Today is my birthday. I’m hoping for a banner year. Here is the banner for my future books with my new publisher. The banner will appear at the front of each book.

I really enjoyed my Long Lunch Quick Reads event at Loft 112 last Friday afternoon. Delicious food, great company, sharp questions after my reading that followed our hearty meal. Many thanks to Lisa Murphy-Lamb for giving my short story a home and hosting this fun happening. It even inspired me to come up with a new short story idea that I hope to get down to writing soon.

How exciting to see this collage of the chapbooks featuring my short story “When a Warm Wind Blows Off the Mountains.” Those who come to the Loft Lunch this Friday will choose one of these little books to take home. During the lunch, from noon-2:00 PM, I’ll read from the story and we’ll chat about writing and more, while enjoying lunch, either the one we brought or the one we ordered from The Loft.  To learn more and/or to order lunch phone 403-455-1120 or check www.loft112.org.

Friday, October 21, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Loft 112
#112, 535 8 Ave SE – in the East Village

I’m thrilled to have my short story selected for this month’s Long Lunch Quick Reads, at Loft 112, 535-8 Avenue # 112, in the East Village. The event takes places Friday, Oct 21, noon-2:00 PM.

Never been before? Here’s what to expect:
1) a beautiful chapbook to read on site and then to take home
2) a chance to sit and read in a cozy, light filled space with other readers reading the same story
3) opportunity to discuss the story
4) insight into this new writing
5)Lunch! Your own or pre-order from us @ loftonetwelve@gmail.com $10 gets you fed and contributes to the Loft’s Pay-A-Writer Fund
6) Coffee, tea and Village beer

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Loft 112 is commercial space + loft apartment that serves as a centre for writers and artists of all kinds from the Calgary literary, arts, creative and academic community; a creative hive where ideas are given space to develop, a place where established and emerging writers, readers and artists are supported, a place where unheard voices are given a platform and a place of collaboration.

I hope you’ll join us on Oct 21 for a fun lunch and chat.

Due to a couple of last minute cancellations, I wound up participating in three panels at the When Words Collide Readers and Writers Festival, held in Calgary a couple of weekends ago. I learned something from all the panels and hope the audiences did too.

When Words Collide starts this Thursday with the pre-festival master classes and a public reading by the festival guest authors at Calgary’s Fish Creek Library.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be packed with panels, presentations and more, with about 10 choices of activities per hour. I’ll be participating in two panels:

Saturday 1 PM –Structure in Story: How important is it? with L.S. Johnson, Susan Calder, Barbara Scott, Madeleine Wong (M). Genre fiction is often accused of being “formulaic.” But are there not conventions expected by the genre reader? A murder mystery had better have a murder! But is literary fiction, by its nature freer, or more experimental? Or are there structures inherent to literary fiction of which the author needs to be aware?

Sunday 2 PM – Travel Writing with Glenn Dixon, Dan St. Yves, Susan Calder, Rachel Small. As our world becomes more mobile there is a growing market for travel writing. Our panel discusses the diverse ways to enter this rewarding field.

My third can’t-miss activity is the Friday Night Live open mic show in the Fireside Lounge, where my sister Lynn will be making her stand-up comedy debut. The public is welcome at this event to cheer on Lynn and other brave souls.

I’m sure to overdose this weekend on learning, networking and fun.

Calgary’s When Words Collide Festival for Writers and Readers begins with a free public reading featuring the festival’s special guest authors. I’ll be there, after a dinner at the nearby Boomtown pub with the festival guests and organizers.

Calgary’s When Words Collide Readers and Writers Festival is only 20 days away. In my role as Writers Guild of Alberta liaison, I’m busy lining up and confirming moderators for the panels I’ve helped organize.

Two days back from a month long trip, I attended the Writers Guild of Alberta annual conference last weekend. Aside from feeling a tad jet-lagged, I had a great time.

Calgary’s weather couldn’t have been better. At the Friday pub night, I enjoyed sitting outside on the patio drinking the free beer, eating good food, catching up with old friends and getting acquainted with new ones.

Then, the organizers called us inside to participate in a literary trivia contest that turned out to be more fun than I had expected. Our four-woman team called ourselves the jet-set – jet-lagged didn’t sound so positive. The challenging and intriguing questions ranged from pop culture to Nobel prize winning literature. Our team got half the answers right, coming in fourth. When the conference administrators’s team withdrew from claiming third prize, we grabbed their goodie bag and divided the books and wine between us.

Saturday featured breakfast, two keynote speeches, the AGM, two coffee breaks (at least) and breakout sessions related to various genres. Many stayed on for the gala awards night. Tired, I returned home to rest.

Many thanks to the organizers — the WGA administrators and board members — for their hard work of hosting this successful event. I hope to make it there again next year.

As always, Writing in the Works on Thursday night was a huge success.  This was the 10th edition of WITWorks and I’ve been there from the start to help organize the event.

This time, I was one of the five readers. I enjoyed sharing my unpublished novel excerpt with the audience that packed Owl’s Nest Bookstore in Calgary. It was also great to hear in-the-works readings by of my fellow presenters Rob Bose, Joan Crate, Sarah Johnson and Taylor Lambert. They’re an impressive group of writers.

Music by the Central Memorial Stringlets added a touch of class and ushered in the evening. Wine, cheese, fruit, brownies and amazing cookies helped set the mood.

An intriguing Q & A followed the readings. Emcee Elaine Morin began with teaser questions.

She asked each of us: Which do you prefer Star Wars or Star Trek? Naheed Nenshi or Mahatma Ghandi? Margaret Atwood or Lucy Maud Montgomery?

My answers? Star Trek original series, Ghandi and (with some struggle) Lucy Maud, in memory of my childhood.

Then came the serious questions:

Which question do you wish people would ask you about your work?

Joan came up with the best answer for the last question: Can I buy your book?

As for the other questions, there’s so much scope I might grab them for topics for future blog posts.