IanLeTourneau.ca

Up until now, my publishing experience has been frought with frustration. Red Deer Press, for instance, are very tight-lipped (ie: they don’t respond to e-mails) and I’ve been waiting for a cheque from them since the end of November for the contributor’s fee to The Alberta Anthology. A couple of weeks ago, when I called them, they got me to phone Toronto to hound the head office. And they said they were cutting cheques one by one for the contributors. One at a time! Obviously I’m far down in that list. Alphabetical? By page number in anthology? Who knows? I’ve got no straight answers, really.

Thankfully, Gaspereau Press is nothing like this at all. They have been an absolute pleasure to deal with so far. They e-mail with every update: today, just to tell me the proofed galleys were in the mail. And to ask if I had any strong preferences for a cover colour. (I told them I liked their blue covers with the silver print and the purple covers.) I can’t say enough about how great these people are. I get the sense that books are not just a business or a product. And I noticed they just upgraded their site. Check it out.

After much tinkering, my site and blog are now officially launched. Thanks to Eric Barstad of Shadow Box Creative Media Ltd. for all his help in setting this space up. I think it looks great. Anyhow, scroll down to catch up on what I’ve been up to. Some of you know that I’m getting married this summer and expecting a baby this fall. Also, Gaspereau Press is publishing a chapbook of my poems this fall. Explore the site to find out more details (ie: the baby’s sex and the title of the chapbook). There are links to seperate pages below the title at the top of the page. Visit often. And wish me luck on my upcoming job interview to become the next managing editor of The Fiddlehead.

A neat idea over at ARC. A year long project introducing Scottish poets to Canadian readers and vice versa. Profiled at CBC.

I’m reviewing Robert Robinson’s new book right now for PoetryReviews.ca. I really like his work and I’m looking forward to reading ARC‘s feature. Let’s hope they introduce us to a new country when Scotland’s turn is over.

Today we went to the hospital for Sherry’s ultrasound. It was neat–the technician showed us the footprint (even measured it, 3.5 cm), the baby’s heart beating (153 beats/minute, which is normal), elbows, hands, face.

And now we know the sex, so choosing a name will be only half the work it was before. It’s a boy!