http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/ en Don Calame Copyright 2012 2012-04-28T23:39:57+00:00 http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/random_thoughts_on_a_saturday_night/ http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/random_thoughts_on_a_saturday_night/ This blog is going to ramble. Just to warn you. It will go nowhere. It will have no theme. Or any particular point for that matter. I just decided to sit down with nothing particular to write about and simply vamp. Sometimes it’s fun just to string a bunch of random, disconnected thoughts together and see what happens. I think I might be just a little too excited about the upcoming Avengers movie. I was already looking forward to it, having seen all the Marvel films leading up to this one, but then it started getting amazing reviews and now I worry that my expectations are so through the roof that I might end up being disappointed. Still, the trailer (which I’ve watched about a dozen times) looks great. I continue to research my next book (although, I just got an idea for a pretty cool way to write a fourth - unplanned - book in my Swim the Fly series… hmm, interesting) and I’m concerned that there is so much I need to learn about a “certain something” that I might get mired down in the research and never start writing the thing. My other books required only minor research. You know, what foods cause the most flatulence? What bands do Goths listen to? Do people still eat Funyuns? That sort of thing. But this next idea is something totally different. And I need to get it right or it won’t work. Jonathan Tropper is my new favourite author - at this moment in time. I’m wondering why my computer keeps changing favorite and color into favourite and colour. It must be a Canadian/UK language thing. We do have the queen on our money up here. And while I love Canada and have enjoyed living here for the last ten years, I’m still not used to the colourful (or colorful) money. It strikes me as board-game-esque. And now, to add to the “is this really money” feeling, they’ve decided to make the bills out of a sort of plastic. Very strange, indeed. I told you this blog was going to ramble. Tomorrow I’m going to see the Comic-Con documentary that’s just out. Not only am I going to see it, I’m really excited about it. What can I say? I’m embracing my geekness. Have I mentioned we’re moving to Toronto? Love this city. Thrilled about the move. Not so much all the paperwork and packing that goes along with it. My Ontario school tour in support of the White Pine Award begins next week. In case you’ve been on another planet, Beat the Band has been nominated for the White Pine Award. The new iPad is worth it. Just so you know. I’m still so conflicted about e-readers. Love the convenience but damn if I’d miss the smell and feel of a real live book. Speaking of real live books, I just picked up the new Stephen King. The new new Stephen King. The one that’s part of the Dark Tower series. I have to admit I’m not completely sold on the Dark Tower series (I’ve only read two of them) but I plan on giving the books another shot. Maybe starting with this one since I’ve been told you don’t need to have read the others to enjoy this one. And that is all. For now.   Prattlings 2012-04-28T23:39:57+00:00 http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/down_time/ http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/down_time/ Just finished up the very last task on Call the Shots by reading through the “first pages” and making some last little final tweaks. It’s odd how you can read through something so many times and still find mistakes and things you want to alter. I’m glad I took the time to do this final stage, though, because I think the book is that much better for it. Still, these won’t show up in the Advance Reader Copies that have just been printed but that’s okay. Even though there are quite a few changes they are all relatively minor things like typos and sentence flow fixes. I’m just happy they will be corrected for the final book which is due out this September! So, what does this author do on his down time? Besides toying with ideas for his next book? He goes to to the movies with his stepson (Wanderlust - funny; Hunger Games - better than I thought it would be; 21 Jump Street - wonderful silly fun), he goes out to dinner with his beautiful wife, he gets parking tickets, he attempts to stick to an exercise routine so as not to gain back all the weight he’s recently lost, he watches fistfuls of hockey, he reads his eyes dry, he plays on his new iPad, and, of course, he goes to the zoo. And while at said zoo, he dusts off his camera and takes a million pictures. Here are a few of the decent ones. Enjoy! Prattlings 2012-04-02T15:52:54+00:00 http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/how_about_some_writing_tips/ http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/how_about_some_writing_tips/ It’s been a few weeks since I put the finishing touches on Call the Shots and while I’m enjoying my rejuvenating refuelling time I am starting to get the writing itch once again. I always tell myself I am going to take several months off to do nothing but read and relax and veg out. But inevitably a few weeks pass, maybe a month, and the ideas start bubbling up to the surface. And so, I’ve started playing around with a new idea. Just jotting down some notes here and there. Fiddling with the characters. Their situations. Funny things that might happen to them. In all honesty, this is my favorite time in the writing process. It’s the play time where anything is possible. Where your story and characters are all out there to be discovered for the first time. Just in case any of you have the writing bug right now, here’s an article I wrote for The Guardian on tips for writing funny dialogue. They removed my title from the article which was something like Top Five Tips For Writing (Funny) Dialogue. So, when you get to the reference about the parenthesis and you have no idea what I’m talking about… well, now you will. Enjoy! Top Tips For Writing (Funny) Dialogue Prattlings 2012-03-03T21:43:16+00:00 http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/is_it_february_already/ http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/is_it_february_already/ I can’t believe how fast time is flying. But you know what they say about that? I must be having fun. And it’s true. I’ve been having a great (if sometimes exhausting) time putting the finishing touches on Call the Shots. As far as the novel itself goes I can officially say I’m done. Done writing it. Done rewriting it. Done rewriting it again. Done line editing it. Done copy editing it. And I have to say, I am super pleased with how this book has turned out. Also, the designers at Candlewick Press have come up with a killer cover which I can’t share with you until April or so. But I promise you, it’s pretty sweet. What I can share with you, however, is the UK cover for Beat the Band which debuts across the pond this very month. If you haven’t seen it yet, well, here it is: I will be going on a massive ten stop UK blog tour over the next few weeks so be sure to check back here to get your links. It’s one of the reasons (among many) why I have been mildly neglectful of my own website. I’ve been pounding out blogs on subjects ranging from my own teenage horror stories, to my views on music and literature, to my favorite books and songs. Now that I’ve got a bit of free time I’ve been working out like a fiend to try and lose all the weight I packed on while writing Call the Shots. It’s not the healthiest of lifestyles, being a writer. With tubs of coffee and boxes of pastries consumed one can blow up pretty damn quick. Thankfully, I’ve reversed most of the damage done just in time to start the next novel. I’ve got a fun idea for the next story, something totally different than the Swim the Fly series. And while I’m sad to say goodbye to the boys (at least for now) I am excited to try my hand at something new. All right. Well, there’s a hockey game on right now and I need to go tend to it. Until next time… Prattlings 2012-02-10T00:48:53+00:00 http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/its_the_welcome_to_2012_blog/ http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/its_the_welcome_to_2012_blog/ As I anxiously await the copy edits for Call the Shots I find myself with a bit of time on my hands. Not a ton, mind you. I am still trying to catch up on all the chores I’ve put off trying to finish the book: lightbulb changes, office straightening, packing up Christmas, wash, giving blood, organizing my 2012 schedule, among other things. And of course, there are books to read, movies to see, exercise to do, etc. etc. But I thought I’d take a little time to tend to my blog here. I started out last year great guns. Writing every couple of weeks. But as my new novel took over my life toward the end of 2011 I had to make that my priority. Even my incessant tweeting suffered. A quick bit of catch up and then I’ll post a few pictures. The holidays were nice. Pretty peaceful over here. Which is always a blessing. I got a new phone and the latest Stephen King novel (which I am fully immersed in at the moment). The King book will take me a while to read as it’s over 800 pages long. Some people I know can rip through books in a couple of days but I am just a painfully slow reader and so this one will take me a few weeks if not a month. Which is fine, because that way I get to savour it more. Over New Year’s my wife and I went to a snow shoeing boot camp (see pics below). We were both starting to pack on some weight and so I wanted to find a place where we could go to try to stop the bleeding. I just sort of threw out the idea that maybe we could go to a weight loss spa at some point or something and then my ever-efficient wife finds this place called Mountain Trek in Ainsworth, BC where they run a turkey burner boot camp and whip the crap out of you by making you snow shoe up mountains for four hours a day, then make you hit the gym for another hour after dinner. All the while they are cooking you tasty (but low calorie) foods. It was quite the experience but well worth it as I lost 11 pounds of fat and lowered my blood pressure by quite a bit. Mountain Trek also runs hiking boot camps during the spring, summer, and fall. I highly recommend them if you want to shed a bit of extra poundage. It is definitely not easy but well worth it. What else can I tell you? Going to be starting up a new blog tour for the release of BEAT THE BAND in the UK. I’ll link to my blogs here so you won’t have to miss a thing. That starts up in February. CALL THE SHOTS is scheduled to be released this fall, which I’m extremely excited about. I’ve got a really fun new idea that’s been percolating for a little while. I’ll probably start that some time soon. And now, as promised, a few snow shoeing photos and a surprise appearance of BEAT THE BAND in the most unlikely of places. That’s right, it’s the cover of the 2011 Annual Report for Frasier Meadows Retirement Community in Boulder, Colorado. Proving once and for all that my books are great fun for anyone from 12 to 112. Prattlings 2012-01-10T18:16:37+00:00 http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/happy_holidays_so_much_to_tell_so_very_tired/ http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/happy_holidays_so_much_to_tell_so_very_tired/ Yes, it has been quite some time since I’ve blogged. Normally I have nothing to blame but pure laziness and perhaps my subscription to NHL Gamecenter Live where I can watch far too many hockey games (sometimes several at one time - gotta love that picture in picture function). But this time I really do have a good excuse. I have spent the last several months pruning, polishing, and reworking my next book (Call the Shots) which is due out in the fall of 2012. Somehow I got behind schedule (perhaps it was the fact that the book was running nearly 500 pages long). Thankfully, I have the world’s greatest editor (Kaylan Adair at Candlewick Press) and she was instrumental in whipping this book into excellent shape. I both love and hate the rewriting stage. I love that you have an opportunity to make things better but I hate having to try to keep the entire book in my head all at once. I am much better at working on individual scenes than the overall picture of things. But when I am rewriting, I have to keep the entire story in my head so that anything that gets changed can be tracked through the rest of the novel. I find it incredibly exhausting. But I suppose it’s good to stretch one’s brain functions every once in a awhile. I have so many things to write about but I have no idea where to start. I suppose I’ll just hit the highlights for you. If you’re persistent there will be a nice video waiting for you at the end of this blog. (And if you’re not persistent and just impatient, you can scroll down and watch it now). As I’ve already said, Call the Shots is pretty much finished. It’s taken me over a year to write and I am extremely excited by how it’s turned out. Just some copy editing to do in 2012 and it should be all set to go. I already have a great idea for my next book (not part of the Swim the Fly series) but I’m going to take a little time to refuel before I dive back into the writing. You wouldn’t think that sitting at your computer and dreaming up stories would be so tiring and yet it really is quite draining. Some fantastic news on the Beat the Band front. I found out a few weeks ago that Beat the Band has been nominated for an   OLA Forest of Reading White Pine Award. This was the very award that Swim the Fly was nominated for (and was chosen as an Honour Book) last year. So, all of you out there in Ontario: get reading and get voting. Over the past few months I’ve done some wonderful events. I read at Word on the Street Vancouver and was also a presenter at The Surrey International Writers Conference. If you’re a writer and have never been to SIWC I can’t recommend it enough. It’s where I met my editor and it is an amazing gathering of authors, agents, publishers, and editors. I had a blast giving my presentations on writing for YA and writing screenplays. What else? What else? I had a chance to see Moneyball (the only movie I’ve seen in the last four months) and really enjoyed it. I also read the Steve Jobs Biography which I thought was excellent. Right now I’m two-thirds of the way through The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach and it’s very good so far. There’s so much more I want to write about. Sidney Crosby and his struggles with his concussion. Steve Jobs passing away. My time living in Toronto for three months. But my brain is pretty much pudding right now. So I will leave you with the promo video I put together for the Candlewick Press sales conference. Once again, my dog Scooter deserves much of the credit here. Hope you enjoy it. And Happy Holidays to everyone.     Prattlings 2011-12-23T00:56:55+00:00 http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/its_the_everything_and_the_kitchen_sink_blog/ http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/its_the_everything_and_the_kitchen_sink_blog/ Hi, all. This is going to be a hodgepodge of a blog, so to speak. It will cover everything from writing, to hockey, to Steve Jobs, to whatever else my sleepy brain decides to dole out. Let me start off by saying I didn’t sleep last night. At all. Nothing. Not a single minute. This wasn’t on purpose, mind you. I wasn’t waiting in line at my local Apple Store for the new iPhone (I pre-ordered, you see). I really wanted to sleep. I tried. I stayed in bed. I meditated. I tried all the tricks I know. But my brain just didn’t want to shut off. And so, I got up and did what all insomniac geeks do. I booted up my iPad and read a bunch of comics. Somehow I’ve gotten sucked into the New 52 that DC comics has been rolling out. You know, the recently rebooted Batman, Superman, Flash, etc. And so I read all the issues I hadn’t gotten to yet. And still sleep would not come. This has never happened to me before. My wife will tell you that I am a professional sleeper. Meaning, I can fall asleep pretty much any time and anywhere. But not last night. And I still am not sure why. I am hoping this is just a one time deal and not the start of a Stephen King novel where I start hallucinating and seeing demons in every corner. Time will tell, of course. The reason I’m telling you this is so that you’ll understand if this blog is a bit rambling and nonsensical. At least I have an excuse this time. As you’ve all heard, I’m sure, Steve Jobs died last week. It was very sad. It affected me very deeply. I’m not sure why. I guess I am a bit of an Apple obsessive. Have been ever since I bought my first Mac five years ago. But it’s odd when a stranger’s passing shakes your core. I didn’t know the man. My only connection is the plethora of Apple products I use every day. More than anything, I suppose, it’s the idea that no matter how brilliant, rich, inventive you are, all of us are going to die some day. If someone as influential as Steve Jobs can die, well, then, of course, there’s really no hope for any of us. Which is something Mr. Jobs always preached. We are all going to die and so don’t waste your life doing things you don’t want to do. Find what you love and spend your time doing that. It’s the only way to live. All right, enough of that. Did I mention that I finished the latest draft of Call the Shots? Well, I did. And I’m really happy with it. I just hope my editor feels the same way. We’ll soon find out. Hockey season is in full swing and the good news for all of us Sidney Crosby fans is that he’s been cleared by his doctors for contact. Which means we may see him in game action pretty soon. I passed him over in my fantasy hockey league because I wasn’t sure when he was going to return. Regardless, I’ll be really happy to see him return to action. The NHL is not the same without him. I recently finished reading THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern. And while the New York Times wasn’t a big fan, I was. I absolutely loved the book. It was magical in the way only a select few books can be (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). I highly recommend it. I don’t know what book the reviewer for the NYT read but it couldn’t have been the same one I read. Next week is the Surrey International Writer’s Conference (see, I’ve completely given up with trying to segue at all). I will be doing four presentations at the conference, so, if you are around and are interested in writing, you should attend. It’s one of the best writer’s conferences in North America. Now, I suppose I’m a bit biased as this is where I met my brilliant editor (Kaylan Adair, Candlewick Press). But even if I DIDN’T meet my editor there, I would still recommend it to you. There are so many great workshops to attend and influential people to meet. Speaking of the conference, I need to get working on the presentations I’m going to give, so I will sign off here. I have no idea if what I’ve written makes sense, but honestly, I can’t be blamed. Hopefully I will get some shuteye tonight. Wish me luck. Prattlings 2011-10-14T19:53:58+00:00 http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/the_home_stretch/ http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/the_home_stretch/ These days I Tweet way more than I blog. But I am not even doing much of that right now either. I am in the home stretch of my latest draft of Call the Shots and I have to focus most of my waking attention on that. Some days it feels like things are going along brilliantly and other days, well, not so much. This is my process and I’ve come to accept it. One day of joy for every two days of tearing my hair out. Speaking of hair, as most of you already know, I don’t have much of it left. Not because I’ve actually been tearing it out. That was a bit of hyperbole at the end of the last paragraph. Although, I have known and worked for people (well, one person really) who actually did tear out their own hair. And hurl telephones right along with their F-bombs. Anyway, I went for a haircut the other day. And yes, us nearly-bald people do still have to get our hair cut once in a while lest we start looking vaguely Bozo-the-Clownish. For all of you too young to know who that is, here’s a visual: Well, so, I’m sitting in the barber chair and I tell the way-too-buff way-too-tan hair dresser that I’d just like a trim. He then asks me what number I’d like and I have no idea what this means because nobody has ever asked me that before. I tell him I’m not sure, that I just want it short but not buzzed too closely. The big buff barber just smiles at me and says that I’m wrong about this. That I really do want it buzzed short because the shorter a balding person cuts his hair, the more hair it looks like they have. And so, I say, go ahead. Do what you do. I’ll trust you. Now, normally, when you say something like this the result is disastrous. I mean, it’s CUT TO: thirty minutes later and I look like Mr. Clean. But lo-and-behold I look in the mirror when he’s done and I do appear to have more hair than I had BEFORE I got most of it shaved off. It’s some sort of optical illusion but hey, I’ll take it. I have no idea why I just told you that story. I was just following the thread of this blog from rewrites to tearing out my hair to bosses who actually do tear out their hair to a very smart barber who’s shown me the light. At least as far as haircuts go.  Well, that was fun. Now it’s back to the rewriting trenches. I’ve set myself a goal so that I’d be certain to finish this draft on time. As of this moment, I am right on target to finish up at the end of September/beginning of October. It will be my longest book yet, I think, but hey, it’s the last one of the series and I’m having a hard time saying goodbye. Prattlings 2011-09-07T02:57:03+00:00 http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/writing_speaking_reading/ http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/writing_speaking_reading/ I can’t believe it’s August already. The summer is just flying by and so is my time to get the edits done on CALL THE SHOTS. I’m on target to be finished by mid to late September but that might change as I progress. This book may end up being the longest of the three but Sean has really gotten himself tangled up in all sorts of problems and it’s taking me some time to extricate him from the whole mess. I am giving a keynote speech at the Vancouver Public Library Book Camp this week and it’s taken me much longer to write and practice it then I had initially planned. I foolishly decided to go high-tech with this talk and am using the Keynote app on my Mac to go through the entire process of getting Swim the Fly published. That means I’ll be showing and reading the two page scribble I wrote at a writing workshop many moons ago. This is the piece that would eventually become the novel. I’ll also be showing my original notes and outline and book trailer. It was fun reliving the whole experience (and should help me with the talk I’m supposed to give with my editor Kaylan Adair at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference in October). I’m a little worried though that using all this gear for my presentation is going to throw me. I usually just get up in front of a crowd, do a reading, talk a little bit about the writing process, and take questions. This will be a new experience for me. Hopefully it doesn’t blow up in my face. I’ll let you know how it goes. Been so busy lately that my reading has had to take a back seat. Still, I was lucky enough to score an ARC of Tom Perrotta’s latest book, THE LEFTOVERS from one of my fab publicists at Random House Canada and I am absolutely LOVING it. It comes out in September and you should definitely pick up a copy. He’s a fantastic writer. One of my favs. He even made my list of funniest books for boys (and girls) in the Guardian. That’s all for now. I’ve still got to pack for my trip to Vancouver, run through my talk once more, and get a few more pages done on the rewrite. And if you STILL aren’t following me on Twitter then I feel sorry for you. My random thoughts are little gems to be cherished and savoured. Prattlings 2011-08-09T22:07:44+00:00 http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/summers_here/ http://www.doncalame.com/dirty_laundry/item/summers_here/ And I’m holed up in the dark cave of my writing room working on the rewrite for CALL THE SHOTS (the tentatively titled third book in the STF series). Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. I manage to sneak outside every once in awhile (see summer photo essay below). I actually really enjoy the rewriting process. It wasn’t always this way. I used to dread it. I used to think the first draft was the most fun to write and everything else was drudgery. But now I know better. The first draft is fun, for sure. But it’s like a crazy uncontrolled fun where you try and get everything and anything out onto the page. The rewriting is where all the refinement comes in. It allows you to go back and add all the little details (and big plot points) you thought you wanted to add in the first place but were too busy trying to get the book finished to actually find the time to fit in (thank you, I hope you enjoyed that run-on sentence). Rewriting is where you can hone your characters and straighten the story spine and sharpen the jokes. It’s where you can go back and do a little extra research to add layers to your novel. Speaking of which, I am going to cut this blog short as I have to get back to the book. I will leave you with a book suggestion (Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson - silly fast fun) and a movie suggestion (X-Men: First Class - silly fast fun… also) and my brief summer photo essay with many pictures of bees. Enjoy! Prattlings 2011-07-12T12:44:05+00:00