When I was at Ad-Astra recently, I took part in a panel discussion called “How to Go Beyond Getting Started and Get Something Finished.” I was secretly hoping to learn something — and I did! There were some really great ideas put out there during the panel from both panelists and audience members, and I left thinking I had lots more to say on the subject. That’s always the sign of a good event, so well done to the organizers and all those who attended.

Given that I still had things I was excited to share, I thought I’d add my comments here in the form of a few blog posts, starting with a shoutout to Scrivener. If you’re a writer and you haven’t used Scrivener yet, you should give it a try. It’s an incredibly useful tool, and I say that as someone who only uses a small portion of its features. Scrivener bills itself as “your complete writing studio,” and that’s a fair claim. It lets you store your research all in one place, organize your ideas and notes, create your outlines — and even write your novel! You can use different tools for all these things, of course, but Scrivener lets you store everything in one place, which is helpful for scatter-brained authors working on large projects.

I mainly use Scrivener for novels because it’s so handy for outlining. The program has a built-in feature that breaks up novels into chapters that you can see in sort of virtual index cards pinned to a corkboard. I add notes to the index cards talking about the plot beats in the chapter, how the chapter fits into the rising action of the book, what I need to set up in the following chapters, how this chapter builds on the previous one, etc. It’s a very handy way of seeing all the complicated stuff of the book in one glance — the story, the rhythm, the character arcs, the little subplots that need wrapping up, whatever. Before I started using Scrivener, I struggled to keep all that stuff in my head, which meant I was editing more than I needed to as I realized I’d totally forgotten to reveal what had become of that character stabbed in Chapter 3 — he died, they all died — or why I put that talking horse’s head in Chapter 5. Still not sure about that one, to be honest….

The breakdown of chapters into separate files makes it easy to move sections of the book around, save cut scenes, etc. I will admit that I have actually edited parts of my books simply by dragging and dropping. Some of you may not be surprised.

It’s also great for productivity to have your research files stored within Scrivener, so you don’t have to leave the application to look up the history of that castle on the web again, and seeing as you’re already online you may as well check Facebook — wait, what did that person say about my book? Now I have to write an angry response on Goodreads under a pseudonym!

It’s easy to export Scrivener files to Word and epubs and whatever else you like, and there is an iOS app. I haven’t used that yet so I can’t comment. I’m sure it’ll work well, though, as the desktop app has always been solid for me.

If you take this writing thing seriously, you should at least take a look at Scrivener. It may mean the difference between a never-ending work in progress and your next novel sale.

Having a great time at Ad-Astra checking out the fun panels and hanging out with the likes of Robert Wiersema, Alyx Dellamonica, Kelly Robson, Peter Watts, David Nickle, Robert Boyczuk, the great crew at ChiZine and so many more. On to Day 2!

I talked to Canada Council head Simon Brault about the future of the Canada Council,which funds many Canadian artistic projects. If you rely on grants for your creative endeavours in Canada, you may want to read this.

I’m off to Ad-Astra in Toronto this weekend. Here’s my schedule:

ChiZine Authors Reading
Saturday, April 30, 4 p.m. Oakridge Room

I’ll be reading from my new book, The Apocalypse Ark, alongside Adrian Van Young, Gemma Files, and Robert Wiersema — some of my favourite writers! Come out and witness us read from all the forbidden books and crack open the seven seals.

How to Go Beyond Getting Started and Get Something Finished

Sunday, May 1, 11 a.m., Markham B

I’m really hoping to learn something here! With Amanda Sun, Erik Buchanan, Gregory A. Wilson and Stephanie Bedwell-Grime.

Reviews: How to Write Them and How to Read Them

Sunday, May 1, 2 p.m., Markham B

I suspect my talk will go something like “Review my book pllllleeeeeeeaaaaassssseeeeee.” Or maybe I’ll just talk about it from the perspective of a newspaper editor. Come and be surprised!

I’ll be appearing at Ad-Astra in Toronto April 30-May 1. It looks like I’ll be doing a reading and a couple of panels. I’ll post more details when everything is finalized.

Come see me if you’re around!

It’s not every day you get to talk to an MMA legend like Georges St-Pierre about dinosaurs, after all.

Hanging out with Deadpool at the Storm Crow Alehouse in Vancouver. What could go wrong?
  

If you search for my new book, The Apocalypse Ark, on Amazon, Indigo, or any of the other online book emporiums, you’re likely to come up with two hits: my book and the Mack Bolan book of the same name.

The funny thing is, they’re related.

Let me explain.

Many years ago, before I was leading the jet-setting life of a published author and rubbing shoulders with Leonardo di Caprio’s body double’s body double, I used to work for Harlequin, the romance publisher. I was a proofreader in their Toronto office, where I worked the night shift after a rather painful divorce — because nothing says romance like a divorced man with no options working a cubicle job at midnight. (All jokes aside, it was a great job, with great people. Except for the salary. That was still a joke.)

What does this have to with the end of the world?

As it turns out, Harlequin is also the publisher of the Mack Bolan books. Who is Mack Bolan, you may ask? (I certainly did.). Mack Bolan is the Executioner, aka a one-man army fighting the enemies of America, whatever they may be today. Think The Punisher meets Netflix’s Daredevil, and you’ll be close enough.

There’s a whole series of Bolan books, but they all feature similar things: “hard men” wielding “sawed-off” weapons that “spurt hot lead” into the bodies of other “hard men.”

You get the idea.

I worked in the Harlequin offices for nearly a year, editing romances and the Mack Bolan books, which were essentially romances for men. After I left Harlequin I continued to freelance for them, while also publishing academic papers on romance novels. So what’s the connection between my new book, The Apocalypse Ark and the Mack Bolan novel of the same name?

None, really. Except for the fact that the Harlequin job was what got me into Toronto in the first place. Once I was in Toronto, I reconnected with old friends who got me into the writing scene there, where I met many new friends. Being part of that scene gave me the inspiration and belief in myself as a writer that helped me publish my first book, Please. It’s a wandering path from the Mack Bolan books to Please to The Apocalypse Ark, but it’s been an interesting journey.

So Mack Bolan’s Apocalypse Ark doesn’t have anything to do with my Apocalypse Ark, but it also has everything to do with my book. Because I likely wouldn’t have written any of my books if I hadn’t worked that Harlequin job all those years ago.

I guess the message of this post is true love never dies, no matter how many times you spurt hot lead into its hard body. Also, make sure you order the right copy of The Apocalypse Ark if you buy it online. Or just buy them both and make everyone happy. Because Harlequin is all about the happy endings.

I know I should be using this time to promote my new Cross novel, The Apocalypse Ark, but Facebook just reminded me about the talk I had with Sean Cranbury at The Interruption one year ago. In that podcast, we talked about the second Cross book, The Dead Hamlets. Go have a listen to it if you haven’t already — it’s a fun chat about pen names, literary fatigue and the nuances of genre. Best of all, it’s under 10 minutes long! Why, you could listen to the whole thing while you’re ordering your copy of The Apocalypse Ark online….