Uncategorized – Page 39 – Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

pysanky and Prisoners

I got my first advance copy of my Dear Canada novel, Prisoners in the Promised Land, on Tuesday.

I drove in to Toronto and my editor took me out for lunch and gave it to me. It is beautiful!!! It won’t be officially released until October 1, but the rest of the advance copies should be coming in shortly.

My pencil sketches turned out surprisingly well, and I LOVE the red cover and ribbon and the girl on the cover is so perfect.This novel was the most intensive one I have ever worked on in terms of editing, historical nit-picking, fact-checking, etc, but I am thrilled with the outcome.

On the spur of the moment on holiday Monday, I decided to make a Ukrainian Easter egg for my editor, seeing as they feature in the story. I only had omega 3 eggs, with a stamping in blue saying “omega 3” but I didn’t want to get dressed and go to the store so I risked removing the stamping with Windex. And then I couldn’t find my trusty electric kistka so had to use the old fashioned kistkas with a candle. Halfway through I thought I’d better make one for the publisher too. They both turned out beautifully! I think I’ll stick to the old kistkas and maybe always use omega 3 eggs. Ha!

Here they are:

And here’s one that I did a few months ago:

poster from kids

I got a nifty package in the mail a few weeks ago from the Ontario Library Association. It was a big poster for Aram’s Choice, signed by a bunch of students. Here it is:

ding dong, the salad is gone

The salad died some time ago, so I finally buried it in an unmarked grave last Wednesday. As it slithered into the dirt, I couldn’t help but note that the cherry tomatoes still looked fresh…..

new website

Check out the new website for Authors’ Booking Service. I did it myself! Fools rush in, and all that …

This salad is 45 days old

It’s beginning to look a bit aged….

rotting salad yet again

Okay, this salad was made a month and four days ago and it expired a month and a day ago and it’s still in my fridge. I just looked at it, and had I seen it just like it is now in the grocery store, I still would have bought it. The volume’s down a bit, but the spinach leaves are not yet wilted or dried. There’s a bit of moisture collecting on the bottom of the container, but no slime. The onions look perfect. The mushrooms look no worse than they did three weeks ago. Hmmm.

I am going into salad withdrawal, so I decided to make my own. I asked the produce guy at the grocery store about the expiry date for the romaine hearts that were in cello bags because I couldn’t find a date stamped on them. He said, “They don’t expire.” I asked him what they sprayed on them to make them not expire. He said, “Nothing.” I didn’t buy those romaine hearts. Fool that I am, I bought the organic ones. When I made a salad out of them, I was heartened by the brown spots.

Off to the farmers’ market tomorrow …

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Kids’ Book Camps — Brantford and Burlington!

Brantford Children’s Book Camp still has spots available. Here’s the application form.

And Burlington is holding its first annual Book Camp! Here’s more info on that. And here’s the application form.

Writing Workshops — a few spaces still available!

I grabbed this from Hal’s blog:

Join writers/editor Marsha Skrypuch, publisher/novelist/poet and former Broken Pencil mag editor Emily Schultz and writer/editor Hal Niedzviecki for a 4 day writing retreat. Held in August from the 13th to the 16th, the event will include group work, one-and-one editing, publishing advice, plus visits from agents, editors and publishers. There is an option for low cost residency during the week in the Laurier Brantford dorms. Brantford is an Ontario town about 1 hour west of Toronto, just past Hamilton. There are 3 spots left (out of a total of 24) and university students may be eligible for a fee reduction so if you’re interested, act fast. Here’s the application form.

another update on my rotting salad

Hmmm…

This store-bought salad, made on May 10th with an expiry date of May 13th, is composed of:

spinach
sliced almonds
red sliced onions
whole cherry tomatoes
sliced mushrooms

As of today, the almonds have black mold on them, and the mushrooms are beginning to turn black. The spinach is beginning to get a few wet spots on the bottom, but generally looks fresh. The onions and cherry tomatoes look the same as they did when I bought this salad nearly a month ago!

bought — world map

Schools don’t seem to have world maps anymore. This is a bit aggravating for me, especially when I’m doing presentations to younger students. It’s hard for them to grasp the distance between Canada and Turkey, or Canada and Ukraine.

I was at the dollar store today and guess what they had? A portable world map! It’s approx one square meter in size and it rolls up onto a wooden stick. It weighs about half a kilo or even less. And it was only $3.99.