A Not-Typical Day in the Life – December 5
6:00 Worked on my novel. Wrote a scene that makes better use of material barely touched on in a previous draft.
7:15 Ate breakfast – yogurt with bananas and almonds and cereal – and did a crossword puzzle.
7:45 Took Keisha for a walk up the line.
8:45 Had a shower and answered emails.
9:30 Drove to Toronto.
10:30 Delivered files to the Osborne Collection, where lots of archival material for my books (and lots of other authors) is housed.
11:00 Gassed up my car and paid my VISA bill.
11:30 Met writer-friend Frieda Wishinsky at The Flying Dragon. We went for lunch (I’ve already forgotten the name of the restaurant, but it was good, just a few doors down from the bookstore.)
1:00 Did a shift at the CNIB recording studio. Acted as technician on Radiance by Shaena Lambert, being read by Sondra Bolton
4:00 Drove to illustrator-friend Heather Collins’ house to get her to sign her latest book – Out Came the Sun – a gift for our grandson’s birthday
5:00 Did another shift at the CNIB. This time I read Turtle Valley by Gail Anderson-Dargatz.
7:00 Attended a book launch at Mabel’s Fables for Barbara Reid’s new board book of nursery rhymes.
9:00 On the way home dropped off a bag of clothes I don’t wear any more.
9:30 Chatted with Peter about our day’s activities.
10:00 Went to bed and read a few pages of Time was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer before falling asleep.
I would recommend every book mentioned in this untypical day!
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Kathy Stinson is the author of the classic Red Is Best and the award-winning The Man with the Violin. Her wide range of titles includes picture books, non-fiction, young adult fiction, historical fiction, horror, biography, series books, and short stories. She has met with her readers in every province and territory of Canada, in the United States, Britain, Liberia, and Korea. She lives in a small town in Ontario.
That is one busy day! It's good this isn't typical – you wouldn't get much writing done!
Hi Kathy!
Although this is not a reply to your post, I just wanted to use this medium to express my extreme gratitude to you concerning your novel One Year Commencing. I first read it the year it came out, as a part of the Red Cedar Award competition. At the time I definately liked it, but was completely oblivious as to the effect it would have on me over the next 7 years. Over the years I have continually thought back to the character of Al, especially to the many aspects of her character which are similar to mine. Despite these pressing memories I never took the time to seek out this book and re-read it until today. It was with this fresh revisitation that what I had suspected all these years was confirmed. This story played a considerable role in shaping me to become what I am now, an artist who was entranced by those infamous classes at the AGO (the toaster art in particular) and the muffins distributed to the homeless. One line in particualar has always stuck with me, one concerning Al's artistic emplorations in her sketchbook on the plane to Toronto. I have desired for many years to have a stranger comment that I am "not the only one in the family" who is an artist. I could continue endlessly in praise of this particular novel, but a reply on a blog only offers such limited space.
As such, I just wanted to express to you how instrumental your novel was in my adolescence and in shaping my persona.
Thank you,
Meghan
Wow, Meghan, that is so amazing. The ways in which a writer never imagines a book having an effect!
Thanks for taking the time to tell me this. I wish you many satisfying hours – and years – at your artististic pursuits.