Deana J. Driver's Blog, page 15
July 25, 2014
Beautiful St. John's, NL - Sailors & icebergs- Part 2
When I wrote
The Sailor and the Christmas Trees
, in 2012, I never imagined that I might someday see the spot in Newfoundland where the young John Hanlon went up a hill and cut down some trees to surprise his fellow shipmates on Christmas Day 1944.
Yet it happened. In June 2014, I attended the Association of Canadian Publishers meeting in St. John's, to represent the Saskatchewan Publishers Group (of which I am on the board of directors). My husband (and DriverWorks Ink publisher partner) Al came along on that trip, and we had some great adventures.
One of my favourite moments was when I looked at St. John's Harbour and imagined what it must have been like for John Hanlon - a Prairie boy from Brandon, Manitoba - who had enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War.
This is St. John's Harbour today.
The site for the Canadian docks was directly across from where we were standing.
That hill behind us is likely the one that John and three of his friends climbed to cut down some trees in November 944. They hid the trees on their ship for almost a month, as the frigate sailed with the convoy to England, and then headed back to Canada. On Christmas Day 1944, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, John pulled out those trees and surprised the rest of the crew as well as some small children on another ship, who were coming from England to find safety in Canada.
What a nice story and what a neat experience to see that hill for myself! I was deeply moved.
This photo on a boardwalk sign in St. John's Harbour shows a convoy preparing the leave St. John's Harbour during wartime.
A German submarine surfaced in the harbour after surrender in May 1945.
Here's a fun fact for ya:
The Newfies have their own lingo and their own names for Prairie folks like me and Al.We were introduced as 'mainlanders'. "Either that," said a new Newfie friend, 'or we call you 'come from away'."
Makes sense to me!
Signal Hill National Historic Park and Cabot Tower are among the most noted tourist attractions of St. John's.
There's along long line-up to drive up the hill, and only a few parking spots on top, so be prepared for a hike - up and down!
Beautiful views make this trek worthwhile. We saw our first-ever view of icebergs from the Hill in early June. A large chunk of ice had broken off a glacier in Greenland, we were told, and this was causing more icebergs to appear off the coast of Newfoundland than in a normal year.
A few days later, we took a tour on that boat to see the icebergs up close and personal.
These photos are the view looking back at parts of St. John's as we left the harbour.
As we approached the icebergs closest to the Harbour, we were surprised and a little freaked out to see two kayakers paddling IN BETWEEN the two pieces of this large berg!
See them? Follow my arrows.A Coast Guard staff person who worked part-time on the tour boat told us this is a very dangerous activity since bergs may look stable but are constantly moving. Only one-tenth of an iceberg is visible above water. Imagine how big that thing is!
Mother Nature proved that point about 15 minutes later, as we circled the biggest berg from a distance...
...we saw a large crack on the one end.
Seconds later, that piece - as large as our house and weighing tons, because the ice is so dense - broke off and hit the water. It would have crushed the kayakers. "We'd be pulling their bodies out," the one Coast Guard worker said. He also told us that he had recently seen a man walking on an iceberg ... with his dog. Some people are just plain dumb.
Cape Spear is the most easterly point in North America. Next stop - Ireland!We saw it from the ocean, then visited it by land a few days later.
Icebergs may be dangerous up close, but they certainly have a beauty to them.
We stopped to admire a statue honouring those who have died in various battles.
Once again, I thought of John Hanlon, and the experiences he must have had fighting for our freedom.
This beautiful wall mural depicting some of the colourfulness of St. John's, Newfoundland.
Yet it happened. In June 2014, I attended the Association of Canadian Publishers meeting in St. John's, to represent the Saskatchewan Publishers Group (of which I am on the board of directors). My husband (and DriverWorks Ink publisher partner) Al came along on that trip, and we had some great adventures.
One of my favourite moments was when I looked at St. John's Harbour and imagined what it must have been like for John Hanlon - a Prairie boy from Brandon, Manitoba - who had enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War.
This is St. John's Harbour today.
The site for the Canadian docks was directly across from where we were standing. 
That hill behind us is likely the one that John and three of his friends climbed to cut down some trees in November 944. They hid the trees on their ship for almost a month, as the frigate sailed with the convoy to England, and then headed back to Canada. On Christmas Day 1944, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, John pulled out those trees and surprised the rest of the crew as well as some small children on another ship, who were coming from England to find safety in Canada.
What a nice story and what a neat experience to see that hill for myself! I was deeply moved.
This photo on a boardwalk sign in St. John's Harbour shows a convoy preparing the leave St. John's Harbour during wartime.
A German submarine surfaced in the harbour after surrender in May 1945.
Here's a fun fact for ya:
The Newfies have their own lingo and their own names for Prairie folks like me and Al.We were introduced as 'mainlanders'. "Either that," said a new Newfie friend, 'or we call you 'come from away'."Makes sense to me!
Signal Hill National Historic Park and Cabot Tower are among the most noted tourist attractions of St. John's.
There's along long line-up to drive up the hill, and only a few parking spots on top, so be prepared for a hike - up and down!
Beautiful views make this trek worthwhile. We saw our first-ever view of icebergs from the Hill in early June. A large chunk of ice had broken off a glacier in Greenland, we were told, and this was causing more icebergs to appear off the coast of Newfoundland than in a normal year. 
A few days later, we took a tour on that boat to see the icebergs up close and personal. 
These photos are the view looking back at parts of St. John's as we left the harbour.
As we approached the icebergs closest to the Harbour, we were surprised and a little freaked out to see two kayakers paddling IN BETWEEN the two pieces of this large berg!
See them? Follow my arrows.A Coast Guard staff person who worked part-time on the tour boat told us this is a very dangerous activity since bergs may look stable but are constantly moving. Only one-tenth of an iceberg is visible above water. Imagine how big that thing is!
Mother Nature proved that point about 15 minutes later, as we circled the biggest berg from a distance...
...we saw a large crack on the one end.
Seconds later, that piece - as large as our house and weighing tons, because the ice is so dense - broke off and hit the water. It would have crushed the kayakers. "We'd be pulling their bodies out," the one Coast Guard worker said. He also told us that he had recently seen a man walking on an iceberg ... with his dog. Some people are just plain dumb.
Cape Spear is the most easterly point in North America. Next stop - Ireland!We saw it from the ocean, then visited it by land a few days later.
Icebergs may be dangerous up close, but they certainly have a beauty to them.
We stopped to admire a statue honouring those who have died in various battles.
Once again, I thought of John Hanlon, and the experiences he must have had fighting for our freedom.
This beautiful wall mural depicting some of the colourfulness of St. John's, Newfoundland. 
July 12, 2014
Beautiful St. John's, Newfoundland - Part 1
In early June, I was pleased to represent the board and membership of Saskatchewan Publishers Group/SaskBooks at the annual meeting and professional development sessions of the Association of Canadian Publishers in beautiful St. John's, Newfoundland. (To see what I learned there, read my blog - Hug A Canadian Book Publisher Today!)
My husband/DriverWorks Ink publishing partner Al Driver came with me to St. John's, so we could have a little vacation at the end of the meetings.
What a gorgeous city and province!
Our first view of St. John's was from our taxi ride to our hotel. The hills, rock and bountiful trees were a welcome sight to this girl raised in the forested area of central Alberta.
The street-level mural in front of these colourful houses stopped us in our tracks several times as we walked by, enjoying the history of this, Canada's oldest city.
Downtown St. John's is known for its brightly coloured, historic rowhouses that are all referred to as 'Jellybean Row'. (There is no specific street by this name.)
The CBC-TV series 'The Republic of Doyle' has made these rowhouses even more popular. We were stopped one day by a women who asked us to take a photo for her and her husband as they stood by one of the bright blue rowhouses near our hotel. She was excited when we said we would. "I just love Republic of Doyle and I've been sick on this vacation and I really needed to see this before I go home tomorrow!"
The rowhouses can be seen on local mailboxes...
as the subjects of local art (we saw this one in a gallery window) ...
and as knick knacks for tourists.
Look at the above picture again.Do you see the 'Newfoundland chain saw?' That cracked me up!
And of course, this is why I was in St. John's - to attend the ACP meetings. Various hotels, restaurants and shops displayed these welcome signs in their windows. I wish our city would do something this more often to welcome travellers and conventions. It's an easy, wonderful way to welcome guests when you aren't physically in their presence. Hey - I was so pleased that I took a photo of this sign!
On the first night, we attended a welcome reception hosted by four local publishers - Creative Book Publishing, Breakwater Books Ltd., Boulder Publications, and Flanker Press. The Screech Room in the historic Masonic Temple in downtown St. John's boasted this great sign above its door. Strangely, we did not sample screech or kiss the cod during our trip, but we did enjoy a few other local treats.
We enjoyed the music of local singer-songwriter Pamela Morgan...
the storytelling of author Andy Jones...
and the music of local artists Duane Andrews and Craig Young.
Oh, and I LOVED the fish and chips in Newfoundland! A little too much. By Day Three, I'd had cod and chips four times! Overdoing it, maybe?Well - two were intentional and two were not. I enjoyed the tasty cod and chips dish above on our first two evenings there, from the Duke of Duckworth pub (the best fish and chips in St. John's, we were told). On my third day in St. John's, cod and chips was served as the lunch during the conference. Who knew? That evening, Al and I ordered crabs' legs at a restaurant to celebrate his birthday, then were told they ran out of crab. We were a bit astounded by that, but what can you do? We ordered a seafood platter - which included ... you guessed it - cod! Mmmm good!
What were some other meals we enjoyed, you ask?
Seafood chowder with huge chunks of local salmon in it.
Seafood au gratin. Unbelievably wonderful.
And touton - a local treat that tastes like french toast combined with a donut. The locals eat this with molasses, and we did try that - see our sample of molasses on the right side of the plate. We enjoy syrup more than molasses, though, so we devoured this tasty treat with syrup. We were told that touton came from what is left of the bread dough when making loaves of bread. They fry it up and enjoy.
Maritimers kept encouraging us to try cod tongues, which look like little balls of deep-fried cod, but we were admittedly cowardly about that. Just as I've never tasted prairie oysters (bull testicles which are considered a delicacy in some Western Canadian restaurants), I wasn't interested in tasting the real tongues of Maritime cod either.
The American Hockey League St. John's IceCaps were playing the first game of the finals one night, and these avid fans were encouraging passing motorists to come into the game - or at least honk their horns in support of the team!There wasn't much danger that these enthusiastic fans would be hit by the traffic while on the boulevard. We found St. John's motorists to be overwhelmingly gracious in stopping as soon as a pedestrian might even be thinking of crossing the street at a corner. Apparently, there are serious fines in St. John's for not stopping for pedestrians at an intersection. There are in other cities, too. People in St. John's actually obey those rules, though!
A sign in a shop window. Heh heh heh.
The view from our hotel window in downtown St. John's on our first night there. It rained a bit the second evening of our trip, but then turned sunny and warm for the remainder of our stay in St. John's.
Here's Al, reading the sign for Angel's Corner, which reminds everyone they have a role to play in ending violence and abuse against women.
Oh! Al caught a big one!
Stay tuned for St. John's and area - part 2.
My husband/DriverWorks Ink publishing partner Al Driver came with me to St. John's, so we could have a little vacation at the end of the meetings.
What a gorgeous city and province!
Our first view of St. John's was from our taxi ride to our hotel. The hills, rock and bountiful trees were a welcome sight to this girl raised in the forested area of central Alberta.
The street-level mural in front of these colourful houses stopped us in our tracks several times as we walked by, enjoying the history of this, Canada's oldest city.Downtown St. John's is known for its brightly coloured, historic rowhouses that are all referred to as 'Jellybean Row'. (There is no specific street by this name.)
The CBC-TV series 'The Republic of Doyle' has made these rowhouses even more popular. We were stopped one day by a women who asked us to take a photo for her and her husband as they stood by one of the bright blue rowhouses near our hotel. She was excited when we said we would. "I just love Republic of Doyle and I've been sick on this vacation and I really needed to see this before I go home tomorrow!"
The rowhouses can be seen on local mailboxes...
as the subjects of local art (we saw this one in a gallery window) ...
and as knick knacks for tourists.Look at the above picture again.Do you see the 'Newfoundland chain saw?' That cracked me up!
And of course, this is why I was in St. John's - to attend the ACP meetings. Various hotels, restaurants and shops displayed these welcome signs in their windows. I wish our city would do something this more often to welcome travellers and conventions. It's an easy, wonderful way to welcome guests when you aren't physically in their presence. Hey - I was so pleased that I took a photo of this sign!
On the first night, we attended a welcome reception hosted by four local publishers - Creative Book Publishing, Breakwater Books Ltd., Boulder Publications, and Flanker Press. The Screech Room in the historic Masonic Temple in downtown St. John's boasted this great sign above its door. Strangely, we did not sample screech or kiss the cod during our trip, but we did enjoy a few other local treats.
We enjoyed the music of local singer-songwriter Pamela Morgan...
the storytelling of author Andy Jones...
and the music of local artists Duane Andrews and Craig Young.
Oh, and I LOVED the fish and chips in Newfoundland! A little too much. By Day Three, I'd had cod and chips four times! Overdoing it, maybe?Well - two were intentional and two were not. I enjoyed the tasty cod and chips dish above on our first two evenings there, from the Duke of Duckworth pub (the best fish and chips in St. John's, we were told). On my third day in St. John's, cod and chips was served as the lunch during the conference. Who knew? That evening, Al and I ordered crabs' legs at a restaurant to celebrate his birthday, then were told they ran out of crab. We were a bit astounded by that, but what can you do? We ordered a seafood platter - which included ... you guessed it - cod! Mmmm good! What were some other meals we enjoyed, you ask?
Seafood chowder with huge chunks of local salmon in it.
Seafood au gratin. Unbelievably wonderful. 
And touton - a local treat that tastes like french toast combined with a donut. The locals eat this with molasses, and we did try that - see our sample of molasses on the right side of the plate. We enjoy syrup more than molasses, though, so we devoured this tasty treat with syrup. We were told that touton came from what is left of the bread dough when making loaves of bread. They fry it up and enjoy.Maritimers kept encouraging us to try cod tongues, which look like little balls of deep-fried cod, but we were admittedly cowardly about that. Just as I've never tasted prairie oysters (bull testicles which are considered a delicacy in some Western Canadian restaurants), I wasn't interested in tasting the real tongues of Maritime cod either.
The American Hockey League St. John's IceCaps were playing the first game of the finals one night, and these avid fans were encouraging passing motorists to come into the game - or at least honk their horns in support of the team!There wasn't much danger that these enthusiastic fans would be hit by the traffic while on the boulevard. We found St. John's motorists to be overwhelmingly gracious in stopping as soon as a pedestrian might even be thinking of crossing the street at a corner. Apparently, there are serious fines in St. John's for not stopping for pedestrians at an intersection. There are in other cities, too. People in St. John's actually obey those rules, though!
A sign in a shop window. Heh heh heh.
The view from our hotel window in downtown St. John's on our first night there. It rained a bit the second evening of our trip, but then turned sunny and warm for the remainder of our stay in St. John's.
Here's Al, reading the sign for Angel's Corner, which reminds everyone they have a role to play in ending violence and abuse against women.
Oh! Al caught a big one!Stay tuned for St. John's and area - part 2.
July 4, 2014
Radio Book Club podcast on writing and self-publishing
Have you ever wondered what would lead a Canadian journalist to become an author and book publisher? Well, here's your chance to find out how that happened for me.
Grab a snack and a beverage, then sit back and listen to this 26-minute podcast of a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Radio Book Club interview.
I talk about my 35-year career as a writer; my 13-year career as an author and self-publisher/publisher; three of the five non-fiction books I've written (two of which are pictured below); our DriverWorks Ink publishing company; how prospective authors can bring their manuscripts to us for self-publishing services and advice; and near the end of the interview, I offer some tips to aspiring writers and authors.
I hope you enjoy the interview but more importantly, that you learn something from it.
My work seems to be leading me more and more into an aspect of teaching and helping people either help themselves or help others by sharing their stories. Sometimes that means that they are the author of their book. Sometimes, someone else writes their story, as I did with Never Leave Your Wingman, about amazing seven-time cancer survivor Dionne Warner and her wingman husband Graham Warner.
I believe that we can all learn from and teach others, and we all can benefit from being nurtured spiritually, emotionally and mentally. In the toughest of situations, we Prairie people in particular stick together. Through humour and love, we can heal.
What a fun job I have!
After you listen to the podcast, please let me know what you think.
Did I answer all YOUR questions?
What else would you like to know?
I hope to hear from you...
These are three of the four books I spoke about in the interview: ( Just a Bunch of Farmers is out of print, but available from Weyburn Inland Terminal.)
June 20, 2014
Hug a Canadian Book Publisher Today
Last week, I was privileged to represent the Saskatchewan Publishers Group at the annual general meeting and professional development sessions of the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP), in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Yep. In ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND! I'll blog about that amazingly scenic place later ... but today's blog is about the Canadian book publishing industry.
So at these meetings, I learned a lot of stuff (and shared some information from Saskatchewan) about what's happening - and not happening, unfortunately - in the Canadian publishing industry these days.
What's happening is a continued optimism from the women and men who put their heart, souls, funds and faith into publishing Canadian-made books on a day-to-day basis.
A public opinion poll shows that four out of five Canadians read regularly. They read based on the author, the title, and then whether the book has been recommended to them. (So THANK YOU to all our customers who follow our DriverWorks Ink authors and recommend our books to other readers!)
What's not happening is the bazillion dollars in income that we all hope and pray will some day be ours as book publishers - or at least enough income to continue to pay the bills as we strive to share the written work that is so important to us, our authors, and our country's culture. Bookstores are closing; the market is tighter than it's ever been; we worry about multinationals purchasing our one remaining national bookstore chain; e-books aren't the panacea that some thought they might be; publishers are aging; and we just can't seem to get schools and libraries to take notice of and purchase our Canadian-authored-and-published books!
Oh - and the public doesn't seem to be aware of Canadian books. Or Canadian publishers.
That made me sad.
Al and I spend a LOT of time on the road, visiting various communities across the Prairie provinces and talking about our DriverWorks Ink books, written by Prairie authors (including me). We can't count the number of times that people have come up to us at a trade show and stated:
"I didn't know there were books published in Saskatchewan.""I've never met an author before." (They meant me or one of our other authors who sometimes attend trade shows or other events with us.)"I've never met a publisher before. How do you do that?" (They meant publish books, not sit at a trade show booth - although that can be exhausting work at times, too.)So either these potential readers have not been paying attention or we Canadian publishers aren't doing a good enough job of getting the word out there about our work and our authors' work. Or maybe a little of both.
The research shows that "publishers are not a strong part of the Canadian public consciousness," we were told at the ACP meeting. "Readers are more worried about authors being paid."
As an author who has been a 'not-quite-starving but often severely underpaid' freelance journalist for decades, I'm okay with the second part of that information. I'm glad that people who read in Canada are concerned that those who write the words should be paid a fair amount for their work. Canadian publishers are okay with that, too. We value our authors, and we pay them according to industry standards. In most cases, these writers are our friends. In many cases, these writers are us!
As an author AND a publisher, I'm disappointed that readers have not made the connection between those who write the work and the people who put that work into a publishable format for readers to enjoy. We work together with our authors to produce quality books. And I can promise you that in the next while, you're going to hear more from Canadian publishers about our important role in getting Canadian-authored and Canadian-published books into your hands, and some of the challenges we face in achieving that goal.
In Saskatchewan alone, we have more than 50 publishers who are members of the Saskatchewan Publishers Group, aka SaskBooks. DriverWorks Ink is one of those members. We at DriverWorks Ink sell our books on our own website (we have 16 titles at present and will be publishing more this fall), as well as through various physical stores, at trade shows, through the SaskBooks site and more. Search our books online by title or author and seven of our books will pop up with various e-book vendors as well!
Here's some great information about book publishers in Saskatchewan, including the fact that there are about 100 new books are produced each year in Saskatchewan alone by Saskatchewan publishers.
At the Association of Canadian Publishers meeting, we heard that there are more than 75,000 Canadian-authored books listed on 49th Shelf, which is a project of the ACP. Some of our DriverWorks Ink books are listed there, and we will be adding more of our titles to that site in the days ahead - so that more Canadian readers can find us. We recently listed our books on Amazon.ca - so there is another place you can find us!
Next time you pick up a book, I encourage you to look a little closer at it. Check the second page - the one with the copyright information on it - and see who wrote the book, who put it together, where it was printed, and all those other fun details that you may never have cared about before.
Most importantly, READ CANADIAN - as the wonderful little lapel pin below says.
And Hug A Canadian Publisher Today.
Lord knows we could use a hug!
Yep. In ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND! I'll blog about that amazingly scenic place later ... but today's blog is about the Canadian book publishing industry.
So at these meetings, I learned a lot of stuff (and shared some information from Saskatchewan) about what's happening - and not happening, unfortunately - in the Canadian publishing industry these days.
What's happening is a continued optimism from the women and men who put their heart, souls, funds and faith into publishing Canadian-made books on a day-to-day basis.
A public opinion poll shows that four out of five Canadians read regularly. They read based on the author, the title, and then whether the book has been recommended to them. (So THANK YOU to all our customers who follow our DriverWorks Ink authors and recommend our books to other readers!)
What's not happening is the bazillion dollars in income that we all hope and pray will some day be ours as book publishers - or at least enough income to continue to pay the bills as we strive to share the written work that is so important to us, our authors, and our country's culture. Bookstores are closing; the market is tighter than it's ever been; we worry about multinationals purchasing our one remaining national bookstore chain; e-books aren't the panacea that some thought they might be; publishers are aging; and we just can't seem to get schools and libraries to take notice of and purchase our Canadian-authored-and-published books!
Oh - and the public doesn't seem to be aware of Canadian books. Or Canadian publishers.
That made me sad.
Al and I spend a LOT of time on the road, visiting various communities across the Prairie provinces and talking about our DriverWorks Ink books, written by Prairie authors (including me). We can't count the number of times that people have come up to us at a trade show and stated:
"I didn't know there were books published in Saskatchewan.""I've never met an author before." (They meant me or one of our other authors who sometimes attend trade shows or other events with us.)"I've never met a publisher before. How do you do that?" (They meant publish books, not sit at a trade show booth - although that can be exhausting work at times, too.)So either these potential readers have not been paying attention or we Canadian publishers aren't doing a good enough job of getting the word out there about our work and our authors' work. Or maybe a little of both.
The research shows that "publishers are not a strong part of the Canadian public consciousness," we were told at the ACP meeting. "Readers are more worried about authors being paid."
As an author who has been a 'not-quite-starving but often severely underpaid' freelance journalist for decades, I'm okay with the second part of that information. I'm glad that people who read in Canada are concerned that those who write the words should be paid a fair amount for their work. Canadian publishers are okay with that, too. We value our authors, and we pay them according to industry standards. In most cases, these writers are our friends. In many cases, these writers are us!
As an author AND a publisher, I'm disappointed that readers have not made the connection between those who write the work and the people who put that work into a publishable format for readers to enjoy. We work together with our authors to produce quality books. And I can promise you that in the next while, you're going to hear more from Canadian publishers about our important role in getting Canadian-authored and Canadian-published books into your hands, and some of the challenges we face in achieving that goal.
In Saskatchewan alone, we have more than 50 publishers who are members of the Saskatchewan Publishers Group, aka SaskBooks. DriverWorks Ink is one of those members. We at DriverWorks Ink sell our books on our own website (we have 16 titles at present and will be publishing more this fall), as well as through various physical stores, at trade shows, through the SaskBooks site and more. Search our books online by title or author and seven of our books will pop up with various e-book vendors as well!
Here's some great information about book publishers in Saskatchewan, including the fact that there are about 100 new books are produced each year in Saskatchewan alone by Saskatchewan publishers.
At the Association of Canadian Publishers meeting, we heard that there are more than 75,000 Canadian-authored books listed on 49th Shelf, which is a project of the ACP. Some of our DriverWorks Ink books are listed there, and we will be adding more of our titles to that site in the days ahead - so that more Canadian readers can find us. We recently listed our books on Amazon.ca - so there is another place you can find us!
Next time you pick up a book, I encourage you to look a little closer at it. Check the second page - the one with the copyright information on it - and see who wrote the book, who put it together, where it was printed, and all those other fun details that you may never have cared about before.
Most importantly, READ CANADIAN - as the wonderful little lapel pin below says.
And Hug A Canadian Publisher Today.
Lord knows we could use a hug!
June 1, 2014
Tug For Tatas on Cancer Survivors Day
The weather might have been cloudy with the threat of rain, but it was all sunshine-like smiles on the faces of those who pulled a semi-truck and trailer today at Tug For Tatas in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada - at a cancer awareness fundraiser on National Cancer Survivors Day.
Don't you just love the cake? The ribbons represent the colours of cancer.
Yes, these are the people who organized this event - to raise funds for Breast Cancer Action Saskatchewan (BCAS).
This was the second Tug For Tatas event they've held, and I was honoured to be invited to both of these fun(d)raisers. As I said in my blog about the 2012 Tug For Tatas, Tug For Tatas is the brainchild of Tracy Thompson, owner/manager of two Curves fitness centres in Regina. Tug For Tatas 2012 invited teams of women to show their strength by pulling (tugging) a semi-truck and trailer 100 yards. Thompson and Sandi Ellert Day, the owner/manager of the other two Curves fitness centres in Regina, enthusiastically worked together on the project.
Jill Collins, president of BCAS, welcomed participants to this year's event with Tracy Thompson of Curves Regina fitness outlets on Jill's right. (The camera lies. Tracy's jacket is pink, not purple.)
So while the teams were registering, I set up a table to show off our
Never Leave Your Wingman
book, about our favourite eight-time cancer survivor Dionne Warner ... and I was reminiscing about how the semi-truck driver in 2012 was Graham Warner of Warner Industries (and Dionne's husband and wingman, of course) ...
...when all of a sudden, Graham came around the corner and surprised the heck out of me! I thought he was supposed to be out of town (his plans changed, he said), so I was pleased to see him at this event, once again donating his time and the use of a Warner Industries semi and trailer for the cause. Thank you, Graham!
And then ... I convinced Graham that he and I should take advantage of the photo booth set up for survivors and everyone else who wanted to post their pictures on the National Cancer Survivors Day board (see top photo).
Graham's a good sport - as you will know by reading the Wingman book - so off we went to the photo booth...
And this was the result.
Oh, yes. We grabbed a couple of props for the occasion.What? Did you think we always wear these hats? Well, okay. Graham might - when it's time for Dionne's chemo treatment and she tells him what outfit she has lined up for him that day. But that's another story - the Never Leave Your Wingman story, to be exact.
But now back to Tug For Tatas.
The teams went outside, in front of the Conexus Arts Centre beside Wascana Creek, and warmed up with a little Zumba.
Then the teams took turns trying to pull the 47,000-pound semi and trailer the distance of 100 yards.Graham's job was to sit behind the wheel, put the truck in neutral, honk the horn when the teams were to start pulling, steer the truck straight during the pull, honk the horn when the teams got the truck to the 100-yard mark, then skilfully back up the big beast of a truck-trailer to the starting line again.
And he did a fine job. See?
What? You can't see him?
There he is!
So let's get this party started.
Curves Regina's Tracy Thompson took control of the microphone when Big Dog 92.7 radio staff grabbed the rope and took a turn at the challenge.
This is where the challenge began.
Teams pulled ...
... and pulled ...
... and pulled ...
... using all their might ...
... while enjoying the 'tatas holders' attached to the front of the semi.
This year, there were co-ed teams, which added a whole new level of pulling to the event.
Everyone's affected by this disease, and it was great to see men out there lending their strength and support on Cancer Survivors Day.
Members of Breast Cancer Action Saskatchewan got in on the fun with their own team. Well done, ladies!
After all the teams had pulled, the call went up to see how 'few' people could pull the semi. This trio of men was up for the challenge.
And this was the goal - pulling the semi to the 100-yard marker. Every team did it! And every team was cheered on as they worked their way toward that finish line.
But wait.The event was not over.Members of Regina's finest - female Regina City Police officers - arrived to lend their might to the cause.
But first, a photo opp for the police women with semi-truck driver (and our favourite wingman) Graham Warner, and Curves Regina's Sandi Ellert Day and Tracy Thompson.
Okay. Now you can pull, ladies!
And pull they did! Good job! (They made it look easy.)
And here are the winning teams - with Tracy Thompson and Jill Collins:
The ladies' team.
The co-ed team (minus some members who had to leave early).
And the best-dressed team. Nice tutus, folks.
They called themselves #boobs (Hashtag Boobs). Fun, huh?
So a good time was had by all.More cancer awareness happened.Cancer survivors were celebrated.Money was raised for a worthy charity. And finally ...
The rain stayed away until everyone was on their way home.
Good job, Tug For Tatas! We'll see you next time!
Don't you just love the cake? The ribbons represent the colours of cancer.
Yes, these are the people who organized this event - to raise funds for Breast Cancer Action Saskatchewan (BCAS). This was the second Tug For Tatas event they've held, and I was honoured to be invited to both of these fun(d)raisers. As I said in my blog about the 2012 Tug For Tatas, Tug For Tatas is the brainchild of Tracy Thompson, owner/manager of two Curves fitness centres in Regina. Tug For Tatas 2012 invited teams of women to show their strength by pulling (tugging) a semi-truck and trailer 100 yards. Thompson and Sandi Ellert Day, the owner/manager of the other two Curves fitness centres in Regina, enthusiastically worked together on the project.
Jill Collins, president of BCAS, welcomed participants to this year's event with Tracy Thompson of Curves Regina fitness outlets on Jill's right. (The camera lies. Tracy's jacket is pink, not purple.)
So while the teams were registering, I set up a table to show off our
Never Leave Your Wingman
book, about our favourite eight-time cancer survivor Dionne Warner ... and I was reminiscing about how the semi-truck driver in 2012 was Graham Warner of Warner Industries (and Dionne's husband and wingman, of course) ......when all of a sudden, Graham came around the corner and surprised the heck out of me! I thought he was supposed to be out of town (his plans changed, he said), so I was pleased to see him at this event, once again donating his time and the use of a Warner Industries semi and trailer for the cause. Thank you, Graham!
And then ... I convinced Graham that he and I should take advantage of the photo booth set up for survivors and everyone else who wanted to post their pictures on the National Cancer Survivors Day board (see top photo).
Graham's a good sport - as you will know by reading the Wingman book - so off we went to the photo booth...
And this was the result.
Oh, yes. We grabbed a couple of props for the occasion.What? Did you think we always wear these hats? Well, okay. Graham might - when it's time for Dionne's chemo treatment and she tells him what outfit she has lined up for him that day. But that's another story - the Never Leave Your Wingman story, to be exact.
But now back to Tug For Tatas.
The teams went outside, in front of the Conexus Arts Centre beside Wascana Creek, and warmed up with a little Zumba. 
Then the teams took turns trying to pull the 47,000-pound semi and trailer the distance of 100 yards.Graham's job was to sit behind the wheel, put the truck in neutral, honk the horn when the teams were to start pulling, steer the truck straight during the pull, honk the horn when the teams got the truck to the 100-yard mark, then skilfully back up the big beast of a truck-trailer to the starting line again.And he did a fine job. See?
What? You can't see him?
There he is!
So let's get this party started.
Curves Regina's Tracy Thompson took control of the microphone when Big Dog 92.7 radio staff grabbed the rope and took a turn at the challenge.
This is where the challenge began.
Teams pulled ...
... and pulled ...
... and pulled ...
... using all their might ...
... while enjoying the 'tatas holders' attached to the front of the semi.
This year, there were co-ed teams, which added a whole new level of pulling to the event.
Everyone's affected by this disease, and it was great to see men out there lending their strength and support on Cancer Survivors Day.
Members of Breast Cancer Action Saskatchewan got in on the fun with their own team. Well done, ladies!
After all the teams had pulled, the call went up to see how 'few' people could pull the semi. This trio of men was up for the challenge.
And this was the goal - pulling the semi to the 100-yard marker. Every team did it! And every team was cheered on as they worked their way toward that finish line.But wait.The event was not over.Members of Regina's finest - female Regina City Police officers - arrived to lend their might to the cause.
But first, a photo opp for the police women with semi-truck driver (and our favourite wingman) Graham Warner, and Curves Regina's Sandi Ellert Day and Tracy Thompson.
Okay. Now you can pull, ladies!
And pull they did! Good job! (They made it look easy.)And here are the winning teams - with Tracy Thompson and Jill Collins:
The ladies' team.
The co-ed team (minus some members who had to leave early).
And the best-dressed team. Nice tutus, folks. They called themselves #boobs (Hashtag Boobs). Fun, huh?
So a good time was had by all.More cancer awareness happened.Cancer survivors were celebrated.Money was raised for a worthy charity. And finally ...
The rain stayed away until everyone was on their way home.Good job, Tug For Tatas! We'll see you next time!
May 13, 2014
Kids love the SuperMom and the Big Baby book
"Hi, guys! How are you?" asks author Dave Driver of the Grades 1 to 4 students at Elsie Mironuck School in Regina, Saskatchewan.
'Fine,' mumble a few students.
"Good," a few others reply.
"Oh, you can do better than that," says Dave. "Let's try that again. Hi, guys. How are you?"
"GOOD!" yells the room full of students.
"Shhhhhh. This is a library!" whispers Dave with a smile on his face.
The students giggle.
And their time with the author begins.
Dave tells them that his wife Kelli talks in her sleep and that he wrote down some of the silly phrases she said.
After he had collected a lot of odd sayings, he used his imagination and created a funny story about his family, including his wife and their two sons.
The story has a beginning, a problem or conflict, and an ending in which the hero solves the problem, he tells the students. They sit quietly as he begins to read his book.
"Once upon a time, there was a normal family of a mom, a dad and two children...
"Mom and Dad called to Easton, but Easton thought it was a game and ran away down the street... Everyone on the street was scared...Mom and Dad had to think fast. What would they do?"
The students listened to the rest of the story, smiling and giggling, and laughing in spots.
At the end of the reading, they asked Dave about his book and whether he would write a sequel. (Yes - children in Grade 4 know the meaning of the word 'sequel'.)
"Well, my wife still talks in her sleep," Dave replied. "Do you have any suggestions for what the next book should be called?"
"SuperDad and the Middle Child," suggested one boy.
"Are you the middle child in your family?" Dave asked.
Nod.
"SuperMom and the Missing Tooth," said another listener.
"Interesting," said Dave.
"SuperBaby."
"Just SuperBaby? By himself?"
"Yes."
"SuperMom and the Big Rat."
"Whoa! That would be scary. A big rat running down the street. Everyone would be scared!"
Smiles from the creative child.
"SuperMom and the Mermaid," offered another student.
"Hmmm... I'm not sure how SuperMom would meet a mermaid, but thank you for your suggestions," said Dave.
As the students began filing back to their classrooms, one young boy asked Dave if he could look through the book.
"They liked it," confided one of the teachers. "You could tell... That student is not usually engaged in anything."
Then another couple youngsters asked to look through the book.
We all left the reading with smiles on our faces.
'Fine,' mumble a few students.
"Good," a few others reply."Oh, you can do better than that," says Dave. "Let's try that again. Hi, guys. How are you?"
"GOOD!" yells the room full of students.
"Shhhhhh. This is a library!" whispers Dave with a smile on his face.
The students giggle.
And their time with the author begins.
Dave tells them that his wife Kelli talks in her sleep and that he wrote down some of the silly phrases she said.
After he had collected a lot of odd sayings, he used his imagination and created a funny story about his family, including his wife and their two sons.
The story has a beginning, a problem or conflict, and an ending in which the hero solves the problem, he tells the students. They sit quietly as he begins to read his book.
"Once upon a time, there was a normal family of a mom, a dad and two children...
"Mom and Dad called to Easton, but Easton thought it was a game and ran away down the street... Everyone on the street was scared...Mom and Dad had to think fast. What would they do?"
The students listened to the rest of the story, smiling and giggling, and laughing in spots.
At the end of the reading, they asked Dave about his book and whether he would write a sequel. (Yes - children in Grade 4 know the meaning of the word 'sequel'.)
"Well, my wife still talks in her sleep," Dave replied. "Do you have any suggestions for what the next book should be called?""SuperDad and the Middle Child," suggested one boy.
"Are you the middle child in your family?" Dave asked.
Nod.
"SuperMom and the Missing Tooth," said another listener.
"Interesting," said Dave.
"SuperBaby."
"Just SuperBaby? By himself?"
"Yes."
"SuperMom and the Big Rat."
"Whoa! That would be scary. A big rat running down the street. Everyone would be scared!"
Smiles from the creative child.
"SuperMom and the Mermaid," offered another student.
"Hmmm... I'm not sure how SuperMom would meet a mermaid, but thank you for your suggestions," said Dave.
As the students began filing back to their classrooms, one young boy asked Dave if he could look through the book.
"They liked it," confided one of the teachers. "You could tell... That student is not usually engaged in anything."
Then another couple youngsters asked to look through the book.
We all left the reading with smiles on our faces.April 25, 2014
Q & A with Naicam School students' cards - 2
In November 2013, we visited Naicam School in central Saskatchewan, and I talked about my writing and publishing career. We recently received thank-you cards from the Grade 6 students. I posted some of them in my previous blog. Here are the rest of the cards - in no particular order - and my answers to the students' questions.
Wow. Thank you for your compliments! Many of our books are inspiring, and I am glad that you liked hearing about Dionne Warner's story of fighting cancer with a costume and a laugh. She is a wonderful, fun-loving, inspiring person, and I am so pleased to have written
Never Leave Your Wingman
about Dionne and her fun-loving, caring husband Graham. Almost everyone is touched by cancer these days, and I am pleased to give some of Dionne's hope to those I meet in my travels. As Dionne would say, "Let's Keep Hope Alive!" And thank you for the great drawings on the front of your card. They made me smile. Good artwork!
I'm sorry that you weren't able to be at my presentation, but thank you for writing anyway. I did have fun talking with your classmates and I am glad to hear that they it was very good. I live in Regina, Saskatchewan, and have written five books. All of them are true stories. I am happy that you are enjoying the bookmark and I am sure that you will love Letters to Jennifer From Maudie & Oliver by Sharon Gray. The author did a great job of writing those letters as though they were written by the cats. The letters are funny, silly, and often heart-warming. They're perfect for your age group.
I really enjoyed reading your card. It sounds like you love learning, whether it be history or other topics. That makes me happy. It is so important to read and learn from what you've read. Did you know that both the books you mentioned -
The Sailor and the Christmas Trees
and
The Little Coat
focus on events that happened on the same day in time - December 25, 1944? How crazy is that?
I am happy to hear that I may have influenced some children to become writers when they're older. My mom was the person who encouraged me to start writing when I was about eight years old. It's never too young to start writing. You can do it for your whole life. You sound like you are already a writer. Keep it up! Maybe I will read some of your published work some day!
Well, there you go. That's the reason that I come to schools and speak about our books - to encourage students to write, write, write! I hope you do write your own books. And I hope you also inspire people - if not in your writing, in your everyday life. Thank you for your kind words.
Thank you, again, to all of you Grade 6 students at Naicam School for these kind thank-you cards.
I'm putting all your cards in my 'Smile File' - a special file I have in my office that I created to cheer me up on days when I am tired, upset or anxious about something.
I hope we meet again. Maybe on my next trip to Naicam...
Take care, everyone.
Wow. Thank you for your compliments! Many of our books are inspiring, and I am glad that you liked hearing about Dionne Warner's story of fighting cancer with a costume and a laugh. She is a wonderful, fun-loving, inspiring person, and I am so pleased to have written
Never Leave Your Wingman
about Dionne and her fun-loving, caring husband Graham. Almost everyone is touched by cancer these days, and I am pleased to give some of Dionne's hope to those I meet in my travels. As Dionne would say, "Let's Keep Hope Alive!" And thank you for the great drawings on the front of your card. They made me smile. Good artwork!
I'm sorry that you weren't able to be at my presentation, but thank you for writing anyway. I did have fun talking with your classmates and I am glad to hear that they it was very good. I live in Regina, Saskatchewan, and have written five books. All of them are true stories. I am happy that you are enjoying the bookmark and I am sure that you will love Letters to Jennifer From Maudie & Oliver by Sharon Gray. The author did a great job of writing those letters as though they were written by the cats. The letters are funny, silly, and often heart-warming. They're perfect for your age group.
I really enjoyed reading your card. It sounds like you love learning, whether it be history or other topics. That makes me happy. It is so important to read and learn from what you've read. Did you know that both the books you mentioned -
The Sailor and the Christmas Trees
and
The Little Coat
focus on events that happened on the same day in time - December 25, 1944? How crazy is that?I am happy to hear that I may have influenced some children to become writers when they're older. My mom was the person who encouraged me to start writing when I was about eight years old. It's never too young to start writing. You can do it for your whole life. You sound like you are already a writer. Keep it up! Maybe I will read some of your published work some day!
Well, there you go. That's the reason that I come to schools and speak about our books - to encourage students to write, write, write! I hope you do write your own books. And I hope you also inspire people - if not in your writing, in your everyday life. Thank you for your kind words.Thank you, again, to all of you Grade 6 students at Naicam School for these kind thank-you cards.
I'm putting all your cards in my 'Smile File' - a special file I have in my office that I created to cheer me up on days when I am tired, upset or anxious about something.
I hope we meet again. Maybe on my next trip to Naicam...
Take care, everyone.
April 24, 2014
Thank-you cards from Naicam School students - 1
I love doing author/publisher readings. It's fun to talk about something I am passionate about - writing and publishing, reading and literacy. I've spoken to audiences of all ages from kindergarten kids to senior citizens - in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. Every group has been interested in my writing and our publishing work. They've asked specific questions about the books I've written and the books that other authors have written and we've published.
But elementary school students are the most fun!
Their enthusiasm, interest, passion for learning, and love of life are absolutely infectious. You can't help but come away from those sessions rejuvenated and on a high that makes you want to run back to your office and publish more inspiring and funny books as fast as you can!
Which brings me to the reason for today's blog - Awesome Thank-You Cards from Grade 6 Students of Naicam School!
Last fall, we did a lot of travelling and talking about our books. Thanks to a one-time grant from the Creative Industries Transition Fund, through the Saskatchewan Arts Board, we made 62 presentations in 27 communities in the three Prairie Provinces. We spoke to 3,200 students and 150 adults at schools, libraries, seniors’ residences, bookstores and museums - not to mention the hundreds of people we met at trade and craft shows. It was amazing.
One day in November 2013, Al (my husband, and publisher partner in DriverWorks Ink) and I went to Naicam School, in the town of Naicam, Saskatchewan (east of Saskatoon and south of Melfort).
We spent the day at the school, and I made presentations to all the students, in four different groupings.
Here I'm speaking with the older grades.
And here I'm talking with the youngest group of students.
All the students at Naicam School were well-behaved, attentive, curious, and fun to chat with about the process of writing and the importance of reading and writing as tools for learning and a brighter future.
A few days ago, we received a package of handmade thank-you cards from the Grade 6 students. It had been misplaced at the school until recently, but the months that passed in between only meant we received a wonderful surprise in the mail, which reminded us again of the great time we had last fall!
At my presentations, I told the Naicam School students about my background as a farm kid growing up in Alberta, then moving to Saskatchewan in 1975 and working as a Canadian journalist and publisher since. I briefly mentioned the first two books I wrote - Just A Bunch of Farmers and Never Give Up - even though neither is available for sale any more, and I told them about my latest two non-fiction books, Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope and The Sailor and the Christmas Trees .
I also told the Grade 6 students about these titles, written by other authors and published by DriverWorks Ink, which might be of interest to their age group: The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story by Alan J. Buick Letters to Jennifer From Maudie & Oliver by Sharon Gray SuperMom and the Big Baby by Dave Driver
These are some of the thank-you cards (in no particular order) that we received from the Grade 6 students, followed by my answers to their questions:
Front of the card...
Inside of the card...
I am pleased that you are interested in Never Give Up: Ted Jaleta's Inspiring Story . It is the second of the five books I've written. Ted Jaleta is an amazing man. I am proud to say that he is now my friend because we grew so close when I wrote this book. There is so much that we can all learn from Ted, including the importance of getting an education, hanging out with positive people instead of those who are always negative, working hard towards the goals we set for ourselves, and appreciating what we have here in Canada. I hope you can borrow the book from a library either in your area or in some other region of Saskatchewan.
You must like living on a farm. We don't have any more copies of the Just A Bunch of Farmers book, but you might be able to borrow a copy through your local library. As you know from my presentation, I grew up on a farm near the town of Athabasca, Alberta, north of Edmonton. We didn't have red machinery when I was little. My dad bought only Case equipment, which was orange in colour, because my Uncle John owned the Case dealership in town. My brother owns the family farm now. He has machinery of all makes and colours, including a tractor that's red.
I love the drawings you made of four of our books. Good work! I also love the stationery you used to write your letter. Yay for book lovers! Thank you for enjoying
The Sailor and the Christmas Trees
. It is a nice, heart-warming story and I was happy to write it and share that story with the world. I do not have a favourite book of the five books that I've written. I like them all for different reasons.
Just A Bunch of Farmers
and
From The West to the World
share stories of fascinating entrepreneurs who built very successful companies on the Prairies.
Never Give Up
and
Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope
are stories of inspiring, remarkable people who can teach all of us so much about overcoming difficulties, leaving their troubles in the past and living life to the fullest every day with as much joy and passion as we can muster.
The Sailor and the Christmas Trees
is a nice story about something extraordinary that happened because of a rather simple act of a Canadian soldier during the war.
I was 45 years old when I wrote my first book. That might seem old but it really isn't for writing. We work with an author who wrote her first book when she was 70 years old. Isn't that neat? I hope you do write one or more books. It's fun and very rewarding when you see all that hard work end up in a printed book you can hold in your hands. I have a couple of ideas for books I would like to write some day, but I do not have any writing projects on the go at the moment.
Thank you for your card. I hope I was able to encourage you to keep on reading and writing. Find a type of book or magazine or newspaper that you like to read and keep on reading. It's a great way to learn, and to improve your vocabulary and your understanding of the world around you. I find that writing helps me to express myself. If I write something down - whether I'm happy, sad, confused, or just have a lot on my mind - it gets those thoughts out of my head and onto a piece of paper or into a computer document. Then I can release those thoughts and think about other things.
I am glad that you had fun in my presentation. I try not to make it boring for listeners.I do like farming but I have allergies, so the dust, hay and animals make it hard for me to spend too much time on a farm these days. I do like your card. You and your classmates made Al and I smile all day long as we looked at your wonderful thank-you cards. Thank you for taking the time to send a note of appreciation to us. It's really nice to hear from people who enjoyed my presentation and our books. Our authors work really hard to write great stories. We are so pleased to share their work with students in Saskatchewan and elsewhere.
Thank you for the nice compliments. I am pleased to hear from another student who is interested in the
Never Give Up
book. Ted Jaleta is an amazing man with an incredible, inspiring story. I have had to stop talking about that book because students immediately want to buy the book and we don't have any available for purchase. Maybe we'll print some more some day. You never know. Check with your library to see if they can order the Never Give Up book from another library in Saskatoon or Regina.
It sounds like you are a person who is eager to learn. That is a wonderful characteristic that will help you achieve great things as you grow older. Thank you for being interested in our books and stories of Prairie people. I am sure that you will enjoy
The Little Coat
because it is an inspiring true story about a 10-year-old girl who saved her father from a German firing squad and then met a Canadian soldier who helped save her family and country from Adolph Hitler's regime during the Second World War. It is a story with a happy ending, and those are always nice to read.
SuperMom and the Big Baby
definitely
is
a funny book. It's kind of like a Robert Munsch book in its silliness - and who doesn't love Robert Munsch?
Thank you again for your cards, Naicam School students. They put huge smiles on our faces!
I will post the rest of your wonderful thank-you cards, along with the rest of my answers to your questions, in my next blog. I'll talk to you soon!
Take care,
Deana Driver
But elementary school students are the most fun!
Their enthusiasm, interest, passion for learning, and love of life are absolutely infectious. You can't help but come away from those sessions rejuvenated and on a high that makes you want to run back to your office and publish more inspiring and funny books as fast as you can!
Which brings me to the reason for today's blog - Awesome Thank-You Cards from Grade 6 Students of Naicam School!
Last fall, we did a lot of travelling and talking about our books. Thanks to a one-time grant from the Creative Industries Transition Fund, through the Saskatchewan Arts Board, we made 62 presentations in 27 communities in the three Prairie Provinces. We spoke to 3,200 students and 150 adults at schools, libraries, seniors’ residences, bookstores and museums - not to mention the hundreds of people we met at trade and craft shows. It was amazing.
One day in November 2013, Al (my husband, and publisher partner in DriverWorks Ink) and I went to Naicam School, in the town of Naicam, Saskatchewan (east of Saskatoon and south of Melfort).
We spent the day at the school, and I made presentations to all the students, in four different groupings.
Here I'm speaking with the older grades.
And here I'm talking with the youngest group of students.All the students at Naicam School were well-behaved, attentive, curious, and fun to chat with about the process of writing and the importance of reading and writing as tools for learning and a brighter future.
A few days ago, we received a package of handmade thank-you cards from the Grade 6 students. It had been misplaced at the school until recently, but the months that passed in between only meant we received a wonderful surprise in the mail, which reminded us again of the great time we had last fall!
At my presentations, I told the Naicam School students about my background as a farm kid growing up in Alberta, then moving to Saskatchewan in 1975 and working as a Canadian journalist and publisher since. I briefly mentioned the first two books I wrote - Just A Bunch of Farmers and Never Give Up - even though neither is available for sale any more, and I told them about my latest two non-fiction books, Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope and The Sailor and the Christmas Trees .
I also told the Grade 6 students about these titles, written by other authors and published by DriverWorks Ink, which might be of interest to their age group: The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story by Alan J. Buick Letters to Jennifer From Maudie & Oliver by Sharon Gray SuperMom and the Big Baby by Dave Driver
These are some of the thank-you cards (in no particular order) that we received from the Grade 6 students, followed by my answers to their questions:
Front of the card...
Inside of the card...
I am pleased that you are interested in Never Give Up: Ted Jaleta's Inspiring Story . It is the second of the five books I've written. Ted Jaleta is an amazing man. I am proud to say that he is now my friend because we grew so close when I wrote this book. There is so much that we can all learn from Ted, including the importance of getting an education, hanging out with positive people instead of those who are always negative, working hard towards the goals we set for ourselves, and appreciating what we have here in Canada. I hope you can borrow the book from a library either in your area or in some other region of Saskatchewan.
You must like living on a farm. We don't have any more copies of the Just A Bunch of Farmers book, but you might be able to borrow a copy through your local library. As you know from my presentation, I grew up on a farm near the town of Athabasca, Alberta, north of Edmonton. We didn't have red machinery when I was little. My dad bought only Case equipment, which was orange in colour, because my Uncle John owned the Case dealership in town. My brother owns the family farm now. He has machinery of all makes and colours, including a tractor that's red.
I love the drawings you made of four of our books. Good work! I also love the stationery you used to write your letter. Yay for book lovers! Thank you for enjoying
The Sailor and the Christmas Trees
. It is a nice, heart-warming story and I was happy to write it and share that story with the world. I do not have a favourite book of the five books that I've written. I like them all for different reasons.
Just A Bunch of Farmers
and
From The West to the World
share stories of fascinating entrepreneurs who built very successful companies on the Prairies.
Never Give Up
and
Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope
are stories of inspiring, remarkable people who can teach all of us so much about overcoming difficulties, leaving their troubles in the past and living life to the fullest every day with as much joy and passion as we can muster.
The Sailor and the Christmas Trees
is a nice story about something extraordinary that happened because of a rather simple act of a Canadian soldier during the war.I was 45 years old when I wrote my first book. That might seem old but it really isn't for writing. We work with an author who wrote her first book when she was 70 years old. Isn't that neat? I hope you do write one or more books. It's fun and very rewarding when you see all that hard work end up in a printed book you can hold in your hands. I have a couple of ideas for books I would like to write some day, but I do not have any writing projects on the go at the moment.
Thank you for your card. I hope I was able to encourage you to keep on reading and writing. Find a type of book or magazine or newspaper that you like to read and keep on reading. It's a great way to learn, and to improve your vocabulary and your understanding of the world around you. I find that writing helps me to express myself. If I write something down - whether I'm happy, sad, confused, or just have a lot on my mind - it gets those thoughts out of my head and onto a piece of paper or into a computer document. Then I can release those thoughts and think about other things.
I am glad that you had fun in my presentation. I try not to make it boring for listeners.I do like farming but I have allergies, so the dust, hay and animals make it hard for me to spend too much time on a farm these days. I do like your card. You and your classmates made Al and I smile all day long as we looked at your wonderful thank-you cards. Thank you for taking the time to send a note of appreciation to us. It's really nice to hear from people who enjoyed my presentation and our books. Our authors work really hard to write great stories. We are so pleased to share their work with students in Saskatchewan and elsewhere.
Thank you for the nice compliments. I am pleased to hear from another student who is interested in the
Never Give Up
book. Ted Jaleta is an amazing man with an incredible, inspiring story. I have had to stop talking about that book because students immediately want to buy the book and we don't have any available for purchase. Maybe we'll print some more some day. You never know. Check with your library to see if they can order the Never Give Up book from another library in Saskatoon or Regina.
It sounds like you are a person who is eager to learn. That is a wonderful characteristic that will help you achieve great things as you grow older. Thank you for being interested in our books and stories of Prairie people. I am sure that you will enjoy
The Little Coat
because it is an inspiring true story about a 10-year-old girl who saved her father from a German firing squad and then met a Canadian soldier who helped save her family and country from Adolph Hitler's regime during the Second World War. It is a story with a happy ending, and those are always nice to read.
SuperMom and the Big Baby
definitely
is
a funny book. It's kind of like a Robert Munsch book in its silliness - and who doesn't love Robert Munsch?Thank you again for your cards, Naicam School students. They put huge smiles on our faces!
I will post the rest of your wonderful thank-you cards, along with the rest of my answers to your questions, in my next blog. I'll talk to you soon!
Take care,
Deana Driver
April 16, 2014
Do you have 'Cream Money' stories?
Due to the success of our
Egg Money
book, which celebrates the lives of Saskatchewan pioneer women, DriverWorks Ink is inviting you to send us your short stories of collecting and selling milk and cream on your Prairie farm. These stories will be considered for inclusion in the new book
Cream Money
, celebrating that era of Canadian farming. Stories should be from 300 to 1,500 words and could include: a particular story about processing and/or selling the milk/cream including the women, men or children who collected the milk or separated the cream; memories of how your family used that cream money; any other story that comes to mind when you think of ‘cream money’ and all that goes with that way of farm life.Please provide details including your name, address, phone number and email address, as well as the names, dates, location and other details of the farmers and farm in your story. We are looking for anecdotes and explanations - stories of heartache and hardship, humour and joy, sadness and celebration.Please send your submissions before August 31 by email to: ddriver@sasktel.net or by mail to: DriverWorks Ink, 110 McCarthy Blvd. N., Regina, SK S4R 6A4.Please phone DriverWorks Ink at 306-545-5293 if you have a cream money story to share but you do not wish to write it yourself. We will be happy to write it and help you share your story in that way.All submissions will be accepted but not all submissions will be published. Those whose stories are published will receive two complimentary copies of our
Cream Money
book upon publication.Thank you in advance. We look forward to receiving your stories.
Do you have 'cream money' stories?
Due to the success of our
Egg Money
book, which celebrates the lives of Saskatchewan pioneer women, DriverWorks Ink is inviting you to send us your short stories of collecting and selling milk and cream on your Prairie farm. These stories will be considered for inclusion in the new book
Cream Money
, celebrating that era of Canadian farming. Stories should be from 300 to 1,500 words and could include: a particular story about processing and/or selling the milk/cream including the women, men or children who collected the milk or separated the cream; memories of how your family used that cream money; any other story that comes to mind when you think of ‘cream money’ and all that goes with that way of farm life.Please provide details including your name, address, phone number and email address, as well as the names, dates, location and other details of the farmers and farm in your story. We are looking for anecdotes and explanations - stories of heartache and hardship, humour and joy, sadness and celebration.Please send your submissions before August 31 by email to: ddriver@sasktel.net or by mail to: DriverWorks Ink, 110 McCarthy Blvd. N., Regina, SK S4R 6A4.Please phone DriverWorks Ink at 306-545-5293 if you have a cream money story to share but you do not wish to write it yourself. We will be happy to write it and help you share your story in that way.All submissions will be accepted but not all submissions will be published. Those whose stories are published will receive two complimentary copies of our
Cream Money
book upon publication.Thank you in advance. We look forward to receiving your stories.
