Tudor Robins's Blog, page 30

Self-Promotion Sucks

Let’s just get that out there. It does. I hate it. There may be writers in this world who like it, but I’m going to feel pretty confident in saying they’re a minority.

But …

If you want to publish a book traditionally, you have to do it. Even if you think “Oh, I’ll skip all that need to sell myself, and my work,” and you decide to self-publish, if you ever want to sell any copies of that book, you have to do it. Even if you think you’re done self-promoting because you have a traditional publisher and they’ll do it for you, guess what? You’re way off base. You still have to do it.

It happens in small steps and big leaps. Sometimes you have to self-promote just to get an opening into a situation where you can do more self-promotion. For example, I had to sell myself to the receptionist at Costco – look professional and reasonable enough that I had some credibility – just so she’d take my information package and give me the book buyer’s contact information. And once I had that information? I had to promote myself to the book buyer.

It truly never ends.

So, assuming you’re one of those people who doesn’t enjoy self-promotion, and assuming you still agree and understand you’ll have to do it sometimes, how to manage?

(1) Be Forgiving – of yourself. You won’t capitalize on every opportunity, you won’t use every social media platform, you’ll miss some chances. You just will. You’re human.

(2) Be Giving – to others. As much as possible, couch your self-promotion in things that are useful to other people. Workshops, book club visits, interesting Facebook entries, useful blog posts.

(3) Know Your Audience. For me, attending an entry-level horse show swarming with adolescent and teenage girls who ride horses, makes lots of sense. Speaking at a senior’s club? Not so much. That’s not to say I would never do it, but it is important to know you have limits and you need to spend your time and efforts wisely, so be careful about saying yes and be smart about saying no.

(4) Set Your Limits. I could have been at horseshows every weekend all summer. But then I would have spent no time with my family and have written nothing on my new book. Another limit I’ve set is to never, ever, send out anything that says “BUY MY BOOK!” If I’m about to send out a newsletter, or write a post, and literally the only thing I can think of to say is “Buy my book”, then it’s not worth communicating. When you reach out as a writer of a published book, people know it’s for sale. You can make it easy to buy – always have copies if you’re doing an in-person event (I keep several in the trunk of my car) and have a “buy” button on your website - but “Buy my book” is a message you can only send once. If you tried, and they didn’t buy it before, they probably won’t now and they probably don’t want to hear it again.

(5) Keep Writing. The way to keep people interested and to have something new to say, is to write more books. If self-promotion is keeping you from writing, you need to set some limits and forgive yourself from some promotion efforts.

This post was inspired because I sent out my quarterly newsletter this week and I always do so with some dread and trepidation. Somebody will always write back to ask me to take them off my distribution list – and these are people I know, so it stings a bit. When that happens I always ask myself “Am I just a pushy hack?”, “Do people get sick of me sticking my name and my book in front of them?” But then other people reply and follow up on things I’ve said in the newsletter – they enjoyed a link I provided, or their daughter has started horseback riding lessons, or something totally unrelated like “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about XYZ …” and I think, OK, maybe the newsletter isn’t the worst, most shamelessly self-promoting thing I’ve ever done.

But it’s still hard. Every time. Pressing “send”, picking up the phone, introducing myself to a book buyer – it’s never simple or easy. But I believe in my book and I have to give it a chance. And yes, along the way, some people will wish they’d never heard of me, but many others (I hope) will discover a new read – girls like I was, who love books and love horses and can’t get enough – and maybe grown-ups like me will get inspired to write a book – so on balance, self-promotion is a good thing.

Although I wouldn’t mind becoming successful enough to be able to hire somebody else to do it for me!

 

RIP Ann Crispin, Who Fought for the Writers

Above is the title of this blog post that came into my inbox. I read it casually and then perked up, and a big penny dropped and I had an “a-ha” moment. Ann Crispin was A.C. Crispin. A name seared into my brain. Someone who gave me many hours of pleasure as a young reader.

First of all, as the above post mentions, and as any of you will know who have ever visited Writer Beware (you really should), there is a great, big-picture debt owed to Ann Crispin.

But my debt to her is a more personal one.

Sylvester is a movie that came along at just the right time (1985 – I was 13) to fuel my horse obsession and story obsession and, let’s admit it, Michael Schoeffling obsession (Jake Ryan, Sixteen Candles, anybody?). Also, it didn’t hurt that Richard Farnsworth was in the movie. Although he was great, and utterly believable as a tough, bitter old man in this story, I knew he was good underneath because he was Matthew Cuthbert, and Matthew was all that was good and sweet.

You know, re-reading that paragraph, I realize Sylvester was IT for a teenage girl – it was an underdog story (the girl, the horse, the town – pretty much every character – all underdogs!), it had horses, it had romance. It had Melissa Gilbert in a grown-up, but very similar role to her plucky Little House on the Prairie self. It was heavenly.

As I recall my friend Virginia, who I used to ride with, had won passes to the movie in a radio station contest. I seem to remember we had been riding first and my mittens smelled like horse and I inhaled them while I watched the movie. (I also think it’s possible the horse-smelling-mittens thing happened in a different movie, but I like having it in this story).

Anyway, of course, after watching the movie I wanted more. I wanted to be able to stay in that story a little longer. In the pre-Google, pre-Amazon world, I’m not sure how, but I somehow got wind that there was a book of Sylvester. And I somehow bought it. And, guess what; it was written by A.C. Crispin.

I now see this was mostly out-of-character for her. She was known as a Science Fiction and Fantasy author. On the biographical sites I’ve visited about her, Sylvester is never mentioned. But, in another way, it’s not surprising she wrote the novelization of this movie. She did many media tie-in projects, notably Star Trek and Star Wars novels. She said, about her media tie-in work: “I put my full efforts into both my media tie-ins and my original novels.”

I’m so, so glad she wrote this novel, and did such a wonderful job. I can look back on a certain few books and feel they were truly formative in making me write the way I do now. Jean Slaughter Doty’s The Monday Horses. The early Black Stallion books. Dick Francis’ amazing horse-centred mysteries. And, definitely, Sylvester.

So, thank you A.C. Crispin, and you will be remembered.

Oh, and, apparently she wrote an entire Han Solo trilogy … might need to read some more A.C. Crispin. Definitely a little Han obsession in my past as well.

 

Broken promises, broken process, broken priorities

This is one of those occasional posts I write which are just because I want to, and this is my blog, and I can. So, no writing, reading or book stuff here. Feel free to skip it if you want to.

It’s about the story in today’s Ottawa Citizen titled New elementary schools top Ottawa-Carleton school board list of capital priorities. This is an accurate story. This is a factual story. This is a pretty bland story.

But this is not the whole story.

This is a story of a broken system and broken promises. This is a story of 900 kids told they were a priority, and it was important that they be housed in a school without asbestos, and with enough facilities (computer lab, gym space and even basic bathroom space) to accommodate them. That when they broke or sprained a leg, or if they lived in the neighbourhood and were disabled, they could still go to their neighbourhood school.

You see, finally, after a long struggle, and after years (YEARS – since 1998) of almost no investment being put into our strained schools in the active core of Ottawa, we were FINALLY going to get a new school for students at Broadview Avenue Public School. Not right away, but soon enough that we were told “don’t worry about taking the $1.5 million you were promised to prepare for all-day kindergarten – there’s no point in spending it – you’re getting a new school.” So ADK has come to Broadview with some of the smallest kindergarten classrooms in the board, pushing multiple classes into portables in the yard, and without bathrooms in the kindergarten classes. When we asked if we could please, maybe, possibly at least get mixer taps in the common bathrooms slated to be used by the smallest students, we were told “Hmmm … that could be complicated and expensive.”

This might be a good opportunity to dispel some myths. We are not rich people living in big houses who want a gold-plated school.

My house is less than 1,500 sq.ft. I don’t have a main floor family room, or even a main floor powder room. I don’t have a speck of granite in my house. We don’t have an ensuite. And you should see our property tax bill. We live comfortably, happily, but not richly.

We don’t want a gold plated school. We want a comfortable, happy, but not rich school. We want a school without dangerous substances in the walls (and floors, and ceilings, and pipes). We want a school that allows children to get upstairs, even if they’re injured or disabled. We’d like to be able to use technology upstairs (where our intermediate classes are housed) but the stairs are a barrier to media carts, etc. We’d like there to be enough space for our kids to have computer and gym time (no kindergarten students get ANY gym time this year – their phys. ed. has to be done outside, when weather allows). We’d like screens on our windows and we’d like mixer taps in our bathrooms. MIXER TAPS. Not gold-plated ones – just ones that mix hot and cold water – it’s not a new technology and I don’t think it’s too much to ask for.

We want the new school we were promised. Our kids are disillusioned, disappointed and baffled. We thought we were in line for a new school. We were told 2015. Our children were excited. Our children felt supported.

And now? Well, now in the middle of fixing a process that is so broken the board admits it needs to have a framework built to define it, the board has randomly changed the list. Thrown new projects in front of Broadview.

I have a few questions:

(1) Since Broadview was deemed “prohibitive to repair” and determined to be worthy of a rebuild, and since that rebuild hasn’t happened, how has our priority lessened? How is it possible for a priority to become not a priority WHEN NOTHING IS DONE TO ADDRESS IT?

(2) Since our rebuild is no longer imminent, do we get the approx. $1.4 million back that was not spent on Broadview to help accommodate ADK? Where is that money? I’d like to know.

(3) How is it that “growth” areas are identified as priorities when our neighbourhood is bursting at the seams with new condos and our schools are over-capacity and growing each year, and why can’t we make use of the development charges paid by developers building on our streets?

And, finally, if we’re going to be stuck in this re-build limbo forever, and none of our children are ever going to get to go to the magically rebuilt Broadview, CAN WE AT LEAST GET MIXER TAPS?

 

 

Guilty Pleasure

Summer’s over with a bang. Frost warnings this week. Kids back to school and days jam-packed with must-dos and have-to-plans.

So, I guess it’s time to switch gears here too. Last week I mentioned I’d have a post inspired by a guilty pleasure. The guilty pleasure is Numb3rs, the series I currently watch on Netflix while folding laundry. It’s not the best show I’ve ever watched, but it has quirky moments I really love. I’m also learning the attraction of things that don’t completely suck me in … I like being able to tear myself away and go about my life, without desperately wanting to always get back to that book or movie or TV show.

Anyway, I was watching a recent episode from season two and ‘s character (the very quirky and quite sweet Larry) said the following: “It’s field work. It’s just field work. There is no substitute.”

Which I so, completely, one hundred per cent, agree with … I sat straight up and jotted it down and now I’m sharing it with you.

I’ve always thought this. Ever since journalism school I’ve believed the best interview is an in-person one. A telephone interview will do if there’s no way to be in the same room with the person. And email interviews – well, they can convey some basic information, but that’s about it.

Almost every single story I wrote for Today’s Parent and More Magazine and CanadianLiving.com ended up being shaped around an impression or anecdote I would never have come across if I hadn’t done my interviews in person or, at least, on the phone. I might have had the idea for the story first, but there was always something new and surprising that came from seeing people’s surroundings, or hearing their voice.

This summer is a good example. Even as I promote OIM – and thank you to all those who are buying it, and reading it, and reviewing it – I’ve been living firmly in Appaloosa Summer land. This is my second book – not a sequel to OIM, but similar in many ways (teenage girl, horses, romance) and APS does have an as-yet-unnamed sequel.

The thing is, APS is set somewhere pretty much almost exactly identical to Wolfe Island. Over the course of our various trips to the cottage this summer, I probably wrote close to 50,000 words. Which is quite a bit.

This is partly thanks to my City of Ottawa funding which meant, unlike other summers, I didn’t have to keep chasing contract work all summer, and staying up late meeting client deadlines. Instead I was able to stay up late immersed in the world of my book.

The other reason I wrote so much – and figured out the book would have a sequel – is because I was there. Island things were happening to me every day. Like the day I looked out the kitchen window to see a tiny, still-spotted fawn limping across the lawn just a few metres from the house. When I got outside I could see she was limping because of a huge gash along her hind leg. There were quite a few references to coyotes in the story already, and this incident gave me another, really concrete example of something I might include in my book (did I? Maybe or maybe not - you’ll have to read it to see. Again, it was partly having all this material that convinced me the sequel was there to be written).

Another example is sailing. I haven’t sailed for a long, loooong time. But, as a kid, I sailed quite a bit. Well, we finally decided if we were ever going to use it, the sailboat needed to be rigged at the dock all summer long. So we rigged it, and I sailed it, and it all came back to me like I had just sailed yesterday, and I said to my husband, “I should write a book about sailing.”

Guess what APS#2 is going to have in it?

And yes, I could have written a book where my character sails without sailing myself this summer. I didn’t really learn anything new about sailing – in fact, I was much better when I was younger. But doing it (1) inspired me to write about it (2) reminded me of many things I already knew and (3) gave me the confidence that I knew what I was writing about – I wasn’t remembering wrong – I felt I had the right to write about it.

People ask me if I had to do a lot of research for OIM, and I used to say no. However, now I realize the book is full of things I know because I lived them. Because of the field work, if you like.

So, field work is research and, in my experience, some of the best kind of research and there is no substitute.

 

Simple Pleasures (6)

OK! You caught me! I said I’d move on from these posts last week but I have one more to do. This coincides with the last week of summer, so I figure it’s fair game.

Next week’s post will be writing-related and it was inspired by a guilty pleasure – stay tuned for that …

This week we look at Simcoe Island. Also a place which might make an appearance in a future work, also affordable ($1 each for the ferry).

It started as a bike ride:

As you can see, not a too-long bike ride – just a pleasant one.

Then we got on a much-smaller ferry than the Wolfe Islander III. This is a three-car cable ferry (so they tell me, but I think they’d have to be small cars) which crosses the Bateau Channel from Wolfe to Simcoe Island.

The view out to Lake Ontario is beautiful.

We had a destination on Simcoe – it was a buried house! It’s built under a hill. Isn’t it great?

That was the front and this is the back. It’s very light inside – you can see right through.

And this is the “roof”. We climbed it and enjoyed the view from up top. Apparently cows have been found grazing up here.

We had a fantastic ride to Simcoe and, other than $4 for the ferry, it only cost us our own muscle power.

I’m convinced it’s doing stuff like this that keeps the writing juices flowing!

Fall Workshop Registration Open

Just a quick note to say registration for my Fall “Contest Writing” workshops offered through the Ottawa Catholic School Board is now open.

This link should take you directly to the course registration page.

Here’s the course description:

If you want to take your writing to the next level, but aren’t sure how, entering writing contests could be your answer. Contests can provide motivation and opportunity to writers trying to hone their craft and get their work noticed. Canadian writers, working in a variety of genres, will find no shortage of contests open to them with, in most cases, no experience or credentials required. Learn why entering contests is good for your writing, how to find contests that are right for you and tips on preparing and submitting your work. The instructor, Tudor Robins has just published her first Young Adult novel, which was originally written as an entry to a writing contest. This success, in addition to other prize-winning results in several writing contests, have inspired her to help other writers see the benefits of entering contests.

If you want to register, don’t wait until the last minute, as there is an enrolment cut-off below which the course will be canceled.

These courses are usually quite small, which is nice, as it means I can usually find out what everybody’s interested in and tailor the course to the participants’ interests.

Hope to see you in the fall!

Simple Pleasures (5)

Today’s post is a bit of a mystery. This is one of our favourite courtyard patios (no, that’s wrong, it’s our favourite courtyard patio) in the world.

It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out where this might be. As indicated in my first simple pleasures post, the things I’m writing about are in our Ontario backyard and relate to the setting of my next book – the Ottawa to Kingston corridor. Bonus points for anyone who knows the exact restaurant.

Here’s where the four of us had lunch on just one of the beautiful, sunny, amazing days we’ve had this summer:

Clue number one: wood stacked along the brick wall for the wood-burning pizza oven.

Clue number two: The classic ________ fire escape.

Clue number three: Have you noticed all the limestone yet?

BIGGEST CLUE YET: What landmark is that, clearly visible in the top of the picture?

I’m thinking there’s probably one more post in this series and then I’ll get back to some more directly writing-related stuff. Although, I really do mean it, when that second book comes out, there is stuff you’ll recognized from these posts!

(I’ll wait a few days to see if I get a guess on this location – delicious food too! – and then reveal it so you can visit yourselves.)

 

Simple Pleasures (4)

No showers. Now I know some of you (I’m not going to name names, but you know who you are) are thinking “How is that a pleasure?” But, for me, it is.

This is my instead-of shower kit.

Now, do you see why I’m happy not to shower?

For anyone wanting to build just such a kit of their own, here are my ingredients:

- Oneka Elements water friendly conditioner. After a long search for water friendly conditioner that was also hair friendly, I found this brand at Rainbow Foods in Ottawa. However, you can also order directly from their website and, man, are they friendly! They emailed me after I placed my order online and we got into a nice little conversation. So, I recommend them …

- Druide Hibiscus and Mango Baby Shampoo (I know the bottle is a Burt’s Bees one - I decant my Druide into it because it’s just the right size). Now, I will say, we’ve used Druide Shampoo forever, and really like it, but recently they’ve stopped making it in big, bulk-size bottles so, I have to admit, I ordered my latest batch of biodegradable shampoo from Oneka.

- A wide-toothed comb. This is because I have to comb my hair while it has the conditioner in it, since that’s the only time all day it will be combed and dreadlocks don’t suit me.

- The classic milk jug. This is for the dual purpose of containing all the items of the kit (perfectly!) and for filling up with water and swishing the seaweed / sand off your feet when you get out of the water.

I use my kit with a swimming dock in the St. Lawrence River, but I think any dock, or beach, at any lake, or river (or pond, or stream) would do!

Simple Pleasures (3) … More Ferry

In my last post, I promised you some photographic evidence of why I like the ferry so much.

I give you – The Wolfe Islander III:

If you look straight down this row of cars, you can just make out the wind turbines in the distance. That’s Wolfe Island. A better view here:

In case you’re wondering, there are 86 turbines.

This is how Fort Henry looks as we retreat from the mainland.

And this is the Kingston skyline.

What to say? No words necessary …

Simple Pleasures (2)

The ferry. We have to take a ferry to our cottage. I’ll provide pictures in an upcoming Simple Pleasures post.

Against my inclination, I’ll start with the negatives of the ferry first – it’s time-consuming. The times you want to get on, or off, the island are the same times EVERYBODY ELSE wants to get on, or off, the island. Line-ups can be long. Line etiquette is not always observed (police have been called, but that’s another story).

For people who live in the island all the time (like my parents) appointments, reservations, meetings, etc. on the mainland must be planned around the ferry schedule, and always with the caveat “Unless there’s an ambulance run.” Because, if somebody needs an ambulance, that person gets the whole darned ferry turned around for them, and the schedule is out the window. As it should be … but it can wreak havoc on the plans of people in line.

While we’re talking about ambulances and medical needs, etc. the ferry is interesting if you’re pregnant. Babies have been born on the ferry.

We planned our wedding around the ferry. We had to tell guests which ferry to get, and we had to impress upon them that this was a firm deadline. There would be a school bus at the dock to meet them, if they caught the right ferry. They would see our ceremony, if they caught the right ferry. If they didn’t catch the right ferry, we’d be saying “I do” while they stood at the terminal on the mainland.

But I love the ferry.

If someone offered me a bridge tomorrow I’d be so torn. And that’s all I’m going to say on that because the bridge / no bridge conversation is a long-standing debate and one that heats up very quickly.

When I post my ferry pictures later on, I think you’ll see why I love the ferry, but what they won’t show you is the ferry culture. The cool, background stuff that goes on.

The bulletin boards are part of this. I love the ferry bulletin boards. They advertise everything you can imagine. From the extended opening hours for the dump, to dragon boat racing every Friday, to the Blessing of the Bikes ceremony in the Catholic Church parking lot. And, every now and then, there’s a great sign on the bulletin board. Like this one. I had to take a picture for you:

Isn’t that great? For those of you wondering, “swather” isn’t a misprint. This is a swather. But it just begs for the edit, doesn’t it?

I hope this guy found his swather.