Monday, April 28, 2014

W is for Weezie






Well, Saturday was my BIG DAY! It was my very first public reading of Green Eggs & Weezie! I have read it out loud before but this was the first "official" one – a huge step for anybody who has ever dreamed of writing a book.

There's a whole pile of work between thinking about writing a novel and doing a reading. There's the writing, which is excruciating, the editing, which is endless, the publishing, which is complicated and not for the faint of heart, and there's the promotion – which is a whole 'nother ball game. I thought I'd be good at promotion – I was a reporter for a hundred years, for crying out loud. I organized contests. I ran all kinds of promotions. I thought it would be easy. But you know, I'm kind of at a loss in the promotional department. I don't know what else I can do. Well, actually I do know, but to be honest I've lost all my enthusiasm. I should have been organizing readings all over the place but I just haven't had the gumption. I've been kinda living like a hermit.

Anyway, thanks to a pep talk from my friend Shauna, I finally talked myself into going to the library and asking if they would host a reading for me. Tanya, the absolute charmer who works at the north branch, seemed thrilled to do just that, so we set a date. Tanya promoted it on the library website and the Facebook page; I promoted it on FB, and the newspaper ran a couple of promotional blurbs. I didn't know how many people to expect, and I didn't want to run out of books, so I ordered 50 – 25 of Green Eggs & Weezie and 25 of my short story collection, Friday Girls. I hoped that would be enough, but I secretly imagined the library overflowing with people eager to buy my books. I imagined 100, at least, and got nervous about speaking in front of all those people ... and my hand getting sore from signing so many books.

Well ... things didn't turn out quite as I had hoped. Thank goodness for my Cold Lake friends – if it wasn't for them coming, there would have been three people at the reading: Theresa, the local reporter, who was assigned the story and had to be there; Tanya, the librarian who organized it, and had to be there; and one lady I'd never had the pleasure of meeting before ... I think her name was Louise, but maybe I'm just channeling some Weezie ...

My lovely friends, all of whom have already read my book, bought pity copies. Five in total. Dave helped me pack the rest back in the box and drag them home again.

It wasn't a complete disappointment. I did enjoy myself. I had fun talking with the ginormous crowd and I had fun reading out loud ... I've always enjoyed reading out loud and the thing with a reading is, there's no teacher to say, "That's enough, it's Jimmy's turn," when you're just getting to the good part.

Thanks to Shauna, Cassie, Michelle, Phyllis, Jenny and Dave for being my friends, buying my books and cheering me on. And thanks to all the people from far and wide who wished me well. Y'all mean the world to me. oxox

P.S. If you feel sorry for me and want to order your own pity book, here's the links:

Green Eggs & Weezie paperback

Friday Girls paperback

If you're in Cold Lake, I've got two boxes of the suckers! And you can read it for free at Cold Lake Library!

22 comments:

  1. Hugs. Just getting your feet wet before the GINORMOUS reading. Which will come.
    W might be for Weezie, but it is also for Woo Hoo.

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    1. Awww, you're always so supportive, EC. I do love ya for it.

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  2. Oh Kathy if you come back to Ontario the close to me part I would love to hear you read it aloud.I am sure you were wonderful. "All good things come to those who wait my Grandma used to say". Yeah I have no idea what that means either but I know I am proud of you. Hug B

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    1. Gawd, I have the BEST blogger friends!!!! Thanks Buttons, thanks so much! ox

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  3. Well, doing a book reading for however many people is doing better than me who has not even finished a darn book! I wish I could have been there. Come down here and I'll organize one for you. :)

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  4. Good for you Cathy! I'm really glad you did it and had fun!! Reading out loud to people is so far out of my comfort zone I'd be a nervous, sweaty, wreck.

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  5. I totally would have been there for you. Don't lose your enthusiasm, though. Your book is terrific; you've gotta keep believing in it, and in yourself.

    Self-promotion is hard, but one thing that upped sales for me pretty well was running a week-long countdown deal on Amazon. The one I did in March sold so many copies, I'm gonna do it again right after Mothers' Day... following a Goodreads giveaway. I'm hoping some of those people who stick a book in their "want to read" shelf might be encouraged to buy an e-version if they don't win a paperback... and the e-version is dirt cheap. That's my theory, anyhow. We'll see how it works in reality.

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  6. I'd be a bit out of my comfort zone doing that too.

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  7. Hey, I'm not comfortable speaking in front of others, either. But you got out and did it. Now you know and you'll be even better at everything next time. Besides, selling five copies is better than none, right?

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  8. Congratulations on your first reading. Good for you!

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  9. Momentum has to start somewhere, right?

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  10. This was a tough one for me to read. Never forget how I swooned over your abilities (in your driveway on the Muskoka River) when we picked up Bessie last Spring. You're brilliant.

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  11. Good for you! The hardest step is the first one.

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  12. Ah, Cathy...you looked totally in your element in that easy chair wearing your reading glasses. All that was missing was a fireplace behind you and a wee dog at your feet. I'm sure you did a wonderful read. Next time there will be half a dozen more there and then the time after that there will be a dozen

    BTW, it's me...Alan from The Rock. I guess google won't recognize my profile here any more and is paying me back for not posting for so long...

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  13. That was a great way to get your feet wet so to speak. Now on to the next one.

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  14. Hi, Cathy. It's good that you enjoyed yourself. Promotion can and does eat up a huge chunk of time and as I've proven time and again, if you're not at it constantly, your sales tank like there's no tomorrow. Maybe next time you can start planning earlier, if that helps.

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  15. Keep going, one step after another. Congratulations!

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  16. And the next one is when? Keep up the momentum.

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  17. I would have been terrified! You did good, Cathy! Like the pics. :)

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  18. I really enjoyed Green Eggs and Weezie. I'd love to hear it in your own voice! So when ARE you coming back to Ontario to promote the book, hmmmm??

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  19. I bet you're glad it's behind you now. You can concentrate on being ready for the next one!
    I really like that black and white shirt/blouse/top you are wearing there.

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  20. What is it in us that drives us to write? We all would like to be published but you have braved the barriers and actually published - and had a public reading. You are an author. Congratulations.
    the Ol'Buzzard

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How's it going, eh? It's SO good to hear from you. Tell me every darn thing...