Things to Be Thankful For

Hey guys, happy belated Canadian Thanksgiving to you all, hope you each had your fair share of turkey. Not getting much of a long weekend myself, as I work on Saturdays and Sundays currently, but after the rather-worrying lack of hours over the summer, it's good to be working a steady 40 per week again. Still chipping away at the next chapters of The Grey Path and Red Winter, though the former is taking a bit longer than I had hoped. Besides trying to weave an entire questing zone (more or less) into a linear, concise narrative, I also really want to make Leliana's intro work just right...

In my last journal entry, I mentioned how one of my favourite authors, Bernard Cornwell, was coming to Toronto for a promotional event, specifically for his new book Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles. That event ended up being a whole lot of fun; Bernard basically did an interview about the book, discussing some of the history (and myths) surrounding Waterloo. There were actually a few funny stories he told revolving around the battle, including the Pythonesque death of one Methodist officer in the British cavalry who proclaimed himself as "God's sword" or what-have-you, only to be conked on the back of the head, trampled by the French horsemen, bayoneted a dozen times, and then having his trousers stolen. Hardly Skurge at Gjallerbru, isn't it? He even answered some questions I had about the upcoming TV adaptation of The Last Kingdom, and signed my copy of The Winter King, so overall, it was a great evening. It was pretty packed too; it took place at the Toronto Reference Library at Yonge and Bloor, and they basically had to move it from a specialized presentation lounge to the main atrium in order to accommodate the crowds.

And on another good note, I recently won first place in the writing portion of the "Dragon Age Inquisition Contest" being run by , yay! Thank so much for all your votes and support in favour of Ghost Dances, I really appreciate it, as ever! Amongst the contest rewards include a pic to be done by the awesome , so be sure to check out her awesome artwork if you haven't already; a piece of request art from her is a first-prize reward for a reason.

So yes, of all the things I'm thankful for in my life, your continued support, comments and general interest in my writing is definitely one of them. Thank you all so much for everything.