It’s great to be going back to Canada so soon after my numerous trips last autumn; it will be fun to be in the country during the Winter Olympics, and it will be great to further some of the work I’ve been doing with my publisher, booksellers, book clubs, and readers.  Winning the GG continues to provide huge opportunities for me, and I still can’t really believe it.  Maybe this time when I land at Calgary the immigration people will tell me it was all a big mistake, and I need to give back the leather-bound artist edition of the novel, the cheque, and all those photos of me and the GG. 

Next week I’ll be doing events in Canmore and Calgary, as well as Montreal and Toronto - including the ‘Eh-list’ reading series at the Toronto Public Library.  Check out my Events page for the details.

My current website is nearly ten years old, which is practically written-on-papyrus in this day and age.  It was designed by Simon Mills, whom I met through trAce, and with whom I work at DMU.  When he built it, mouseovers were very cool.  I’m still fond of the red and the black, and the white on black aesthetic overall, but it was time for a change.

I’ve gone for a much airier, brighter look, and have integrated the blog into the actual website.  There are other new sections, most notable of which is, for me, ‘WMD – a revision’.  More on that project later.

The site was built for me by John Biggins at Aerta.  It’s a fairly complex site, as far as writers websites go, and he’s done a great job.  I managed to crash the entire new site yesterday when I uploaded a massive photograph without bothering to resize it.  Still!  Looking great!

(I’m copying this from my old blog to my new one as we prepare to launch the new website)

January has been tough so far, though compared to most of the world (Haiti, Pakistan, etc), these things are relative.  Lots of seasonal illness in my immediate family, kids too-sick-for-school lined up to take their place on the couch under the duvet.  And although I’ve been working hard since the beginning of the month, I still have that post-Christmas holiday sense of how did I get here/what is it I’m supposed to be doing/wouldn’t I rather be under that duvet?

I have, however, started to think about starting a new novel.  When I finished The Mistress of Nothing there was a big part of me that felt like it might be a good idea to never write another novel ever again.  That book was painful to write.  It took me so damned long.

But, as faithful readers of My Secret Blog know, I won a prize for it.  And, the downside of winning the prize is that, I’ll admit it now, it has encouraged me.  I am going to write another.

However, I may be some time.