Rachelle Delaney

I’ve gone on before about how much I love visiting young readers in schools. Well, this past week I had a particularly great author visit experience, at Belmont Elementary in Langley. What made this visit so special was that it was made possible by the Vancouver International Writers Festival’s Reading with Writers program. This fabulous initiative sends authors to underprivileged or underfunded schools throughout the Lower Mainland — at no cost to the schools themselves.

At Belmont, the Grade 5s had decorated the library with posters of the Lost Souls. I was full of love and thanks – both for Belmont and the VIWF.

I love doing author visits. LOVE them. There are few things more satisfying for me than meeting and chatting with young readers. So I had a great time at Noel Booth Elementary in Langley last week. The students were keen to dress up like pirates, talk like pirates, and brainstorm new ways to tell the old pirate story (space pirates! Zombie pirates! Waffle-loving pirates! Etc).

I also did my first author Skype visit recently, which went much smoother than I anticipated. My good friend Tara, who is currently teaching in London (England, that is, not Ontario) had been reading The Ship of Lost Souls with her grade 3 class and asked me to join them via Skype one afternoon (which was actually tres early in the am for me). The students were excellent, each taking a turn to come up to the screen and ask me a question. I mean, what a cool way to have an author come visit your class! Think of the possibilities!

Also, another great thing about the author Skype visit: you only have to look decent from the neck up! Yes! I got to wear yoga pants to an author visit on my COUCH!

Here’s a photo Tara sent me of the pictures her students drew of me before our visit (they’d never seen me before. Hence the green nose).

Big thanks to Longlands Primary School and Noel Booth Elementary!

Well, hello there, Blog. It’s been a while. But you understand, right? Yeah, I thought so.

Tomorrow I’m giving a presentation at Sands Secondary in Delta. I’ll be talking to 50 Grade 12 students, the thought of which kind of makes me want to curl up under my desk and not come out til Friday. But since that’s not really an option, I’m making notes. Apparently, I’m supposed to talk about the writing life, so the students can decide whether it’s something they want to pursue. I have half a mind to show them the hilarious “so you want to write a novel” video.

I’m making a list of Things I’ve Learned – things that I wish someone had told me when I first started taking creative writing courses and wondering if this writing life was indeed feasible.

Here’s a few:

1. Being a writer requires inordinate amounts of patience. EVERYTHING takes longer than expected. Like the talented YA author Eileen Cook blogged not long ago, “Publishing is a marathon, not a sprint.”

2. Grammar counts. No one likes to hear it, but as an editor myself, I lose patience with and respect for people who can’t write clear sentences. Don’t think that your editor will clean everything up for you. Learn your homonyms.

3. Creative writing is a skill. This relates to #1. It takes a long time to learn how to do it right. At first, you will suck. And that’s okay. As another talented author, Tanya Kyi, recently blogged, “Embrace your inner suckiness.” And keep going.

4. Write what you would want to read. Don’t just write about trolls because you heard that trolls are the next big thing. Whatever topic you’re passionate about will be the one that you write best about.

Any tips to add?

There’s no sense in denying it any longer. The holidays are coming at us like nobody’s business. I usually try to ignore the first signs of the impending season, turning a blind eye to the Christmas trees that appear in shop windows the day after Hallowe’en. I just don’t want to overdose on holiday spirit (or shortbread, or mulled wine, or Andy Williams tunes) before the actual day is upon us. It just ruins everything.

But yes, the madness has begun. I came to terms with this when I stepped into Metrotown Mall in Burnaby on Saturday and was practically flattened by shoppers, carols, and garlands. The season is upon us like stripes on candy canes.

My reason for venturing into Metrotown on a Saturday had nothing to do with Christmas shopping, though. I’d been invited to read and sign books at the Grand Opening of IndigoKids, the revamped children’s section you’ll find in Chapters stores across the country. And let me say, the staff at Chapters Metrotown know how to throw a grand opening party. When I arrived, throngs of kids were test-driving child-sized cars, lounging on bean bag reading chairs, and having their faces painted. The tireless staff, dressed as superheroes (!!), had an entire day of activities planned, including scavenger hunts and cookie decorating.

For my part, I had great fun chatting with all the pirate-loving kids and listening to their thoughts on what would make the best pirate treasure (my favourite answer being, “A credit card!”). So I’m sending out big thanks to Travis and all the other Chapters superheroes who made the day possible. If you’re in Metrotown, you should go say hi. They’re good people.

And since we’re on the topic of holiday shopping, here’s an idea for the book lover on your list. Puffin (UK) has released some limited editions of beautiful children’s classics like Treasure Island and The Secret Garden. So if you’ve got, say, £100 to spare, place your order asap. The Secret Garden’s already sold out!