One book, two spots on bestseller list! The plot thickens.

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Iris, my editor and publisher, just emailed me that Mistress of the Sun was #1 on the Globe and Mail Historical Fiction list! She and Norma, the receptionist at HarperCollins Canada, "enjoyed the sight of it for several minutes," and then Norma pointed out that Under the Sun by Sandra Gulland was also on the list, further down. "We are mystified by this," Iris wrote, "an error on someone's part. But, you have to admit it's pretty nice to be in two places on one bestseller list."

I do indeed! I jokingly wrote back that if The Next Novel were titled Under the Sun it could be called a bestseller before it was even written, much less published.

MISTRESS now one month on Globe & Mail Canadian Bestseller list!

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I saw my editor and publisher Iris Tupholme yesterday at the HarperCollins office in Toronto. The sweetest thing is the big screen in the reception saying, in huge letters, "Welcome, Sandra Gulland." I always get a kick out of it, and love that fact that for all these thirty years, Norma is still there and leaps up for a hug.

I had a short coffee-meet with my new publicist, Lindsey Love (what a perfect name!), so Iris and I chatted briefly in the comfy lobby chairs. Iris was well pregnant with her youngest when we first met in my agent's office, and now that youngest is ready for a career. We each remember stories going way back.

Iris expressed her very great pleasure that Mistress of the Sun has been on the Globe & Mail Canadian bestseller list for a month now, and in the top 10! I was touched by how she described each Saturday, when the paper arrives. She can't bear to look right away. She sneaks up on it. First, she'll look at the non-fiction. And then, finally, glance at the fiction list to see if Mistress is there. Hurrah! Sometimes, later on in the day, she'll go back to look again.

"You're worse than I am!" I told her.

Iris has other authors on that list, some of whom practically live on that list. I was touched how excited she was by Mistress's success. She — and my book is a "she," no? — might fall off the list next Saturday, but it's a hard list to get on, and "a month is a lot," Iris told me.

Every time I think of this conversation, I smile.

What impresses a 20-something son?

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What really impressed my 28-year-old son? My book on the best-seller list? NO: My Tweets making a Mashable list.

I haven't been Twittering for long — since January, perhaps?

For those of you who don't know Twitter, it's a social networking site where posts can only be 140 characters long (as I recall): i.e. short. Obviously not conducive to big words, much less sentences — much less serious thought.

But it's fun, rather in the manner of a hot ping-pong match. In fact, it's become rather too much fun, I'm afraid (as in addictive). Luis Alberto Urrea, for example, author of The Hummingbird's Daughter — a novel I love — regularly posts, plus a host of other writers and publishing-related folk. I'm star-struck. I admit it.

So today I got four Tweets in a row from Susan McKinney, a writer friend in San Miguel: Did you know ... ?!?

Apparently I'd made a list of authors on Twitter.

Oh? (So?)

I found the list, but it took some time to find myself. (Way at the bottom, under Miscellaneous — annoying.) But the list itself was interesting. "Literary Tweets: 100+ of the Best Authors on Twitter," put out by Mashable, which I'd only vaguely heard of.

I emailed my son, Net Guru in NYC. He immediately wrote back: Oh. My. God. This may be the coolest thing (in my books) you've done!

Which woke me up a bit. Really? Not the best-seller list, but a Mashable list?

And so, I have to admit, it has been quite a day. If you're at all inclined, come Twitter with me in the "Twitterverse." I'm at:

http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Now that I'm official, I'm going to endeavour to Tweet in a more — ahem — literary manner.

(And perhaps, when I'm dawdling writing The Next Novel, you might ask: "Too much time on Twitter, Madame Author?")