Greetings, Incredibly Loyal Person,
It is 5:47 a.m. on Monday, June 14th. I’m feeling guilty. Unless the phenomenon of intermittent reward* is in operation, it’s highly unlikely that anyone is reading this after so long a delay on my part, but I’ll feel better for having apologized.
The “blog” was established to communicate, but that which is being communicated could seem to be indifference. Apart from the daily effects of my husband’s illness, and a couple of preaching and worship leadership opportunities, what seems to have temporarily taken over my life is the Grandmothers’ Necklace anthology and all its related bookkeeping, launch arrangements, e-mail and telephone communication, radio and newspaper interviews, etc.
If you have been travelling to www.valleyartisans.com/grandmothersnecklace.htm, then you know there has been a flurry of launches: Petawawa, Deep River, Belleville, Ajax, Guildwood (Scarborough), Kitchener, Smiths Falls, Ottawa, Ontario. There have been sales tables at special events like Girls’ Night Out in Pembroke, post-World Day of Prayer service luncheons, Chapel luncheons, CFB Petawawa, Artists and Authors in the Park, Stittsville, ON.
I’ve been shipping books on request to contributors for selling when they make presentations as part of their own career, as well as for renewal of store site supplies. There’s a launch in Truro, NS on June 19th.
I can’t be there, but the preparations and program sound very appealing. Joyce Gero, a very talented Nova Scotia writer/poet, is responsible for that one. It will include, among others, contributors Dianne Collier of “Hurry Up and Wait” fame, Theodore Christou, on faculty at UNB, and area radio personality, Rod Deviller.
Approximately 25 bookselling locations have been established, to be listed at valleyartisan site as soon as I am able. I know, I know. I promised some time ago. I’ve been too busy creating displays and actually arranging agreements and book supplies to list the wonderful businesses who have agreed or offered to carry copies of the book for sale as a charitable deed for little or no percentage. May they be mightily blessed!
On Wednesday, I’m to leave for Burlington and Guelph to participate in the annual Write!Canada conference. The Grandmothers’ Necklace books are an important part of that experience this year. I’ll be caught up in the whirl of classes and readings and plenaries, with some personal writing/editing and spiritual renewal opportunities, knowing that the books created to raise funds to fight the wave of AIDS/HIV in Africa are being sold on the behalf of the Petawawa Grannies in The WordGuild’s on-site bookstore.
The following Wednesday, I’m to be in Toronto for the SLF Grandmothers to Grandmothers Afrigran event, with another sales table opportunity at their market. THEN, I hope to take a deep breath and arrange for my second impending carpal tunnel operation before going back into the breach.
The GREAT about all this is that the contents of the book itself are being very well received.
The best ad is word of mouth from repeat customers. There is something, and usually, plenty, for everyone. I defy anyone to not find at least one poem or story or article or letter or that moves him/her to tears, laughter, admiration, or determination, if not all of the foregoing.
Now, I’ve important things to find, items to pack, cat care requirements to spell out, and then, perhaps I’ll get that list to the Valley Artisans site!
Thank you for reading.
Patricia
*Behavioural Psych Experiment: If little white mice only receive a pellet periodically when they push the correct little bar in their cage, they tend to repeat the bar-pushing more frequently, perhaps even frenetically, than if the reward is consistently delivered. Go figure. No human similarities, surely. Wait, that sounds like the lottery, gambling. Nah.
