Feeling Bubbly But Not Expensive

This will be a quick one because the book launch for my new novel Charybdis is this afternoon and I’ve been planning like crazy, buying meats and cheeses, and assorted drinks and other things so that people will be busy eating and not notice how nervous I am. I also bought 2 bottles of bubbly but because we forgot to get some in the city, I was forced to buy it at the local gas station and all they had was Spumante Bambino and it was $10.95 a bottle in case anyone is thinking that champagne is a luxury. I’d normally do something a little fancier like a nice prosecco but gas station liquor store beggars can’t be choosers.

Otherwise, it’s been a quiet week. Here are the highlights:

On Tuesday, I presented a workshop on creative writing to a class at a school that seemed to be near Niagara Falls and I was so excited because I was planning on hitting some wineries on the way back. The kids were amazing and when I was done, I put “wineries near me” into my gps and THERE WAS NOTHING. I was on the wrong side of the escarpment apparently, and came home empty-handed, having also not made the finals for that literary prize I was longlisted for. Well, not really empty-handed—I got a nice mug and a lanyard from the school.

I ordered some gluten-free licorice for Kate because she was recently diagnosed with celiac disease. It came on Wednesday and I was so excited because licorice is her favourite. I tried it. It tasted like cardboard.

Thursday: That bug is back.

Say hello to my little friend!

Friday: I had been booked for AGES to do a reading at this one particular reading series on Saturday which meant I couldn’t do a book festival that came up on the same day that I really wanted to do. Then the reading series cancelled at the last minute, so I asked the book festival people if I could be put on a waiting list. It would have been cool to do either, kind of like a Charybdis weekend with the launch being on Sunday and all. Then the book festival got cancelled because of rain and the rain date was TODAY. And on Friday night, I got an email offering me a spot at the book festival for today but I couldn’t take it because I’M LAUNCHING MY BOOK. Could my timing be any worse?!

But then on Saturday, with big junk pickup on Monday, I made Ken take me driving around the back concessions and there wasn’t much but I got, AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD FOR FREE, a stained glass lampshade in perfect condition. So the week turned out okay after all. I’m pretty easy to please, as you can tell by both the lampshade and the Spumante Bambino.

Here’s a picture of the aurora borealis that I took from our upper deck because it’s beautiful and even if things don’t always go my way, life is still very beautiful too. Wish me luck this afternoon, and by wish me luck, I mean let’s hope that at least a few people show up and drink my cheap champagne.

Also, if you can’t attend my in-person launch and you’d still like to celebrate with me, my wonderful publisher JC Studio Press is doing an online Eventbrite launch for Charybdis on Saturday, June 1. You can register for that here!

27 thoughts on “Feeling Bubbly But Not Expensive”

  1. Great pic of the aurora borealis! We don’t get that here. On a clear day, I can see the Worlds of Fun water tower, which has been playfully painted with different colors on top, like a hot air balloon. I hope the book launch went well!

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  6. Green borealis comes from low energy oxygen, red from high energy O2, and any purply pink from the highest energy state, but of Nitrogen. G5 CMEs are fun! (Until they’re not…)
    Hope you rock your launch.

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  7. Oh my, it seems like you have your hands full with your book launch. But it’s all good, because you can handle it! Oh that damn bug, just looking at the pictures give me the heebie jeebies. I’m hoping to get in on your line book launch! Woohoo!

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  8. I’d totally drink gas station champagne! 🙂 That aurora borealis picture is amazing. We went out in our yard and couldn’t see a thing and were so disappointed when we saw neighbors on our Facebook page with gorgeous photos and captions that read, “Look what we saw in our backyard!” Cheers to your book launch!!!

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  9. Glad your week wasn’t a total bust. I hope the book launch went well. The aurora borealis was stunning around here but I only know from other people’s pictures because I didn’t even know it was happening. 😦

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