Nothing Stops the BC Book Tour ...
Posted by Heather Burt
...although the near-white-out blizzard over Kootenay Pass last night came close. At first it was like we were in the Starship Enterprise, with millions of tiny asteroids flying at us and not much else in the blackness to give a sense of perspective. Very surreal. “We’ve reached warp speed,” Mr. Spock, I mean David, said, though in fact Bryan was inching along at a judicious 10km/hr or so, ready to stop and/or turn around the second we started sliding. For a few alarming moments somewhere short of the summit we were indeed in a complete white-out, and it looked like we’d be slouching back to Creston for the night .... but THEN, ghostly lights appeared up ahead; we crawled on and found ourselves behind the shield of a towering 18-wheeler with its hazards on. Other transports had pulled over, so we could only hope we weren’t following the path of Bob the Crazed Trucker of the Kootenays (if we were, I suppose we could only hope at least one of us would survive to write the story). Over the summit we went, and gradually the snow lightened. Some cocky youngster in a hot little car raced past us at 30 km/hr. Who knows what his/her fate was. We four travelling authors were safe and sound with Our Man Bryan. We love Bryan.
I should say that our visit to the Cranbrook Library last night was worth the adventure. One of those intimate gatherings with interesting questions and discussion ... and several keen folks walking away with four new books in hand. Yay! The matter of money-making occasionally comes up during Q&A sessions, and while we all ardently, and honestly, insist that our motivation for writing and touring comes from a passion for those endeavours (and that going into the writing biz for the money is usually a wacky idea), it’s always heartening to have people show their interest and their faith in our work by getting themselves a copy.
Signing off with best wishes from the Kootenay Roast coffee shop in Castlegar ...
Heather
Mary Novik
Apr 25, 2008 at 02:25 PM
What a story! The Kootenays tour group will do anything to get our attention! Heather, I’m looking forward to hearing more about your exciting road trip at the gala.