Raven's View

I had a book signing Saturday at a downtown book store - Chapters Rideau. I was there from 11:30 to 5 and sold 7 books. And I consider the day a success. Firstly - these sales were to 7 strangers, as my friends had all bought copies. I'd hope some would still come to cheer me on, but didn't happen. Oh well. Still, these were people that I convinced to stop, hear my spiel, and part with $13.95. But secondly - I also convinced another dozen or so people to stop and talk about writing - about the process of developing an idea, doing an outline, actually writing (as part of NaNoWriMo), editing, finding a publisher, editing more, publishing, and marketing. As well as learning to be a writer - via reading, courses, Flash Fiction challenges, writing groups, practice, and feedback from critique partners. That was the part that really revitalized me - talking about both what I had done so far, and what I hope to do. Plus trying to help others along the writerly road. So - ignoring the $18 parking for the day, and the 5 1/2 hours I spent there - it was a good day. Oh - and they'd had 10 book on consignment, with only 10 on the shelf. For 90 days, which sort of expired mid-July. The manager agreed to take 7 more to replace the sold ones, and put all 10 up on the shelf!  

Lessons learned? Better promo. Not necessarily online - just day-of, in person. I did a nice sign in a plexi stand from Staples, of basically just the cover. I could have used 2-3 more of them, scattered around the store, saying was a book signing. I was in a high traffic area though, so had lots of opportunities to engage people. My business cards went well too, for people not ready to buy. Cards said: 

• Kirk's Landing
• Police, First Nations, and an unsolved murder, all in a small northern town.
• Available locally and online 
• Details at mike-young.ca

I've missed a few check-in's already, but at least have started to ramp up the editing. I was about 1/3 through this pass, blending my alpha-reader suggestions with my own, then Monday I got a newer marked up copy from  her. More good suggestions, so I restarted. It's just a matter of plugging through and either accept, modify, or skip each one for this pass. Still need to look a each scene critically, then characters, dialogue, description, etc, etc. 

Unfortunately, the Monday before I got a copy of Ingress on my iPhone. They just brought out a brand new release of it for the IOS. It's an addictive game, but since it's overlaid on the real world, you need to get out and walk about to play it. Which I have been doing. It's a big battery drain though, so 12000 maH external one on order. Lots of portals in my area to hack, so I'm up to Level 5 already! And of course, have been catching up on watching Continuum, at Showcase.ca. Almost finished Season Three, and obviously liking it. They have some interesting asides too, where they sometimes explain how/why they developed the various A/B/C stories. 

I have been trying to edit - honest - but still get distracted. 

My writer's group just had our yearly planning sessions, to plan what speaker topics to have. I had wanted to extend that further, to plan how we run the group and where we are going, but was not successful. There's a pattern here - I join a volunteer group, they want to grow and change, I propose a tool to use for that. Namely - Vision/Mission/Goals/SMART Objectives. From my QA training and experience I know it's a tool that has been proven to be effective for what the group want to do. However, they  see it just as an end product, something to be developed and documented and posted on a web site and be done with. Third group like this - have I learned now?? 

I also went to a Medieval Faire in the nearby town of Osgoode. I have an idea for a novel about a portal between here and there - where there is something vaguely medieval. With some magic. Protagonist is from here, focusing on a small boy. Or his mother. I did some Flash Fiction already on the topic - here. I wanted to do some research on costumes and such, but this was not that big an affair. Costumes seemed pretty casual, with a mix of eras and genres. A lot of craft tents for woodworking and jewelry. I did chat about armour for a bit, but I think will do better to research online. Or just wing it, as this is not a historical fiction.

As for editing? Yes - I did some. 

I'm trying to focus on editing this time, without adding a list of other things to tempt me. Mostly things I'd rather be doing.

Such as writing - I enjoyed it when I was doing 1-2 Flash Fiction a week. I usually left them until the last few hours though, so truly had to do them in a flash. And they were all a little rough around the edges. But - fun. Or I could be reading. In high school I worked my way through most of the small sci/fi-fantasy collection in our local town library. then ended up haunting the new books area waiting for the latest arrivals. I still read a lot, still mostly fiction though. I've added crime thrillers to the list, those with clever forensics and twisted serial killers. Or I could be watching the same type of stories online, as movies or a series. Especially those from Sweden or Denmark.Or I could be walking my 'hood, or sitting in a cafe or pub with friends. 

All part of the 'other' list, the not-editing part of the day.