Knowlton Wordfest

mixed day - some bright sunny periods, then heavy rain. Laundry on the line - of course. Still, our clothes have seen worse things than rainwater. Temps 25

Geo-thermal is finished and working brilliantly!!! In fact, it started working immediately - that was a week ago. Phil, from ClimaPur, pressed a button and within a minute we could feel cool air. for the first time ever, our old farmhouse had central air! Though clearly that wasn't the reason for putting in the geo. Actually, there were a few reasons. We wanted to be more responsible, and energy efficient. We had oil heat and that's just expensive and polluting, especially compared to hydro or certainly, geo-thermal. And we also wanted to not worry about what was happening in the world. To be so dependent on dictators and oligarchies. Multi-nationals.

But - get this - within a minute of the geo being turned on...there was a massive power failure! Caused, we were assured, not by us - it was county wide. And lasted 12 hours. So much for geo. or anything.

But when the electricity came back on, so did the air conditioning. Mostly, of course, we want it for the heating in the winter.

In doing research on geo I read an ad that said, 'We turn dirt into heat'. and that's what it does. Takes cool, or heat, from the earth and uses it in our home. For about the price of running a refrigerator.

Of course, the initial cost is huge. But we figure if we live another 93 years, we'll have it paid off. (actually, in our case, the geo will have paid for itself in 4 years.)

Del, Lise's wonderful husband, came by with his team on Saturday, and smoothed out the earth, put down good soil, and seeded. In a few months we don't even know it's happened.

That's the plan.

Editing going well. Up to page 125 - out of 290. Dropped almost 5,000 words so far. Want to drop another 5,000. But right now the goal is the best book, not the shortest.

The big event this week is the literary festival in the nearby Quebec village of Knowlton. it's regularly voted one of the prettiest in Canada. It's just lovely....and one of the inspirations for Three Pines - though Knowlton is much bigger. And exists.

This coming weekend is the second annual WordFest. And what a thrilling line-up!!! Shelagh Rogers is coming....she one of the most prominent Canadian journalists and radio hosts with CBC. She was just given the Order of Canada. Her programme is called The Next Chapter, and is about books. She'll be staying in the guest cottage, with susan. they're good friends. And shelagh will be doing a number of events at WordFest.

Some of the other guests are: kathleen Winter, who wrote the hugely successful book, Annabel, which was shortlisted for, among other things, the Governor General's Award for Literature.

Anne Fortier, who wrote Juliet.

Kim Thuy - who'se first book, Ru, won the Governor General's Award as well as the grand prize at the 2010 Salon du Livres in Montreal.

Sheree Fitch is a massively talented and successful writer of children's books. she's also a poet.

And there are all sorts of other great literary guests.

I'll be doing two events. on Saturday afternoon, between 4:30 and 5:30, I'll be interviewing the magnetic Kevin Tierney. He's a screen writer and film producer/director. He produced and co-wrote the highest grossing film in Canadian history, Bon Cop, Bad Cop - which is hilarious! His latest film is about to come out and is called French Immersion, co-written with one of the most prominent and successful Canadian screenwriters, who also happens to be a neighbor here, Jefferson Lewis.

Kevin and I will take the stage at the Old Masonic Hall, at 79 Lakeside, on Saturday. It's a ticketed event, as most are.

and on sunday night I'll be giving the keynote talk at the Peter Gzowski dinner for Literacy, to wrap-up WordFest. Shelagh will be the MC for the evening.

If you want more info, or tickets, you can call Danny and Lucy at Brome Lake Books in Knowlton - 450-242-2242 or email them, blb@b2b2c.ca

In fact, Michael, cotton and I are having dinner tonight with Danny and Lucy and the kids. Looking forward to it.

speak soon - hope you're thriving!

cuirass - perhaps not what it sounds like

Sun struggling through thin clouds, snow in forecast, high minus 8

The paperback for A FATAL GRACE has just come out in the States! This is incredibly exciting since the hardcover is important and leads the way, but the big market 'penetration' is with the paperback, since more people are likely to pick it up. Fans buy the hardcover (like you, I hope!) but non-fans might take a chance and buy the less expensive paperback, and find the series. So please, if you live in the US or know people there, perhaps you could mention the paperback for A FATAL GRACE, which is the second book, and is known as DEAD COLD in the Commonwealth.

Thank you! Really, a thrilling day.

Hilary, a reader, left a comment on yesterday's blog and I wanted to 'broadcast' it. She wrote to tell us about a site she'd found called freerice.com. It's a word game. I went to it before mentioning it here. You choose a definition for a word, from a multiple choice, and if you get it right 20 grains of rice will be donated to the UN World Food Programme. I think Hilary said she'd played yesterday and got up to 5,000 grains. I just played and got to about 500. Was stumped by the definition of 'cuirass'. I got it wrong. Never heard of the word. Never heard of lots of the words. It's very humbling. But also, as Hilary says, addictive. Great fun - and for a great cause. And seems to be legit.

Thanks Hilary.

Just back from a flying visit to Quebec City. Wonderful time. I really do forget how magical that city is! I almost embarrassed myself in the cab yesterday morning by weeping I was so overcome by its beauty. It was snowing slightly, large, gentle flakes, snow piled up on the roads from pervious falls. Narrow streets with old stone homes and restuarants and cafe's, tin roofs and garrets and tiny parks. Glorious. I lived in QC for two years, but still need reminding.

The next book, after the one I'm currently writing (11,500 words!) will be partly set in Quebec City during Winter Carnival - which is on now. Michael and I will rent an apartment in the old walled city for 3 weeks at this time next year and research and write. Can hardly wait.

I was there to do a segment on the CBC National Radio show, Sounds Like Canada. It went out live yesterday morning from the magnificent Chateau Frontenac, hosted by Shelagh Rogers, who is as brilliant as she is warm and lovely. Made each and every person feel welcome and relaxed - and it was a fabulous show. Mostly organized and researched by our great friend Susan McKenzie - so we're really proud of her!

Susan, Michael and I went out for dinner in the old city Thursday night. Susan came by our hotel room, which she'd arranged for, and was staggered to see we were given a HUGE corner suite! Ha. The rest of the dinner we teased her about the tiny, dark, back room she'd been allocated by the CBC. Actually, she had a suite too, though not quite as magnificent as ours. Susan explained it was given to us by the hotel, not the CBC, and only because we were so old. Everyone else in the hotel were kids, there for Carnivale.

She also gave us the most amazing gift. A Li Bien ball Christmas decoration she'd found at Pier 1 in Montreal. If you've read A FATAL GRACE/DEAD COLD you'll know how amazing it is to find one of these. It's become a new treasure for us. Susan is an old treasure. Very, very old.

But WOW, was it cold Thursday. Bitter, bitter wind. It has been a while since I was outside and it felt like someone was taking a potato peeler to my face. The wind was right in our faces. Then, coming home, it was in our faces again! A kind of reverse miracle. Whichever way we turned, there was the wind, full blast. Literally takes your breath away.

Must run. I always plan to write a short blog then end up blabbing on. We're in Montreal, heading home this morning. Be well and we'll talk soon.