Skyping with Your Favorite Author
Tonight, my book club, Circle of Friends, is having a special treat. For the past month, we have been reading Claude and Camille by Stephanie Cowell. As usual we'll gather for delicious potluck food, chat and then discuss the book of the month. We've been doing this for over 13 years. Tonight, something new is being added: we're Skyping with Stephanie.
I "met" Stephanie over a year ago on Twitter. I was searching for authors who wrote historical fiction. I found Stephanie mentioned on one of the #tags or postings (Can't remember which now) but we began messaging. She had already published several novels, including Marrying Mozart, a novel about the four Weber sisters, daughters of a musical family and Mozart. Now Claude and Camille was going to be published in April of 2010. This is the story of Claude Monet and his muse, Camille Doncieux, a beautiful, upper-class Parisian girl who "threw away her privileged life to be by the side of the defiant painter and embrace the lively Bohemian life of their time."
Sometime in January I got bold and asked if I could be on her upcoming blog tour. She said yes. After reading Claude and Camille for myself, I knew I wanted my book club to read it. I also knew that it would be a wonderful thing to be able to discuss the book with the author herself when the time came by Skype, something I was just beginning to do with family members.
The world of writing and reading books has changed so much in the past few years. Twitter, Facebook and Skype have created new ways for readers and authors to connect without having to travel far. Part of this is the nature of the traditional book tour which is fast going away for most authors.
Stephanie and I have practiced a couple of times to make sure the techie part works. She has done phone interviews with book clubs before, but this is a first for the both of us. I'm so excited. We both are going to clean up our rooms --mine in Bellingham, WA, hers in New York-- so we look presentable in our backgrounds (:>) I am anticipating a terrific evening of books, laughter and learning as we bring this author into our circle of friends.
I "met" Stephanie over a year ago on Twitter. I was searching for authors who wrote historical fiction. I found Stephanie mentioned on one of the #tags or postings (Can't remember which now) but we began messaging. She had already published several novels, including Marrying Mozart, a novel about the four Weber sisters, daughters of a musical family and Mozart. Now Claude and Camille was going to be published in April of 2010. This is the story of Claude Monet and his muse, Camille Doncieux, a beautiful, upper-class Parisian girl who "threw away her privileged life to be by the side of the defiant painter and embrace the lively Bohemian life of their time."
Sometime in January I got bold and asked if I could be on her upcoming blog tour. She said yes. After reading Claude and Camille for myself, I knew I wanted my book club to read it. I also knew that it would be a wonderful thing to be able to discuss the book with the author herself when the time came by Skype, something I was just beginning to do with family members.
The world of writing and reading books has changed so much in the past few years. Twitter, Facebook and Skype have created new ways for readers and authors to connect without having to travel far. Part of this is the nature of the traditional book tour which is fast going away for most authors.
Stephanie and I have practiced a couple of times to make sure the techie part works. She has done phone interviews with book clubs before, but this is a first for the both of us. I'm so excited. We both are going to clean up our rooms --mine in Bellingham, WA, hers in New York-- so we look presentable in our backgrounds (:>) I am anticipating a terrific evening of books, laughter and learning as we bring this author into our circle of friends.
No comments have been added yet.
