Leave it to Books on the Radio to get me to watch this gloomy video about sour Canadian author responses to Bill C-32, which would allow schools to use more of authors' works in the classroom for free.

The central argument seems to be that teachers don't have to pay for paper and other school supplies (though I know many teachers do dip into their own pockets for extra materials when it's important to them... but that's another thing altogether) why should our writing be free?

I guess there are still some writers out there who actually earn a living from selling books? And if that was my experience, I'd probably want to hang on to that, too. But I get paid more for school visits than school use.

From my perspective, if schools have an easy way to use my novels for free, then I have a MUCH easier time creating curriculum links and encouraging teachers to hire me to come talk to kids (and adults too, since my books are also used in colleges) about the content of those books.

And a school visit where students have actually read my work is about a kajillion times easier, more fun, and of greater educational value than getting up in front of kids who have no idea who I am, but have been told to listen to me because I'm an author. If they've read my books, then we can delve into content, and subtext, and issues raised by the books, and the creative process. That's so much fun. That's a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

Would it be nice not to have to tour like an Indie band, only with no booze, swearing, or groupies? Sure. Is that the reality? No. So if it makes the really hard part of my job-- public speaking: ew-- easier, I say bring on the free e-copies and photocopies. Let's brew up some learning and sharing instead of this boring obscurity thing that is the alternative.