Saleema Nawaz's Blog, page 12

February 23, 2013

Friday photo shoot and another bad cab ride








My weekend started early as I took the day off of work on Friday for a photo shoot, which made me feel a little bit fancy and a little bit less like the pyjama-clad, stay-at-home-Saturday-night cobbler-together-of-words I really am.  It isn't every day I get to miss work for a photo shoot!  From start to finish, it took four hours, in four different locations, and it was tons of fun.  




And no, it wasn't that photo shoot.








Amazing photographer Guillaume Simoneau  




I smiled and tried not to smile until my lips were actually quivering.  I am not, perhaps, the most relaxed model.  But it was fun watching Guillaume work.  I love watching people do what they do best and getting to take a peek inside the intricacies of different art forms.  (I'd love to visit a movie set some time, even though I hear that the ratio of set-up/waiting around time can be epic.)




Hazlitt ran a piece on Guillaume Simoneau by David Balzer last month.  It's definitely worth a read!  











G let me turn the (cell phone) camera on him.





When it was over, given that it was a special, unusual kind of day and I was suddenly starving, I decided to spring for a taxi across town to meet my husband for a late lunch/early supper or whatever a 3 p.m. main meal could decently be called.  However, my bad cab luck (I'll skip the capsule litany of taxi woes, but trust me, it is lengthy) persisted when the taxi driver got us into an accident, possibly due to being half-asleep.  (I hate the taxi stand protocol of having to get into the cab at the front of the line, even if -- and this often seems to be the case -- the driver at the front of the line actually has to be woken up to take a fare.)  We cruised through a four-way stop straight into the side of another car, but luckily nobody was hurt.  




Given that the driver got us into a car accident, I felt like I was justified in not giving the driver a tip, although truth be told, I still feel a little bit bad about it.  




Whether it was the hours of posing or the car accident or just the usual Friday weariness, I  immediately fell into a deep sleep on the couch early that evening, after just a few minutes with my current read.  A rather intense start to the weekend!  
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Published on February 23, 2013 05:30

February 21, 2013

admiring the easy read

I just came back from the gym, where I went to buy food and read a book.  This is not the most intelligent behaviour for somebody who is doing a photo shoot for this good cause in the very near future.  Oh well. 

I’m happy I took some time to read.  I’m reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and I had one of those fleeting moments when I’m enjoying a book and I think ALL books should be just like the one I’m holding.  It’s funny and sad and smart and it just flies by.  I think, I want to write a book that just flies by. 

But so far, I don’t think this has been my style in anything I’ve published.  And I might be wrong or misremembering things…it’s almost certain, anyhow, that the way I feel when reading through one of my own manuscripts is not the same way anybody else would feel.  I’ll read something and get tripped up on whatever else I know went into a particular sentence (what I was thinking about when I wrote it, or that tricky clause I took out of it, or the word I wanted to use but couldn’t manage), while someone else finds it all wonderfully lucid.  Or at other times (and this is by far the more common pitfall in writing), I know exactly what I’m trying to say and I breeze through it all without a problem, congratulating myself on my clarity while readers are stuck trying to follow my analogies from point A to point B.  

It would be nice to write something as straightforward as talking or thinking, so there is nothing for a reader to bump up against and get shaken out of the spell.  That’s something I’d like to do. 

But I still appreciate other styles of writing!  I enjoy and admire difficult books as well as straightforward ones, and I guess I’m saying I’d like to write lots of books and lots of different kinds of books, if that turns out to be possible.  



Whew.

If you haven’t yet, and you’re behind on your internet reading, you should check out the wonderful LitBits gathered over at Bella’s Bookshelves

On a less literary note, check out this hilarious Get the Look over at The Hairpin.
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Published on February 21, 2013 12:51

I smell burnt toast*

If you’re like me (and you probably are), Heritage Minutes represent not only some of your favourite quotable vignettes, but also your most formative knowledge of Canadian history.  (Sad, maybe, but true.)  Well, pinch yourself, but there’s actually a contest to suggest a Minute!   It has to be about Confederation and it can’t have been covered already.  Details here. Deadline March 1st. 

In other news, I caught up with the season finale of Downton on the weekend, and I’m still annoyed.  I won’t say more in case you’ve somehow managed to shield yourself from spoilers, but if you’re already resigned on that front, here’s an interview in the Telegraph with Dan Stevens, the actor who plays Matthew, who, as it turns out, is a rather literary fellow.






 contemporary Matthew Crawley...er, Dan Stevens



*I swear I must have seen this particular Heritage Minute, with Sir Wilder Penfield, a thousand times, as well as the one about the French Canadian families adopting Irish orphans and letting them keep their names, Valour Road, Superman, and Vince Coleman, but there are tons of other ones I’ve never seen.  I guess my local cable channels only paid for the rights to a few…?
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Published on February 21, 2013 09:30

February 19, 2013

Bare it for Books -- and PEN Canada




All day I’ve had too much caffeine – and excitement – and I’ve got the leg twitch going. 

 

So here is one of those things that I wanted to tell you about…the fun but scary thing I was invited to do:






Bare it for Books organizers Amanda Leduc and Allegra Young




Read about it here and here.

 

I am pretty nervous about this, I have to tell you.  Some parts of a Catholic upbringing die hard, and general unwarranted embarrassment about these human bodies of ours is one thing that has been hard for me to shake.  I have actually turned down free massages because it’s not really worth the stress of having to get naked in front of a stranger.  But that just seems like another reason to do it, really.  




The main reason, of course, is because PEN Canada is an amazing organization that defends freedom of expression around the world.    
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Published on February 19, 2013 20:50

February 18, 2013

Happy Lunar New Year (a little late)!

Saturday we had our annual Chinese New Year’s celebration.  J. made 8 separate completely amazing dishes (Dumplings! Hot and sour soup!  Lucky fish! Ribs!) and we had beer and champagne.   Then we watched half of Pitch Perfect and headed to karaoke. 

It’s the Year of the Snake! 






lovely Year of the Snake illustration from Bevolee



Friday afternoon was full of giddy good news (more on this later), an interview in the Mile End, and the exciting arrival of the annual PLR cheque.  After that, the weekend, as always, went by too fast.  I didn’t get to my laundry, but I did clean out three purses: over the course of a few weeks of use, the inside of any one of my bags resembles nothing so much as a wastebasket full of used tissues, crumpled receipts, and nearly empty packages of gum.  But in the process, I reclaimed four good pens, two bottles of Tylenol and a bottle of Advil.  Small victories.  I also knit some rows on my hat during Downton last night and got halfway caught up on email.  But according to the variety of cherry-picked internet horoscopes I’ve consulted, slow and steady is the way to go in the Year of the Snake. 


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Published on February 18, 2013 08:27

February 16, 2013

What do people think about while they're running?


I went to the gym again today, for the third time this
week.  I haven’t really engaged in any
kind of exercise since before my wedding…which was more than seven months ago
now.  I am not much of an exercise person, really.  I love dancing, and walking to get somewhere, but the hampster-wheel stuff I can usually take or leave.  (I think, in fact, I've documented somewhere on this blog the one and only time I've had a true endorphin rush from running.  Once!  Clearly I'm not doing it right.)  I think regular walking is much better for you than sporadic, intense running anyway.  But for now I have to take what I can get.








I don’t scrutinize anyone too closely at the gym…mostly
because I’m too busy trying to stay alive while running or stair
climbing, but also because I’m hoping nobody is noticing me
either.  Every once in a while, though,
you see somebody who is working out really intensely… the guy or girl who has
been on the elliptical machine for over forty-five minutes and who is going
faster than anybody else in the whole row of exercise machines, including the people
on treadmills.  There was a girl there
like that today, with skinny arms and legs that looked like nothing but bone
and muscle.  Of course, there are all sorts of body types,
and I would never assume somebody has an eating disorder....because how else do skinny, super-fit people get to be that way besides vigorous exercise?   Every so often you see somebody, though, and
you wonder.  Or I wonder…probably a side-effect of having worked on this book for years.  





Yesterday, I started comparing everyone’s demeanour as my mind wandered.  Mine:
dreamy, resigned.  The girl next to me: annoyed.  The guys in the free weights area: a mix of swaggering, hopeful, joking, determined.



What do you think about when you're at the gym?  



I usually like to imagine I'm in some kind of movie montage where the heroine is suddenly getting fit and turning her life around.  It's a good time to cycle through goals and do some visualizing.  I did this a lot when I was trying to finish putting together the manuscript of Mother Superior before I started querying publishers.  I thought about what was still left to write.  I pictured the pages piling up.  I pictured somebody saying yes.  I pictured holding it as a book.  I imagined it getting reviewed in the Globe and Mail.  



Maybe everyone else is planning their novel, too?  Or their screenplay, their dissertation?  An impending breakup?  I wonder.  
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Published on February 16, 2013 10:30

February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm a romantic (at least I think I am...can you be a romantic and a cynic at the same time?? ), so I love that's there a day set aside just to celebrate what makes the world go 'round.  Then again, maybe it's easier for women to feel good about this holiday, without most of the social and consumer pressure of having to go out and spend money on chocolates and flowers. 











I was reminded of the impending holiday by someone at work yesterday afternoon, so after choir, I got busy and rid our kitchen of six browning bananas.  I only like bananas when they are just a little shy of ripe, so their presence, especially in such quantities, was perturbing to my piece of mind.  One never knows when one might be tempted through guilt (I hate wasting food) or hunger to start eating a sickly sweet overripe banana...and then writhe with disgust through the whole duration. I'm not usually keen to start baking late at night after a long day at work (and play), but I could hardly wait to mash those bananas and deliver them unto a better fate: chocolate-banana cake.  (There was also no small amount of love mixed into this furious-banana-converting-mania.)






Former bananas, exalted through sugar, butter, 

and chocolate and butterscotch chips






When icing becomes glaze...

a cake for my love






Cupcakes for the kid who loves little treats




Some of my friends are doing a double feature of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset tonight, which I think is just about the most amazing Valentine's Day plan ever (okay, a romantic dinner is maybe tied).  But regardless of how you're spending it, I hope everyone's day is full of love, friendship, hugs, and thoughtful gestures! 
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Published on February 14, 2013 15:00

February 13, 2013

flowers or Valium?

The title of this post is something funny K said to V in her piano lesson last week, when asking her if a chord was major or minor.  K is a brilliant pianist, choir director extraordinaire, and gifted piano teacher.  It is amazing to see him inspire and coax out the gifts of two people who, before the fall, could not even really read music.  Sometimes on Tuesdays, I end up having a mini-nap during V’s lesson (Tuesday evenings, like Friday evenings, are sometimes characterized by the compounded exhaustion of too many late night-early mornings in a row), but it’s so much more fun to be energized and puttering about the apartment and listening to everyone’s progress in the background.  Last night I made supper to this pleasant musical backdrop (including a salad that was a hit…hurray), and we ate together after everyone was finished. 



Randomly, around our kitchen:






 The inspirational scrap of paper was torn from an eclectic 

loot bag that also featured a life-sized neon gummi mouse.


The jury for the 2013 Giller Prize was announced this morning: Margaret Atwood, Esi Edugyan, and Jonathan Lethem. I think it’s a wonderful combination, though I truly can’t imagine the kind of list they’ll come up with as a team.  Something inspired and eclectic, no doubt!  Somehow I still haven’t read any of Jonathan Lethem’s novels, but I really enjoyed his book of essays The Disappointment Artist.  
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Published on February 13, 2013 08:36

February 11, 2013

Knitaversary in North Hatley

What a lovely weekend.  My husband's parents were kind enough to let fourteen knitters (almost the whole group!) come and stay while they were away visiting friends of their own. We knit, walked, talked, and ate.  And ate.  There were three cakes, two kinds of muffins, beef stew, tortilla soup, croissants, cookies, chocolate chip pancakes, and tons of fruit, bread, cheese, and wine.  (As well as mulled wine and an inspired gin cocktail, thanks to P!)



There was also bacon.







Bacon on the grill!




My husband was amazed at how seemingly effortlessly and harmoniously all the food prep and cleanup seemed to go.  With fourteen kind and capable women on hand, I wasn't surprised, but it was wonderful nonetheless.  And A knew just how to perfectly clean a grill, even without a scraper.  (The secret ingredient is vinegar.)






Knitting in front of the fire.  




It was luxurious to knit in a room that held all of us comfortably (but still cozily)! Often we have to coordinate to bring chairs over to each other's apartments on knit night.  The resident speed-knitters K and J finished projects.  (Actually, I think a couple of other people may have as well.)  My hat grew an inch, but that’s about all I can say for it. Though  I've now added at least three more things I want to make to my what-to-knit-next-list.  There were also Tarot card readings and a fun game of Celebrity.





Snow-trudging in the round.


Sometimes it’s hard, with that many people around, to feel quite like myself.  But knitting is good for introverts.  I was also happy my knitting friends got a chance to know D a little better, and vice versa.  There was some teasing on the matter, but he did not in fact take up knitting before the weekend was over. 



Some of the photos below were taken by E and DD: 








Heading out on our cold walk before the sun went down. 

 (That's me in the red mitts.)





A photo from further out on the lake, where I didn't venture.






Paths and circles on the lake, heading out from the dock.






A. working on her circles.






Sunday was a beautiful sunny day.





Another season of the linden tree where D. and I were married.




I did bring three books with me (plus the one I'm reading on my phone), and I'm afraid I didn't open even one of them.  Nor my computer.  But for once I think that's just fine.





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Published on February 11, 2013 20:26

February 8, 2013

saying yes

It has been a few days of interesting invitations.  A couple of invitations to do readings...and a few to do even more interesting things, each one a little (or, okay, a lot) outside of my comfort zone. My inbox is a place of wonder these days.  Wonder (Can I do this?  Are you really asking me?) and excitement (I'm so excited to do this.  Excited and terrified.) Maybe it helps that most of them are a little ways off, but in each case, I said...yes.  The readings and the non-readings both.  (I'm excited to say what the non-readings are, but...soon!)    



Hopefully I'm not dooming myself to hours of anxiety as they approach.  With every reading, it does become a little easier.  But not easy.



This weekend, I'm planning not to think about any of these looming thrills and responsibilities.   To celebrate two years of our knitting group, we're going on a knitting retreat.






Lovely (blurry) ladies at a knit night at T's awhile back.






The knit goes on.




I'm looking forward to good food, good friends, a walk in the woods, and maybe even finishing my hat!  Wishing all of you a lovely and peaceful weekend, too.
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Published on February 08, 2013 11:28