Sue A. Maynard's Blog, page 6
October 18, 2010
Ryerson - Chang School Photo Shoot Tomorrow!!!
Everything is coming together for the ad I will be featured in for Ryerson's Chang School of Continuing Education! The photo shoot is tomorrow morning and, with the exception of a still sore and bumpy eye, I am good to go!
I've picked out my wardrobe options for the shoot. I was told business casual, mid-dark tones, no patterns, no solid black or white. I was contacted by the photographer, Jim Panou, and he sent a link to the gallery he has up for past shoots as examples. I am going to TRY and wear my Carving The Light t-shirt, over a dark blue long-sleeved shirt, and see if it can be done that way. It may be too busy for the ad text, and I know you won't really be able to see the picture on the front very clearly at all, but I think having a sort of subtle visual reminder would be good, for anyone who may try to search out my book after. If they have an idea of the cover, that would help them know it instantly, even in a Google search.
If I am not allowed to wear the t-shirt, however, I will swap the top layer for an olive green button down...that ought to do the trick! :)
Additionally, I got to approve the copy for the ad on Saturday. I was told by the writer, Stephanie Richmond, that my ad practically wrote itself, because I'd written "such a lovely quote" to begin with! And she did a great job at reducing it to under 50 words, without me coming across like a huge dork! ;)
She also is submitting it WITH the title of my novel in there, too, but neither of us are sure whether the Chang School folks will leave it in, or not. She said I would get to approve the full ad before it goes to print, however, so with any luck, I will at least know ahead of time whether the book title is included, or not!
This is all way exciting...I am still more excited to see my lovely girl in California first, but then it'll be a long few weeks of waiting for the winter ad campaign to roll out! Just in time for the holidays, too...I could not have planned it better! :)
Until soon,
S.A.M.
I've picked out my wardrobe options for the shoot. I was told business casual, mid-dark tones, no patterns, no solid black or white. I was contacted by the photographer, Jim Panou, and he sent a link to the gallery he has up for past shoots as examples. I am going to TRY and wear my Carving The Light t-shirt, over a dark blue long-sleeved shirt, and see if it can be done that way. It may be too busy for the ad text, and I know you won't really be able to see the picture on the front very clearly at all, but I think having a sort of subtle visual reminder would be good, for anyone who may try to search out my book after. If they have an idea of the cover, that would help them know it instantly, even in a Google search.
If I am not allowed to wear the t-shirt, however, I will swap the top layer for an olive green button down...that ought to do the trick! :)
Additionally, I got to approve the copy for the ad on Saturday. I was told by the writer, Stephanie Richmond, that my ad practically wrote itself, because I'd written "such a lovely quote" to begin with! And she did a great job at reducing it to under 50 words, without me coming across like a huge dork! ;)
She also is submitting it WITH the title of my novel in there, too, but neither of us are sure whether the Chang School folks will leave it in, or not. She said I would get to approve the full ad before it goes to print, however, so with any luck, I will at least know ahead of time whether the book title is included, or not!
This is all way exciting...I am still more excited to see my lovely girl in California first, but then it'll be a long few weeks of waiting for the winter ad campaign to roll out! Just in time for the holidays, too...I could not have planned it better! :)
Until soon,
S.A.M.
October 15, 2010
Awesome Link!!!
Just found this awesome link to my CafePress store for Carving The Light! Gifts for Canadian Thanksgiving! Perfect! :)
Canadian Thanksgiving : Holidays Tees, T-shirts & Gift Ideas
Canadian Thanksgiving : Holidays Tees, T-shirts & Gift Ideas
October 13, 2010
Book Review: No Hope For Gomez! by Graham Parke
I loved this book! Gomez Porter is an instantly likeable character, and he draws the reader ever further into his (sometimes off-balanced) mindset through the openness and honesty of his blog entries. As a test subject in an experimental drug trial, Gomez is told to update his blog entries as regularly as possible, and record everything and anything, especially that which could be considered strange. Soon, however, Gomez starts to find pretty much everything in his world strange, and thus the reader is pulled into Gomez's messed-up internal reality, even as he struggles to make sense of it all for himself.
I was fortunate enough to win a copy of this book through a FirstReads giveaway on [...], and I am so happy that I did. The pace is fast and action-packed...from the first page, author Graham Parke takes his readers on one of the strangest, most hilarious rollercoaster rides of the psyche that they are ever likely to go on, and he doesn't let up until the end which, incidentally, just leaves you wanting more.
The story is compact, fun (I laughed out loud more than once while reading this), and while it may have you looking at the world a whole different (and possibly very askew) way, once you've been inside the mind of Gomez Porter, if you're like me, you'll find that you don't mind that one single bit!
Maybe there is no hope for Gomez, but after reading this hilarious, twisted little novel, I personally hope for MORE Gomez very very soon!
I was fortunate enough to win a copy of this book through a FirstReads giveaway on [...], and I am so happy that I did. The pace is fast and action-packed...from the first page, author Graham Parke takes his readers on one of the strangest, most hilarious rollercoaster rides of the psyche that they are ever likely to go on, and he doesn't let up until the end which, incidentally, just leaves you wanting more.
The story is compact, fun (I laughed out loud more than once while reading this), and while it may have you looking at the world a whole different (and possibly very askew) way, once you've been inside the mind of Gomez Porter, if you're like me, you'll find that you don't mind that one single bit!
Maybe there is no hope for Gomez, but after reading this hilarious, twisted little novel, I personally hope for MORE Gomez very very soon!
Updates and Musings
OK, first off, I should mention that I just got back to work from my first appointment with an eye doctor, to make sure that my injury from a few weeks ago is healing and that no further damage was done. So, one eye is dilated a riiculous amount, I am uncomfortable and can't see out of it, and I just want to go home and sleep it off.
Typing ain't easy, either, naturally, but there was some stuff I wanted to talk about, while I have a chance!
So, let's see...where to begin? I guess my biggest news is that I have been selected to be a participant in Ryerson's Chang School for Continuing Education winter ad campaign! They had put out a call for former students to share their "success stories" quite some time ago. I had taken a writing course online with them, and now have published my first novel (and am working on book #2), which I thought maybe counted as a success story. Apparently, they thought so, too!
Last week, I got a call asking if I would like to participate, and I signed a release form. Next week is a photo shoot (I don't know when yet), and I have to talk to the woman writing the ad copy, but as of November 29th, my face and tale should be visible all across the city of Toronto, most notably on public transit vehicles of all sorts! The campaign will run right through the holiday season, up to January 17th, so hopefully that will help boost visibility and sales for Carving The Light! How THAT for marketing and publicity? :)
Additionally, I'm thinking of running a small contest of sorts. I was just going to do it on the FB page I created, but am considering trying to open it up even more and running it as part of this blog, as well. For the duration of the ad campaign, I want to have people send in their pics of my ad, wherever they see it...or them with the ad, or the book with the ad...they can be as creative as they like. Once the campaign is over, some "winners" will be chosen, and small Carving The Light (and possibly Ebon Black)-related prizes will be awarded. I have some prize ideas in mind already, and will have more closer to the start of the contest. So stay tuned for details! It's going to be good fun!
I've found a girl on Goodreads willing to review CTL for her blog, and hopefully for Amazon, etc, as well, and some of the winners of the Goodreads Giveaway have also agreed to review it once they have read it, so I will be posting all of those here - with their permission, of course!
In the meantime, I wrote a short but earnest review of No Hope For Gomez! by Graham Parke, and posted it everywhere I could think of. I will post it here, soon, as well, but in the meantime, if you like strong writing, quirky humour, and an honest if somewhat messed up protagonist, then Gomez is for you! Check it out!
Amazon.ca is now offering shipping to Canada on orders over $25, instead of $40, so jump in there and pick up BOTH books...just in time for the holidays! :)
OK...I have to get back to work now. More very soon. I'm suddenly just blanking on what else I'd wanted to say! ;)
Until soon,
PS Three weeks from today, I will be in LA and meeting up with my lovely Ebon illustrator for a fun-filled week of relaxation and giggling in sunny California! I can NOT WAIT! :D
SAM
Typing ain't easy, either, naturally, but there was some stuff I wanted to talk about, while I have a chance!
So, let's see...where to begin? I guess my biggest news is that I have been selected to be a participant in Ryerson's Chang School for Continuing Education winter ad campaign! They had put out a call for former students to share their "success stories" quite some time ago. I had taken a writing course online with them, and now have published my first novel (and am working on book #2), which I thought maybe counted as a success story. Apparently, they thought so, too!
Last week, I got a call asking if I would like to participate, and I signed a release form. Next week is a photo shoot (I don't know when yet), and I have to talk to the woman writing the ad copy, but as of November 29th, my face and tale should be visible all across the city of Toronto, most notably on public transit vehicles of all sorts! The campaign will run right through the holiday season, up to January 17th, so hopefully that will help boost visibility and sales for Carving The Light! How THAT for marketing and publicity? :)
Additionally, I'm thinking of running a small contest of sorts. I was just going to do it on the FB page I created, but am considering trying to open it up even more and running it as part of this blog, as well. For the duration of the ad campaign, I want to have people send in their pics of my ad, wherever they see it...or them with the ad, or the book with the ad...they can be as creative as they like. Once the campaign is over, some "winners" will be chosen, and small Carving The Light (and possibly Ebon Black)-related prizes will be awarded. I have some prize ideas in mind already, and will have more closer to the start of the contest. So stay tuned for details! It's going to be good fun!
I've found a girl on Goodreads willing to review CTL for her blog, and hopefully for Amazon, etc, as well, and some of the winners of the Goodreads Giveaway have also agreed to review it once they have read it, so I will be posting all of those here - with their permission, of course!
In the meantime, I wrote a short but earnest review of No Hope For Gomez! by Graham Parke, and posted it everywhere I could think of. I will post it here, soon, as well, but in the meantime, if you like strong writing, quirky humour, and an honest if somewhat messed up protagonist, then Gomez is for you! Check it out!
Amazon.ca is now offering shipping to Canada on orders over $25, instead of $40, so jump in there and pick up BOTH books...just in time for the holidays! :)
OK...I have to get back to work now. More very soon. I'm suddenly just blanking on what else I'd wanted to say! ;)
Until soon,
PS Three weeks from today, I will be in LA and meeting up with my lovely Ebon illustrator for a fun-filled week of relaxation and giggling in sunny California! I can NOT WAIT! :D
SAM
October 5, 2010
Congratulations!
First off, congratulations to all of the winners of the Goodreads.com giveaway! Five lucky folks were drawn from over 700 entries, and each of them should be receiving a signed copy of Carving The Light in their mailbox sometime soon! I shipped three copies out today, and will do the other two tomorrow, hopefully. I'm just waiting a but longer to hear back on whether they would like it personalized, or not. :)I've started reading my own Goodreads giveaway win, No Hope For Gomez!, by Graham Parke. I'm only about 20 pages in, but I am really engaged and enjoying it thus far. Can not wait to go read more, as soon as I am done typing this entry!
I have given the first draft of Ebon Black and the Seven Dryads to a couple of people to read, but everyone else will have to wait, I think. I want people to be surprised and thrilled when they get to the end of it, but I am also so bad with surprises...once I have it, I want to share it! So I've chosen just a few people to get feedback from, and I of course read it to my lovely illustrator, so she's the first to know the whole tale, and all of that combined should be enough to make me stick to the idea of everyone else waiting for the book to actually be published before reading my latest little tale.
I've started a CafePress preview store for Ebon, but I'm still adding items and images. More on that once it's more complete. I also have a few ideas for generating more publicity and hype while I work through the editing process. It ought to help get people more excited about the book, as well.
Finally, I am feeling the need to mention the OTHER book I've been working on. I started it first, but then worked on Carving The Light and Ebon Black, and now what was first is looking to come third. I don't have a title yet, but I do have a sketchy plot outline. It goes something like this:
Young Ellie Skye goes to spend the summer at her grandmother's house, with her trusted stuffed husky toy, Teddy, in tow. One day, Ellie puts Teddy into the old, no-longer-used dumbwaiter, and wheels him up to the top floor of the house, where her grandmother's room waits at the other end. When she brings the platform back down, however, Teddy is gone, and a small green stone is in his place.
Distraught, Ellie climbs into the dumbwaiter herself, and goes up the shaft in search of her stuffed friend.
What she finds on the other end sets Ellie on a course for adventure that she could never have predicted, even in her wildest dreams.
Now, off to read more Gomez I go! :)
Until soon,
SAM
September 26, 2010
Current Work In Progress
I'm heading downtown shortly to check out Word on the Street, but first, I would like to introduce you all, finally, to my latest work-in-progress. I've resisted talking about it in much detail before now, as I was still trying to work my way through the first draft, and just get the story down. But last night I completed said draft, so now I feel I can talk about it more without getting things mixed up in my head! lolIt's titled "Ebon Black and the Seven Dryads". :)
A re-working of the clas...
September 20, 2010
Carving The Light Giveaway At Goodreads!
Enter to win a FREE AUTOGRAPHED copy of my first novel, Carving The Light!
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September 4, 2010
Author Event!!!
Well, I am now registered and will have a table at Wordstock in Collingwood, ON on Saturday, September 11th. My very first author sale and signing event! And I couldn't be more nervous and excited, truth be told. :)
I've ordered in 25 copies of Carving The Light to have at the table, as well as business cards with details about the book, merchandise, and this blog, so that people can keep up with news of my latest WIPs, etc.
I plan to have my table set up to look fairly cool, too. I'm...
August 22, 2010
Back to Writing - Finally!
That's right...I finally sat down today and did some more writing on my current W.I.P. And it was not a moment too soon! It was a struggle, to be sure...I had to go back a few times and re-read certain parts to see what had already been covered, and I definitely started out...haltingly, for lack of a better word. I remember the ridiculous sense of victory I felt at the end of the first sentence. I actually stood up and walked around the room for a moment as a break, because I'd just strug...
August 21, 2010
Quick Note
Check out the free preview scene for Carving The Light, available at CreateSpace, here. Also, the opening pages can be read on Amazon.com, using the Search inside feature provided.In other news, I have several books available for sale in time for Fan Expo next weekend! And my Carving The Light t-shirt is awesome, so watch for that to be making an appearance over the con weekend, as well!
Hoping for many more photo ops involving the book, which I will of course share in every venue I possibly...
