Just returned from Las Vegas - and quite possibly the best fight of the year - to a cold and rainy Washington DC. But there, on the doorstep, and just about sheltered from the elements, was a padded envelope containing three advance copies of "The Great White Bear." After all this time, it's actually a real book. Feels great, if slightly surreal, to hold it in my hand. UK publication date is January 6; in the US, it's January 12. Read More
Blog
Six Weeks Away
November 27, 2010
My latest book, The Great White Bear is now six weeks from publication by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the US. Publication date is January 12, 2011. In the United Kingdom, where the book will be called Ice Bear, publication date will be January 6. Read More
Page Proofs
May 9, 2010
It seems to take forever for a book to come together, for the research to fall into place, for the writing to be completed, and then the editing, and then more editing ... but you know it's the real thing when the page proofs arrive, as did the proofs for "The Great White Bear" the other day. Read More
Progress Reports
February 16, 2010
For a guy who gets paid (at least partly) to blog, I sure am pretty bad at maintaining the blog on my own website. But it's all good: I have finished my book manuscript, and the book is now entering production. It will be called The Great White Bear in the United States, and Ice Bear in the United Kingdom. Read More
Finished
December 1, 2009
Finally. Three weeks late - but 15,000 words longer - I have submitted the draft manuscript for my polar bear book. Publication date: Fall 2010. Greater specificity to follow. Now, I must sleep.
Straining for the Finish Line
November 2, 2009
My book deadline is one week from today. Last night I went to bed feeling moderately certain that I would at least be OK on quantity, if not the quality - I reckoned I could deliver the entire manuscript, but I wasn't confident that the most recently and hurriedly written chapters would be of sufficient quality. Read More
It Was One Year Ago Today
October 24, 2009
This time last year, I was in the middle of a two-day train journey from Winnipeg to Churchill, as part of my great polar bear adventure. It's amazing how rapidly time flies. Alas, I couldn't get it together to return to Churchill this year, but I have every intention of doing so in 2010. By then, all being well, my book will be published; my deadline is November 9, so I'd better get back to it. Read More
Getting Back on Track
January 31, 2009
I fell off the horse for a little while there. The past few weeks have been personally difficult as I attempt to right my emotional ship after everything that has happened since the middle of 2008. But now I am forging ahead, hoping to finish The Ice Wanderers by the end of March. Read More
Book News
January 10, 2009
I'm hoping we have a title for my upcoming polar bear book. The working title had been Ice Bear but the marketing folks wanted something more lyrical, so my editor came up with The Ice Wanderer: A Natural and Unnatural History of Polar Bears. I love it; I think it conveys everything I want to convey. We'll see now whether it gets the final green light. Read More
Progress
December 28, 2008
Christmas went well, in the end - certainly as well as could be expected in the circumstances. Writing has been productive; I have sent off five draft chapters to Lisa White, my editor at Houghton Mifflin, and although a couple need some work, it's better than not sending five draft chapters. Read More