So this year not only did I have the honour of appearing on Cynthia Leitich Smith's superb writing blog Cynsations -- now I learn that I Know It's Over was mentioned as one of the Cynsations highlights of 2008 along with fantastic books like the dead and the gone, The Adoration of Jenna Fox and Living Dead Girl. Fellow Blue-Boarders Melissa Marr, Linda Joy Singleton and Varian Johnson also made the list. Congrats, everybody!

* Cynsational Books of 2008

That happy news has me in an exceedingly good mood as I prepare to greet 2009. I've also seen a few more reviews of I Know It's Over around the Internet lately:

* Teen Book Review
* Liv's Book Reviews (where I was interviewed earlier this year)
* Stop, Drop & Read!

During the holidays I've been getting some Wii hours in—chauffering passengers around London, performing surgeries in Alaska and directing my now ragged looking castaway Sim T.J. to bone up on survival skills. I was addicted to the Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman documentary Long Way Round when it aired here a couple of years ago and now I'm just as addicted to Long Way Down, watching Ewan and Charley ride their motorbikes from Scotland straight through to Africa. If all this makes me sound like a couch potato maybe I shouldn't mention how many laughs Summer Heights High has given me lately. But Chris Lilley is a comic genius! If you haven't been introduced to Mr. G, Ja'mie and Jonah yet do yourself a favour and tune in:

Finally, we've had a ridiculous amount of snow in the Toronto area this December and sure it looks pretty if you can stay inside and stare at it but unfortunately it's not so easy to get around in. If you find yourself bummed out by the snow and cold this winter I highly recommend the Glasvegas tune A Snowflake Fell (and it felt like a kiss) which I suspect will go a long way in keeping romantic ideas about snow alive.

A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss):

Ahhhhhh.

“Now that April's here” the Robert Browning poem goes but I happen to think the sentiment is true at any time. When Christmas decorations are lighting up London, certainly. And when I have birthday tickets to Billy Bragg at the Shepherds Bush Empire, well, most definitely.

So Paddy and I ran off to London for three nights to celebrate my birthday. We did the London Eye, British Museum, Oxford Street, dropped in to the bookstores on Charing Cross Road, hopped on and off the tube and tromped all over London, making the most of our brief time in town. I got to meet up with my fantastic agent in person for the first time at a café on Piccadilly and had the best possible time ever watching Billy Bragg play for a hometown audience.

I've lost count of how many times I've seen Billy play over the years (I can be more specific about the last time I saw him gig in London — the summer of 1990!) but there's something about hearing a sea of English accents sing along to his tunes that just can't be matched elsewhere. I swear I got happy chills when the audience sang out, “Whoops there goes another pint of beer” with their noticeably British inflection.

We were sitting in the balcony so most of my photos didn't turn out very well but you can check out some good ones here and scroll down to the bottom of my post for the full setlist as well as some YouTube clips recorded on the night (the sound's pretty muffled and the video's fuzzy but I was happy to find them).

I've actually been back for a couple of days now but was due straight back into the day job so didn't have a chance to post earlier (you better believe I'll be crashing on the weekend!). Between my hours there and the general busyness of the season there likely won't be many blog entries from me over the next while. For the moment I'll just say I'm still very much in London headspace, going about my daily life with a Billy Bragg soundtrack playing in my head, hoping that the heady post-trip vibes won't wear off in a hurry...

Billy Bragg, A New England,
Shepherds Bush Empire, December 8th 2008:

Billy & Kate Nash,
Shepherds Bush Empire, December 8th 2008:

Intro to No Power Without Accountability,
Shepherds Bush Empire, December 8th 2008:

Billy Bragg Setlist: Shepherds Bush Empire,
December 8th 2008

This Guitar Says Sorry
To Have and To Have Not
Farm Boy
Greetings to the New Brunette
I Ain't Got No Home
Must I Paint you a Picture
NPWA
The World Turned Upside Down
Sexuality
Goodbye
Sin City (with Otis Gibbs)
The Milkman of Human Kindkness
Mr Love & Justice
Accident Waiting to Happen
I Keep Faith
There is Power in a Union
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

Encore 1

A Change is Gonna Come
Walk Away Renee (with Badly Drawn Bloke)
Levi Stubbs Tears

Encore 2

Give Him a Great Big Kiss (Shangri-las song, with Kate Nash)
A New England

* More London Snaps

I'm going to be incommunicado for the next week or so (more details when I'm back online!) but in the meantime I'm honoured to be on Cynsations, talking to Cynthia Leitich Smith about I Know It's Over, my Luke Skywalker complex and writing in general.

I've been reading Cynthia's blog and website for forever and can't believe I actually get to appear there! It took some of the sting out of yesterday's proroguement. To tell you the truth I don't think I'd even heard the word “prorogue” up until a few days ago. What it basically means is discontinuing a session of Parliament, in this case so Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper could avoid a confidence vote which he would've lost, toppling his minority Conservative government.

Now that our Governor General has granted Harper's request to prorogue we won't see any action on the Canadian economy until Parliament resumes again on January 26th. Seven weeks of nada. Will the job losses stop mounting in the interim or will the economy somehow magically right itself? Nope and nope.

No wonder the CBC coverage on Wednesday night made Parliament look like Mordor! Sigh.

Before my break here I should also mention that Kate has a very nice review of I Know It's Over up on her blog Book Nymph.

Back soon. Thanks again, Cynthia and keep the faith, Canadians!

Amazing news! Kirkus Reviews has listed I Know It's Over as one of the Best Young Adult Books of 2008.

I can't wait to see what else is on the list! I'll add a link when one's available but in the meantime, thank you, Kirkus!

***Update December 4th***

Here's the direct link to the Kirkus Reviews Special Issue pdf: The Best Young-Adult Books of 2008.

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Who says Canadian politics are boring?

In fact, the CBC says this ongoing story, the possibility of a coalition government replacing a Conservative minority one, has driven more traffic to their site than any other news item ever.

We're definitely interested. And confused. And the economy's crying for serious attention now—not in March or the end of January. Our politicians need to get it together and remember real people's lives are being affected by their decisions, or lack of.

With the Conservatives backed into a corner I suppose we can expect more pooping puffin and illegal taping of telephone conversation antics on their part. But what Canadians really need from their government right now is partnership and decisive action. We need politicians at the helm who are willing to acknowledge how big this current financial crisis is. We need politicians who will dedicate themselves to working towards solutions together. Three out of four of our major political parties appear to be willing to do this.

Stay tuned...

Today I'm appearing on the extremely cool Author2Author blog (thanks, Kate!), answering the question, “What are you most thankful for in your writing life?”

Author2Author are having a holiday giveaway week as a thank you to their readers - giving away five different novels. Anyone who comments on today's post has a chance to win a copy of I Know It's Over. Be sure to check in throughout the week for more giveaways!