Sharon Powers's Blog - Posts Tagged "penguin"
ePal's: The New Pen Pal
Do you remember the days of pen pals where your teacher would give you an address and you’d start a correspondence to someone you didn’t know probably in a land far, far away? You’d keep in touch, but as you grew older, you probably ditched the whole thing. As an adult, I remember mine. She was someone I went to elementary school with and then she moved away to Alaska so I kept in touch…for a while.
Now they’re called epals and I recently met mine, in person, after two years of corresponding via the Internet. When I self-published Barney and Barry, The Hitchhikers, I also created my website, www.MySeaBuddies.com, and a social presence for my book through www.facebook.com/MySeaBuddies, twitter.com/MySeaBuddies, Sharon Powers, etc. What I didn’t expected was an almost immediately email off my websites’ contact page asking if I wanted to participate in a children’s sea creature book giveaway. What an opportunity for me as a new author. I couldn’t wait to promote my book. I couldn’t wait to promote my sea creatures. I couldn’t wait to promote myself!
I got much more in that email than a marketing opportunity, I got a wonderful friend. Stephanie M. Ward, author of Wally the Warm-Weather Penguin, had also just self-published her first children’s book. I read the story and immediately became enchanted with her rhyming tale about a traveling penguin looking for a warmer existence.
Somehow, across continents, in the age of wondrous technology, Stephanie and I were able to communicate without waiting for letters. With email we could connect, at times, immediately. I say at times, because Stephanie is in Australia and I was in Baja, Mexico so we had a time difference that didn’t work in our favor. When I was checking my morning emails, occasionally she was checking hers before she went to sleep.
We have exchanged wondrous stories over the past two years of our book ideas, marketing ideas, promoted each other, told each other stories of our lives and families. She’s helped me by offering critiques of my work, cheering on my successes and encouraging me after failures. It has been great sharing photos and telling tales with her. We have tried to meet on a couple of occasions, but the timing wasn’t right…until recently.
We were both finally in the same state, at the same time, and we were able to meet one-on-one. I felt like a nervous schoolgirl getting ready for her first class photo. When Stephanie knocked on my door and I opened it, I was thrilled to finally meet my writing soul sister. My first thought was that her hair was straighter than I imagined, and she was taller, but she was really here. My Stephanie, my epal, and I would have a couple of hours of her time before her family came back to get her and they all prepared to return to the land down under.
After chatting about everything we could squeeze into our couple of hours, and yet not even making a dent in the countless questions we had for each other, it was time for her to go. I could have been sad, but I felt like she was an old friend that I’d known forever and knew I’d be seeing her again. With a big smile, I said goodbye and shut the door behind her. Wasting no time, I quickly went to my computer and sent her an email!
Now they’re called epals and I recently met mine, in person, after two years of corresponding via the Internet. When I self-published Barney and Barry, The Hitchhikers, I also created my website, www.MySeaBuddies.com, and a social presence for my book through www.facebook.com/MySeaBuddies, twitter.com/MySeaBuddies, Sharon Powers, etc. What I didn’t expected was an almost immediately email off my websites’ contact page asking if I wanted to participate in a children’s sea creature book giveaway. What an opportunity for me as a new author. I couldn’t wait to promote my book. I couldn’t wait to promote my sea creatures. I couldn’t wait to promote myself!
I got much more in that email than a marketing opportunity, I got a wonderful friend. Stephanie M. Ward, author of Wally the Warm-Weather Penguin, had also just self-published her first children’s book. I read the story and immediately became enchanted with her rhyming tale about a traveling penguin looking for a warmer existence.
Somehow, across continents, in the age of wondrous technology, Stephanie and I were able to communicate without waiting for letters. With email we could connect, at times, immediately. I say at times, because Stephanie is in Australia and I was in Baja, Mexico so we had a time difference that didn’t work in our favor. When I was checking my morning emails, occasionally she was checking hers before she went to sleep.
We have exchanged wondrous stories over the past two years of our book ideas, marketing ideas, promoted each other, told each other stories of our lives and families. She’s helped me by offering critiques of my work, cheering on my successes and encouraging me after failures. It has been great sharing photos and telling tales with her. We have tried to meet on a couple of occasions, but the timing wasn’t right…until recently.
We were both finally in the same state, at the same time, and we were able to meet one-on-one. I felt like a nervous schoolgirl getting ready for her first class photo. When Stephanie knocked on my door and I opened it, I was thrilled to finally meet my writing soul sister. My first thought was that her hair was straighter than I imagined, and she was taller, but she was really here. My Stephanie, my epal, and I would have a couple of hours of her time before her family came back to get her and they all prepared to return to the land down under.
After chatting about everything we could squeeze into our couple of hours, and yet not even making a dent in the countless questions we had for each other, it was time for her to go. I could have been sad, but I felt like she was an old friend that I’d known forever and knew I’d be seeing her again. With a big smile, I said goodbye and shut the door behind her. Wasting no time, I quickly went to my computer and sent her an email!
