Dirty Laundry

China and Me

Hi All.  I’m just back from an incredible trip to China where I toured the country for a week and a half with my family and attempted to get some work done on the rewrite of the new book which is due in just one week.  I did manage to get some writing done, thank goodness, though I’m going to have to put the pedal to the metal this week if I don’t want to anger my very tolerant editor.

Also, Calgary Wordfest is next week and I’m incredibly excited to be participating.  I’ll post my full schedule in the next few days.  For now, though, I have to work through my foggy headed jet lag and get back to the writing. 

Here are some pics to tide you over.

Me and Great Wall (we’re best buds)

I felt like Indiana Jones (until I was escorted from the burial site by guards - who knew you weren’t supposed to do your own excavating?)

Gotta love ya some Panda!

A little scenery interlude

Care for a snack?

Who’s that guy in the background mimicking me?

This will be the poster for my movie about China (when I get around to writing it)

Forbidden Palace?  Not for me.  It was surprisingly easy to sneak in.

There you go.  Now you’ve been bored to tears by vacation photos.  Just like family!  More to come later.

Posted by Don Calame on 10.8.09 at 08:47 am in Prattlings. (0) Comments

Portland and The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association’s Fall Show

Here I am in Portland gearing up to do a book signing at the PNBA’s fall show (it’s 10:45-11:15, Saturday September 12th in case you’re around and a bookseller in the Pacific Northwest).  What I should be doing is working on the new book as my deadline rapidly approaches.  What I AM doing is blogging because I was warned by my wife that I need to be fully present for this signing instead of in “hazy writer’s head” which is where I float for several hours after I finish working.  Thinking about the scene I just wrote, what scene I should write next, if I’m ever going to be able to finish this story, etc. etc. 

Last night I had a wonderful dinner with Ted and Kathi Lucia (the fantastic Candlewick reps here in the Northwest) as well as three really cool booksellers.  Kira Porton (A Children’s Place), Judy Hobbs (Third Place Books), and Melissa Opel (Auntie’s Books). 

I was all set to take a cab from the hotel to Salty’s Restaurant and was minding my own business in the lobby when I noticed this guy looking at me.  He smiled, then walked away.  Came back again, smiled, nodded, and walked away again.  I was trying to remember if I’d seen him before (tanned, well coifed hair, great teeth) but nothing was coming to me.  “Are you?...” he said to me.  “What’s your name?”  I introduced myself and he smiled even bigger.  It was Ted Lucia and he told me to cancel my cab because he would give me a ride.

Dinner was delicious and the company was even better.  Independent booksellers are some of the nicest people in the world.  So passionate about books.  About what they do.  So knowledgeable.  They are an incredible resource that everyone should tap into.  I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it.  SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE!!!  These people are invaluable to the book industry.  And to us writers. 

Throughout the evening I learned that Melissa Opel (not unlike myself) is a pretty average golfer who has great hand-eye coordination despite her swinging a golf club like a softball bat.  That Kira Porton is a children’s book fanatic who majored in philosophy (though isn’t sure why).  And that Judy Hobbs is a nurse-come-bookseller-come-cello player.  In fact, between these three fabulous booksellers (who all happen to play instruments) and myself we could start a pretty mediocre band.

Ted and Kathi were the perfect hosts and Melissa was spot on with her recommendation of the crab cakes!

Anyway, it’s time for me to get some breakfast.  I’ve made myself hungry thinking about last night’s food.  Bye for now…

Posted by Don Calame on 9.12.09 at 06:40 am in Prattlings. (0) Comments

Writing in the Bedroom & Revving Up For Hockey

If you want to be a writer you must be flexible. 

Not in the “I can do a backbend, I can touch my toes” kind of way.  But in the “I can write in my office, I can write in my bedroom” sort of way.  Or the “I can write in the morning, I can write in the evening” kind of way.  Or “I can write on my computer, I can write on a legal pad” way.  Because you never know when or where you will get the opportunity to write.  Or when or where the least noisy place in the house will be. 

Due to circumstances beyond my control, my writing space is not the best place for me to concentrate at the moment.  So my wife, in her infinite wisdom (and when I say infinite wisdom, I mean infinite wisdom) suggested I should set up a table in the corner of our bedroom and do my work there.  It turns out it is a very nice place to work, free of distractions and nicely tucked away. 

In the next several months I am going to be traveling quite a bit and will have to write on planes, on boats, in hotels and in airports.  It’s not an option to be precious about ‘a room of one’s own.’  The room is wherever you set up shot.  This past July my ‘room’ was the balcony of the Disneyland California Grand Hotel.  Later this week, my room will be a hotel room in Portland.  Next month, a ferry to Vancouver. 

I don’t know why I’m going on about this.  Probably for my own sake.  Reminding myself that the only thing you really need to write is a way to drop into your imagination and some way to document your imaginings. 

Let’s move on to something even more important.  Hockey preseason.  In just a few short weeks the hockey season will officially pre-begin.  The news stands are full of all the hockey yearbooks and fantasy hockey guides that signal a new season is just around the corner. 

It’s one of my favorite times of year.  That and Christmas and spring and Apple computer announcements (i.e. September 9th, big iPod announcement), and my birthday, and hockey playoffs, and fall movie time, and summer fruit time, and…

Anyway, it’s odd, but I feel like the old hockey season just ended.  Like the summer just flew by.  Already the air has that autumn crispness to it.  It’s like some time after June time sped up.  Actually, it feels like time has been speeding up for several years now.  It used to be that a week seemed like a long time.  Now, a month seems like no time at all (this could also have to do with the fact that the rewrite of my new book is due in about a month, but maybe not).

I have rambled far too long on this blog and am not sure I said anything of import.  At least it’s been fun to write, though, on my new Macbook Air (an infinite wisdom early birthday gift from my infinite wisdomy wife) which, I have to say, makes making a room of your own out of pretty much any place that much easier.

Posted by Don Calame on 9.7.09 at 07:24 pm in Prattlings. (0) Comments

Writer, Baker

Writing is fun (and sometimes exasperating) and, strangely enough, so is making bread.  I made my very first loaf of bread from scratch today.  Well, it wasn’t exactly a loaf.  More of a hearty, tear-apart bun bread.  I’d avoided trying to make bread for many years because it seemed a daunting task. And I’m here to tell you, it is.  But not as daunting as you might imagine.  Sure it takes time and yeast measuring and a bit of kneading and pounding and waiting while the dough rises and then kneading in salt because you forgot to add it to the flour (the exasperating part) and then some more waiting while the dough rises again, but when all’s said and done and you’re tucking into the steaming hot fresh bread, all the work seems worth it. 

Looks good, huh?

I take none of the credit for my cooking skills.  My wife is very thankful that I have “become such a great chef” since we met.  And while it’s true, I have learned how to cook a lot better than I used to, it’s mostly because of two things:

First off, my wife is a very appreciative audience.  But also, an honest one.  She will tell you if something does not taste good (or, she might not tell YOU, but she would definitely tell ME - because if she doesn’t, I might make it again).  And so, in her being so forthright, I know that when she says she likes something, she really likes it (this works the same with my writing, which is really nice to have in a first reader, but can sometimes feel like a kick to the nuts).

The second reason I have bettered my cheffing (this doesn’t seem to be a real word, hmm) is because my cooking guru is Jamie Oliver.  If you don’t know who he is, get to know him.  He has six or seven cookbooks out and I have them all.  He has several cooking shows on the Cooking Network and I’ve seen most of them.  His recipes are basic, simple and delicious.  I recommend them without hesitation.  In fact, ninety-five percent of all my recipes come from his books and shows.  I know this starting to sound like a commercial, but I have to give credit where credit is due. 

In other news, the writing seems to be chugging along.  I feel like I’ve finally broken the back of this rewrite.  Now it’s a race to the deadline to see if I can finish in time.  I seem to be stacking up pages, but it never seems fast enough.  I’ve been getting up super early so that I can pack in a few more hours, so we will see.

Good news on the Swim the Fly front.  I’ve just been informed that the publisher is going into a second printing.  Which is really cool.  So hold onto those first editions, people.  You never know how much they could be worth in a couple hundred years.  Of course, we’ll all be dead by then, but pass it on to your children’s children and watch them (from heaven, I’m assuming, or, you know, the other place) cackle with laughter as they rake in the dough.  Or maybe they’ll just be cackling at your insanity for actually saving this book for two hundred years.  Anyway, what’s even more cool is the new cover - which is just the old cover now peppered with review blurbs.  If you already have a copy, you’re going to want to buy a new copy with all the great blurbs so that you can be assured that you were right in liking the book in the first place.

Anyway, “au revoir, amis” (because now, not only am I an obnoxious baker of breads, I am also going to start speaking in French while I do my baking!)
 

 

Posted by Don Calame on 8.26.09 at 06:37 pm in Prattlings. (0) Comments