Helene Boudreau's Blog, page 9

When I was 9…my teacher wrote a picture book. She brought it to school to show us and I remember how she went from teacher to goddess that afternoon, with every flip of the page.

Wow!

A real author! In my little town! I was in absolute awe and went straight home that afternoon and wrote (and illustrated!) my own picture book about a couple of kids with a crazed robot that goes off on a rampage through town, flattening hedges and knocking soup cans off grocery store shelves.  

Um, yeah...

Thanks to everyone who participated in my first annual 'TALK LIKE A CAJUN/ACADIAN' contest. I had a blast reading all of your entries!

Now, the moment of truth. You'll see that the chicklets and I went to great lengths to ensure that winners were chosen under the most rigorous contest protocol and conditions:

The ballots were shuffled, the mood was tense, we were at the edge of our stools…but there could only be ONE winner…

Well, actually…since I have two chicklets, I couldn't just let ONE of...

Okay, okay, so it's NOT exactly 'Talk like a Cajun/Acadian Day' but August 15th IS National Acadian Day.

To celebrate…a CONTEST…to win a copy of my middle grade novel, ACADIAN STAR.

To win, let's have a bit of fun. I'm sure you've all heard of 'Talk like a Pirate Day' well here's a twist. Our very own, super-spectacular…

TALK LIKE A CAJUN/ACADIAN DAY!! 

To win a copy of ACADIAN STAR, you can either:

1. Just comment (yawn…)

OR…

2. Join in on the fun and tell me your favourite Acadian word. Mine is...

10 kilometers

1 L of water

1 hour 16 minutes of pounding the pavement

141 competitors

DEAD LAST.

But look what I GOT!

That's me on the left, sucking wind, trying to make up my oxygen debt. Little sis is on the right (the well-rested one, since she's been waiting for me at the finish line for the past 20 minutes). Best part about the day? My niece placed second in her age division and won half a dozen lobsters. Gotta love running races in Nova Scotia.

So, how does this relate to writing? It...

I had a very fun and busy spring, filled with school and library visits, a non-fiction writing project (done! yay!) and writing/revising/submitting of my tween novel. 

So what's next? Hmm…

Well, writing-wise, I'm finishing up an early chapter book project and hope to get that submitted before we leave for our month-long Cape Breton trip. While out East, I plan to work on my male point-of-view young adult novel and have a couple of appearances lined up.

I'll be at the Antigonish Public Library...

In a moment of sheer, over-inflated confidence, I signed up for a triathlon in August.

Do I swim? Um, yes, but haven't for a while.

Can I bike? I *own* a bike. Does that count?

Do I run? Well…*lumber* would be a more accurate description. 

But, I have two willing training buddies and about 12 weeks to get myself in a reasonable enough state to not embarass myself. (that's the hope, anyway) And plus, this will be a much needed distraction from my busy spring of writing, school and library...