Cray cray

Sometimes my life really does feel like something I am just barely clinging to as it barrels through the landscape. Over past few months, the following have sped by me in a blur.

1. Return of kids to school: I have one who lives here with me, one who is in university in Toronto. The administrative and logistical list is long. We all made it back to where we are supposed to be.

2. Literary Festivals! I had the time of my life at the Word on the Street in Toronto, Winnipeg Thin Air and at Plan 99 in Ottawa. Big, warm crowds at all three. Amazingly kind and organized staff and volunteers. Friends in Toronto and Winnipeg that I hadn't seen in twenty years. I had a great time.

You can hear me read with Danile Allen Cox, Anakana Schofield and Dave Williamson at the Thin Air mainstage here: http://www.thinairwinnipeg.ca/events/mainstage-new-scripts-for-love

Or by myself at the Winnipeg Public Library, here: http://www.thinairwinnipeg.ca/events/the-nooner-missy-marston

And you can read about my experience at The Word on the Street here:  http://torontowots.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/writers-words-missy-marston/

Here is how I look reading. (Those sticky notes are enormous and rough-looking! Have since replaced them with more tidy, appropriate tabs.)



And this is how hard I smile when I find an old friend I thought I had completely lost track of:




3. Art Show! Because people are wonderful, Guy Berube of La Petite Mort Gallery in Ottawa let me curate a group show about supernatural visitors (aliens, ghosts and saints). I spent time in November and December working with my favourite Ottawa artists, who all produced new work for the show: Natalie Bruvels, Karina Bergmans, Jeremiah & Joshua Degranpre, Guillermo Trejo and Peter Shmelzer. The show opened January 4th. The work was beautiful, the party was great and people listened to me read about nude green aliens sneaking up on earth women in their bedrooms. Perfect!

Below: Trejo, Bergmans, Bruvels, Shmelzer



And: Bruvels, Degrandpre, Marston


4. Reprint! Thanks to all of you who have bought my book, The Love Monster went into reprint. The new edition has a review page, including this. Life: complete. Thanks, Universe.

Get up on this!

It is literary festival season and instead of just sitting in the crowd and relaxing, I am going to get up on the stage and tell my stories.

On September 23rd, I will be at The Word on the Street in Toronto, reading and signing at The Great Books Marquee at 1pm with Stacey Madden and Mathew Henderson. http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/toronto/whatson/intro

On September 27th, I will be at two events at Thin Air, The Winnipeg International Writers Festival. At 12:15, I will be "The Nooner", reading and answering questions at the Carol Shields Auditorium. In the evening, I will be sharing the main stage with Anakana Schofiled, Daniel Allen Cox and Dave Williamson. We will be reading and talking about l-o-v-e.
http://www.thinairwinnipeg.ca/schedule/thin-air-2012/date.2012-09-27

Finally, I will be at the Plan 99 Fiction Cabaret of the Ottawa Writers Festival at the Manx Pub at 5pm on October 27th, with Pasha Malla.
 http://www.writersfestival.org/events/fall-2012/plan-99-fiction-pasha-malla-and-missy-marston

Can't wait to meet these writers and am really hoping that some of my new friends that I have only met through the wonder of the internet will come and say hello.

See you soon!

A feeling

Listen. I am going to express a feeling.

The Love Monster has been on the shelves for four months now. I wrote this book in fits and starts over six years, while working full time and raising kids. I was trying to get down on paper a story that would explain the basic way I feel about the world: that life can be miserable; that some of us are much luckier than others; that a positive attitude, love, rock and roll, art and fantasy can save us.The warm reception this weird little book has received to date has blown my mind.

So, I feel compelled to compose some thank-you notes.

First: the reviewers, the bloggers and tweeters.
Thanks to Mark Medley of The National Post for letting me guest-edit The Afterword and gush about things I love: Margaret Atwood, Donald Sutherland, Aliens and Mothers.

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/25/missy-marston-missy-loves-margaret/

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/26/missy-marston-missy-loves-donald/

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/27/missy-marston-missy-loves-aliens/

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/28/missy-marston-missy-loves-your-mama/

Thanks to Guy Bérubé, owner of La Petite Mort Gallery, for saying that The Love Monster was his favourite book of the year in his Q&A with Ottawa Citizen Style http://www.ottawacitizenstyle.com/category/around-ottawa/the-thursday-qa-with-guy-berube/

Thanks to Cori Dusmann of Quill & Quire for calling The Love Monster "a journey that spirals from bitter loneliness through the surreal before circling back to a world of hope, friendship, family, and love." http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=7652

Thanks to Anna Leventhal of Montreal Review of Books for saying that my prose is "unfailingly charming", that it contains "Miranda Julyesque flights of fancy", and that my observations are "wry, funny, and often moving and insightful.`http://mtlreviewofbooks.ca/reviews/the-love-monster/

Thanks to Chad Pelley of somethingdaily.com for saying that "The Love Monster has all the makings of a perfect summer read." and for letting me write about my book and some of the books I love: http://somethingdaily.com/pitch-and-plug-with-missy-marston/

Thanks to Mary Oxendale Spensley who said this in her review on the WordFest blog: "Missy Marston has created a story that is both highly ridiculous and humane. It’s a wonderful read that will have you smiling and feeling good about the human race and the aliens too!"
http://wordfestblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/volunteer-reader-review-3/

To Cailin at The Word on the Street who said she would recommend The Love Monster "especially to those who have experienced a bad break-up, hate their job, or who have just been perplexed by how hard life can be."
http://torontowots.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/what-the-word-on-the-street-is-reading-8/

To Leigh Nash of Coach House Books who chose The Love Monster, when asked which book by another publisher she was excited about at Congress Expo this year: http://congress2012.ca/features/introducing-the-congress-expo/

Thanks to the one and only Vicki Ziegler (aka @bookgaga) for saying she would love to see The Love Monster on the Giller Prize longlist (What?!)
Vicki Ziegler ‏@bookgaga
Would love to see The Juliet Stories, @CarrieASnyder & The Love Monster, @MissyMarston on the @GillerPrize longlist

And -- saving the most unbelievable for last -- thank you to Margaret E. Atwood, towering giant of Canadian literature, for promising to read my book. Never in my wildest dreams. Really.
Margaret E. Atwood ‏@MargaretAtwood @MissyMarston: Missy, I will read your book. Promise, cross heart, juré craché (sworn, spat: an oath). Cause you sure have chutzpah!

Next: the readers.

Thanks to all of you who have bought my book, read it and then tracked me down to tell me how much you loved it. It has been a wonderful surprise.

In particular, thank you to the surprising number of people who have taken it upon themselves to aggressively market my book by:

- relentlessly pressing it on their friends, family, co-workers, book clubs, screenwriters, strangers in the street
- bringing it to every single dinner party they went to this summer as a "hostess gift"
- giving it to their mothers for Mother's Day
- giving it to the members of their wedding party on their wedding day (true story)
- reading it aloud at their yoga class (also true)
- demanding that book store staff get it out of the stock room and onto the shelf
- taking it off the shelf and smuggling it onto promotional tables
- and voting for it as the Readers Choice nominee for the Giller Prize.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/scotiabankgillerprize/nominees-p1/


People: you are spectacular. Your love is fierce and powerful. It is truly humbling. Big kisses to all of you.

Missy

Now tweeting like a crazy little bird!

Now tweeting as often as I can think of something interesting to say @missymarston

Lighting up the blogosphere, one crush at a time

I am delighted to be blogging for the National Post Afterword this week.

It started this way, with literary pretensions: http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/25/missy-marston-missy-loves-margaret/



Then, very quickly, it became more like this: http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/26/missy-marston-missy-loves-donald/



And then this started happening: http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/27/missy-marston-missy-loves-aliens/





Then, as usual, it came to this: http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/28/missy-marston-missy-loves-your-mama/

Love up your local bookstore on June 16th!

Collected Works Bookstore in Ottawa was born the same year as my youngest son -- I went into labour there. True story. The store was the first baby of my dear friends, Craig Poile and Christopher Smith. I was stunned by their resourcefulness and bravery. Entrepreneurs!

Fifteen years later it is as though it has always been there. It is part of the neighbourhood. People come for coffee, authors read, kids come for story-time. It lives!

This Saturday, June 16th, people will be gathering in bookstores accross North America for Save the Bookstores Day! to show their love for neighbourhood bricks and mortar bookstores. I will be at Collected Works with a dozen other local authors, reading, signing and shopping.

Come see us and buy books!

 http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/315625078520971/

Love that can be seen from space

What a beautiful night! The launch party for The Love Monster was everything anyone could have hoped for. Beautiful weather, a great venue packed with beautiful humans. Tears, kisses, flowers, drinks. Book sales!

Thanks to Raw Sugar Cafe and Collected Works book store and every single person who attended. And thanks to Dan Ziemkievicz who took these magic pictures.