I want a balloon tree. I always have. The Balloon Tree by Phoebie Gilman was one of my favourite books as a child. We used to read heaps of books. Each summer Jenie and I would join the Summer Reading Club at the Preston library. I spent so much of my childhood at that place. I was either there, the dance studio, or gymnastics. I’m pretty sure I had my first reading by Robert Munsch at the Preston library.  I remember meeting Phoebie Gilman and having my photo taken with her. Authors were my celebrities back then.  When I wrote ‘Jeans: an anthology of poetry & prose‘ in 1996 we had our book launch there. We sold over 80 books that night and one dollar from the sale of each went to the Women’s Crisis Shelter.  It was a magical night. I’l never forget how good it feels sitting there signing your own book for a lineup of people. I’ve been (slowly) working on another  book. Write more, read more, that’s what I keep telling myself. I’m a big believer in the power of positive thought and a few things I’ve been thinking about lately are libraries and speaking. Not necessarily together but in general. The crazy thing is, I got an email from Marketing Magazine asking me to speak at an event next month and guess where it is? A LIBRARY. My favourite library in the city, Toronto Reference. We’re talking youth culture and the founder of VICE Magazine will also be there talking about The Creators Project between Vice & Intel. I’ve been a Vice fan for about ten years and have a diploma in marketing so this is all quite exciting. THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN’T DO. The Creators Project is really cool and well, CREATIVE. “I have…