>Launch of Jolted...and lunch

>Well,

I'm blogging about this rather late, but better late than never. I launched JOLTED at Tommy Douglas Collegiate here in Saskatoon on Oct. 23rd.

I cut together some video from the event. I condensed an hour long launch into about 10 minutes (in other words I took out the long boring parts and the tomato throwing episode and the tightrope walking schtick and the elephants who appeared--I assumed no one would want to see that). This will show you some of the other shocking things that happened.
[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/Ad7WTgA]
It was a fun, exciting, exhilarating event. As you can tell I need to learn to stay under the spotlight, so I brightened up parts of the video. For those of you who want to know such things, I edited it all on a Macbook 2.4 (yes one of the fancy new ones), using Final Cut Express. It was my first experience with the program and I'm learning to like it.

The actual audio video presentation for the launch is done in Keynote, which I highly recommend for these types of presentations.

The audience was great and I am thankful that Tommy Douglas Collegiate let me launch my book at the school. Nothing like celebrating with 400+ students!

Of course, I ended the event with lunch at Truffles, dining on truffle butter steak. Mmmmmm.


Cheers,

Art

>Review and Award nod!

>Yay! Another nice review of Jolted right here: CM Magazine. Whoa, Did I mention Jolted was also nominated for 3 Saskatchewan Book Awards! Alright! I get another free meal.

Hmmm. Long time no post. Oh, that's right I'm on a deadline. Must return nose to grindstone now! Must finish Hunchback book. Must not go mad rewriting.
Must not.
Go mad.
Not.
Mad.

Art

>Wordfestmania

>Just a short post from Wordfest. It's an absolutely wonderful festival. I was able to share the stage with Shane Peacock (buy his young Sherlock books now!) and Marty Chan (Get his books, too--very hilarious!!). They both were brilliant and if you ever get a chance, ask Shane about crows. He has lots of stories. Oh, and ask Marty about the time he dressed up in his mom's bathrobe to practice kung fu (he was a kid at the time). The second part of the festival is out in Banff and I'm enjoying just staring at the mountains and seeing a few authors (like Marie-Louise Gay). Ooops, better go. I'm off to a program that features Cecil Castellucci. I'm hoping she can teach me how to be hip.

Art

>Thin Air and teasing other writers

>First off, I've done a podcast of the first chapter of Jolted. It's available on iTunes or here. Or, watch the podcast on Youtube.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuitDBWIujw&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01]

I'm just back from Thin Air: Winnipeg International Writers Festival . Had a lovely time in Winnipeg, the presentations all went well and I got to hang out with several authors, including Susin Nielsen, author of Word Nerd. Her book is guaranteed to make you smarter or no money back. She didn't say that herself, it's just a conclusion I jumped to. My favorite question from the readings was girl in grade 4 who asked, "can anybody be an author?" I immediately said, "No, all of you give up now." I only said that because they all seemed so smart and creative and I didn't want the extra competition about fifteen years from now (okay, maybe I said, "yes, anyone can be an author, you just have to work at it.").

My presentation at Balmoral Hall, which was an all-girls school, went well. I was treated like royalty and had a good audience... except (insert dramatic music here) there was a practice lockdown. That's the second school in a row that has had a practice lockdown while I was in the building. I keep telling people it's my writing that's creepy, I'm not creepy. Really!

Speaking of teasing people, well this was the ad Harpercollins used for the Eden Mills Festival:

and this is the ad from the Winnipeg Festival.
You may notice that someone is missing. Did you do something to upset your publisher, Susan (I just assume she reads my blog)? Is this a sign of something? Oh, I know, I know that she'd cloud the issue with facts like...I wasn't at the festival, Art, that's why I don't appear in the ad. Hmmmph. I've never much liked facts. : )

Art

>Voices in My Head!

>Whew, finally got another draft of The Hunchback done. There's nothing like hitting the send button and suddenly feeling like a 20000 pound weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Then the questions begin...should I have changed that? Should I have changed this? Did I really do a rewrite or was it more of a spellcheck? Alas, my editors will have to figure that out.

Okay, finally, after over a year I've done another Writing for YA podcast. It's available on iTunes or my website. And it's all about finding your voice. And it was inspired by an e-mailed question from Cyndi: "I have a problem with my voice when I write. Any tips? What could I do to work out the kinks?" I rambled on until I felt like the question was answered.

Do you have anything you'd like me to babble about? I'll gladly babble about anything.

Am listening to Metallica's Death Magnetic right now. It sounds like the old Metallica is back. They put a real hurt on my ears (in a good way).
And I'm packing for my 3 day trip to perform at Thin Air: Winnipeg International Writers Festival . Looking forward to it---I have to present at Balmoral School and do two stage presentations with Susin Nielsen, author of Word Nerd. Now that's a cool name for a book. Wish I'd thought of it...

Art