Riding the Whirlwind
Whew! Four events in five days is a lot. It’s been fun, though. Crazy, but in a good way. Lots of long-distance driving, catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. K-W kicked it off with a bang at DVLB, and it was great to be able to share that event with Carrie Snyder and to meet Tom Cho in person for the first time. Plus lots of family, old friends, and a few walk-ins. (Thanks, too, to Wordsworth Books for supplying those.)
Then it was Peterborough, with a visit to the Broadview warehouse for books and an impromptu tour (thanks Allison), more old friends, an intimate reading at The Trend, and a wonderful interview with Derek Newman-Stille of Speculating Canada the next day. (That will be on Trent Radio and livestreamed online on Monday, link to come soon as it’s available.) Then back in the car for the long drive to Ottawa.
I’ll admit, I didn’t expect much from the Chapters Rideau signing. But the staff were great, and once I got into the rhythm and relaxed a bit, it was fun to chat with the people who stopped by to ask about the book. Some bought books and others didn’t, but the conversations themselves were surprisingly diverse. Or perhaps not so surprisingly. Readers are far from a homogenous group, after all. All around, it was much more fun than I expected, and if you’re looking for a signed copy of the book in Ottawa, there are several there now.
And the last one was… interesting. Christine and Daniel at Backbeat Books and Music—which I would highly recommend checking out if you’re ever in Perth—were incredibly understanding when I showed up an hour and a half late due making a wrong turn on the highway. (Oops.) We had a great chat about Canadian literature, writing, etc, before I turned around to make the trek back to Ottawa.
And now? Now it’s just about time to hit the road. Off to Montreal today, a few days of hanging out before the reading on the 13th at Paragraphe Books.
Also, here’s my favourite article title referring to the collection so far, in support of a new e-book sampler from LPG Canada, which contains one of my stories:
“Short story writer Greg Bechtel has some Boundary Problems”