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ABA WINTER INSTITUTE CONFERENCE
Just got back from Salt Lake City where my awesome publisher Candlewick Press invited me to sign advance copies of Swim the Fly for independent booksellers from around the country. I had an amazing time - despite a little hiccup trying to fly into Seattle for a connection where the airport was fogged in and they had to turn the plane around to return to Vancouver. I was lucky enough to get rebooked on a direct flight that got me to Salt Lake City in the nick of time.
And I’m soooo grateful I was able to make it. Let me tell you, the independent booksellers I got to talk to were not only some of the nicest, most generous people I’ve ever met, they’re also incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about books. I implore you to support your local independent bookstores. They are the lifeblood of the book world and an invaluable resource to our communities. These booksellers are voracious readers. They know books. If you want a suggestion for what book to read next, the women and men who run these stores will be able to give you one that you can trust. Because they read so much. And I can’t thank them enough for how embraced they made me feel.
I’ll refrain from mentioning a little incident that may (or may not) have occurred at a dinner I attended with some of these booksellers, where I gave a short presentation about myself and my book, and where I may (or may not) have shucked down to a swim cap, towel and a Speedo. The pictures may soon surface and if they do, I will claim complete innocence and something about how it’s so easy to Photoshop things these days.
On top of all this, I also got to meet and hang out with Peter Reynolds (another Candlewick author and illustrator) as well as Karen Lotz, Elise Supovitz, and Jeanne Emanuel, three of the incredibly hard working people at Candlewick who were wonderfully kind to me and who have been beyond supportive of Swim the Fly. I feel so blessed to have landed at such an amazing house.
Posted by Don Calame on 1.31.09 at 03:43 pm in Prattlings. (1) Comments
Welcome
Welcome to my very first blog. I intend to keep you up to date on everything that’s going on in my life, writing and otherwise (okay, well, maybe not quite everything). Though, the blog is called DIRTY LAUNDRY so, who knows. Anyway, I can’t promise it’ll be scintillating but I can promise it will, at the very least, be funny at times. I’m hoping to post some videos of my dog Scooter (the one who stars in the book trailer which you can see on the Swim the Fly page and whose picture is at the top of the home page) doing all of his various dog tricks. I’m also planning on writing about books and movies and music and hockey, whenever the mood strikes.
Right now I’m preparing for my very first book promotion gig at the American Bookseller’s Association Winter Conference in Salt Lake City. I’m going to be giving a little talk and signing galleys of Swim the Fly for the independent booksellers. I’m really excited (and a little nervous) about it because I’ve never done anything like this before. It should be fun.
And just for kicks, here’s a picture of Scooter as a puppy trying to learn how to play Scrabble (FYI, his pretty damn good now).
Posted by Don Calame on 1.29.09 at 11:45 am in Prattlings. (2) Comments
NHL All Star Weekend
Went to the NHL All Star Game in Montreal last weekend where I was lucky enough to score this very rare shot of Cup Keeper Phil Pritchard removing his jacket from the actual case used to carry around the Stanley Cup . Kah-ching!!!
Posted by Don Calame on 1.28.09 at 08:44 pm in Hockey. (0) Comments
A Little Nonsense
I sectioned off this portion of the blog for nonsense.
Things like this:
And this picture of my friend Gerry trapped in ice:
Posted by Don Calame on 1.28.09 at 01:18 pm in Nonsense. (0) Comments