Exciting News

Many of you know that when I was home in NS over the break I had a fun little meeting. Here is the scoop for those of you who don't know the details:

My hometown is Wolfville, NS. Right next door is Kentville, which happens to be the home of Gaspereau Press, a small independent publisher and printer. They do mostly literary fiction and poetry, though they have done the odd non-fiction book. Everything is printed in house, much like is done here in Toronto at Coach House Books. They have all the fancy typesetting machines, binders, sewing machines, and things that do things I don't even know about. It is a book nerd paradise.

So when I learned through a hilarious series of events that I actually knew the guys who owned it, I thought it might be worth a shot to see if they take interns. It was kind of ideal: if accepted I could gain some experience doing pretty much everything in the book making process, from manuscript review right through editorial, marketing, sales, publicity, and production. And more. Plus I would be back in NS, where I grew up, and I would have the chance to spend time with people I love there who I don't get to see nearly enough. I would walk away from the experience with a wealth of publishing knowledge, some quality time with loved ones, and...lots of home cooked meals, haha

IF they took interns.

Well, after some emailing back and forth I met with Andrew Steeves, one of the owners, over the holidays and we had a GREAT chat. He is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent people I've sat down with. We spoke for a couple hours on Christmas Eve and he gave me a tour of the press. We talked shop for a bit about an internship possibility and things looked good! But nothing was finalized so I didn't want to say anything.

Buuuut I got an email today and it is all set! I will be heading back east this summer for August, September, and October (probably those months, though things are flexible) to intern with them! REJOICE!

You know what is really kind of odd though? As excited as I am for all the reasons I already mentioned, a big part of why I am excited is more personal than professional. My grandfather was a typesetter at a local newspaper back in his day. He would hand set pages of type for the printer, day after day. I, of course, never knew this part of his life first hand, but it was always something that I knew about him. So I am really excited to get learn his trade, to spend (some of) my days doing what he would do, and to hopefully get a better understanding of what his job was like by learning to do it myself. He passed away several years ago, but I like to think that we would have bonded over my upcoming experience, and I a looking forward to living that connection out on my end.

But there you go! This means I will be home in NS this Summer and Fall. This also means that I will have NO WHERE to be mid-April until August and I could therefore go anywhere! Do I stay in Toronto? Head to Vancouver? Philly? And it means that at the end of THIS whole show - my 30x30 list - I will be turning 30 in NS. Not exactly what I planned....but, life never is, right?

So suddenly 2013 feels pretty full!