Well, I’m on my way. My goal is to follow Lily’s path from Alberta to Prince Rupert and connect with people in Prince George, Smithers, Terrace and Fort St. James. First, I had to get from Chilliwack to Alberta and fortuitously Tom’s uncle’s celebration of life was in Fernie in early August. What a send-off for him with so much family and love for botanist extraordinaire Job Kuijt. I had no idea he had 11 books on Goodreads! I got to read parts of my book in front of a family-filled crowd one night and then we white water rafted the next day!
Next, a stop in Pincher Creek because my friend Dinah lives there and the library was super generous about hosting me. I rode my bike past round bales and blue mountain silhouettes. I now love that area and will be back.
Calgary was the beginning of the true journey though. For me as a writer (Gr. 6 poetry prize winner! Thank you Mrs. Hardy) and for Lily. She left Alberta for her first job in the forest and I left there to go to university at Simon Fraser so many years ago. Thank you to Shelf Life for hosting my event. It is not always easy to find venues for book readings and they are very open to having visiting writers in.
I have been treating the travel to these events as book promotion and an opportunity to visit friends and see beautiful places that I love. Most of this effort is self-organized and self-funded and I make a little back by selling books. Of course, I also get a huge rush out of sharing this long-term project! It feels so good to finally see my book out in the world. Thank you to everyone who has read it and come to my events.
I’ll try to send photos and stuff from the road. Here’s a few from the trip so far. From top left: Shelf Life reading with Erin Steel; Pincher Creek Library with Dinah (on far left), Wendy and Marie; Leighton Centre view (where my sister works); falls in Waterton; and Calgary!
