Eileen Bell

Ryan McFadden did a nice write up on the win, so I won’t go into it here.  It was exciting, overwhelming, unbelievable — and we didn’t know enough NOT to crash the dead dog party, so obviously we still have lots more to learn.  My aunt endeared herself to all the “boys and girls” on the 15th floor — I will never forget this huge guy — Wookie like in my memory — walking up to me and giving me a high five.  “Your aunt is AWESOME!”  Yes, she is.

And then we came home.  My husband had been receiving increasingly panicky phone calls the whole time we were in Winnipeg — the last one was on Sunday, and the words “Do I need to get on a plane?” struck fear into my heart.  Winnipeg is a LONG way from Edmonton when you are Eileen, who hates driving, and who has to get the truck back home.  Luckily everyone calmed down long enough for us to hit the road — together — and head back.

We did it in one day.  Good drive, actually, and my husband even let me take the Alpha seat for a couple of hours.  The last Tims we hit was at Lloydminster — a town that straddles the Alberta Saskatchewan border, where we had spent many, many weekends watching our daughter play softball.  (And now the joke.  “There is NOTHING soft about that game!”)

We had both the awards in the back seat, and they tinkled — sometimes gently, sometimes not — depending on the condition of the road.  We made a lot of increasingly goofy jokes about “the twins” as the miles rattled under our wheels, until finally, we pulled into Edmonton, and then our driveway.  I can’t begin to tell you how glad I was to see that little round house and the raggedy overgrown grass.

Our daughter, who had been good enough to look after the animals,  burst out of the house, thrilled to see us — and thrilled about the wins.  (Competitor, after all.  Knows how nice it is to bring home hardware.) We talked for a bit, convinced her to stay one more night (so we didn’t have to drive another kilometer that day) and went to bed, exhausted.

We were all up early the next morning.  Husband had to fix all the damage wrought over the weekend (remember those phone calls?  Everyone who made them remembered!) and daughter had to be taken to work.  Then, I finally had the house to myself.  Nice.

I saw that Ryan had posted about the first day, and thought it was a pretty good idea.  So I did more or less the same thing.  A maudlin little piece about Dad — but it read well enough that I left it.  Then I milled about, not really ready to step back into my life, but not really ready to do much else.  (I didn’t even unpack.  Still haven’t, truth be told.)

The next day I went back to my blog, to add another day. And there were comments for the first post.  Cool.  I like it when people actually read this thing…

And one caught my eye.

Hi Eileen!

Congratulations on the award. I’ve been receiving congrats on your behalf – and thought I should pass them on!

Could you give me a call?

~Eileen Bell
630 CHED Radio

Yes!  The famous Eileen Bell from radio.  Talking to me!

This Eileen Bell has been on radio forever in this town, it seems.  And I have always had to endure the joke “So, are you the one on radio?”

“No,” I always reply.  “I am the other one.”

So I called her.  I could only imagine the look on the receptionist’s face when I asked for Eileen Bell, and she asked me who was calling.  “Eileen Bell,” I said.  The pause was long before she chimed “One moment please.”

And then I spoke to Eileen Bell.  Very cool.  Even cooler — she wants to interview me in July.  On being a writer — and being Eileen Bell.

I said yes.  Good grief, how could I not?  Here’s my five minutes of fame — and I get to share it with the other Eileen Bell.

Ha!

Ad Astra was a blast!  Had a chance to be on a couple of panels – Collaboration, and Time Management – and enjoyed them. (possibly more than the audience!)  I won’t go into any details, because, hey, they’re done!  Suffice to say, you shoulda been there!  You would have enjoyed them both.

Signed up for the small torture known as the Autograph Session while I was there.  At least Ryan and I got to sit while we watched  Rob Sawyer and Kelley Armstrong handle their various line ups.  Some day, some day, that will be us!

While we were there, Ryan had a chance to speak to the Bakka Phoenix people — and they have since agreed to carry the Women of the Apocalypse!  How cool is that?  So now, all you folks in Toronto can’t complain.  You can get our book!

Since I got back, I’ve been working feverishly on my next project.  Gutting and ripping the first draft at this point, but I’m starting to like what I have down.  (Starting being the key word, here.) Ryan has it right now… and though he, generally, is kind, I’m expecting some “butt kicking” because this story has to be taken up a notch.  Trying to write the thing around the chaos that was my life for the past few months didn’t work quite as well as I’d hoped, so I still have lots of work to do.  Luckily, I’m getting my spirit back, so I can do it.

Tomorrow (Saturday, April 17) we will be at the Stanley Milner Library in downtown Edmonton, flogging our books and congratulating the winners of the Alberta Readers Choice Awards.  It runs from 10 AM to 4 PM, and it should be fun.  Hey, I get to hang around with Barb Galler-Smith (Druids) for a while, and I haven’t done that in a long time.  It should be good.

I’m glad I’m back at work.  I missed it.

Normally, I don’t call Ryan.  The man lives in Ontario (!) and so is always living  2 hours in the future, which hardly ever works out well for me.  (I think about giving him a call at 10ish my time — and he is either at work or asleep, depending on the 10 I pick.) It’s inconvenient, because I actually have to think about what the heck I’m doing.  Plan for it.

I don’t do so well with planning, as anyone who has ever received my Christmas cards can attest.  (Mid February, anyone?)

So, when I went on Facebook (Yeah, I know, but whatever) prior to shutting things down for the night, the last thing on my mind was calling Ryan.

Then I saw Rob Sawyer’s post — and I was on the phone in a flash.  Of course, Ryan didn’t answer.  He is, after all, a father — and it was probably close to bedtime for his little girls.  So I left an incoherent message that asked — begged, really — him to check out Facebook.

Then I called Billie.  Luckily she was home.  I told her to check it out — and she did.  Then she lost her mind, and I knew I hadn’t imagined it.

The Hugo Award winning Rob Sawyer, science fiction heavyweight, who gets to go to all sorts of cool places and do all sorts of cool things ,  talked about Women of the Apocalypse.  He didn’t just talk about it.  He gave it an excellent review!

“Nothing gives me more joy than when my students do well, and so it’s with great pride and pleasure that I draw your attention to the fabulous new anthology Women of the Apocalypse, an anthology of stories (“Four women, Four Shooters, Four destinies to save the world”) by Eileen Bell, Roxanne Felix, Ryan T. McFadden, and Billie Millholland. The book — a handsome trade paperback with an eye-catching stark black-and-white cover — is published by Absolute XPress, a division of Calgary’s Hades Publications….This is, without doubt, one of the major theme anthologies of 2009, and deserves a place on the Aurora Award ballot — as do the individual stories. The anthology recently made the bestsellers’ list published in the Calgary Herald.”

Ryan eventually called me back, and we did the teenage girl jumping up and down and screaming thing for a while.  (Sorry Ryan, but people deserve the truth.)  And why did we do this?

Because back in 2006, Ryan and I were in Rob Sawyer’s writing class in Banff.  He ripped us both – bad.  He ruthlessly pointed out EVERYTHING we did that was keeping us from being published.  Everything.

We could have run away crying (like those self same teenage girls we emulated a couple of days ago). But we didn’t. Both of us took what he said to heart, and went away, licked our wounds, and stepped up.

Apparently we learned some of those lessons quite well.

Thanks Rob.  You’re the best.

Life is moving at a breakneck pace right now.  I feel like I don’t have time to breathe, much less get my laundry done. (Yes.  Laundry.  My second favorite writing avoidance technique, next to TV.)

We are gearing up for the San Jose World Fantasy Convention — and I just received word that I have been given a spot on the schedule.  I will be doing a reading from “Women of the Apocalypse.“  And this is freaking me out.

You know the old saying “Do something at least once a week that frightens you”?  Well, putting my name in to the organizers of World Fantasy  was my one thing for that week.  I was able to do it because I never in a thousand years thought I’d be chosen.  Ever.

But there I am, on the roster.  Saturday night, 10 pm.  (Yeah, I know.  The parties will be rolling by that time, nobody will be there, I’ll be reading to myself, etc etc.  I keep telling myself this stuff, anyhow….)  Eileen Bell.  My name.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s not big.  It’s one reading.  We are having our launch that day (4-6) and there will be lots and lots of other stuff going on around us the whole weekend. And the next weekend we are having our Edmonton launch. Ryan will have already had his London launch. Then we will be gearing up for Calgary the next weekend.  Lots and lots of stuff going on, lots of things to prepare for, lots of details to cover.  Lots and lots … But.

My name is on the schedule for World Fantasy.  I’m doing a reading from a book that has my words in it.

I thought I’d done the brave thing by even putting my name in.  Now, it appears I must do something even more brave.  Read my words aloud to people in the industry.

Whatever will I wear?