metaphysical conceit

CBC Books' Summer Reading List for 2013

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:15:00 +0000

It's true that I'm sharing this list because Bone & Bread is on it (hurrah!), but I really do think it is a wonderful bunch of books that won't steer you wrong:

CBC Books' Summer Reading List for 2013

They call Bone and Bread a "dazzling debut" (!!!).

In terms of the rest of the list, I read Where'd You Go, Bernadette? in a couple of days last week and really loved it. It's hilarious and memorable and unique. Born Weird by Andrew Kaufman is also funny and brilliant and big-hearted.

I already ~~have~~ had Life After Life and The Hungry Ghosts and Caught in my to-read pile...though these are now all waiting to get de-smokified (along with at least two dozen other books I am anxious to read). I'm also really looking forward to fellow Anansi-writer Iain Reid's The Truth About Luck, and earlier this week I had to talk myself down at the bookstore from buying The Interestings in hardcover, even though I'm dying to read it, especially after reading Kerry's review of it on Pickle Me This.

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The days are passing in a blur of laundry and lightning-fast research and decisions about our new place... looking around for furniture and (maybe this is just me...?) wondering why everything is ugly and overpriced. (Or why everything I like somehow turns out to be $7,000?!) Even IKEA is looking expensive after all the costs associated with the fire and the renovations. Now we're trying to decide what can wait and what needs to be right now. Beds are a must, but tables and chairs can wait...? Couches? Patio furniture seems like a luxury that should go to the bottom of the list, but given the time of year, we'd also like to get it right away. I'd love to take my time and find the perfect things for our new home, but I know that when it comes down to it, it might be nice to have somewhere to sit, eat, sleep.

Behind the Book... and behind in everything else

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:54:00 +0000

I'm feeling behind in everything, and all I want to do is sit around and read and write. And rewatch episodes of Arrested Development. Maybe it's a side effect the allergy medication, but I seem to have less of an ability to stare at a computer screen without getting a headache after I get home from work. As a result, I haven't sent any emails in at least a week, which is kind of a disaster. Maybe it is some belated fire/moving/general stress exhaustion, but it is harder than usual to get motivated.

I think I neglected to post this, coming as it did right after the fire, but writer Chad Pelley of Salty Ink (one of my favourite sites!) also did a Behind the Book with me on Bone & Bread that you can read here. I really liked his questions!

Salty Ink is also one of a few must-read sites celebrating short story month. Steven W. Beattie of That Shakespearean Rag is taking it to the next level with daily nuanced short-story reviews. And Steph at Bella's Bookshelves has started something called #shortstoriesforbreakfast, which is a great bite-sized teaser for things to read. Short stories and breakfast are the perfect pairing!

I'm sure these aren't the only sites doing special features for short stories this month, but they're the ones on my daily rotations. Let me know of any others you come across.

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At my workplace, we have to use up our remaining vacation allotment for the year before the end of May, so Tuesday morning I stayed home from work and tried to write. And I did. (Hurray!) Though I did something I really shouldn't do and started writing something new, in a style and genre I don't really work in and which I probably won't be able to sustain. It was fun and satisfying, though. I really want to decide what to focus on this summer among all my different projects and make a big push forward in something because I think the summer is when I do my best work (or, at least, my most work).

A rave review and lessons to relearn

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:45:00 +0000

This glowing Toronto Star review of Bone & Bread came out the same day as my Montreal book launch, so I never ended up posting it, but it is really, really lovely. Some of the nice things Jennifer Hunter says about the novel:

“an emotionally complex, riveting story”

“a poignant read…it captivates because it brims with humanity”

I’m just slightly too bashful to repost the last line of the review here (well...for now!), but suffice it to say it is the kind of quote you could live on for a lifetime. I keep waiting for it to become a catch-phrase around the house, but I guess I would probably have to be the one to get that started.

* * *

Lessons I keep needing to relearn:

Veggie paté will always go bad in the fridge before I finish eating it.

Muffins are just cake in another shape.

24-hour allergy pills are a lie.

* * *

A note on "Yux." Several people have hazarded guesses about who it might be and I feel like it is worth saying that it is someone in Toronto, not Montreal.

yux

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:11:00 +0000

I wrote this post a month ago, but I decided to wait to post it to see if just writing it would be enough for venting purposes. And it was...I'm not upset anymore...but I decided to share it today because I think it says something about perceptions about male and female writers, or maybe just something about men and women and the crap women are still forced to deal with. (Or maybe it doesn't say anything about any of that at all...maybe it's just a reminder that some people are not very nice.)
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So last weekend I posted the Quill & Quire photo on Facebook, and lots of kind friends and acquaintances liked and commented on it. I was really happy that so many people shared my excitement because, let’s face it, if you’re a writer, being on the cover of a magazine is pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime event. Then, a day or two after I posted it, a prominent Canadian novelist I’m not acquainted with sent me a request to tag the photo of my face “Yux.”

Yux?

I know, I know --- cruel, misspelled comments are practically what the internet was built on, but I didn’t expect it to be coming from someone with whom I have 30+ friends in common, who was perfectly willing to attach his name. (Interestingly, this is also someone who is was Facebook friends with my husband…who apparently doesn’t know him in real life either.) I can (can I??) understand a completely random dislike accruing for somebody you don’t know, based on what you know about their work or their public image (I would be very surprised if this person knew anything about my work, but then again, all of this is surprising to me). But I really can’t understand taking that action on that dislike and doing something hurtful enough to ensure that that person knows that you hate them..?! Apart from the sheer meanness involved in such an action, it just seems….imprudent. Why make enemies when you don’t have to? The literary world in Canada is pretty small, after all.

And what if I had approved it and it went out into everybody’s news feed? Was he counting on it just being an instance of private taunting? It feels like a completely unprovoked schoolyard bully attack, and I’m surprised to find it coming from a writer who is so well-established, with multiple books and a regular teaching gig. I know that writers aren’t always model human beings, but most writers I’ve met are pretty empathetic people. And even if he has somehow has read and disliked something by me, telling me he finds my face unattractive is kind of beside the point. But I guess he’s the kind of guy who thinks women should always be judged by their looks?

Things that happened this weekend

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:10:00 +0000

Things that happened this weekend:

* On Thursday, the professional restoration people came to take our books and a few other sundries away for cleaning. I don’t want to tell you how many boxes it took to cart away all our books, but between the books and just a few pieces of furniture, it filled a whole medium-sized moving truck.

* On Friday, my husband shifted the rubble in the kitchen in order to gain access to the cabinets, rescuing what could be saved. Most of the dishes in the tipped-over dishwasher weren’t even smashed (miracle)! But the soot in the kitchen was particularly bad…even through the cabinet doors, everything has been covered with a thick and sticky layer of soot that has turned everything a brownish-grey. This is perhaps most alarming when it comes to my yellow KitchenAid mixer and Le Creuset cookware. I suspect “Inferno Grey” would not be a popular choice in their rainbow of colour options. I’m really hoping the soot will shift without major repeated interventions on my part.

A sooty cupboard, half-emptied. (The platter on

the bottom used to be a light turquoise, like the

circle in the middle of it where another bowl was resting.)

A lifted-up coaster leaves a white pattern in the

living room soot (somewhat less severe).

* On Friday night, we went to the Sens-Habs playoff game. And we (Montreal) won! But it was a real treat for me to see my hometown Ottawa Sens play, too, and it was a very welcome respite from our dirty, stressful week. (Of last night's game, let us say nothing.)

Youppi was hanging out right

next to us for a while.

* On Saturday, we moved out all the stuff we are hoping to clean ourselves (i.e. all of the clothes and most of the kitchen stuff)…which filled up a whole uHaul van and then some. Ugh.

No less than three sets of firefighters dropped by on Saturday to do walk-throughs as we were packing and moving. I suppose they take every opportunity they have to see the remnants of a real fire. I felt pretty pleased with myself for asking the first group of about seven guys if they wanted to help, and on their way out, they each helped --- as per my rapid opportunistic instructions: “This!” “And This!” “And This!” --- to carry all the heaviest items down the fire escape for us.

Over the course of Saturday night and all day Sunday, I also did about eight loads of our smoky laundry, including a few sinkfuls of handwashing, which has made less of a dent than one would hope in our total combined wardrobes. But we’re getting there.

Sadly, reading and writing has fallen so far by the wayside amidst all this upheaval that I am almost despairing of ever picking them back up – except one of the few things I have managed to gain over the years is the ability to (at least temporarily!) stave off this kind of despair. I have too many things I’m excited about not to start writing again soon, but now is not the time to feel bad about it. (Right?)

Bone and Bread on The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers!

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:02:00 +0000

I'm really thrilled to say that Bone & Bread is going to be featured on The Next Chapter!

This interview was one of the first publicity things I did for the novel (two months ago now), and I was so, so nervous. There's something about a radio interview done remotely (I was in the studio in Montreal, and Shelagh was in B.C., I think) that puts me out of my comfort zone. It's like talking on the phone...and I am not a phone person. But Shelagh is truly lovely, as is everyone I encountered who works for the show, and I have no doubt they have managed to make me sound less nervously incoherent than I sometimes felt.

I've been told the segment will be on the episode that airs Monday, May 6 (today!) between 1 and 2 p.m. and then again Saturday, May 10 between 4 and 5 p.m. I'll also post an online link once it becomes available. (That's how I'll be listening, so that I can stop it if I start cringing!)

A few weeks after that taping, I was invited to be on Sonali Karnick's great CBC show All in a Weekend, and though I felt a little stressed about getting down to the studio for 7:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning, I felt totally comfortable and at ease and had so much fun. It's amazing what a few weeks of practice will do, not to mention talking to somebody face to face. (Or maybe I was just too sleepy to be able to get really nervous..?)

This is a photo Sonali snapped on her phone before the taping:

7:45 on a Sunday: no coffee, no makeup

You can read a summary or listen to it here on the CBC Books page.

Bone and Bread is a Chatelaine pick!

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Fri, 03 May 2013 03:32:00 +0000

Even though I've been mostly M.I.A. on the internet over the past few days, it was so nice (!) to see Bone & Bread listed as one of their best new releases to read in May:

http://www.chatelaine.com/living/chatelaine-book-club/book-reviews-may-2013-best-new-releasesread-in-may/

I also noticed it at Chapters on this table of suggested books for Mother's Day...

Livres pour toutes les mamans!

Salty Ink is also running a Big Bloomin' Spring Book Giveaway, where you can win Bone & Bread along eight other fresh CanLit books!

In non-book news, I've been working non-stop over the past three days, sorting through the rubble at the apartment and getting what's left ready to be moved. I'm bone tired. Worse, birch pollen is in the air. You know your allergies are bad when you feel marginally better inside a charred-out building full of ash than you do walking around outside.

Hmmm. Instead of writing about how tired I am, I should just go to bed...

Ottawa, Walrus Talks, Blue Met, photo shoot...and after.

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:06:00 +0000

I wanted to start this post with talking about how great a time I had at the Ottawa International Writers Festival, but reading over my last post, I see I already did that! But really, though, the lovely time just continued through the reading, the post-reading fun in the hospitality suite, my delicious breakfast in my room the next morning...even the nice chat with the volunteer who drove me to train station. I was sad not to be able to stay longer to visit friends and attend even more of the festival!

In terms of the event itself, I thought it was stellar. Shyam Selvadurai read from his novel, and now I can't wait to de-smokify my hardcover copy and start reading. And Cathy Buchanan gave an amazing PowerPoint presentation showing the background on the inspiration and real historical details in her novel. She also very kindly gave me her own copy of The Painted Girls, as she'd heard about my fire. I couldn't bring myself to turn it down because I'd been in the middle of reading it and was forced to put aside due to smokiness. But I was so excited and distracted by everything going on that I forgot to get her to sign it...doh!! But the bright side is that when I do get my books taken care of, I'll be able to pay it forward by giving one copy of this wonderful book to somebody else.

The festival venue...
(just down the street from my old high school!)

There were lots of familiar faces at the reading, including high school friends and friends' moms, and my writing instructor from Carleton (Rick Taylor)!

With Cathy Buchanan and Shyam Selvadurai

at the Ottawa Writersfest

I got back to Montreal on Saturday afternoon, one hour before soundcheck for the Walrus Talks event, where I met so many smart people, including fellow writer-types Pasha Malla and Vincent Lam. I really enjoyed all the talks, especially Rachel Giese's on adoption, and Will Straw's on French and English. Jonathan Goldstein's was (as you might expect!) hilarious. And although I have been anxious about my own talk for weeks, I think it went over just fine. A number of people came up to me to speak to me about it afterwards...and only some of them were family members...so I'm really pleased. (And even more pleased it is behind me.)

Later on, I gave a reading at Blue Met with other local writers (all happy new discoveries for me, as I hadn't read any of them before: Peter Kirby, Rae Spoon, and Barry Webster). I wish my own reading had been a little more energized, but I was running on empty at that point. When I got home just before nine that night, I was so happy to change into warm, comfy clothes and finally eat a real meal (nothing by canapes since breakfast) and watch SNL (a repeat, but we hadn't caught it the first time around, and it was hilarious).

And Sunday was the photo shoot for Bare it for Books! I slept in, made coffee, then walked down the street to the nail place for a mani-pedi --- an indulgence I spend lots of time thinking about but actually haven't done since my wedding. (Strategically, it probably would have been a better thing to do before my two-day whirlwind of events, but I just couldn't find the time.) Then Dallas Curow came over and did my makeup (reading Dallas' makeup tutorials is one of my favourite ways to relax on the internet these days) before doing her genius photographer thing until we had some promising shots. Compared to apartment fires and public talks, the shoot was a breeze (and, ahem, breezy). Thanks so much, Dallas... you are amazing!

A selfie before I took off the makeup. (Eyelashes!)

The rest of the day was equally perfect: a quick supper, an impromptu movie (Silver Linings Playbook), a Sens win, and watching music videos online.

I feel almost ready to face the week...and work, and taxes, and the smoky apartment again.

Rest and refuge in Ottawa at the Writersfest

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:24:00 +0000

I woke up bright and early this morning to catch a train to Ottawa. Got here in time to catch a great noon event at Knox Presbyterian Church --- John Metcalf, Nancy Jo Cullen and Tamas Dobozy talking about the art of the short story. A nugget of wisdom from Tamas: the end is also the beginning, as it recasts the whole story in light of it. Nancy Jo Cullen said she thinks of endings as a "breath" in the story...before it goes on without us. I like both ideas.

As soon as I arrived in Ottawa, I felt relaxed and welcomed. Things at the Writersfest run like clockwork thanks to all the wonderful volunteers and organizers.

This afternoon, I was initially supposed to go to a tea at the U.S. Embassy along with the other invited writers, an event I was excited about, but I was also invited to do a reading for All in a Day with (the very lovely!) Alan Neal. And who can resist the call of the CBC?

Then I got back to my hotel, finished and practiced my speech for the Walrus Talks event tomorrow that has been wreaking havoc with my nerves for weeks --- and promptly had a long, deep nap in this amazing bed.

Just ignore the monkey pyjamas.

I'm sad to be missing the event right before mine, but I'm so grateful for the chance to recharge and de-stress a little. Now to iron my dress, put on some makeup, and get ready for my event later. Looking forward to meeting some great writers and catching up with old friends.

Still life with iron and lint brush

See you in a bit, Ottawa?

high hopes and other things still standing

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:08:00 +0000

[I'm sorry for the slowness of this update, as I know people are concerned. I've been writing this post since yesterday...I fell asleep in bed while writing the first part last night.]

Last night when we left the chill of the street in our pyjamas to go to the neighbours', there were massive amounts of smoke billowing out of all of our windows, and huge flames visible on both sides of the building on the second floor, including the apartment directly below ours. It seemed unreasonable to hope for much, though as I lay awake trying to sleep, I did let some hope creep in around the sides. Maybe the papers inside the filing cabinets would be okay. Maybe the enameled cast iron pots would make it through.

The third-floor windows are ours.

Here's the story on CTV, the Montreal Gazette, and the CBC (where I grabbed the video).

In the morning, I discovered my stepdaughter had been thinking the same way. Maybe, she said, Blue Bunny (her beloved stuffed rabbit, companion since birth) would have made it through, somehow. Maybe, I said. But I don't think we should be too optimistic. No, she agreed, he's probably burnt to a crisp.

Well, he wasn't burnt to a crisp, through he was in a half-collapsed kitchen, smoky and waterlogged, and one trip through the washing machine still hasn't gotten the smell out. But Blue Bunny lives!

Rescued friends.

In fact, though it looks like a tornado has ripped through the middle of our place, many of our belongings have been spared (although they all have severe smoke damage, and it remains to be seen whether it will be a) possible or b) economically feasible to have the smoke removed).

Based on my blog post the night of the fire, Steph at Bella's Bookshelves started the most generous campaign to help me rebuild my library, but I am happy to say that somehow the books have survived, apart from smoke damage. I am also touched beyond belief by all the supportive messages and offers of help I have received. If I haven't had a chance to write back to you personally yet, please know your thoughts have made a difference in this stressful time.

(Re: stress. It is possible I might have said something along the lines of 'This week couldn't get any more stressful"...between the two talks I have to prepare and give, plus three readings/appearances, a 24-hour trip to Ottawa, and a charity photo shoot... well, anyway...I was wrong! Thanks, Fate, for taking me up on that.)

We were able to get into the building yesterday and today, and we grabbed a few things. The acrid smell is terrible, though, and it is hard to breathe. After a little while, my head hurt and I started to find it difficult to think clearly or make decisions. At least half of the photos I took today were unusable and blurry.

The floor. There's a carpet under there somewhere.

More of the living room floor.

The living room.

The kitchen.

More of the ex-kitchen.

I'm not sure how it worked out this way, given all the books we have (in my previous blog post I estimated 16 bookcases, but it is actually more like 20, though some of them are small ones), but none of them were touched by fire or water. They seem to mostly have been out of range of the disaster, except for the smoke. Anyone who has read Steph's blog post (I know the original post was re-shared several times without the update) and wants to help, I would ask you not to send me any books. Your kind thoughts mean so much already, and right now, we are just coping with what we need to do to save the ones we have. (Literary agent Denise Bukowski left a kind comment saying that it would probably be more helpful to me to buy a copy of one my books, and I certainly can't argue with that.)

More kitchen disaster, but with a bookcase still standing.

We had nine bookcases in the hallway. Only a few books fully trashed. Points for picking out the CanLit titles.

The fire started just after 10:30 p.m. We were watching television when we heard a very loud banging on the door. When we went to see what it was, we saw thick smoke billowing in under our front door very quickly. We woke up my stepdaughter, unlocked the back door and headed down the fire escape together. The neighbours who had banged on our door were already out there. In a way, I'm proud that I did not stop to grab a single thing. We all got downstairs in less than two minutes, and by that time, the smoke was coming out the back door.

Of course, in the long night when I was sure everything was gone, I had a pang about not saving anything. Besides the obvious practicalities (wallet, phone, computer), here are the things of mine I thought about and wished I had been able to save:

a painted book of illustrations from my wedding, made by my friend Kathleen, which I've been meaning to scan for months and months, in case anything should happen to it

some love notes from my husband

Given that I have always been a pack-rat, someone who is extremely sentimental about parting with belongings, it interested me to note that these were the only things it really made me cry to consider losing, out of a whole overstuffed apartment full of stuff. I'm going to try to remember this fact, going forward.

Some other things I really, really regretted the possibility of losing:

a necklace my husband gave me for our first anniversary

a small David Milne watercolour that had been gifted to us

my childhood books

some stories I wrote when I was a kid

But all of these things are fine. We have lost nothing that matters, and all in all, we are unbelievably lucky. Of the four units in the building, ours is the only one that is not completely destroyed --the two bedrooms are basically fine, except for severe smoke damage. Given the 90 firefighters it took to put out the four-alarm fire, it seems nothing short of miraculous. They did an amazing job preserving what they could. I am so grateful to be alive, so grateful to have somewhere to go (we're staying with my in-laws), and so touched by the outpouring of support from friends, family, acquaintances, and even strangers. We're part of an amazing community.

Books and a blaze

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:50:00 +0000

I hardly know what to call this post or what to say. It's after 4 a.m. and I'm in our neighbours' basement. I can't sleep. I am trying to type quietly on this wonderfully clicky keyboard to keep from waking my husband.

This morning I was worried about what I had planned to say to the Books and ~~Brunch~~ Breakfast audience at the Sheraton.

Book & Breakfast: a wonderful literary tradition in Montreal.

The event turned out to be lots of fun, and I was so relieved to be slotted first so that I could actually enjoy what all the other writers had to say.

Signing books afterwards.

But this was what happened later...

A fire in our building. We were in the upper floor.

This is a photo I found on Twitter. We are lucky to have escaped unharmed, and I pray that is the case for everyone in the building as well as the firefighters who worked to put it out. We left with only the clothes on our back - no phones or car keys, and in my case no ID or wallet. It is terrible to contemplate the possibility of losing everything we had, but compared to what we might have lost, it is nothing at all. We are fortunate, too, that we have people who can take us in, and an empty apartment we're moving into in a few weeks. It might stay unfurnished for longer than planned.

Thank you to those of you who have sent supportive messages on FB, Twitter, and elsewhere.

There is the urge to grieve and be thankful at the same time. I'm not sure what else to say right now. We may know more tomorrow if anything is salvageable, though more likely it may take a few days before anyone is allowed in.

(I keep thinking of the books... how between us we had at least 16 overstuffed bookcases, and if the flames made it in, they'd go up in a flash. And if they didn't burn, they'd be soaked through by the firehoses.)

Bone and Bread in the blogosphere ... and Paragraphe's Books and Brunch

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:55:00 +0000

So I promised to catch up on all the lovely Bone and Bread coverage I've fallen behind on....

Kerry Clare has written a wonderful review of Bone and Bread on Pickle Me This:

"It seems fitting to say that this is a novel absolutely packed/plotted with ingredients: family drama, tragedy, humour, intrigue, politics. Truly, there is something here to appeal to every reader (spectacular writing not the least of it)..."

These are just a few of the very nice things Kerry has to say about the book. I also love how perfectly she describes the messiness of the relationship between Beena and Sadhana, as well as Beena's lack of self-knowledge.

(By the way, if you don't already read Kerry's blog, you really should. Besides having what is one of my favourite all-time blog names ever, she writes about books and life and motherhood with so much wisdom and frankness and humour. There is more than one book I've learned about via Kerry's blog, and her recommendations have never steered me wrong.)

I also found this kind and thoughtful review by Robert Nathan on his blog Epic Word Quest.

Some highlights:

"Nawaz’s debut novel asks what it means to come of age in Canada, to be different, and to be a woman in all its meanings: a daughter, a friend, a sister, a lover, a mother, and a working professional..."

"Nawaz is a talented prose stylist with a fluid voice."

There are lots of nice things about this review, but I think what I appreciate most are the criticisms Nathan includes (and there are a few) -- all of which I find carefully considered, fair, and useful.

Other fun coverage of Bone and Bread on the 'net:

A Q & A with writer Will Johnson on his great Literary Goon site. (Follow this blog! Will updates a lot and it's always a great read.)

Plus a couple of quick of questions over on Rover Arts. Thanks, Rover Arts!

I've spent most of the day trying to get my thoughts in order for some talks I'll be giving soon. (In the next eight days, I'll be giving two talks AND two readings...and posing for that charity calendar. Please, please send me some de-stress vibes if you have any to spare.)

Tomorrow, stress notwithstanding, I am thrilled to be participating in Paragraphe Bookstore's Books & Brunch event at the Sheraton, where I'll be appearing alongside Tyler Trafford, Michel Cormier, and (very!) celebrated sci-fi writer Robert J. Sawyer ... and eating breakfast!

Baring my soul...anxiety, renos, and Bare it For Books

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:18:00 +0000

Emails are languishing, coffee dates are being cancelled, my blog posts are backed up. This is due to two things: looming public speaking events for which I need to prepare, not to mention the photo below:

Renovations!

My anxiety over these public events (or rather, my very real need to set time aside to think about what I am going to say) is clashing with an increasing daily need to make difficult decisions (closets! tiles! flooring!) about EVERYTHING under the sun to do with the place we’re moving into. Our renovations are relatively modest, but nevertheless require a lot of attention. Book promotion and home renovations are not terribly complementary activities, let me tell you.

I also wanted to share a reminder about the Bare it for Books fundraising campaign for PEN Canada. There are 63 hours left to contribute on Indiegogo! There’s also a great article about it today in the Montreal Gazette. I had a really fun chat with Mark Lepage about the project!

The amazing Dallas Curow is going to take my photo for the charity calendar, and I’m so happy she agreed to do it! I’m nervous about posing, but I almost have too many other things to be nervous about to get too worried just yet….

Winter in April and what I'm reading

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:21:00 +0000

It is actually supposed to snow tomorrow. Snow. 15-20 centimetres.

In a way, I don’t mind. I’ll be able to bundle up in my full winter gear and not feel bad about it. It has been cold for days, but the worst kind of cold, where the weather forecasts have only prepared you for double-digits until the night before. The forecast giveth, and the forecast taketh away.

I’ve been missing the simplicity and warmth of my black shearling boots. I never thought I would miss winter boots, which I guess means my careful selection process and expended ($$$) funds were well worth it. It’s possible that what is making me grumpiest about this changing weather is my general confusion about how to dress to stay warm enough on any given day without the ability to rely on a giant parka. I hate being cold. It's April, after all. There isn't supposed to be any more of this:

A photo by T. from our knitting weekend

Enough about the weather.

Well, I wrote all that yesterday. It has now snowed, stopped, started again, stopped, rained, and it is now a light hail, I think. Oh well.

Yesterday I finished reading Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. A super-quick and easy read that I enjoyed…perfect for the subway. It didn’t really light a fire under me to start running, as it isn’t really that kind of book (though I sort of hoped it would be). I can really only relate to that kind of striving when it comes to writing, or the occasional personal pet project.

I also recently finished reading Diana Athill’s Midsummer Night in the Workhouse. I wish I had put down my thoughts about this collection right away, but it probably enough to say that I really enjoyed it. The style and the social mores are very of the era (I don’t know this for a fact, but I have a feeling most of these were written many years ago), but the intellect and observation of the writer are profound. It reminded me of the power of well-balanced explanation in fiction. Writers are so frequently exhorted to “Show, Don’t Tell,” but there is plenty to be said for telling when it is artfully done and when what is being communicated is complex and unique.

Right now I’m reading The Dinner by Herman Koch, which, so far, is the perfect follow-up to Athill.

This weekend I really need to start preparing for a few upcoming events, even though just thinking about them makes me nervous. And nervousness = avoidance mode. Wish me luck.

To spite the weather, here's a cheery, spring-y photo of some yellow in the kitchen, including some beautiful tulips Z. gave me at my launch, which lasted and lasted.

Hope everyone is staying safe and warm with all this sleet and ice and snow all over!

Bone and Bread in the National Post

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:30:00 +0000

Thank goodness for the National Post.

That's a sentence that in 1997 I never would have guessed I would write.

But the National Post Books Section and the Afterword blog make everything better. (What on earth did I use to read to get me through the day? There must have been something...? Bookninja, probably.)

Since the wonderful "Most Anticipated Books of (the first half of) 2013," there have been a few more articles and tidbits about Bone and Bread in the National Post:

There is this very nice article about me and Bone and Bread by Mark Medley. (I'm finding I get nervous or shy about these kinds of articles and tend to skim them very quickly, but looking over this now to share the link, I see that my editor said some extremely blush-inducing and hard-work-inspiring things about me in it.)

Photo from the National Post

Photographer Tyler Anderson took this photo in the building where House of Anansi has their offices, at the end of the hallway in the freight elevator. He makes the backdrop look unexpectedly gorgeous!

There is also a little piece I wrote for their feature called the "Story behind the Story," where I talk a little bit about the genesis of a particular excerpt from the novel.

And last, but certainly not least, a review of Bone and Bread by Emily M. Keeler.

On the flipside of all this happy internet stuff, I've been having some generalized internet woes lately. It was announced a few weeks ago that Google Reader is being discontinued, only a zillion years after I finally got it organized exactly the way I want it. It's fine, really, because Reader created its own problems for me....I'd read blog posts on my phone and star/flag them to go comment later, but never did. What I miss is the sidebar I used to have on my old Blogger design that showed when my favourite sites had a new update -- the most recently updated blog moving to the top of the list. I wish there was a way to replicate this functionality in the "Pages" function I'm using now. (I've tried pasting the code, but to no avail.)

What is your favourite way to stay up-to-date with your favourite sites? I'm thinking of going back to good old-fashioned bookmarking that I check up on every other day.

The Facebook app on my phone has also stopped working properly -- it loads everything except for pictures, which makes for some very odd, contextless status updates.

Sunday night is not too late

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 01:48:00 +0000

It has been a bit of a stir-crazy, wheels-spinning weekend. Nothing quite got off the ground. Too much sleeping in, too much weather disappointment. A general reluctance to spend an hour on the metro getting to where I wanted to be...and so went nowhere. Nothing really worth complaining about, especially since it's all my own fault. But in the past five minutes, at least, in a burst of frustration-fueled activity, I have managed to locate my chequebook, after a many-weeks search, so perhaps this is the start of a change. The last few hours of the weekend will not be lost to melancholic feelings of futility. Rooms will be tidied! Emails will be answered! Things will be crossed off the to-do list!

Does everyone feel this way on Sunday night? I know it is technically the weekend, but it has to be the worst night of the week.

cover girl

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:26:00 +0000

On newstands now!

This is the end product of the photo shoot with Guillaume Morrisette I wrote about here. I was surprised when I saw the picture as I had seen a neat close-up picture he'd taken on his camera (my face next to one of the long, sesame-seed-covered wooden paddles they use for lifting bagels in and out of the oven), and for some reason I assumed the magazine would use that one. But I love this and it makes me really happy it was taken inside Fairmount Bagel, which inspired the novel. (The photos inside the issue were taken at St-Viateur, which also makes a pretty unbeatable bagel).

I felt a little self-conscious when I went to buy a copy. I picked up two, one for myself and one for my mom, and I was worried (why??) that the clerk would notice, but he didn't. (Although Edmonton-based poet and writer Alexis Kienlen had someone ask her if she was the one on the cover when she picked up at copy!)

But self-consciousness aside (which is mostly related to being designated as a "star" in large lettering...gulp), I am so excited about this!! How could I not be?! Quill & Quire is basically the only magazine I actually sit down and read from start to finish with any regularity. When I was working hard to finish Mother Superior, I used to read the author profiles on the Quill site to give me motivation to get writing, and I daydreamed about having one about me there someday. (Though I never once dreamed about the cover!)

Somehow, wonderfully, there has been so much coverage of Bone and Bread that I actually feel daunted and bashful about posting about all of it here, but I will try to catch up with mentioning everything over the next little while.

So along those lines, this is a very nice review/profile by Peter Robb that ran in the Ottawa Citizen -- my hometown newspaper!

In other, regular life news, I am still knitting up a storm as my cold gradually (oh so slowly) ebbs away. Last night's knitting group was hosted by J. at S's amazing studio and featured sparkling wine and chocolate babka from Cheskie's, among many other yummy snacks. S. is a costume designer (right now she's designing for the opera!) who is also apprenticing to become a bespoke tailor, which sounds even more intense than you might imagine. No pins! And no electric sewing machines.

Also, today at lunchtime I used my gift certificate to Paragraphe to pick up Swamplandia! by Karen Russell and The Dinner by Herman Koch. Looking forward to starting one or both this weekend, and doing some real writing at last.

Montreal launch and the four-day weekend

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:43:00 +0000

Thursday was the Montreal launch for Bone and Bread, and it went really well! Thank you so, so much to everyone who came out.

Outside Drawn & Quarterly bookstore.

I met up with some writer friends beforehand, at Le Depanneur cafe, an hour before the Monday Night Choir performed in support of the launch. (I'm not in this choir, though I've submitted my name to the long waiting list.) Their set was amazing, and I cannot even describe how special it felt to have the evening start with music like this! Below is a picture of them performing. (This photo, and actually all the ones in this post were taken by amazing publicist K.)

Monday Night Choir performing at Le Depanneur cafe

Then we crossed the street to D & Q, where I read a couple of short sections of the novel.

A rare photo of me looking semi-normal while reading!!

This was followed by a fun Q & A with Drew Nelles, the editor of Maisonneuve Magazine, and then, deliriously happy that the public speaking part of the night was over, I signed books and chatted with people and generally felt like the luckiest girl on earth. And we sold out of all the books!

The lovely peeps at D&Q also blogged about the night here.

Chatting with Drew Nelles of Maisonneuve.

Post-reading, I've just been recovering. My cold got worse after Toronto, and it was so bad just before the launch I actually had to miss a day and a half of work (which almost never happens), and it is in fact still going. I have actually never seen this much green goo (yuck, sorry) in my whole life.

BUT...it's the four-day weekend! One of the best things about the Easter weekend is that it always seems to sneak up on me and therefore feels like a surprise holiday. In the past, I've used this weekend to write furiously, stay up late, and make a huge dent in a project. Instead, I've been watching endless episodes of Homeland and knitting like mad. (Shhh...don't tell my piles of laundry and taxes.) I'm working on a new spring cowl that I'm looking forward to wearing with my leather jacket once the weather is warm enough. And once I finish it. I wonder which will come first? Today the weather in Montreal is weird and windy. I'm excited for a stretch of warm weather to come.

Hope everyone had a fun and restful long weekend!

been there, wrote that, got the t-shirt

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:11:00 +0000

It has been a really big few days for this book baby of mine! (And I feel duty bound to record it here...)

The Toronto launch at Type Books was really fun, and the only thing I would have changed would have been to build in some book shopping time for myself because Type is an extremely enticing store.

Before and after the reading, I met some truly lovely people for the first time in person, and there were many friendly faces of friends formerly of Ottawa and Montreal. It was really nice to see everyone! I was a little giddy and huggy, and (I hope) more or less coherent when chatting to a number of attendees who were kind enough to buy books to have signed.

And there were mini-eggs! And a whole bowl of red gummi Big Foots! And wine and beer and Sun Chips. Andrew Kaufman was as sweet and hilarious as his novels, and the wonderful Kyle Buckley asked some great conversation-sparking questions.

A photo from Twitter taken during Andrew's reading

The next day, I was on live national television on Canada AM! This meant getting up at 6 a.m. to get ready (and explore the world of powdered, non dairy creamer via the hotel room coffeemaker), before publicist K drove us out to Scarborough to be on air at 8:40 a.m.

I did my own makeup and hair, but when they asked me if I wanted more makeup, I of course said yes! The makeup artist let me take some photos of her huge kit, which I loved seeing.

Just out of the frame: approximately 50 MAC lipsticks

I still haven't watched the clip because a) I was there and b) it's much nicer to just believe what all my friends and family said about it, which is that it went really well! But you can watch it online, if you like.

K, the producer, shared this photo on Twitter

of Marci Ien and I chatting before the segment.

I also got to visit the House of Anansi office for the first time! It is a gorgeous, good-vibes place full of extremely nice and stylish employees. K, publicist extraordinaire, was nice enough to let me leave with a T-shirt* and a bag full of books, both of which made me feel positively gleeful.

Still feeling A-listy after a great trip to Toronto

Somehow, before the day was over, there were also two more photo shoots and an interview, and even more improbably (or is it??), each one was with someone kind, funny, and talented, who did their best to put me at ease. There was also some extremely rapid shoe shopping, with some excellent results.

The post-live-national-television-appearance red boots.

Descending back into Montreal, a mere 24 hours later.

As soon as I got home, I lost whatever adrenaline was keeping my little cold from turning into a big one. But I hope to be fully over it in time for this Thursday's Montreal launch for Bone and Bread!

* This Anansi T-shirt is not only in my favourite colours, but specifically in my favourite T-shirt colour (my cool dozen grey t-shirts actually led to the great T-shirt embargo of 2011, though free T-shirts are a notable exception) and it is a high quality Roots t-shirt, which will perfectly complement the Roots sweatpants that make up the usual bottom half of my writing uniform. Whoop!

when books disappear

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:49:00 +0000

I've been thinking about the strange luck and wonderful luck Bone and Bread seems to be having in terms of coverage leading up to its release, and I want to try and get done some of the thoughts that have been swirling around over the past couple of weeks. Since I'm about to leave for the airport to head to Toronto for the launch, now seems as good a time to post this as any!

Part of what enables the kind of fearlessness and lack of self-consciousness necessary to writing is the ability to forget that anybody is ever going to read it. It also helps with keeping expectations low, which I think is important for the writing life. But some of the coverage and general interest from people I know is forcing me to swerve out of this admittedly somewhat delusional course of thinking. And it brings me to some unnerving destinations...

Already spotted in the wild... (Indigo in Montreal)

Will anyone actually like it? Will people's expectations be so high that they're bound to be disappointed? This is a completely immobilizing type of thinking to have while writing, and one that I would say is not generally recommended. But now that the novel is making its way out into the world, and there is absolutely no way to change anything at all, I'm occasionally seized with stomach-churning bouts of uncertainty. Why didn't I think about what people like reading? What if it's too /sad/complicated/political/emotional? Why didn't I write something else...something funny, or about a man?? Or a dog or a war or or or or......

Then I breathe and remember there's nothing I can do. Some people -- people whose opinions I value deeply -- have read it and liked it. Not everyone will like it, and that's okay. Even if almost nobody likes it, it isn't even the end of the world as long as I can keep writing. (I suppose whether I can keep publishing is a somewhat different matter, but one that it is probably equally unproductive to consider.)

So many books are released every season, and all of those books represent years of work and sacrifice on the part of the writer, and additional careful work and effort on behalf of the editor and the publisher. Most of them have already achieved certain standards of excellence. I don't know what the acceptance rate is at literary publishers, but I would be surprised if it were very different from that of literary magazines, which often hover around 1-2% of work submitted. So most of what makes it out into the world in the form of a book has already been vetted again and again, by people whose lives revolve around literature. People who know what they're doing. And there are so many excellent books/movies/tv shows/articles/responsibilities competing for our attention. It kind of feels like a special kind of magic any time a book makes it through the maelstrom of the daily media barrage and the craziness of everyday life and finds its way into the hands of a reader. Any time I meet somebody I don't already know who has read my short-story collection, it feels like nothing short of a miracle. And I'm grateful.

People compare books to children all the time, and although I know there are lots of obvious reasons why it isn't a perfect analogy, there's still something to it. All the books on the marketplace are special to somebody, there are good reasons for buying and reading all of them. They're all different and unique and contain a world of their own...but chances are that most of them won't stick around forever, or even for very long. Most books go out of print sooner or later. Some get released, receive excellent reviews, then disappear. Some get released, receive almost no reviews, then disappear even faster.

All of this is to say that I'm grateful for this chance that Bone and Bread seems to have. I hope it finds its readers.

See some of you tonight!
xo

so much news

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:31:00 +0000

There’s so much happening and I suddenly have so much to say that I feel like I could be writing three to four posts a day, even just to keep myself on top of what’s going on. I guess this is the nature of being a writer. Nothing but a mostly solitary struggle for years and then what feels like an overwhelming flurry of activity.

I’ve updated the NEWS tab with some of this information, but this week (in two days!) is the first official event for Bone and Bread, a reading at Type Books with Andrew Kaufman. And Friday morning, if you can believe it, I’m going to be on Canada AM!! I’m so excited because I used to watch this show every morning during breakfast before heading to the office, and I kind of adore everybody on it.

And next week is the Montreal launch and official pub date (whatever that means). I’ve been dragging my heels on sending out the Montreal email invitation to people I know, although there is already a Facebook event. I feel a little bad about sending out messages like this -- as though I’m pestering people -- but then I think, okay, it’s just one invitation, and they might actually want to know about it, and after all, at this rate I’m only averaging one email of this sort every five-six years, so….it’s probably okay, right?

On tenterhooks and sugaring off

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:19:00 +0000

The photo above is of tenterhooks (from this page on weaving in Yorkshire)....and yup, that feels about right. Not really like I'm on them, but maybe the back of my coat -- my feet dangling just a few inches above the ground. A type of suspension that sometimes feels like floating and sometimes feels just a little bit uncomfortable.

I'm the kind of person whose sublimates worry into my body: rashes, upset stomach, eye twitches, etc. I can feel both my arms on the cusp of a rash right now. The season is dry and stress levels are high.

The book that I held for the first time on Wednesday is already here and there in the world. From a Facebook message, I know it arrived at a bookstore in Guelph last week. From a couple of friends, I know that the e-version is already available for download.

*pause for nervous scratching*

Over the next two weeks, I have two books launches, two photo shoots, and short interviews scheduled for every form of media. I am bursting with excitement and pangs of nerves about what to wear, what to say, and how to briefly transform from the realm of the solitary and pyjama-clad writer into a walking-talking simulacrum of a coherent and engaging author.

The fact is, I am actually pretty shy.

---

I did an interview on Friday night, but Saturday we went out to the country for a family sugar shack event. We had delicious sausages, salads, wine, and of course, the main event, maple sugar. Afterwards, I spent the evening chatting, knitting, watching children play, and napping in front of the fireplace. Below are a few photos from the sugaring off.

A forest of tapped trees:

Sap boiling in a cloud of steam:

More of that same special magic happening inside the sugar shack:

Finally, the main event.

The children may have been the loudest in anticipation and appreciation of the maple sugar on snow, but the adults were all able to eat more. Yum.

Writers' endings versus readers' endings

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 00:41:00 +0000

I finished reading Juliet, Naked the other day. It was a shockingly fast read, and it was another book that fell into what I've been thinking of as easy reads -- the kind of book I've been admiring lately. Funny, straightforward, gently observant and sometimes melancholy and imaginative. I liked it a lot, although I got to the end and (without risking spoilers) thought huh, that's not what I want to happen. I had a memory, too, of my friend J. reading this novel and asking me if I'd read it and wanting to chat about how things turned out. (Note to self: follow up on this.)

At the same time, though, the ending as written feels realistic, at least realer than what I wanted to happen possibly could be. Of course, much of what happens in the novel is improbable and a little fantastic, and I think Nick Hornby could have, if he'd wanted to, written an ending that might have been more satisfying in terms of wrapping everything up neatly. But I got the sense when I was reading that Hornby was deliberately resisting that kind of ending, and I respected the choice, as much as I wished for something else. I had the thought as I closed in upon the final pages: this is a writer's ending. The writer feels some kind of responsibility to the truth, to the truth of his characters or the world as it really is or he sees it. But as a reader, I wanted something else. I wanted to know everybody I'd come to care about was going to be okay and get what they wanted.

But then I thought, well... I can just make up my own ending anyway. That's the beauty of fiction. I kind of closed my eyes and forgot the last ten to twenty pages and made up something else instead.

A banner day

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 05:29:00 +0000

Yesterday really was a banner day (and I've just realized the banner photo on this blog is of...a banner...one of the many, many bunting banners I sewed for my wedding day).

Most thrilling for me is to have been (I think...this has been a long ongoing process of weeks and weeks...and I really hope I'm not jinxing it) chosen as one of the soloists in my upcoming choir concert. Singing is my other love besides writing, and while I usually describe it as my only other talent, it is definitely something I have had to work hard at in terms of not choking during auditions. Nervousness seems to attack my stomach and my vocal chords in equal measure in such instances, even though it doesn't seem to be an issue in actual performances. Anyway, I am dance-around-the-apartment excited because I have literally been trying out for years and because this semester we are doing medleys from both of my favourite musicals from when I was younger: The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables.

Also totally thrilling: my author copy of my novel arrived, and it looks amazing!

I love how thick it is (448 pages).

I also found out about and contributed to The Veronica Mars Movie Kickstarter project. Veronica is one of my very favourite television shows of all time, and it is really looking as though this movie is going to happen. (Insert an excited fan-girl squee to drown out all others.)

I also changed departments at my day job, and yesterday was my last day in my old office. It was a very busy early half of the week trying to finish everything up. Yesterday, we had lunch together and my coworkers gave me a very sweet card and a gift card to Paragraphe Bookstore (!), which I am carrying around like a magic ticket, trying to imagine what I will use it for, especially since I am totally spoiled by how many books I have been buying lately.

And....today was my first day in my new department, which is really my old department because I worked there for three years before as a casual employee. I left five years ago, which is a terrifying thought because it really doesn't feel that long. And not much seems to have changed. I mean that literally, because when I went to look for a notebook to start taking down phone messages, I reached for a spiral one shelved on the desk and it was my notebook, one I must have accidentally left behind, almost entirely full except for four pages.

I'm so happy to be back among old friends, and so happy to be reunited with this amazing view of Mount Royal:

And just one week from today is my first Bone and Bread-related event, its book launch in Toronto at Type Books!

AWP and home again

noreply@blogger.com (saleema) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 04:59:00 +0000

How fondly I imagined I'd blog from Boston! Instead I fell into bed exhausted every night and woke up later and later every single day, missing (let's face it) the majority of the AWP panels I most wanted to see. I guess in any jam-packed schedule of events, something has to be scheduled at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., but why did it always have to be all the useful-sounding panels like "The Five Things Writers Need to Figure Out Before Starting Their Novels" or "The Art of the Ending"..? I swear, it's as though whiskey-drinking poets made the whole schedule to suit themselves and their own lie-abed ways.

But I made it to plenty of events, even if I did have to sit on the floor for at least half of them. Fiction seemed somewhat underrepresented at this conference --- although I guess since fiction dominates poetry pretty much all the rest of the time in every other way imaginable, it's hard to get too miffed about this --- and most of the craft-based fiction panels were slotted into small rooms and were packed. Then again, there were 11,000 people at this conference, counting everyone staffing the Bookfair.

Even if only, say, 10,000 of those were writers, that's a lot of writers in one place. It was kind of surreal. Maybe just being around so many people was what was making me so tired. I'm still tired. Losing that extra hour of sleep didn't help either.

I did run into old friends and new, including some folks from Yaddo, and some people I was very happy to meet in person after knowing them a little online. (In one case, my yellow boots led to a hello!) But there were just as many people I was hoping to meet or run into, whose paths simply never crossed with mine. I really hadn't grasped the scale of AWP before going.

And I'm not sure how much I really got out of the panels I attended, although there were a few that inspired me to take a few notes and it might take a few days before things start to turn over in my mind. I'll give it some time.

In and around the conference, we did have a really nice time seeing my husband's sister and family, who were wonderful hosts, as always, and who maintain one of the most beautifully and inspirationally organized households I've ever visited. I'm a fairly organized person, but this is rarely outwardly evident by visiting my apartment or seeing my desk at work...so I always like take some mental notes on these things. I also came away from the amazing Brookline Booksmith with a ton of books I've been wanting to read, pretty much all of which happened to be on sale. Between my sister-in-law's discount card and the Fleet Foxes playing while I shopped, it was kind of an ideal shopping experience. I think I've bought more books in the past three months than I've bought in the last three years put together. Reading is bringing me a lot of joy these days. It always has, but maybe there is something about not being embroiled in revising one's own novel that makes everything more delicious.