Liane Shaw's Blog, page 4
May 21, 2014
Road Trip
Looks like I’m heading off on my first literary road trip….or I guess more accurately, air trip. I’ve been invited to Lit Fest in Edmonton…a literary festival focusing on nonfiction. I’ll be doing a couple of readings from Time Out and also taking some time to share “horror” stories from my teaching days in a forum with other teachers. I’m not much of a traveler and have never been to Alberta so I’m really looking forward to it.
May 6, 2014
Amy’s Marathon of Books
I was sent a very interesting review yesterday, written by an equally interesting young woman. Check it out and then spend some time looking through Amy’s website in order to check out the Marathon of Books that she is undertaking.
March 15, 2014
Finalist!
Exciting news….The Color of Silence is a finalist for the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult book award!
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/teens/cla-young-adult-book-award/
February 18, 2014
Making friends in Toronto
Had the chance to travel to Toronto for the OLA superconference a couple of weeks ago. While it’s always fun to meet readers and sign a few books, the highlight of this trip was my train ride home. I was seated beside a lovely seventeen year old lady named Adrienne, who entertained me with her wonderful opinions on life for most of the trip. Being with someone the age of most of my novel’s protagonists reminded me of the reasons I started writing in the first place. Teenagers are truly the most fascinating people on the planet!
February 17, 2014
It’s done! Now the panic….
Time Out: A Teachers year of reading, writing and four letter words is finally completely finished and has been sent off to the printer. This is the point where panic sets in. Did we catch all of the typos? Does everything make sense? Did I take enough time on that final edit? Will the readers like my students as much as I did? Will everyone like the cover that we picked? Did I say everything wanted say….now that it’s too late to change or add anything? Other than all of that, I am extremely excited it’s done and eagerly anticipating seeing the final product!
December 10, 2013
Time Out
I had the chance to travel to Toronto for my first sales meeting at Ampersand this past week. I’m used to speaking to groups but there was still something mildly intimidating about sitting in a room filled with sales reps, all of whom had very specific questions for me about the new book – which by the way is now entitled Timeout: A Teacher’s Year of Reading, Fighting and Four Letter Words. I managed to make them laugh which broke the tension. It was a new and interesting experience…one more step along the road to learning about this strange business I’m a part of. Also had a nice lunch with the ladies from my publishing house, Second Story Press.
October 8, 2013
Attention People with Body Parts review
I recently had the opportunity to review a wonderful book called “Attention People With Body Parts”, collection of letters written by people to various body parts, compiled by Lexie Bean. The book is a great read in that the writing is terrific and a lot of fun…but it also provides a lot of thought provoking viewpoints about the ways in which we see our bodies. The book is part of a movement to help people with the development of a healthier, more self aware approach to dealing with their bodies….and all of their parts.[image error]
New book!!!
[image error]Just got my official signed contract from Second Story Press for my new book! So excited! This one is different…”narrative non fiction”…as in it really all happened but with some creativity in the telling. Current title is Time Out….it’s the story of my first year as a “behaviour” teacher, an incredible journey into the lives of some very amazing young boys who changed my whole life view. I can’t believe it’s book #4 already! Yay!
July 27, 2013
New Manuscript!
Just sent another manuscript off to the publisher. My first non YA attempt…and nonfiction to boot. Now I have to wait for months until everyone reads it and there is some kind of consensus. I am really not that patient by nature…this publishing business is definitely forcing me to work on that particular personal quality!
May 31, 2013
Reviews, reviews, reviews….
So, the reviews are starting to come in for The Color of Silence and most of them are very kind…check out the review page for some examples! I am still wrestling with my tendency to take reviews far too seriously…relying on other people’s opinions rather than my own. So, I decided to take action…in the “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em” line of thinking. I am now a reviewer myself, for both CM magazine and Quill and Quire. I am going to do my best to provide helpful, positive reviews….and if there are aspects of the novel that I don’t agree with or like, I’ll find a constructive way to state my opinion. It’s just like teaching…you can’t help a student improve if all you do is criticize! So, here’s my first attempt http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol19/no32/lost.html
