Nearly four months since my last post and I have only this update to report: I finally completed a second draft of the book scheduled for release next year.

One of the key ingredients that helped was my publisher sending me a message asking for the draft.  We had not yet specified a date for the updated manuscript but all of sudden they wanted it.  By the end of April.  

I have found that hard deadlines do prompt me into action.

It was a tremendous amount of work.  I'm actually embarrassed by how bad the first draft was.  In my desperation to have a completed manuscript to send to the publisher before they forgot all about me I basically ran a cursory spell check and send it away.

Dear God!

Typos galore, sloppy usuage, occasionally overwrought language.  That was in Chapter 1.  I also changed a couple of characters' names along the way inadvertently.  Here's a good note: when submitting a novel be sure to read the damned thing before giving it to publishers.

 I've had a couple of very thorough editors on it, Lou Allin, who I think I've mentioned before, and my Dad - who went to town on editing.  The stuff others pick up for you is amazing - and I didn't have to pay editor's fees!

I'm going to be hard at another edit but I'm going to give it another couple of weeks to freshen my own perspective again.

Book three continues.  December 31st is still the target completion.

Posted by davidrussellbc at 5:12 PM PDT

Updated: Sunday, 3 May 2009 7:57 PM PDT

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Once again, it's been so long.

But, for those of you following along - the sequel to Deadly Lessons was finally finished, in draft form, about a month or so ago.  Believe it or not, it is, I believe, six years in the making.

Of course, that makes it sound like it's some kind of epic follow-up to the first novel so I want to dispel the notion that I've been toiling away at it non-stop for six years.  The truth of the matter is far from that.

In fact, my work on the sequel, tentatively titled Last Dance has been an incredible on and off - mostly off.  The journey happened in stages.

I believe, though I'd have to check the original document on the other computer, that I began the book around November of 2002, shortly after I'd completed Deadly Lessons, though before it had been accepted for publication.  I guess I was feeling cocky.

But in the summer of 2003, while vacationing in Italy, I began another book, temporarily shelving the first 80 pages or so of Last Dance I had begun.  The Italian Story, as I've taken to calling it, was written in the third person, unlike both my Winston sagas, and was more political and espionage thriller than murder mystery.  I wrote much of it by hand while sipping wine and overlooking the sunflower valley in the rented farmhouse we were occupying in Tuscany.  I know - who wouldn't be inspired in that locale?

So I worked on that for awhile, then flipped back to Last Dance, then went back and forth awhile.  Classic author's attention deficit disorder.

Eventually I determined that I had better finish Last Dance as I had kind of entered into the publishing process with the understanding that Deadly Lessons would be a series.  Alas, the perils of working full time, having a child, trying to do publicity for the first book, trying to do a litany of other things slowed down the process enormously.

The editor at my publisher, Napoleon Press, sent me an email and has said I am on the shortlist for 2010, which means it's not an absolute certainty that it will go ahead that year but it is sounding positive.  He also made some comments about some rather intense editing that needs to be done.  Much of it I totally concur with: I tend to be wordy.  I think it's the teacher in me that feels a need to explain too much. 

Some of the things he mentioned I find quite intriguing: as in the first draft of Deadly Lessons, someone else's eye, particularly the trained eye of publishers, often pick up nuances of which I was completely unaware.  For example, in Last Dance, the editor has noted that Winston's detective friend Andrea (fans out there remember about whom I'm speaking?!?) comes across as a less sympathetic character by some of her actions and wondered if that was my intent.  It wasn't, which makes me really curious about how I've portrayed her. 

Of course, taking six years to write the damned thing means I barely remember some of the situations into which I wrote her.  Editing is going to be an interesting challenge.  I'm seriously thinking about hiring a private editor so I can get this thing to be as slick as possible.  If you know of any good ones (not so good that they're hugely expensive, mind you!) feel free to let me know.  I want to make sure this book is absolutely as good as it can be.

My plan is to try to document the process as I go along so interested scribes can follow along and see what it's like.  I'm also planning to have book three in the series written this year.  And yes, this time I mean it.

Here I go.  Stay tuned!

Posted by davidrussellbc at 6:40 PM PST

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Someone actually wrote to me and chastised me for not blogging for as long as I have.  Sigh.  At least it's nice to know that someone is reading.

Have you ever been in the middle of writing a climax and just can't seem to get finished?  When I was working on Deadly Lessons, writing the climax was actually exciting.  Now I'm finding it hard to get enough time in one sitting to actually get any writing done.

Maybe if I keep reminding myself to blog I might at least be writing regularly and keep people pestering me to get the book finished.  I keep telling myself that I do not want to return to work in two weeks without having the book completed. 

That's right: the first draft of the book tentatively called Last Dance is scheduled for completion within two weeks.

Stay tuned.  And keep nagging. 

Posted by davidrussellbc at 9:11 PM PDT

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I confess to having recently turned forty, a milestone that often sends its conquerors into prolonged therapy but that I have survived more or less intact.  I still have my own hair, teeth and bendable joints so who am I to complain? 

I have wondered of late though if there exists a correlation between chronological age and the amount of times one agrees with Andrew Coyne. 

Among my friends, political persuasion, if such tendencies even mean anything any more, tends to fall somewhere in the centre to centre-left category.  Sure I have a few friends on either extreme, who I tend to keep apart from one another in social gatherings, but for the most part most friends and associates would find agreeing with Andrew Coyne akin to an Edmontonian cheering the Flames.  It’s just not done in polite company.   

Often I would read the National Post for sport; its layout remains one of the best in the land but its content is best suited for partisan jabbing and general mockery.  Coyne, until his departure from that publication for the pages of Maclean’s - a magazine for which I have written, for Heaven’s sake! - was frequently the chief target of our disdain.  Well written and articulate he seemed to kill his own arguments with extremism that made him fun to mock. 

Now I’ve always had a fiscally conservative side to me so economically Coyne and I weren’t always so far apart.  The simplicity of his economic theorems is sometimes comforting, easy to digest when too tired for careful and/or realistic analysis. 

But lately I’ve found myself agreeing with him more often than not.  Coyne’s not getting any hipper; this must surely be the aging process in action. 

Of particular interest prompting this response is a recent column decrying the ever-increasing practice and expectation of tipping. 

Sorry lefty friends; I could not possibly agree more with Mr. Coyne on this one.  From the coffee shop to the hairdresser to the garbage collector, the number and variety of occupations for whom I am expected to provide extra has grown to ridiculous proportions.   

And please don’t try to tell me that these employees rely on the generosity of their patrons as a significant portion of their livelihood.  That ought not to be the way it is and it is perpetuated by our insistence on going along with it. 

In the past several months I have had occasion to stay at the Delta Ocean Point Resort in Victoria and the Fairmont Chateau Whistler.  At both these fine hostelries, parking is not included in the price of accommodation; to have one’s car parked guests fork out an additional $15 and $28 per night respectively.  On top of this we’re expected to tip the young university student or ski lifty respectively to whom I’ve just nervously handed over my keys? 

Truth is, were I not already paying outrageous prices for the service provided I would be less reluctant to “give a little something” to the service provider.  At $28 a pop, buddy, your tip is included, even if I have you retrieve my vehicle several times while I go for drives and return to the hotel. 

The same is true at Starbucks or other coffee houses (even the fair-trade ones, lefty friends): were the price of the product not already beyond what normal, sensible people ought to be paying for beverages, the thought of adding a tip to the bill might not seem so implausible, despite the fact all most coffee house employees due to earn such extras is pour the java into a cup, hardly an example of going the extra mile.  In fact, it barely covers the mile. 

Coyne’s anti-tipping crusade of one makes sense and I’m willingly on board.   

I just worry about with whom I’ll agree by the time I turn fifty.  

Posted by davidrussellbc at 7:23 PM PDT

Updated: Sunday, 30 March 2008 7:29 PM PDT

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This morning, on the Nik and Val Show, a recent poll was discussed in which women surveyed in Britain indicated which male names were most associated with, ahem, large....err....members.

Not surprisingly, not to me anyway, the name that topped the list of the biggest packages was "Dave." 

Guess it wasn't just my own sense of well endowed-ness.  Science is on my side.

Eat your...uhm...hearts out "Rays" of the world.  Evidently your name is associated with 'short' recollections of British females.

Back to the page.

Posted by davidrussellbc at 8:11 PM PDT

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And so it goes.

It's been some time since I've contributed to the blog so for those of you following along in the author's career (hello?  is anyone out there?) my apologies for my neglect

I would like to say it's because I've been so busy writing but that wouldn't be entirely true.  In fact, the fall through the winter were very bleak times indeed for productivity on the next book.  However, good news is not just on the horizon, it's here.

I finally have taken to getting myself up extra early in the morning (sorry morning radio employees, I know you get up earlier than me but hey - that's your deal).  I started forcing myself to get up around 5:30 to write for forty-five minutes to an hour before work and I've found that I've written more in the past month than I have in the past year and a half. 

If I can keep up this pace, I'm looking at some time in May having the first draft done.  I know it was promised for last August, then December, then before turning 40 (which was March 11th) but there it is.  Things are progessing better than they have in a long time, I'm pleased to say.

And of course I plug along at the marketing of my year-old book, which included traveling to Victoria to attend and speak on a panel at the "Pacific Festival of the Book," a bust in terms of book sales but may have gained me some exposure (to whom? I don't know).  It was nice to see some of my fellow BC authors again I had met at the crime festival last June in Victoria and a couple of new ones, including Daniel Edward Craig, author of Murder at the Universe, which I just finished reading.  It's a unique entry in the genre, quite different from the standard formula, being quite character driven rather than plot centred.

Next up is the Arthur Ellis Awards Nominations evening, April 30th.  This year, the Crime Writers of Canada, West Coast branch, will host a celebratory event at the Vancouver Public Library, including a panel discussion with yours truly and a host of others, moderated by Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail.  I'll provide more details forthwith, especially given that I'm the media/PR liaison. 

I'll try to get back to this sooner rather than later.  Please send your comments.

Posted by davidrussellbc at 7:35 PM PDT

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Let the hair lighting begin.

Radio station CKNW commentator and über talent manager Bruce Allen ignited a firestorm of critics' follicles when he suggested immigrants unhappy with Canadian laws and customs should use the door and hit the road back "home."

And as has become the norm with any public suggestion that in any way questions multiculturalism, his critics have responded with all the grace and composure of a toddler denied a pack of Smarties at the checkout stand. 

NDP opposition critic Harry Bains, whose full time job seems to be calling for government members' resignations, expanded his one-trick pony show to include calls for resignations from Mr. Allen from CKNW and his membership on the team responsible for producing the opening ceremonies of Vancouver's 2010 Olympics. 

Similar demands have been made by callers to Punjabi open-line radio, the Canadian Organization of Sikh Students and others.

Hold your fire a moment.

Before we throw the Bruce out with the bathwater let's dispense with the suggestion that Allen's commentary makes him a racist.  Those who have actually listened to the commentary could reasonably attest that nothing it contained demonstrated racial intolerance.

Instead, Allen clearly calls for groups to abide by Canadian laws, whatever their ethnic background.

Controversial?  Perhaps.  Racist?  Hardly.

To be sure, Allen's style is often bombastic and angry sounding, which no doubt attracts fans to his daily tirades and may also make his points of view less palatable to some listeners.  And lest there be any doubt his persona is an ironic on-air characterization, I've had occasion to meet the man and he's as snarly in person as he is on the AM band.

None of which suggests Allen ought to be banned from the airwaves or is unfit to participate in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, even if that does mean we're going to have endure Bryan Adams during the event.

What's most bothersome about his critics is their contention that Allen's comments make him unrepresentative of those most illusive 'Canadian values.'  That is to say, because Allen holds an opinion not shared by all, he is un-Canadian.

What Canadian values are those?  Writers and academics have sought for decades to define Canadian values to little success.  Goodness knows political leaders have failed miserably in articulating a clear vision of what it "means" to be Canadian, often labeling each other as lacking in Canadian values as a way of scoring electoral points.

Labeling as unpatriotic those with views in opposition to the majority or authority is the kind of tactic Bush & Co. employ with our neighbours to the south.  If there's one trait Canadians always tout in their self definition it's that we're not them.

Even assuming the majority of Canadians support multiculturalism - and I think they do - suggesting people of all ethnic backgrounds obey the laws of the land is not necessarily an attack on multiculturalism itself.

It further seems that if there is a clear principle about which all Canadians agree unequivocally it is that the protection of free speech and free thought is paramount to a just society, even if that speech occasionally makes us uncomfortable.

In our much-celebrated Charter of Rights and Freedoms, freedom of thought and expression are listed as 'fundamental freedoms,' the very underpinnings upon which our understanding of society is based.

Heck, if you want to rank them, free speech is in section 2 of the Charter, multiculturalism isn't mentioned until section 27.

It's probably fair to say many of those critics now calling for Allen's dismissal came to Canada in part because of the denial of the right to free speech in their place of birth.  How hypocritical to call for the dismissal of a man who says things about which we may be uncomfortable.

To paraphrase Voltaire, Allen may come across as a pompous windbag on the air, but I'll certainly defend his right to so blow.  Besides I can, and often do, just change the channel when I hear something about which I can't agree or just plain don't enjoy.  It's also why we have more than one radio station.

To fire Allen from the Olympic opening ceremony team - which VANOC has wisely announced they won't do - because his critics claim his comments do not reflect Canadian values would be a gigantic blow to one of the most critical values of a free and democratic country.

And that's not a trait we'd want to showcase to the world during our Olympic games.

Posted by davidrussellbc at 4:33 PM PDT

Updated: Sunday, 30 September 2007 4:42 PM PDT

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August 1st and it's time for some progress reports on the novel(s) front.  The second one continues to progress but much more slowly than I had desired (though not really any more slowly than I had anticipated).  Soon I'll release the tentative title. 

Is it possible I've actually written three hundred pages or so but I'm still on page 186?  Every time I open the document, no matter how much I write it seems like I've been on that page forever!  It's starting to feel a little Twilight Zone-esque. 

I haven't lined up a whole lot of events for the summer time because I really am trying to focus on getting this draft completed.  I already have some copy editors lined up (thank you to the talented Lou Allin for volunteering - read her books; I've only read one but it was marvelous and I plan to read the rest). 

I was approached by the Coquitlam Public Library who has asked me to do an evening session, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, November 1st at 7:00 pm at the Poirier branch.  I'll have more details as the date approaches but mark it on your calendars (and post it on Facebook!). 

I also pitched the book to a movie company.  It's very preliminary - they're just reading it to see if they like it but keep your fingers crossed and keep good thoughts going.  I'll post here if I hear anything. 

And don't forget to check your local listings for True Pulp Murder.  The episode called Straight from the Heart will feature me talking about Deadly Lessons and how it relates to the murder being discussed during that episode.  Much more to come.

Posted by davidrussellbc at 9:44 PM PDT

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The winners were announced and I was not among them.  The Crime Writers of Canada announced the winners of the Arthur Ellis Awards in Toronto on June 7 and alas, I did not win.  If you're just tuning in, I had been nominated (shortlisted, would be the correct term, I suppose) from 18 submissions to a list of 5 finalists in the Best First Novel category.  The winner was Anne Emery for her novel Sign of the Cross.  Haven't read it but I hear it's very good so if one must be beaten 'tis best to be beaten by quality. 

Of course it was an honour just to be nominated (I've seen that line around every award show so I thought I'd use it here).  On the plus side, I saved money on airfare, not winging out to TO for the awards. 

The Murder Most Foul event in Victoria went very well, I thought.  Much better attended than I was expecting and I sold some books.  The staff at the Victoria Chapters on the Sunday were really supportive as well, even going so far as to clear shelf space at the front of the store to push my books - very nice. 

I'll try to line up some events through the summer and, or course, get that second book finished!

Posted by davidrussellbc at 11:09 AM PDT

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