Well a lot has been happening lately. First, Resource Links magazine named Touch one of their “Year’s Best for 2013”. I'm on the list with some other Canadian writers I look up to. It's a big honor. 


Then last week I was interviewed by Canadian Children's Book News for their regular column called "Keep an Eye on..." That issue will be out in April. Of course before that my new book, Stupid, will be on the book shelves. It comes out March 1st. The same day, coincidentally, that a brand new parkour gym, Breathe Parkour, opens. They are mentioned in my book. Yes - I can see into the future.

And if that wasn't enough, I signed up for the Scrawl-A-Thon on March 15 where I will write for six hours straight in a room full of rowdy drunken (aren't they all?) writers. I will be posting all my writing that day, hourly or so, on this blog. So check in at  around 4 PM mountain time to start seeing stuff. Hopefully a whole story will be told. This Scrawl-A-Thon is a fund raiser for WordsWorth youth residency. If you want to help out by either becoming a participant of by sponsoring me, just give me a shout and I'll hook you up with the details.

Of course during all this I've been working hard on my class materials (mostly bleeding on said materials) for my Drink The Wild Air class. Which is a live action version of the Hero's Journey. It's going to be so much fun, I can't wait. And this ridiculous cold might actually bugger off by the time we go to camp. An added bonus.

Then, last night, the best news ever - I'm going to be teaching at WordsWorth for week one AND week two. I'm so excited. I love that camp.

And just when I caught my breath and thought I couldn't take any more excitement, I get this e-mail from Ontario telling me that my play (which I wrote with the 35th Calgary Girl Guides) called, The Rock 'N Roll Trolls was performed to raise money for a seniors centre. The kids had fun. The audience had fun. And they sent me pictures! I've had the best ever couple of weeks and it's only going to get better I'm sure.

I can't wait for summer! I have the special privilege of working with young writers while the sun is hot. This particular summer is going to be extra great. I'm working on a new class for WordsWorth Youth Writing Residency - week one (there are only three spots left, so get registered now if you want to go). I'll be doing action adventure writing. To this end I have been procuring cameras, laptops, sound effects, soundtracks, fake bombs, plastic, wood, and cardboard weapons, and small latches with keyed padlocks. It's going to be a blast. Oh, yeah, and I'm bringing a parachute. And after all that I get to write a play with another bunch of talented kids at the DramAntics theatre camp and perform it at the Calgary Fringe Festival. Then at the end of the summer I'll be hanging out at RIO summer camp where I don't even know what to expect as the whole thing is planned by the kids themselves. And in between all that is the People's Poetry Festival in Kensington and the When Words Collide writers and readers conference. So much to do this summer! Insane! I had better rest up now and do my prepping because once July starts, I'll be running.

Boiled Cat is launched. I’ve managed to get another book proposal in to my publisher for a little novel I call Stupid. Now it is that time of the  year when I start prepping my classes.
I work all summer. I teach at various summer camps such as WordsWorth, DramAntics, and RIO. And what do I teach? Writing of course. But not just any writing. I like to use play to teach. So in my classes we play  writing.
That probably sounds strange. I mean how do you play and write at the same time. Well, it’s pretty easy. I think of the lesson I would  like to get across, be it incorporating more senses into one’s work, or learning to pump more tension in to an action scene. Then I think of a way to get bums out of seats and up and moving. Bringing the lesson to life.
For senses I’ve done blindfolded hiking and  tasting/smelling/touching/hearing crazy stuff. For tension I’m thinking of firing live water guns at my students while they run around trying to write in  a notebook. Not everything I do works. But I do try everything. And even if it  doesn’t work 100 percent, we have fun and writing comes off as a positive  experience. Which is success in my book.

I can't recommend the WordsWorth program enough. If you are a youth writer, go to this retreat. It will change your life.
Drink the Wild Air
Come join us at the WordsWorth Winter Retreat! March 1-3 at Camp Chief Hector.  Why there, you ask? “Nature has no outline. Imagination has” William Blake
March 1-3 we’re heading to the mountains for another Creative Writing Re-treat and of
course, we hope you’ll be there!  But why do we keep bringing our writing to the outdoors?William Carlos Williams said things close to the nose aren’t proper subjects.  Not all writing can be direct self-expression.  Looking inward can keep poets and writ-ers from looking outward.  And so we’re taking you outdoors this time to Camp Chief Hector to partner with the outdoor staff to notice evocative new images and to have fresh adventure. And then we’ll  create time to take these new images and experiences
...and collaborate them with language.  So even if you already have a relationship with
the natural world, this one will be new.The locale of the happening always colours the
happening, and often, to a degree, shapes it novelist Elizabeth Brown observed. 

So join us and DRINK THE WILD AIR March 1 – 3, 2013 at Camp Chief Hector
YMCA in Kananaskis, Alberta. Thaw your brainfreeze with warm words and we hope
you will find an unexpected connection between the outdoors and words.
To register or click here: http://drinkthewildair2013.eventbrite.ca/
We will be outdoors, indoors writing, up late writing under the stars, sleeping
late -ish.  There will be campfire, music, parlour games, Exquisite Corpse Games... the fun will never end.
Oh, yes it will. On Sunday just after lunch. But in true Words-worth fashion, we will pack the fun in.  We’re even offering a bus out from Calgary on the Friday night.