A Day in Saskatoon

So there I was, sitting at the table at the Coles book store in Saskatoon’s Midtown Centre mall last Sunday when a number of very interesting things happened:

A nine-year-old girl came up to me with her mom and they gladly accepted my leaflet describing our books. The girl, who was well beyond her years in intelligence, was excited that I am an author. I asked her if she liked to write and was told that she does. I encouraged her, as I do all young writers, by telling her that writing is a wonderful way to learn and develop your skills.

“Do you like to read?” she shot back at me.

Why, yes, I do. This young lady reads all the time apparently. (I wasn’t surprised.) “I’ve read the whole Harry Potter series and the Kane Chronicles,” she said. Good for her. At age nine, that was impressive.

We spent a few more minutes chatting and admiring each other’s talents and gifts. We had a mutual admiration going on for quite a while.

Some time later, the young man working at the cellular phone booth in the middle of the mall kept looking at my table full of DriverWorks Ink books. Finally, he walked over and picked up The Sailor and the Christmas Trees, which I wrote and Catherine Folnovic illustrated.

“This intrigues me. What’s it about?” he asked.

I told him the brief description of the book. It’s about a sailor from Manitoba who cut down some evergreens in Newfoundland in November 1944 and hid them on the ship for a month so he could bring them out on Christmas Day in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, surprising his crewmates and some little children on another ship in that convoy who were coming to Canada from England. 

       




“It’s a children’s book but adults are enjoying it as well because of the War connection and the inspiring story,” I told him.

“So it’s a children’s book!” he said, even more interested now. “My nephews and nieces love it when I read to them. I’m always looking for books for them.”

This prompted me to introduce him to SuperMom and the BigBaby by Dave Driver.

 “It’s a great children’s book for ages 2 and up, about a little guy who grows and grows into a giant baby terrorizing the neighbourhood,” I told him. “The parents have to figure out how to get him back home, so Mom grabs a mask and cape and becomes SuperMom and saves the day. The other thing is that the author’s wife talks in her sleep and everything that SuperMom says in the book is something his wife said in her sleep. It’s a funny story, kind of like a Robert Munsch book.”

“I love Robert Munsch,” he said, “but I’ve already got all his books… 

"The artwork’s amazing,” he said. 

I agreed. Guy Laird is a very talented artist.

                          

Then the young man had to get back to work, but I watched him at his spot, reading our entire leaflet later that afternoon. Who knows if he’ll ever buy one of those books, but I had fun telling him about them and that was my goal for the day - to tell more people about our books and keep spreading the word about our great Prairie stories.

Next up on my list of interesting experiences was a pre-teen girl and her friend, who wandered by my table and then came back (once they decided I would be agreeable to their proposal, I guess). They attend St. Edwards School in Saskatoon, which has a focus on eco-justice issues. One of the girls had a class assignment that involved interviewing 20 people and taking their photograph. I didn’t ask a lot of questions (unusual for me, I know), but I did answer such things as my age, where I live, who I live with, what is my favourite colour (red, by the way), and what is my favourite thing to do (it took one second for both her and me to answer together - ‘write’).

So that was a new experience.

Then I chatted with a United Church minister that I have known as an acquaintance for decades in my work freelance writing for the United Church Observer magazine. I have not seen him for years, though, so it was nice to reconnect. He and his wife happened to be shopping at Coles that day, and there I was. Surprise!

I handed out bookmarks to numerous children who came by with their parents, which is something we always do at signings and trade shows. One of the funniest incidents happened when a boy about five years old accepted a bookmark and then showed it to his mom. As they were leaving the store, the mom asked if the boy had said 'thank you' to me. He had, but she didn’t know that, so he said it again. 

Being a grandma, I automatically replied, “No problem, hon. You’re welcome.” 

The little guy stopped walking, turned around and looked at me and announced, “I’m not hon. I’m….. (and then said his name).” He cracked me and his mother up. We burst out laughing and they carried on their way.

About an hour later, this little guy and his mom came by again and he proudly waved the bookmark at me as if to say, “See! I still have the bookmark you gave me! THANK YOU!” It was very cute.

The most fascinating event that day occurred when three teenage girls came up to the table to chat with me. They were thrilled to talk to a writer. One of them announced that this was the second author signing she’d been at within a few days. Her grandmother had just released a book and had a signing at another Saskatoon store, she said. (I made a mental note to check out the book.)

All three of these girls like to write, but the two on the outside agreed that the girl in the middle was the best writer of all of them. This led me to ask questions about the kind of writing this girl does (romance novels for teens), if she’s ever been published (yes, but not paid), if she wants to be a writer as a career (yes) etc. We chatted for a while and then they left.

Some time later, they came back and walked to the back of the store behind me. Soon, the girl with the grandmother author came up to me and handed me a cell phone, explaining that her friend is shy but wondered if I would read part of one of her stories – so I did.

And my official pronouncement is that – this girl has talent. To make a long story short, I gave this young writer some words of advice, starting with “people are 'who' and objects are 'that' ” and including suggestions of Saskatchewan publishers that she could approach about getting her work published - including us at DriverWorks Ink. 

I also advised her, as I suggest to all young writers, that she should keep track of every piece of her writing that is ever published. This helps to build a portfolio and credibility in the writer’s work. I recently had to dig up my records of my work 20 years after the pieces were published to submit information to a particular national project, so keeping track is valuable.

Also, don’t throw out your old poems, short stories or other written work. Find a place to store it so that decades from now, you can look back on it and know the answer (when you’re making speeches at schools, libraries and the like) to the often-asked questions: “When did you start writing?” and "What kinds of things have you written?" Then you can not only answer, but you can show them as well!

And finally a Coles Saskatoon that day, this great phrase came from a woman who asked me to tell her about Never Leave Your Wingman, which I wrote. 

After my brief explanation that this book is the true story of a fun-loving seven-time cancer (Dionne Warner) who dances into chemo with her husband, both dressed in costume like it’s Halloween every day, the woman said this:

“That is crazy. That’s a pretty triumphant story.”

I had not heard Dionne and Graham Warner’s Story of Hope described as ‘triumphant’ before, but it certainly is. 

It made me smile all the way home. And that’s a long drive.

P.S. If you'd like to win either a SuperMom and the Big Baby book or a Never Leave Your Wingman book from us, post a simple message (even a "Pick me! Pick me!") as a Comment on the Thank you blog below BEFORE MAY 15 to enter your name in the draw. Thanks!