A Day in the Life of.... is there a typical David Poulsen day? Not really as any given day could include heading out the door to a rodeo or bullriding, presenting a creative writing workshop for Junior High students or researching and writing his next novel. And if none of those possibilities exist, David can generally be found at home in the Porcupine Hills relaxing on the deck, riding or trying to catch up on writing and fencing.

January, 2010 – It seems to me that winter arrived far too early and with far too much enthusiasm. Still, the first part of 2010 has been a little better weather-wise…thank goodness. And I’ll soon be off to Maricopa, Arizona for a few months of riding and writing. I’m looking forward to getting out of the snow and cold.

2009 was a remarkable year and one that I will remember for a very long time.

Rodeo season occupied a lot of my time in the summer—there was another spectacular edition of the Calgary Stampede (my 23rd appearance there), and great rodeos at Airdrie, Morris, Medicine Hat, Pincher Creek, Lethbridge, Barrhead (the Wild Rose Rodeo Finals), and Calgary a second time—this time for the Canadian Rodeo Tour Championship. And there were sensational PBR Bull Ridings at Lashburn, Coronation, Stavely and Hamilton.

Returning to the Canadian Finals Rodeo after an awfully long absence was a huge highlight in my year. It was a tremendous event and I worked with so many terrific people and, on top of that, it was a great Finals—I won’t ever forget it. Then came my fourth appearance at the PBR Canadian National Finals in Calgary in early December. That too was a real pleasure as the PBR here in Canada continues to evolve and grow.

Back on the writing front, I’m very excited about the arrival of Book 6 in The Salt and Pepper Chronicles. This one is called Shivers and Shakes and is set in this totally cool (and spooky) underground street in Edinburgh, Scotland called Mary King’s Close. The street actually exists and is called ‘the most haunted place in Scotland’. Guess who or what Salt, Pepper and annoying little brother Hal meet up with in that street!!

And Numbers, my Young Adult novel that takes place in a high school where the most popular and influential teacher is a holocaust denier is getting a lot of attention.

Still with writing—I was honoured to be selected to make my second appearance at Word Fest in Calgary in October. This international festival of writers in Calgary and Banff brings together an unbelievable roster of great writers from around the world. And Word Fest had no sooner wrapped up than I was off to Ottawa for the 14th annual Ottawa International Writers’ Festival…great fun and a terrific festival. The crazy-busy fall continued when I was one of 29 writers, illustrators and storytellers who were part of the CCBC’s Canadian Children’s Book Week. My destination was Montreal where I was a guest presenter in schools and to a number of writers groups. It was a blast. I love Montreal and even had the chance to try out my rather rusty (actually rusted over) French.

And finally—something I’m kind of proud of—I ran in the Run For the Cure in support of the fight against breast cancer. The run was October 4th in Calgary and though it was snowy outside, there were thousands of runners and a heck of a lot of money was raised for research into finding the cure for a disease that has touched so many people.

I plan to be a regular in future runs—it felt so good to be contributing, even in a very small way, to a truly worthy cause.

I’m pretty pumped about 2010. I’ll complete my Master’s Degree from UBC this spring and have a couple of new books coming as well. More about those in the weeks ahead.

And the year’s Rodeo/Bull Riding schedule looks like I’ll be very busy once again. And that’s just fine with me.

And, of course, the Olympics are just around the corner. I plan to be watching as Canada puts on a great show, both as hosts and as a nation to be admired in the world of winter sports. Go, Canada, go!!

All the best to all of you throughout 2010. May it be your best year ever.

... David

Site updated Jan 16, 2010