.

The Real World

Blog No. 229

After two Sundays in a row going to conventions, it’s a strange feeling getting back into the old routine. Even more so after having been a guest a both events. I’m still a little fish, but being at events, selling my book, I get a taste of what it would be like to do this writing thing full time. It’s rather enticing. Then I have to go back to work and actually write stuff. Thankfully, both Syndicon and the Sarnia Pop Culture Show were successful (especially since the new books won’t be out until later this year). Not only did I move some books, but I made some new friends (writers, artists, and organizers). You can always count an event as successful when you’ve made some friends. Facebook has already confirmed it.