Jill and Grant at the double book launch at FRED in Halifax. Photo by thee Steve Poltz!

If this is Thursday, then I must be in Montreal. The last week has been somewhat of a fun blur… we’ve had three amazing Adventures in Solitude launch parties in Toronto, Ottawa, and Halifax in the past week. Thanks so much to everyone who has come out to show support from so many different areas of my life, be it CBC Radio, The Smugglers, hockey, or simply because people have heard or read about the book.

Gotta give Halifax a shout out of thanks to the staff at FRED for hosting the “double book launch” for Jill and me (Jill just put out a baby board book called Baby’s Lullaby); to the many musicians for being there; to our many East Coast friends who came in from all over Halifax and Nova Scotia; to Stephanie Domet for hosting; to Jim Bryson for being our surprise musical guest; and to Danny and Jon from In-Flight Safety for looking after the sound!

And yes… now I’m in Montreal for a couple of days for a music conference called M For Montreal… I interviewed Gene Simmons from KISS today and look forward to sharing that interview with you on CBC Radio 3 when I get back to Vancouver… eventually. Tonight, it’s off to rub (more) shoulders with music industry representatives from around the world here at M For Montreal.

Next stop: Regina, Saskatchewan this weekend!

Partying it up at the Drake Hotel post-reading.

Who knew a book tour could be so… fun? I’m sitting in an Ottawa hotel room reflecting on a great weekend. First Toronto: it was an eerily foggy night in Hogtown, but I kinda loved it, and was humbled to see so many friendly folks come out to the official Toronto book launch at the Drake Hotel Underground. Besides my fine friends from the CBC Radio 3 community (pictured above), the collection of amazing people in the room included thee head honcho of CBC Radio, a Stanley Cup winner, a winner of the Radio 3 Sexiest Canadian Musician Award, the owners of the rock ‘n’ roll crossroads of Canada, the man who declared in song that he knows he’ll be spending the rest of his life in Canada, a girl called “Bangs”, the man who invented the Polaris Music Prize, and many other friends, musicians, and family.

Thanks hugely to Michael Barclay for MCing, Jill Barber and Matthew Barber for performing, Type Books for selling, the Drake for hosting, and to Toronto for coming out in friendly force!

Ottawa was also amazing… an afternoon event at a lovely little joint called the Raw Sugar Cafe. So great to see all sorts of friends from various “eras” and times of my life in that little space, be it rock ‘n’ roll, hockey, CBC, Smugglers, or R3 bloggers. There were also lots of new babies with names starting with “E”.

Huge thanks to Mr. Community, Jonny Bartlett of Kelp Records, for presenting, Andy Swan for performing (“Can I Pay You With Sunshine”!!!), Raw Sugar for hosting, and Collected Works for selling books. I had a fantastic time in both cities.

Next up… Halifax!

Erika and Grant at Coho Books in Campbell River, BC.

I just rolled back into Vancouver after another great weekend visiting bookstores on the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island. A big thanks to Breakwater Books in Powell River, Coho Books in Campbell River, and Laughing Oyster Books in Courtney for three great events on the coast in BC!

As I gear up for taking the tour across Canada for the rest of November, I have one more Vancouver event that I am quite excited about, and it’s happening TONIGHT. Last month, the very fine folks at Vancouver Is Awesome selected Adventures in Solitude for their book club book of the month of October, and tonight, Tuesday November 9, we’re going to gather to discuss it at Sitka Books on West 4th Avenue in Vancouver. Everyone is welcome, and the event is free. Hope to see you there for a nice conversation!

Coming up this weekend, a blur of timezones… events in Toronto and Ottawa, then next week in Halifax and Regina.

I’ve also been informed by Harbour Publishing that I owe not only a debt of gratitude to the book buyers of BC, but also to all of Canada… the book remains #1 on the BC Bestsellers List, and is now #6 on the National Nonfiction Bestsellers List for paperbacks. THANK YOU!