Fernie Writers Conference (Day 7): It was a joy

...to be part of the Fernie Writers Conference, and it was a joy when, midway through the morning, the conference participants gathered outside for a group photo. As I smiled at the camera, I could picture someone hunched over the photo sometime down the road, putting names to faces. Now here I am, doing just that.


The workshop wrapped up at 1 pm. We hit the road shortly thereafter. Hats off to everyone who had a hand in making the Fernie Writers Conference the great event it was. Special thanks to Keith Liggett, the conference director, and to the participants in the poetry workshop. What a great group!

Fernie Writers Conference (Day 6): Ultimate

...workshopping! You are not going to believe this...



After the workshop H and I had lunch at Lost Boys before taking the ski lift back down. Courtney recommended the falafel. It was excellent.

Now we're off to the conference dinner at The Griz Inn. More later...

Update:

First I have to backtrack a bit. After we got back from Lost Boys, H edited the video while I attended the fine "Presenting for Publication" panel discussion. I missed the introductions, but the schedule says the participants were Phil Rowley, Keith Liggett, Jennifer Hamilton, who I mentioned yesterday, and Carolyn Nikodym. There was an additional panelist who I think was Brian Coombs.

The conference dinner was great. Drinks and appetizers followed by a fabulous barbecue. That chef knows how to grill a steak! There was chicken as well, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and you name it, followed by a generous selection of desserts. I loved one of the cheesecakes in particular. We sat with a great bunch. It was fun.

When we got back, we sat on the deck and watched the full moon mosey up the mountain.

Fernie Writers Conference (Day 5): The weekend

...workshops began this morning. First I filled up on French toast for the second morning in a row at Slopeside Coffee and Deli. I love French toast and there they use the perfect amount of cinnamon. Then I headed down to The Griz Inn where the workshops and panel discussions are being held. I'm leading the poetry workshop. It's a great bunch.

This afternoon I was part of a lively panel discussion on literary publishing.


On the panel: (left to right) Keith Liggett, Angie Abdou, me, and John Keeble.

Then I attended "Crafting the Query," a workshop led by Jennifer Hamilton, managing editor of Avenue. I've been to talks on crafting queries in the past, but this was by far the most informative.

After the panel discussions, we headed downtown for the reception at The Arts Station, a fabulous building with an equally fabulous history. The food at the reception was incomparable. Hats off to The Blue Toque for the irresistible table of delicious cheeses, breads and sweets. I headed straight to that table when I walked in. I couldn't help myself. And then appetizers began to float around the room. I just about drooled to death when the mango curry prawns came out. Huge prawns beautifully arranged on a long rectangular white plate and surrounded by a graceful border of mango curry sauce. Unreal!

Tonight we attended the great readings by Angie Abdou and John Keeble, which were held at Freshies, another lovely location in downtown Fernie. Several people have raved about the coffee at Freshies. Because it was evening, H and I opted for creme brulee frappes. Too good.

Now I have some serious reading to do. Tomorrow will be another big day.

Fernie Writers Conference (Day 4): Chime after

...chime rang through the course of this evening, and it took some doing to make them ring. More on that in a moment.

First, we went hiking in the old growth this afternoon.



Now to the chimes. Adam MacDonald, a writer living in Fernie, gave us frolf lessons today! Yes, frolf! It's a new-to-me sport. Talk about fun! I think I'm a natural.

Fernie Writers Conference (Day 3): It's all downhill

...from here!


Yes, I said goat path.

Update:

We just got back from the reading at The Brick House Bar & Grill. What a fantastic turnout! Keith Liggett proposed a circle reading where a poet would read one poem and the next poet would then choose a poem to follow and so on. It was fun reaching for seques. The four of us made a few rounds.

Here's Keith Liggett, the director of the Fernie Writers Conference.



Here's Andrea Goertzen.



Here's Courtney Baker.



And here's me.


I think I was explaining my shirt at the time. The mountain biker on the shirt should look familiar...

Here Keith and I are gabbing.



And here's all of us.



Yes, I am wearing a skirt with my terrible shirt. I decided to wear a skirt after Tracy's comment earlier.

It was a great time. The reading was followed by a jazz jam, which is likely still going on. What a fantastic way to end the evening.

Fernie Writers Conference (Day 2): Take a look

...at this place! This is a three minute walk thru. Come along!



Keith Liggett, director of the Fernie Writers Conference, just came by. Great guy! I can't wait to show you what he gave me.

Tonight we're invited out for beer and wings at a pub downtown with Keith and the novel group. Sounds like fun!

Now we're off to check things out. You should see the mountain bikes! These guys know how to live. Full speed ahead no matter the terrain.

Ok. I should see about renting a mountain bike. How hard can it be...


Update:
We didn't go to a pub. We went to The Pub! It was fun. There we met John Keeble. He's leading the novel workshop this week. We also met Adam, a writer who mentioned the most intriguing new-to-me sport. If all goes well, we'll be joining him later this week to give it a try. Stay tuned!

Fernie Writers Conference (Day 1): This is the view

...from our balcony! We'll be here at the Cornerstone Lodge at the Fernie Alpine Resort until Sunday. What a dream! I can't wait to show you the rest of the place. It's gorgeous!

Here's the video version. Please excuse my excessive smiling. I can't help myself...

Look out Fernie

...here we come! The Fernie Writers Conference begins today and runs all week. It will be a great time. We should arrive early this evening.

It promises to be a hot one today. Time to hit the road. More later!

What a fantastic

...weekend in Moose Jaw! We saw so many people we knew and met so many new people. It was great fun. The festival was wonderful as usual. I might add more to this post once we reach our destination today.

I received two strange little gifts from fellow writers this weekend. More about that later as well.

Time to pack up and hit the road.

Well, we made it

...to Moose Jaw and to the Readception at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words. The Readception is a fun event where a number of the authors give short readings. Just a taste. And while they read, the audience nibbles on goodies. The nummy little cups with smoked salmon and capers were divine. So were the readings by Dionne Brand and Guy Gavriel Kay.

We chatted with lots of people we know, including Daniel Scott Tysdal, winner of the 2007 ReLit Award for poetry.

Right now a helicopter

...is flying a grid over town, pulling a red ball behind. A geological survey, I think. The cat doesn't think much of it. Nor did the cat think much of the jackhammering that was going on just across the street off and on all day. The noisy big truck with the big big hose that ran till 6 p.m. didn't go over well either. I don't know what she thinks of all the smoke from the forest fire north of here, but I can guess. Fussy cat.

This bustling mining town sure put the bustle in my bustle today. I was up and working by 5:30 this morning and I just stopped now. Lots to do before we go. And as luck would have it, just as I was in the middle of stuff that needs to get done, I looked up at a poem that's been resting on the bulletin board beside the computer and it hits me. So I then spent hours happily tinkering away on that poem. Then I looked up at another poem and the same thing happened again. I know what you're thinking: I was just putting off packing. And maybe I was, but the poems work so much better now. I just pinned the revisions on the board. We'll see how they look a few months down the road.

So we're off to Moose Jaw in the morning for the Saskatchewan Festival of Words. I hope to see some of you at the Readception tomorrow evening. I'll try to stay out of the cake this time...

After the festival we're heading straight to Fernie, BC for the Fernie Writers Conference. On Wednesday I'll be reading with the Fernie scholarship winner and others. See the sidebar for details. And the readings will be followed by a jazz jam! How cool. If you're in the vicinity, and even if you're not, come on out!

Anyhow, if all goes well, this blog will be hopping until the end of the month. So check back. Better yet, pack your bags and head to Fernie!

Well I should pack. See you soon!

One more thing. I was just over at wood s lot where, oddly enough, I discovered Poetry gives off smoke...

Here's a close look

...at the poem that I've been working on.






Here's a close look at the pencil that I've been using to mark it up.




That pencil has been busy.

Besides working on poems, I've been preparing for the Fernie Writers Conference, which is coming right up!

I've also been doing tons of reading. My eyes are ready to fall out. More likely they'll jump, bounce a few times just for fun, then roll under the desk to join the almond I dropped earlier today. Party party! Maybe I should pick it up.

I haven't been doing much reading online lately, but a few things caught my attention. This made me sigh, this made me feel better, and this made me laugh and laugh.

I have read a number of books over the past while, including Little Eurekas: A Decade's Thoughts on Poetry by Robyn Sarah, Domain by Barbara Nickel, Quick by Anne Simpson, Torch River by Elizabeth Philips, Combustion by Lorri Neilsen Glenn, and All Our Wonder Unavenged by Don Domanski.

Tonight I plan to read "The Powers and Perils of Intuition" in the latest Scientific American Mind before I go to sleep. That should make for some lively dreams. In the morning I'll begin reading Scar Tissue by Charles Wright, this year's international winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize. I always have poems with my first cup of coffee.

I'm a huge fan

...of Guy Gavriel Kay, so it was a great treat to have my first coffee of the day while listening to this interview over at Bookninja. I especially like what Kay has to say about imaginative empathy, but it's his words about constraints that really hit home. That's largely because I spent the past few days working on a sequence of poems that I started last summer. The last poem happens to be an acrostic. Yes, an acrostic. I never thought I'd use that form in this manner. I must say I'm surprised at the result.

Guy Gavriel Kay will be at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words, which is coming right up. The festival schedule has been posted. I always have a tough time deciding who to see.

Ever seen a green

...moth? That's what the Fas Gas employee in The Pas, Manitoba asked me when I stepped out of the car to stretch my legs. Nope, I said, and followed him over to the corner of the building. There it was. I gave him a big thank you and rushed in to tell H, who was paying at the time. When H saw it, his smile became all the wider. That's a luna moth, H said. A luna moth at the northern edge of its known range. So there we sat at a busy gas station on July 1 while H photographed the moth. Meanwhile, the employee continued to point the moth out to his customers and one by one they came over to take a look. Some stopped to chat. One man had a particular interest in moths, so H pulled a field guide out of the trunk (our trunk contains quite a library) and there they stood discussing various moths. People came and went. The luna moth moved just a bit. Stopped in a more beautiful position.