Sometimes, I get to work on cool projects outside of my day job. Recently, my good friends at Firefly Digital Media asked me to write a script for the Downtown Halifax Business Commission (where I was a co-op student for two semesters while going to PR school at MSVU). The result was this animated video which turned out pretty cool (if I do say so myself). Hope you enjoy!

Book Madam & Associates

Quite a lot has been happening this past month to keep me busy enough to not make this announcement earlier. I’m now a partner at Book Madam & Associates. The site, which features the musings of some of the brightest minds in publishing, officially became a magazine last week. Julie Wilson and I are managing the business end of things together.

One of the magazine sections is the beloved East Coast blog known as Salty Ink. Chad Pelley, the site editor, is looking for contributors. Thing is, we have no revenue coming in at this point so all the work that we’re doing is 100% unpaid. Yup, that’s how much we love books. However, it’s a good opportunity for exposure. If you’re interested in contributing or have other ideas for working with us drop me a line.

Happy reading!

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you’ll have probably already heard the big news: I gave my letter of notice to the CBC. For many of you this will come as a significant surprise since I’ve always considered this gig to be my dream job. Books, blogging, social media, and online community? I’ve been in literary heaven. You may even remember me lamenting the loss of my dream job in the summer of 2009 (as the result of budget cutbacks).

Hello, Goodbye

Well, the time has come to move on to another opportunity where I’ll learn new things and grow my career. At the end of the month you’ll be looking at the digital and online coordinator for Nimbus Publishing. It’s got everything I want in a job plus the added bonuses of learning about ePublishing AND working with an East Coast company to showcase East Coast talent. A big win in my books.

I don’t see this as closing a door though. The CBC provided me with almost five years of great experiences working with talented people, many of whom I consider very close friends (even though they all work far, far away in Toronto). If the chance came up to work there again at some future crossroads, I’d certainly consider it. But for now I’m opening up another door and seeing what’s on the other side. I hope you’ll join me there.

You can follow Nimbus Publishing on Facebook or on Twitter @NimbusPub.

I’m off to Toronto for some CBC Books work. For readers who come to this blog from Toronto and surrounding areas (thanks for stopping by), check out the CBC Live events at the IFOA on Saturday. I’ll be around with some of my colleagues talking CBC Books and the fun things we’ve got lined up this year!

For everyone else, have you seen this year’s Canada Reads? We’re asking Canadians to nominate books for the celebrity panelists to discuss on the show. You have until Monday October 25 at midnight to get your votes in. Since I’m living on the East Coast I do want to encourage you to cast your votes for your fave regional books. Go! Do it! Let’s see Atlantic Canada represent on the top 40 list.

So, the blog posts have been a bit sparse here lately. Truth be told, I’m feeling a tad burnt out and therefore a little uninspired.

Feel free to fill in the gaps with stories of your own by submitting them to East Coast Guest Posts.

Or leave a comment below to let me know what kinds of stories you’d like to read about in this space. Restaurant reviews? Books I’m reading? Interviews with East Coast celebrities or regular people? Vacation spots/day trips (my memory of those are vague)?

I’m not just writing to fill space on the internet so I’d love to hear from you personally, gentle reader.

One of the standard complaints about living on the East Coast is that comparatively speaking, we don’t make the same amount of money that peers in other bigger cities do. Alison DeLory interviewed a number of professionals around the city of Halifax, including me, to get our opinions on the matter.

In every city you could complain about something, Walsh says. “I want to embrace the positive experiences of living in Halifax.” She includes among her favourite Halifax things: spectacular dining, a dogs-off-leash park and walking trail five minutes from her affordable suburban home and her quick commute. “Everything is so close here.”

Read the full article.

BookCamp Toronto. The reason why BookCamp Halifax came to be. Yes, I’m writing yet another entry about this unconference. My blog, my rules.

Photo credit: LexnGer from Flickr

I promise I’ll keep it short though. The great thing about the unconference model is that you get to hear from a wide range of people interested in a certain topic, not just from the speaker. The first session I got to was midway through Michael Tamblyn’s from Kobo. It was legendary. Not just because of his speaking style but because he was serving a variety of wine. At 10:30 in the morning..!

The next session was by far my favourite, but I co-facilitated two sessions in the afternoon so missed out on other sessions. In any case, Ashleigh Gardner rocked the conversation about geolocation and books. Participants discussed QR Codes and augmented reality. If you’ve never heard of QR Codes, check out this cool video ad for a publisher that put together a “living book.”

Some other interesting projects using geolocation:
Phantom City — a public art project that uses digital devices to transform cities into a living museum. There’s an iPhone app that allows users to learn about never-realized designs.
The Miraculous Bench — a venue on Foursquare where writers can contribute to flash fiction.
The Clock Without A Face — in conjunction with a printed book, 12 emerald-studded numbers have been buried in 12 holes across the United States and readers are charged with finding them.

Of course, I have to give props to the bloggers who shared the panel discussion on Canada Reads:
Jen Knoch of The Keepin’ It Real Book Club and Civilians Read
Kerry Clare of Pickle Me This and Canada Reads 2010: Independently
Steven Beattie of Quill & Quire and That Shakespearean Rag (he also sat on the panels for Canada Also Reads and Canada Reads 2010: Independently)

And to co-facilitators of the online communities session:
Tan Light of Random House
Meg Mathur of Indigo

Funniest moment personally: the audible reaction when, after being introduced by my real name, I added my online handle of @AliasGrace. It made me feel internet famous. In a good way.

Don’t forget to register for BookCamp Halifax, taking place on June 5. Let’s bring the great discussion about books in a digital age to the East Coast! Register here and tell your friends! The event is 100% free.

Or something like that.

If you travel over to the CBC Book Club today you’ll notice a pretty fabulous contest that’s inspired by the mash-up trend mixing public domain books with the likes of zombies, vampires, androids, etc. Here’s an example that I created for the Book Club with a hat tip to Costas Halavrezos, Ben Boudreau and Eric Rountree for their help.

Oh, and the dachshunds. Let’s not forget the dachshunds.

Photo credit: wvs from Flickr

I’ve been living out of a hotel in Toronto for the better part of a week now on a business trip. Among the things I miss are home-cooked meals, my own bed, sleep, Cokebaby and Tofu dog. That said, this trip has allowed me to work with my colleagues face-to-face (which is under-valued). Seriously, go give your coworkers a hug today. Well, maybe do it behind HR’s back if you have one of those no-human contact in the workplace rules. Or send a virtual hug.

In any case, the other perk to the prolonged stay due to meetings and conferences is that I’ve been able to meet a number of people I’ve befriended through social media in the books and publishing world. It’s kind of crazy and wonderful to think I can consider someone a friend without ever having met them IRL. It only took me four years to finally meet someone I’ve worked with and communicated with virtually more frequently than some of the people I’ve met in person.

Some highlights from the week: Book Madam & Associates announced the “associates.” Among them are Julie Wilson, Monique Trottier, Ashleigh Gardner, Sean Cranbury, Erin Balser, Nic Boshart and yours truly. We’ll be pointing to smart, savvy projects and people as they pertain to the book and publishing industry. The announcement was followed by an event called Sociable held at The Pour House Irish Pub where I met about a dozen or more people I’ve been conversing with on Twitter for the past two years. All-in-all an amazing event. As @boyreporter put it: “If this building got hit by an asteroid there would be no books in Canada next year…”

If you love books as much as I do, you’ll be happy to hear that BookCamp is coming to Halifax. I’ve been not-so-secretly planning with Ryan Jones, Eric Rountree and Robbie MacGregor to bring the international melding of bookworms and industry people to our fair city. Mark your calendars and save the date: June 5. More details coming soon.

Finally, check me out at the National Post’s Afterword Reading Society where I’ll be joining in on a panel discussion on the wonderful book Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.

Photo credit: Team Dalog from Flickr

Alright, alright, so technically there is no “burn after reading” on this thing we know as the interwebs.

But here’s the deal. A couple of weeks ago, I asked you to take a poll to help me choose a pen name for me as a YA writer. I even opened it up to an “other” section where one person cleverly suggested Alice S. Grace (get it, as in @AliasGrace?). Someone else (oh, I know who you are) suggested Verity Fairchance. Maybe one day if I decide to become a romance novelist who specializes in sexy Canadian frontier stories?

In any case, the winning name—a last minute addition thanks to Book Madam that I instantly took a liking to—has now been given her own blog and other social media accounts for you to follow. She’ll also be writing at (un) Death-Match as I retire from the site to pursue the separation of two lives. Rest assured though that no matter who you’re following, it’s still me deep down inside.

What does this all mean for you?

Well, not much if we’re being completely honest here. Except, if you come here for writing tips and advice that content is all moving to my alter ego’s website. East Coast By Choice will still continue to provide you with guest posts from the lovely people who inhabit this region of Canada along with my take on things, just not from the perspective of a writer per se.

That’s it. You’ve got the scoop, dear readers. Whether you choose to follow me in my other life, that’s totally up to you. But if you do wander over, thanks for your early support as I set forth on this path to become a “published author.” And thanks to all of you who put up with this distraction for the past few months.

Now back to regularly scheduled programming.