This blog is about book clubs. In praise of them. In gratitude for them. They’re the reward part of a writer’s life. At least for me they are. They’re like a savoury bone given to the sled dog after a long arduous haul over challenging, unknown mountainous terrain. That’s the kind of journey it was, writing City Wolves. To relax and gnaw on a savoury bone in the good company of one’s pack…that’s reward time.

As it was when I attended, for instance, a book club in Port Perry, Ontario some weeks ago. The Book Babes, this one is called. Years ago they had selected my previous novel, A Shark in the House and I had a good time with them then. So I was pleased when they selected City Wolves and was willing to make the long drive to Port Perry. A beautiful historic town on Lake Scugog. The host house was spectacular, owned by a veterinarian. Yup! And there were winning dogs, along with nearly twenty perceptive, fun, highly intelligent Book Babes. They plied me with wine and savouries, making me laugh, and ponder and tell things I wouldn’t in a public arena. They made me see things in the book I hadn’t been conscious of. And they brought and bought more copies of City Wolves to be signed. Delicious!.

Today I’m in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Is., about to give my first presentation and reading on an extensive book tour of the Atlantic provinces. Lots to blog about here.

Went to Winnipeg to do a reading from City Wolves  at McNally Robinson’s Bookstore. McNally Robinson bookstores started in Winnipeg, now have big stores in Edmonton, New York City and recently, Toronto

Winnipeg…historic, culture rich, gateway to the west. Love its grand old buildings and heritage homes.  In City Wolves, Meg Wilkinson, first female vet. visits there en route to the Yukon in 1896.  It is home city for Margaret Laurence, a definite lead wolf in Canadian writing. She was introduced to me by my editor at MacMillan London, England when I was in Oxford and Margaret lived near-by. She welcomed me into her den and gave sage advice in my early writing years. When she returned to Canada I wanted to follow, but my mate, pups and teaching job kept me in Oxford, until 1980. Through the long years it took to complete City Wolves, it was another famous Winnipeg writer, Carol Shields’ wise and kind correspondence that helped me get it done. Walking in Winnipeg, I had a strong sense of my now deceased mentors.

As I trotted along the banks of the Red River, having seen how it forks with the Assiniboine in the heart of the city, I felt another deep sense of familiarity. It was like trotting along the banks of the Klondike River where it meets with the Yukon in Dawson City!        

The reading was superbly organized by McNally Robinson’s staff and I must have left a good mark, for…City Wolves made it onto their best seller list! Right up there in the top five with Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood and a couple of New York Times best sellers. Felt the spirits of  Margaret Laurence and Carol Shields smiling upon me, gleefully as Ike and Piji when they brought Meg to Dawson City.

Hello out there! This is something I never thought I’d do. Blog. I’m a novelist, I whined to my publisher. I wouldn’t know how to blog. It soooo not my style. And I can hardly keep up with daily emails. I don’t have time to blog. This autumn is going to be clogged with readings, book club appearances, touring the Atlantic. I want to steal some time to resume keeping a journal, which I’ve always done except for when composing a new novel. That’s what serious writers do. They don’t blog!

Then I saw the movie Julia and Julie and I read the front page headlines of the Globe and Mail. A serious writer is flogging, blogging, twittering, ‘long pen-ing’…the works.

I am meeting within the hour with my publisher Blue Butterfly Books Pres. Patrick Boyer and Author Relations person Jodi Franklin and I am to bring with me my first blog.

This is it, folks. And the next will be better. No more whining. There’ll be info. The Luddite brat is left behind. Heffron is learning to blog!