LAUNCH DAY!

A quick word - 9 a.m. on launch day, and it's grey and drizzly. Toronto has entered a sudden cool spell. But they do say it'll be cloudy but warmer later, so fingers crossed, because this whole event is predicated on being mostly outside.

Lots to do when the drizzle stops - got to cut the grass, rake and clean up the yard and put chairs around; sweep and tidy the front yard; finish cleaning the living room and kitchen. That's what happens when you hold an event in your own home - a bit of extra pressure and work! But the timing is good - the garden is still glorious, there are even new roses, the rose of Sharon tree still full, the rudbekia, Mexican sunflowers, and golden glow lush and full. By next week, they'll all be fading. I hope after the guests get their books signed, they'll linger in the garden.

Was planning to wear a bright pink cotton dress bought for Jessica's wedding in France in 2009, but it might not be warm enough, in which case I have no idea what to wear. So we'll see. There's wine and cheese in the fridge, a rented mike and amp, Jason and I have reviewed what we're doing and how.

I'm excited and nervous - took a sleeping pill last night because sleep would have been impossible. But the most marvellous thing happened - I started in my head to write a new essay. MOVING RIGHT ALONG!

People have been sending warm, encouraging messages - Lani just wrote, I'm half-way through Loose Woman and enjoying it even more than the draft I read!  I laughed out loud in a few places and the dog had to come in to see what was going on (it was 2:00am).

And my friend Antoinette, fellow writer, I am so taken with your L’Arche episode, the transformation that occurred in you, the perspective it gave you, the sudden (bodily) revelations you had. Your writing style flows and is completely natural.  I love the descriptions of the country, the food, the atmosphere. I’m right there.

Thank you, friends. It's my pleasure to give you pleasure. 

Why do we do this crazy thing, sitting alone at a desk for countless hours, poking about in our guts, rearranging words on a page, for no money? Because, as I say in the book, we writers need to process life twice - once as we live it, and again as we re-explore it on the page. I cannot imagine living any other way. We do this because we have no choice.

Hooray for writers, for artists generally, really looking at our world, thinking about it, interpreting it in their own way for us, giving us a new way to think and see and even be.

Please wish me luck today.