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On October 14, 2011, I held a book launch for my new novel for 9-13 year olds, Count Me In, as part of the 10th annual Whistler Readers and Writers Festival. It was held at the Whistler Public Library.

The book features Tabitha, who hikes to Lake Lovely Water with her cousins, Ashley and Cedar. Tabitha is less than thrilled about hiking, and even less excited about spending time  with her cousins who seem to be set on making her life miserable.

We had a great turn out, with 40 people attending, ranging from small kids to adults. As I was part way through my introduction of the book, a seven-year-old boy called out, “Just start reading!” So I did. When I stopped and asked if there were any questions, he called out again, “Yeah, when are you going to read some more?”

Once I satisfied his need to hear the story, we had a lively conversation about the book and writing for children, followed by refreshments and book signing. Dan Ellis, owner of our amazing local bookstore, Armchair Books, attended and sold books. Thanks to him and the gang at Orca for helping to make the event a success!

Learn more about Count Me In on the Orca Book Publishers website.

Who would have thought that tough times could be so useful? I often take bits of my life, twist and turn them and after many revisions a book emerges. That was the case with BLOB.

I turned the memory of a miserable summer into this story. Nothing that really happened in my life, happens in the book (except for the weight gain) but the emotions are true to my experiences.

So here’s the story behind BLOB.

When I was 20, I found a summer job in an overnight camp. I was the counselor for a cabin full of thirteen-year-old girls. Most of the girls came from wealthy families and although there were some sweet girls in the bunch there were four snarky, spoiled “brats”. They thought that counselor was just another word for servant. “Pick up my trunk,” one barked the first day. “Get this for me,” ordered another. I felt like Cinderella with four nasty stepsisters. At first I didn’t know how to respond except to feel awful. I wanted the girls to like me so I tried being nice. That didn’t work. It backfired. The snarky girls got snarkier. The bossy girls rolled their eyes and whispered behind my back.

I was devastated. How could I live through a whole summer with this group?  I took long walks to think about what I could do and sometimes just to cry in a quiet spot. On one of my walks I discovered that the camp was not far from a Dairy Queen.  Yes! Salvation! I love chocolate and I love ice cream and nothing cheers me up quite so much as chocolate ice cream.

I soon became a fixture at that Dairy Queen. I escaped there whenever I could. Although my spirits lifted when I ate the ice cream, my mood plummeted when I returned to the bunk from hell. I was also gaining weight fast. I’m not a big person by nature and when I started to blob out, you could really see it. I was soon not only miserable about  my group of four but self-conscious about my weight.

Somehow I survived that summer. Things improved with the girls as the summer went on. I bonded with most of my campers but never reached the difficult four. I finally came to terms with the fact that those four in my bunk would continue to treat me with disdain.  There wasn’t much I could do about that so for the rest of the summer, I ignored their rolled eyes, whispers and smart-aleck responses.

Unfortunately the weight gain took longer to address. It took me three years to lose the twenty pounds I put on that summer.  How did I finally lose the weight? I didn’t follow a crazy diet or exercise like mad. Instead I taught myself to eat slowly. Very slowly.  I still adore chocolate ice cream, chocolate bars, chocolate chips, chocolate anything but my weight has stayed pretty steady over the years.  After all, it can take me a half hour to eat just one truffle. But I savour every bit of it.

As for those campers from hell, I bumped into some of them a few years later and they turned out to be approachable and friendly. They were older by then and so was I.

I was also not a BLOB any more—in any way.   —Frieda Wishinsky

Frieda Wishinsky is the Orca Featured Author for the month of July. Learn more about her on Orca’s Featured Author Page

As a writer, I spend a very unhealthy amount of time sitting in a chair typing out the words that make my stories, or relaxing in that same chair reading a book or watching TV.

It hadn’t always been this way. At fourteen, I had begun martial arts training, but quit at nineteen. Almost twenty years later I was having a conversation one sunny Vancouver afternoon, while walking on the beach with a friend. I had been looking into various neighbourhood tae kwon do schools, seeking one that was about personal development and low-key training.

I told her the story of how, as a teenager, I had seen a movie called The Karate Kid, and joined the first tae kwon do school I saw. I didn’t do a lot of research—nor did I understand that there are differences not only between the arts, but also in the school’s philosophies. The first school I went to was very rough with the motto, “Kick first before he kicks you.” We were taught takedowns, leg kicks, and finger breaking—and were encouraged to use these techniques while sparring in the school.

The next school I went to was much different. It was about the tenets of tae kwon do—courtesy, integrity, perseverance, indomitable spirit, and self-control—and learning how to respect one another. After two years, I switched (on the advice from a friend) to full-contact kickboxing. This lasted for all of two weeks, when during a sparring match the instructor pointed at me and said, “Someone put that guy down.” It turned out that this kickboxing school had a grudge against the tae kwon do school where I had trained. In order not to get hurt, I had to put my opponent down with a quick kick behind his leg—a move I had learned from the first school.

During this walk on the beach, my friend listened intently to my story. “This should be your next book,” is what she finally told me. I used this as an excuse to push myself to get back into the dojang. I did find a great school here in Coquitlam, Peak Performance, where we have fun and learn how to better ourselves through martial arts.

Thanks to Flying Feet I have gone from being a couch potato, to being an orange belt in tae kwon do. Which is why I call this the book that saved my life.

James McCann will launch Flying Feet at the Cameron Rec Centre in Burnaby, BC, on Sunday, June 13. For all the details, check out the event invitation.

Erin Thomas launched her first Orca title, Boarder Patrol, on Saturday, May 15 at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, Ontario. All this week, she is sharing tips for planning a fantastic book launch. Yesterday she discussed the importance of knowing your crowd and supporting  local businesses. This is Part 4.

Last weekend I celebrated the launch of Boarder Patrol, my first book with Orca. The launch was a success, despite a few twists in the planning process. More than fifty people filled the bookstore and bought or ordered seventy-some books. We had too much food, not enough books, and lots of fun. Here’s what I learned.

Be Flexible

Things go wrong. The night before my book launch, I received a phone call from Shelley Macbeth at Blue Heron Books. “I have some bad news,” she said. “Are you sitting down?”

After an ominous start like that, I was ready to hear that the store had burned down, or that Uxbridge had vanished into a great, gaping hole in the Earth. So when she told me that the books hadn’t arrived for my launch, it didn’t seem so bad.

We came up with Plan B: pre-orders. Between us, we scrounged and managed to get our hands on sixteen copies of the book. Those, we decided, would go to the people who had driven the farthest, or whom I was less likely to see. Uxbridge natives who came to the book launch who didn’t actually know me also got dibs on real copies. I trusted that my family and friends, and the people I saw in writing classes and through writing groups, would understand.

I put together a small poster explaining the situation, and an order form with a place for people to ask for an inscription. Shelley sold book orders instead of books, and last week, when the books came in, I started the process of signing and distributing the books to the people who ordered them at the launch.

Because of all the running around required to get “Plan B” off the ground, a few last-minute things that I had planned to do didn’t get done. None of them were deal breakers. Maybe a book launch is a little bit like a wedding, in that things probably aren’t going to smoothly, and most likely, it’s going to be all right anyhow. At the end of the day, it’s just an interesting story to tell: the bookless book launch.

Follow Up

In my case, part of the follow-up means delivering the signed copies of the books, as promised. I’m on it. With most book launches, this will already have been done.

I’m also writing thank you notes to as many as possible of the people who attended. There were a few there whom I didn’t know, but most are people that I have some way of getting in touch with. Many of them drove a long way to show their support for me and for my book, and I want them to know that I appreciate it.  And of course, the people who brought food or helped with the planning and preparation deserve special thank you’s.

Holding a successful book launch takes a lot of work, before, during and afterwards. But on the day of, it’s a great feeling when people come out to help you celebrate your book.

Erin Thomas launched her first Orca title, Boarder Patrol, on Saturday, May 15 at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, Ontario. All this week, she is sharing tips for planning a book launch. Yesterday she described the process of finding the right venue. This is Part 2.

Last weekend I celebrated the launch of Boarder Patrol, my first book with Orca. The launch was a success, despite a few twists in the planning process. More than fifty people filled the bookstore and bought or ordered seventy-some books. We had too much food, not enough books, and lots of fun. Here’s what I learned.

Spread the Word

I created a spreadsheet with names and addresses of family and friends to invite, marking off which ones were best reached by email and which were best reached by snail mail. I stood up at CANSCAIP and WCDR meetings to talk about the upcoming book launch; I even wore a toque at the WCDR meeting, to go with the snowboarding theme, because it’s that kind of crowd. I invited everyone in both of the night classes that I was taking at the time. Self-promoting isn’t always something that comes easily to writers, but with practice, standing up in front of people gets easier.

By the time the invitations were mailed out in April, most of the people on my list already knew about the event. I had sent out a “save the date” email far in advance… before the date change, actually. So the date change was a good reason to email people again. I also used my Facebook status as a way to let people know the book launch date had been set and then changed, and a week or two before the event, I created a Facebook event for the book launch.

I “tweeted” about the launch, too, but not being very Twitter-prolific, I’m not sure that it made a difference. Still, as Orca pointed out, even if people can’t come to the book launch, it doesn’t hurt to remind them of the existence of the book.

Photo by: MORTIS Photography (www.mortisphotography.com)

Again, I have a big family. They’re very supportive. If you don’t have a large family, though, maybe you have friends who might like to help. You don’t have to do everything by yourself.

My mom baked the cake and decorated it with a picture of the book cover. Edible ink… go figure. (By the way, if you are looking for a printout of your book cover for your own book launch, try searching on eBay for “custom edible icing”.)

Mom also made several book bags and bookmarks as door prizes. Friends and family brought food to the book launch. Shelley from Blue Heron donated some delicious cupcakes from a local bakery, arranged and iced to look like a snow-covered mountain. Orca donated books to be used as door prizes. You’ll probably find that people are willing to help you, but you do have to ask.

Check back tomorrow for How t