The Bane of Most Authors

My husband and I just got back from a three and a half week book tour to promote my new mystery, Glitter of Diamonds. We began by driving to Washington, DC, where I attended Malice Domestic, an annual event for the writers and fans of the more genteel form of mysteries. We then drove up the coast to Boston and then across to Buffalo, down to Cincinnati, back up to Madison, Wisconsin, and then home via Ann Arbor, Michigan. Something like 8,000 miles altogether. And a blur of stores, some of which had everything ready for me, including people who were eager to hear me talk about myself and buy my books, and some of which gave me a table and left me to do the pitching.

Now we're getting ready to do some promotion in our own area. Crime Writers of Canada is working with the Toronto Reference Library to put on "Look Who's Reading Canadian Mysteries" June 5th and I'm privileged to have my book being read by Herbie Kuhn, the Air Canada in-house voice of the Toronto Raptors. Okay, switching sports there a bit, since the events of Glitter of Diamonds are set in the milieu of professional baseball and its surrounding media, but Herbie and his wife both like mysteries! And I'm sure they like baseball, too.

I also have a book launch from 1 to 3 PM Saturday, June 9th, at Chapters in Markham (on highway 7 between Warden and Woodbine).

Then I'll be participating in Book Expo, where I get to read from Glitter of Diamonds and then do signings for booksellers and librarians.

And a panel in Burlington on Monday, June 18th... (See my schedule for updates.)

And I'm working on creating a press kit and a new website for Glitter of Diamonds, and putting together a promotional tour in Canada this fall, and getting more radio and TV interviews, and looking for more places on the internet to connect with, and more reviewers who will read the book, and ...

And I sometimes wonder what happened to my being a writer! But such is the world these days that most writers have to reinvent themselves as salespeople if they want their books to sell. A marketing guru I recently heard speak said that most publishers are good printers. In other words, they can bring a book into physical being, but even they don't know how to guarantee the book's success in the marketplace. So it's left to the authors, who presumably have the most invested in their books, to get out and flog them.

I'll leave you with this word of advice from my recent experiences. The next time you walk into a bookstore and see a lonely author hawking his or her wares, don't be afraid to walk up and say hello, and ask what the book is about, and how long it took to write, and what it's about. You don't have to buy the book unless you decide you really want to; we won't mind. We're just glad of the chance to interact with you. What we really dislike is watching someone see us and quickly walk the other way or go around three tables and trip over a dolly in the middle of the far aisle in order to avoid walking near us. That tends to get embarrassing. And yes, it really happened.

Turning Deadlines into Lifelines

Since publishing my latest book, I seem to have more deadlines than I did when I was writing it. Writing Glorious Autumn Days: Meditations for the Wisdom Years, was the joyful and fun part of the creativity; promoting and selling the book is the work part of the process.

My deadlines include keeping my website up to date. Here I can promote my book and, in order to entice people to visit often, I change various pages to keep it current. Next, I send out review copies of my book to relevant publications and I spend time searching for appropriate magazines and newspapers; my deadline in this instance is to find at least six such publications every couple of weeks. The third deadline I have is to write for this blogspot every few weeks as scheduled, exercising my brain to think of a suitable topic on which to write and making sure that I put it on to the site on time. I also write talks for speaking engagements related to my book.

These are some of my deadlines and, indeed, they could take the life out of me if I let them. However, I prefer to see them as lifelines as they continue to put life into my book. They invite those who read my web pages or reviews to buy my book and read further about God’s love for us and the Divine gift of spiritual life.

Yes, the deadlines are work but they are cause for thanksgiving and, if I see them as such, I can name them lifelines. The word deadline reminds me of the straight line, with its accompanying monotone, on a patient’s bedside monitor that indicates the person’s death. The word lifeline reminds me of the path on which God leads me into spiritual life and light.

At this time of year, I see earth’s creatures all around me meeting their goals, and there is not a hint of death in their activities—all rush toward life. The birds have returned from their winter homes and, in the few short weeks allotted to them, they mate, build nests, lay eggs, hatch and fledge a family, bring them to maturity and prepare them to return to their southern homes. No one makes them do this; they know it has to be done and they do it whole heartedly bringing their lives to fulfillment. For the plants, it is the same thing; they push up from the winter ground as soon as the snow has gone; they bud, blossom, come to fruition and spread their seeds for next year’s cycle of life.

Deadlines suggest anxiety and force; lifelines suggest joy and responsibility. The next time I think of the things I need to get done as deadlines I will make the effort to change their name into lifelines. This will be to my benefit and to God’s glory.