I am nine days into an epic family book tour around BC, and with each passing day I feel more daunted by the idea of blogging about this trip. It’s not that I’m lacking inspiration; on the contrary, I am overflowing with it! So much so that it would take hours or days to organize my thoughts, memories and feelings into a cohesive post.
So here’s two paragraphs of rambling. That’s all I’ve got for you tonight … 🙂
So far, this trip has been awesome and exhausting and wonderful and challenging. We’ve scorched in near-40-degree heat, and we’ve been caged within our van by torrential downpours. We’ve experienced joyful reunions with friends and family, and we’ve reeled with grief at learning of a friend’s recent passing. We’ve parked overnight on driveways and roadsides and campgrounds. We’ve encountered an “out of gas” sign, a forest fire, and an Unidentified Funky Smell in the van. We’ve searched for phone batteries and electricity and Internet connections and televisions to quench our insatiable appetite for technology. And we’ve done other stuff too, like laundry and eating and dishes and laundry and eating and dishes …
In the midst of all this real-life stuff, I’ve been working to hone my skills as a reader and a speaker. I showed up for my first event in Gibsons about halfway through my own reading — a large part of me was apparently still packing and planning for our departure later that afternoon. Since then, I’ve had four opportunities to test a variety of content — book snippets, blog posts and stories — on four very different audiences. Slowly but surely, I’m learning what works and what doesn’t. I’m learning that jaws get tired after about half an hour of talking, and that it is physically possible to chew on words. I’m learning that reading a passage with six distinct voices is challenging, and that my son is a great accent coach. I’m learning that librarians are awesome and supportive and hospitable. And I’m learning that this whole 4200+ kilometre adventure is one big learning experience.
That’s a whole lot of learning, and a whole lot of inspiration. But at least I’ve opened the floodgates. Stay tuned …
Goodnight, Sunshine.
Mark of Words 
Only thirty days to go! I sure hope you’ve sourced that funky smell. Need pics to prove you’re all alive and — according to the schedule — in Nelson today. Give ’em hell. ~ pjR
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Thanks, PJ! We believe the funky smell was either trapped from another vehicle (it was on a long, steep hill with big rig trucks all around), or from our bathroom (yuck!) … or from both. As for photos, you can visit my Facebook page at http://facebook.com/markofwords (you don’t need a Facebook account, as it is a public page).
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