Danny in a Newfangled World

Valentines Day is Coming!

// February 4th, 2011 // No Comments » // Books

My kids love to celebrate every holiday. Like most kids, it’s the treats and sweets that get them excited. For moms and dads, Valentines Day is, thankfully, one of the less grueling holidays of the year. Buy a pack of valentine cards for the kids to hand out (help them write all their friends’ names), maybe splurge on some special goodies for snacking, and that’s about it!

One of the great things about Valentines Day is it helps us all remember to take a minute to tell our loved ones how much they mean to us. With such busy lives, we tend to forget to tell family members how special they are. I look forward to receiving my boys’ wonderful heart crafts that they will undoubtedly create in school. No matter how many times they tell me, I never get bored of hearing “I love you, Mom.”

To celebrate Danny in a Newfangled World’s first valentines day, I’ve created a page of fun valentine greetings that kids can colour and cut out to give to friends and family. It’s a great little craft to do on a cold afternoon.

Danny in a Newfangled World Valentines

Book Signings Coming Up

// January 20th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Books

I’m looking forward to meeting more fabulous kids at these upcoming book signings:

February 6 – Chapters Square One, Mississauga 1-3pm. I’ll be alongside some great local authors selling their own works, too.

February 12 – Indigo Erin Mills 1-3pm. Have you been to this beautiful new store? Here’s your chance! Lots for the kids to see and do. I’ll be reading from my book and providing fun activities for the kids.

February 19 – Chapters Waterloo & Kitchener. Waterloo is 10:30-12:30, Kitchener is 1:30pm- 3:30pm. Also, you’ll meet fabulous local authors alongside my book!

Here are the other authors (who are promoting adult books) that I’ll be working alongside on February 6 and 19:

Steve Liddell “Honest Lee” www.honest-lee.net/index.html
Carla Johnson “Cooking With Sin” www.CookingWithSin.com www.CarlaJohnson.ca
Steve Wilson “Been There Done That” www.ludzy.com
Mark Loeffler “Investing in Rent to Own Properties” www.theversatileinvestor.com/

Successful Book Signing at Chapters

// January 15th, 2011 // No Comments » // Books

Today I experienced my first official book signing at Chapters, Oakville. Although I’d hoped to lure a few of my friends who had not yet purchased my book, none of them showed. It was just between me and whoever happened to walk through the store entrance.

I am happy to report that the overall experience was very rewarding. While not every family that I enticed to my table actually purchased my book, many of them showed genuine interest. The greatest reward was watching kids’ eyes light up when I described the “cyber” premise of Danny in a Newfangled World.

Also fulfilling for me, was the wonderful support I received from parents who understood the significance of this book. They agreed that a cautionary tale about the internet is most relevant to the modern-day kid. They recognize that, whether we like it or not, kids are online. And this book provides an opportunity for kids to better absorb the message that the internet can be dangerous (while enjoying a fun story).

Before my book signing, I set a goal (as I always do). Today, I wanted to sell ten books. While this may seem a rather low threshold to some, it is actually not an easy target to reach for an unknown author. Certainly, when Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games trilogy, visited downtown Indigo for a signing, she would have been inundated with a hundred or so fans, eager for her signature. Not quite the same circumstance for, well, little ol’ me. I ended up selling 12 books (on a January, snowstorm-kind-of-day). In other words, a successful day.

My next book signing is at Indigo in Erin Mills (across from Erin Mills Town Center) on February 12, 2-4pm. I will be reading an excerpt from the book, and… offering a few other surprises! I look forward to meeting more wonderful kids. And selling, um, 15 books?

Change Can Be Good

// January 13th, 2011 // No Comments » // Books

I am excited to share that Danny in a Newfangled World has completed its mini-makeover. I think everyone will appreciate its subtle changes. The back cover now offers a mini-biography of its author (that’s me), and the social media logos, Facebook and Twitter, are gone. After some careful thought, I decided they didn’t belong on the cover of a kids’ book. Heck, I don’t let my kids join facebook, so I don’t want kids or parents to believe that I’m encouraging kids to join the social network. However, kids and/or their parents are still welcome to become fans on the book’s facebook page, where I post regular updates about the book, its sequel, and book signings. The more, the merrier!

The margins have also expanded to make the reading a bit easier on young eyes. As a result, the final page count has gone up from 105 to 120. Lastly, the illustrations will appear sharper in the newest edition. Having just spoken to my printer, my next big print run will use 100% recycled paper. I’m very pumped about that!

It hasn’t been easy, but my pledge to write one chapter every day (excluding weekends) has been going well this week. I am now on Chapter 7, and by the end of tomorrow… should be done Chapter 8. The downside to such a schedule is that my first draft will be a bit rougher than I’m used to. The upside is that I will have the entire first draft complete by mid-February, at which time I can concentrate on major re-writes and smoothing out some of the sticky plot issues I am encountering along the way.

The second book is turning out to be one fantastic cyber-story, so kids have much to look forward to! Still haven’t thought of a title, though. That’s always a tough call. Hoping to get that ‘eureka’ moment in a few more chapters.

Back to Work on Danny in a Newfangled World’s Sequel

// January 10th, 2011 // No Comments » // Books

My new resolution to work diligently on the book’s sequel has hit a couple of snags. The nasty flu bug attacked me during the holidays, and then hit me a double whammy the first week of January. As a result, I’ve been drained of the energy needed to get those creative juices flowing.

Although I still suffer the sniffles, the head is clearing up bit by bit, and I’m now back on track! Last week, I managed to almost complete chapter 4 of the sequel, and had a lot of fun writing! I know how much kids have enjoyed the video game action sequences of Danny in a Newfangled World (book #1), so there will be a few of those, again, in book#2. Unfortunately, I have yet to think up a super cool title, so the not-so-thrilling working title will remain book#2, for now.

More good news… I am re-working the layout of the first book to make it more reader-friendly. That new version should be available by the end of January. Although the story will not change at all, I think kids will enjoy the more spacious layout — but don’t be too concerned with the increased page count. The number of words is not changing.

Christmas Means Slacking Off

// December 22nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Books

I’ve just returned from a fabulous two-day ski trip with my husband and three boys. It provided the ideal opportunity to slink my entire self into vacation mode. That is, guilt-free slacking off. Isn’t that one of the main benefits of the Christmas holidays?

I’ve been beating my brow for the past month over my procrastination at writing the sequel to Danny in a Newfangled World. For a while I blamed my obsession with social media. “Build your readership through Twitter,” I kept telling myself as I tweeted about one useless detail of my life after another. (Actually, I tweeted some useful bits, too – but they can’t all be useful if one is tweeting for a half an hour straight!)

Now that my twitter obsession is waning, to the benefit of the entire world wide web, I have found a new excuse for procrastination. Christmas!! Now, before anyone starts tsk-tsking at my delinquency, I must admit that this is a valid excuse. My three wonderful boys are home from school. That means they are with me every minute of every waking hour of every day. So, parking my rear-end in front of my laptop does not resonate with hyper boys who are begging to build gingerbread houses, go skating at the rink behind our house, or, uh, playing video games. Well, the video games would provide a perfect substitute for a babysitter if only I hadn’t instituted that nasty rule – No video games from Monday to Thursday. (I cannot break down now that they’ve actually gotten used to the rule.)

Furthermore, on Christmas day I will be hosting a large family dinner at my house and have yet to finish my Christmas shopping, never mind all the wrapping of presents I have to do. All this means one very important thing: I now have a new year’s resolution that cannot afford to be broken.

I will focus on writing my sequel, starting January 1st, 2011. Every day I will write at least an hour, and up to several hours, until the first draft is complete. Ah, I feel better already. Now that I have committed to that, I plan to enjoy the rest of my gingerbread-eating Christmas holiday guilt- and stress-free with my family. And, I wish the same to you!

Happy Holidays!!

My Tweets are Like Acorns Dropping on a Barren Sidewalk

// December 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // Books

On November 24, I published a blog post here about my goal to tweet every day for thirty days in an effort to use this social media tool to market my book and my parenting blog, porridgereport.com (check it out.) I had initially planned to tweet 30 times a day. That didn’t last long, however. Mostly because a few days into my tweet fanaticism, I began to dream about tweeting in my sleep. Needless to say, it’s not pleasant to wake up and feel like you’ve been sitting at your laptop throughout the night.

I have kept up my daily tweeting, nonetheless, (albeit in smaller doses) and have experienced a few successes as a result. I’ve contacted a few book bloggers who have agreed to review my book for their blogs. I have also increased my number of followers from 93 to 188. That’s not bad.

In an effort to best utilize Twitter and the blogosphere, in general, I also began reading a book called Trust Agents written by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith which details how the tools of social media are offering businesses a new way of building relationships. I really, really want to believe them. I would love to believe that my time spent tweeting is helping me meet new people. But, I don’t. At least, not yet.

Call me old fashioned, but my relationships involve back and forth conversations. The odd “hello, how are you?” “Well, thank you. How are you?” My tweets, however, drop like acorns on a barren sidewalk. Someone may come by and kick it around. The very rare squirrel may think that acorn is THE acorn it wants to carry home. But usually, it just sits there, alone. Whether others are paying it any attention, I would never know.

Some of the most devoted twitterers have their own posses. They respond to tweets about this and that. Share inside jokes. Broadcast their whereabouts and what they’re doing together that particular moment in time. It sometimes leaves me the impression that I’m back in some virtual cyberspace high school. The cool kids versus the “outsiders.” You can guess where I belong. I send out a question to Twitter land and the response is similar to those I’ve received from most publishers. Silence.

I don’t doubt that the tool is a useful method to market one’s blog or merchandise. I think it has an immense amount of potential to do that. But building relationships? Like real personal relationships? Nu-uh. I don’t buy it. The best relationship building takes place over a cup of coffee or glass of wine. Face to face.

I’ll keep tweeting because it’s a fabulous way to spread the word about my blogs and books. And perhaps my current impression of Twitter will prove wrong. Perhaps I’ll actually start meeting some of these Tweeting peeps over coffee. But virtual coffee just won’t cut it.

Time to Think Like a Publisher

// December 14th, 2010 // No Comments » // Books

Two nights ago I lay awake in my bed feeling anxious. When I began my journey to publish Danny in a Newfangled World, my final goal was to find a commercial publisher. A knight in shining armour who could carry me with my gleaming book to a paradise called bestsellerdom where demand for my books was high and I’d no longer have to spend half my working hours marketing and selling. It is every writer’s dream. But that night, I came to the realization that I may never find a publisher knocking down my door to represent me and my books. I may, in fact, become a full-fledged publisher as I continue to write my kids’ series and, in the process, create other books for different age groups (I have a list of ideas!)

It’s not that I’m afraid of hard work. In fact, I don’t recommend that anyone consider writing and publishing a book unless he or she has a heavy streak of tenacity. The source of my anxiety is likely that of any new business owner who, during different stages of growth, must continually remind oneself of the viability and future success of the venture. Unfortunately, insomnia tends to amplify those concerns.

Thankfully, I have slowly been altering and expanding my business plan to include a more variable source of income than just book sales. Yet, as gratifying as building my business has been, it brings with it plenty of risk – both financially and personally.

The next morning, I woke up feeling slightly refreshed and more confident in my potential to become both the writer and publisher, and media literacy speaker (I told you I had expanded my business plan) that I envision myself being. And, while a small part of me still hopes to entice to publisher to scoop my book up, my entrepreneurial journey is only beginning. And anyways, being the boss has its perks.

My Last Book Signing Event for 2010

// December 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // Books

Tonight I will be selling signed copies of Danny in a Newfangled World at a cool new Oakville hang-out called eSpot. Normally a hot spot for entrepeneurs and small business owners, it is open to all from 4 to 8pm today. The event will showcase other local authors and fantastic vendors selling unique gifts for Christmas.

It is located above Artisano Cafe on Iroquois Shore Road and entrance is free. Even better – refreshments will be served as guests shop and chat.

While signing and selling my books has been a fantastic new experience for me, I’m looking forward to spending some extra time on prepping the family for the big holiday. Christmas is the favourite day of the year in my household of three boys and preparing for it is no simple task! I’m almost finished buying their gifts and I’m happy to admit that I’ve balanced video games with good old fashioned books. I hope every parent makes that effort.

According to the latest research in Christmas purchases, lots of kids are asking for tech “toys” this year. If an iPad, iPhone, or iPod is on the list, consider downloading some ebooks to add to the digital offerings of each device. Danny in a Newfangled World is available as an ebook on Amazon.com, and will soon be offered on iTunes as well (just working out some technical glitches!) They’re on sale for a fantastically low price during the holiday season.

Danny in a Newfangled World is a particularly great starter ebook for young eyes getting used to electronic reading because it’s not too long (about 100 pages) and is interspersed with some fun illustrations to give those eyes a break. Even better – it’s about a boy who gets sucked inside his computer, making it especially relevant for digital-loving kids.

Toilet Humour Conundrum

// December 6th, 2010 // No Comments » // Books

I think fart jokes are funny. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that, seeing as I’m a grown woman. But it’s true. Growing up as a middle child between two younger brothers and two older sisters, I was always caught in the middle of two different worlds. One was rife with toilet humour and the other with ideal female decorum (if not tips on how to look your best.) Being a rather flexible gal, I managed to flow seamlessly between the two.

Now that I have three boys, it appears the fates have determined that I lean ever more slightly toward the vulgar, both figuratively and literally (have you seen what boys do to a bathroom?) When I set out to write Danny in a Newfangled World, I truly wanted to create a book that kids could have fun reading. I tried to blot out all notions about what adults would deem acceptable. And, frankly, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that most kids’ movies and television shows (don’t even get me started on Youtube videos) rely on some kind of poopy, smelly, oozy images to get a laugh.

In the first chapter, I don’t hold back with two back-to-back references to flatulence. Believe me. I struggled immensely over whether I keep or nix those two words. Would other parents think I was rude? Would schools turn their noses down at me? Am I stooping too low? Is there a nicer way of saying ‘fart’? In the final edit, the wording remained. Why? Because the book is written for kids who like the odd bit of crude humour (my boys insisted I keep them in) and I didn’t believe a few toilet humour jibes would debase the quality of the story.

I did not, however, consider the prospect that I may one day find myself reading my book aloud to a group of kids and their parents. And, I’ve got to admit. Saying the word “fart” aloud is much more difficult than reading it silently. After one such reading, I decided to choose excerpts from ‘cleaner’ chapters of the book in the future and that has proven much less embarrassing for me.

Last night, I received a lovely email from a teacher in the Toronto area who had read the book and passed a few copies around to colleagues. She explained that although many boys enjoyed the book and its illustrations, teachers were concerned by the silly language, and hence, the book would not be introduced into the classrooms. While I wasn’t surprised, it was a bit of sting.

That left me wondering if I’d made the right decision to keep the “stinkier” aspects of my book intact. I tossed and turned through most of last night wondering if I should do one more edit and cut out one line. I will likely do one more large print run in the new year, so it wasn’t too late to make that small change. After all, every product makes tweaks every so often. This morning, I asked each of my boys if they thought I should get rid of the ruder references. They were adamantly opposed to such censorship!

“It’s funny, mom,” they all agreed.

Now, perhaps I’m the only author relying on the consulting services of three boys, but I’m going to gamble that they know what they’re talking about. So, should there come a time when an adult tells me my book stinks. I’ll just have to say thanks.