Beautiful St. John's, Newfoundland - Part 1

In early June, I was pleased to represent the board and membership of Saskatchewan Publishers Group/SaskBooks at the annual meeting and professional development sessions of the Association of Canadian Publishers in beautiful St. John's, Newfoundland. (To see what I learned there, read my blog - Hug A Canadian Book Publisher Today!)

My husband/DriverWorks Ink publishing partner Al Driver came with me to St. John's, so we could have a little vacation at the end of the meetings.

What a gorgeous city and province!

Our first view of St. John's was from our taxi ride to our hotel. The hills, rock and bountiful trees were a welcome sight to this girl raised in the forested area of central Alberta.

The street-level mural in front of these colourful houses stopped us in our tracks several times as we walked by, enjoying the history of this, Canada's oldest city.

Downtown St. John's is known for its brightly coloured, historic rowhouses that are all referred to as 'Jellybean Row'.  (There is no specific street by this name.)

The CBC-TV series 'The Republic of Doyle' has made these rowhouses even more popular. We were stopped one day by a women who asked us to take a photo for her and her husband as they stood by one of the bright blue rowhouses near our hotel. She was excited when we said we would. "I just love Republic of Doyle and I've been sick on this vacation and I really needed to see this before I go home tomorrow!"

The rowhouses can be seen on local mailboxes...

as the subjects of local art (we saw this one in a gallery window) ...

and as knick knacks for tourists.

Look at the above picture again.

Do you see the 'Newfoundland chain saw?' That cracked me up!

And of course, this is why I was in St. John's - to attend the ACP meetings. Various hotels, restaurants and shops displayed these welcome signs in their windows. 

I wish our city would do something this more often to welcome travellers and conventions. It's an easy, wonderful way to welcome guests when you aren't physically in their presence. Hey - I was so pleased that I took a photo of this sign!

On the first night, we attended a welcome reception hosted by four local publishers - Creative Book Publishing, Breakwater Books Ltd., Boulder Publications, and Flanker Press. The Screech Room in the historic Masonic Temple in downtown St. John's boasted this great sign above its door. Strangely, we did not sample screech or kiss the cod during our trip, but we did enjoy a few other local treats.

We enjoyed the music of local singer-songwriter Pamela Morgan...

the storytelling of author Andy Jones...

and the music of local artists Duane Andrews and Craig Young.

Oh, and I LOVED the fish and chips in Newfoundland! A little too much. By Day Three, I'd had cod and chips four times! Overdoing it, maybe?

Well - two were intentional and two were not. I enjoyed the tasty cod and chips dish above on our first two evenings there, from the Duke of Duckworth pub (the best fish and chips in St. John's, we were told). On my third day in St. John's, cod and chips was served as the lunch during the conference. Who knew? That evening, Al and I ordered crabs' legs at a restaurant to celebrate his birthday, then were told they ran out of crab. We were a bit astounded by that, but what can you do? We ordered a seafood platter - which included ... you guessed it - cod! Mmmm good! 

What were some other meals we enjoyed, you ask? 

Seafood chowder with huge chunks of local salmon in it.

Seafood au gratin. Unbelievably wonderful. 

And touton - a local treat that tastes like french toast combined with a donut. The locals eat this with molasses,  and we did try that - see our sample of molasses on the right side of the plate. We enjoy syrup more than molasses, though, so we devoured this tasty treat with syrup. 

We were told that touton came from what is left of the bread dough when making loaves of bread. They fry it up and enjoy.

Maritimers kept encouraging us to try cod tongues, which look like little balls of deep-fried cod, but we were admittedly cowardly about that. Just as I've never tasted prairie oysters (bull testicles which are considered a delicacy in some Western Canadian restaurants), I wasn't interested in tasting the real tongues of Maritime cod either.

The American Hockey League St. John's IceCaps were playing the first game of the finals one night, and these avid fans were encouraging passing motorists to come into the game - or at least honk their horns in support of the team!

There wasn't much danger that these enthusiastic fans would be hit by the traffic while on the boulevard. We found St. John's motorists to be overwhelmingly gracious in stopping as soon as a pedestrian might even be thinking of crossing the street at a corner. Apparently, there are serious fines in St. John's for not stopping for pedestrians at an intersection. There are in other cities, too. People in St. John's actually obey those rules, though!

A sign in a shop window. Heh heh heh.

The view from our hotel window in downtown St. John's on our first night there. It rained a bit the second evening of our trip, but then turned sunny and warm for the remainder of our stay in St. John's.

Here's Al, reading the sign for Angel's Corner, which reminds everyone they have a role to play in ending violence and abuse against women.

Oh! Al caught a big one!

Stay tuned for St. John's and area - part 2.

Radio Book Club podcast on writing and self-publishing

Have you ever wondered what would lead a Canadian journalist to become an author and book publisher? Well, here's your chance to find out how that happened for me.

Grab a snack and a beverage, then sit back and listen to this 26-minute podcast of a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Radio Book Club interview.

I talk about my 35-year career as a writer; my 13-year career as an author and self-publisher/publisher; three of the five non-fiction books I've written (two of which are pictured below); our DriverWorks Ink publishing company; how prospective authors can bring their manuscripts to us for self-publishing services and advice; and near the end of the interview, I offer some tips to aspiring writers and authors.

I hope you enjoy the interview but more importantly, that you learn something from it.

My work seems to be leading me more and more into an aspect of teaching and helping people either help themselves or help others by sharing their stories. Sometimes that means that they are the author of their book. Sometimes, someone else writes their story, as I did with Never Leave Your Wingman, about amazing seven-time cancer survivor Dionne Warner and her wingman husband Graham Warner.

I believe that we can all learn from and teach others, and we can all benefit from being nurtured spiritually, emotionally and mentally. In the toughest of situations, we Prairie people, in particular, work together to overcome obstacles and reach our goals. Through humour and love, we can grow and we can heal.

What a fun job I have!

After you listen to the podcast, please let me know what you think.

Did I answer all YOUR questions?

What else would you like to know?

I hope to hear from you...

These are three of the four books I spoke about in the interview:

(Just a Bunch of Farmers is out of print, but available from Weyburn Inland Terminal.)

   

Hug a Canadian Book Publisher Today

Last week, I was privileged to represent the Saskatchewan Publishers Group at the annual general meeting and professional development sessions of the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP), in St. John's, Newfoundland. 

Yep. In ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND! I'll blog about that amazingly scenic place later ... but today's blog is about the Canadian book publishing industry.

So at these meetings, I learned a lot of stuff (and shared some information from Saskatchewan) about what's happening - and not happening, unfortunately - in the Canadian publishing industry these days.

What's happening is a continued optimism from the women and men who put their heart, souls, funds and faith into publishing Canadian-made books on a day-to-day basis.

A public opinion poll shows that four out of five Canadians read regularly. They read based on the author, the title, and then whether the book has been recommended to them. (So THANK YOU to all our customers who follow our DriverWorks Ink authors and recommend our books to other readers!) 

What's not happening is the bazillion dollars in income that we all hope and pray will some day be ours as book publishers - or at least enough income to continue to pay the bills as we strive to share the written work that is so important to us, our authors, and our country's culture. Bookstores are closing; the market is tighter than it's ever been; we worry about multinationals purchasing our one remaining national bookstore chain; e-books aren't the panacea that some thought they might be; publishers are aging; and we just can't seem to get schools and libraries to take notice of and purchase our Canadian-authored-and-published books!

Oh - and the public doesn't seem to be aware of Canadian books. Or Canadian publishers.

That made me sad.

Al and I spend a LOT of time on the road, visiting various communities across the Prairie provinces and talking about our DriverWorks Ink books, written by Prairie authors (including me). We can't count the number of times that people have come up to us at a trade show and stated:

• "I didn't know there were books published in Saskatchewan."
• "I've never met an author before." (They meant me or one of our other authors who sometimes attend trade shows or other events with us.)
• "I've never met a publisher before. How do you do that?" (They meant publish books, not sit at a trade show booth - although that can be exhausting work at times, too.)

So either these potential readers have not been paying attention or we Canadian publishers aren't doing a good enough job of getting the word out there about our work and our authors' work. Or maybe a little of both.

The research shows that "publishers are not a strong part of the Canadian public consciousness," we were told at the ACP meeting. "Readers are more worried about authors being paid."

As an author who has been a 'not-quite-starving but often severely underpaid' freelance journalist for decades, I'm okay with the second part of that information. I'm glad that people who read in Canada are concerned that those who write the words should be paid a fair amount for their work. Canadian publishers are okay with that, too. We value our authors, and we pay them according to industry standards. In most cases, these writers are our friends. In many cases, these writers are us!

As an author AND a publisher, I'm disappointed that readers have not made the connection between those who write the work and the people who put that work into a publishable format for readers to enjoy. We work together with our authors to produce quality books. And I can promise you that in the next while, you're going to hear more from Canadian publishers about our important role in getting Canadian-authored and Canadian-published books into your hands, and some of the challenges we face in achieving that goal.

In Saskatchewan alone, we have more than 50 publishers who are members of the Saskatchewan Publishers Group, aka SaskBooks. DriverWorks Ink is one of those members. We at DriverWorks Ink sell our books on our own website (we have 16 titles at present and will be publishing more this fall), as well as through various physical stores, at trade shows, through the SaskBooks site and more. Search our books online by title or author and seven of our books will pop up with various e-book vendors as well!

Here's some great information about book publishers in Saskatchewan, including the fact that there are about 100 new books are produced each year in Saskatchewan alone by Saskatchewan publishers.

At the Association of Canadian Publishers meeting, we heard that there are more than 75,000 Canadian-authored books listed on 49th Shelf, which is a project of the ACP. Some of our DriverWorks Ink books are listed there, and we will be adding more of our titles to that site in the days ahead - so that more Canadian readers can find us. We recently listed our books on Amazon.ca - so there is another place you can find us!

Next time you pick up a book, I encourage you to look a little closer at it. Check the second page - the one with the copyright information on it - and see who wrote the book, who put it together, where it was printed, and all those other fun details that you may never have cared about before.

Most importantly, READ CANADIAN - as the wonderful little lapel pin below says.

And Hug A Canadian Publisher Today.

Lord knows we could use a hug!

Tug For Tatas on Cancer Survivors Day

The weather might have been cloudy with the threat of rain, but it was all sunshine-like smiles on the faces of those who pulled a semi-truck and trailer today at Tug For Tatas in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada - at a cancer awareness fundraiser on National Cancer Survivors Day.

Don't you just love the cake? The ribbons represent the colours of cancer.

Yes, these are the people who organized this event - to raise funds for Breast Cancer Action Saskatchewan (BCAS). 

This was the second Tug For Tatas event they've held, and I was honoured to be invited to both of these fun(d)raisers. As I said in my blog about the 2012 Tug For Tatas, Tug For Tatas is the brainchild of Tracy Thompson, owner/manager of two Curves fitness centres in Regina. Tug For Tatas 2012 invited teams of women to show their strength by pulling (tugging) a semi-truck and trailer 100 yards. Thompson and Sandi Ellert Day, the owner/manager of the other two Curves fitness centres in Regina, enthusiastically worked together on the project.

Jill Collins, president of BCAS, welcomed participants to this year's event with Tracy Thompson of Curves Regina fitness outlets on Jill's right. (The camera lies. Tracy's jacket is pink, not purple.)

 So while the teams were registering, I set up a table to show off our Never Leave Your Wingman book, about our favourite eight-time cancer survivor Dionne Warner ... and I was reminiscing about how the semi-truck driver in 2012 was Graham Warner of Warner Industries (and Dionne's husband and wingman, of course) ...

...when all of a sudden, Graham came around the corner and surprised the heck out of me! I thought he was supposed to be out of town (his plans changed, he said), so I was pleased to see him at this event, once again donating his time and the use of a Warner Industries semi and trailer for the cause. Thank you, Graham!

And then ... I convinced Graham that he and I should take advantage of the photo booth set up for survivors and everyone else who wanted to post their pictures on the National Cancer Survivors Day board (see top photo).

Graham's a good sport - as you will know by reading the Wingman book - so off we went to the photo booth...

And this was the result.

Oh, yes. We grabbed a couple of props for the occasion.

What? Did you think we always wear these hats? 

Well, okay. Graham might - when it's time for Dionne's chemo treatment and she tells him what outfit she has lined up for him that day. But that's another story - the Never Leave Your Wingman story, to be exact.

But now back to Tug For Tatas.

The teams went outside, in front of the Conexus Arts Centre beside Wascana Creek, and warmed up with a little Zumba. 

Then the teams took turns trying to pull the 47,000-pound semi and trailer the distance of 100 yards.

Graham's job was to sit behind the wheel, put the truck in neutral, honk the horn when the teams were to start pulling, steer the truck straight during the pull, honk the horn when the teams got the truck to the 100-yard mark, then skilfully back up the big beast of a truck-trailer to the starting line again.

And he did a fine job. See?

What? You can't see him?

There he is!

So let's get this party started.

Curves Regina's Tracy Thompson took control of the microphone when Big Dog 92.7 radio staff grabbed the rope and took a turn at the challenge.

This is where the challenge began.

Teams pulled ...

... and pulled ...

... and pulled ...

... using all their might ...

... while enjoying the 'tatas holders' attached to the front of the semi.

This year, there were co-ed teams, which added a whole new level of pulling to the event.

Everyone's affected by this disease, and it was great to see men out there lending their strength and support on Cancer Survivors Day.

Members of Breast Cancer Action Saskatchewan got in on the fun with their own team. Well done, ladies!

After all the teams had pulled, the call went up to see how 'few' people could pull the semi. This trio of men was up for the challenge.

And this was the goal - pulling the semi to the 100-yard marker. 

Every team did it! And every team was cheered on as they worked their way toward that finish line.

But wait.

The event was not over.

Members of Regina's finest - female Regina City Police officers - arrived to lend their might to the cause.

But first, a photo opp for the police women with semi-truck driver (and our favourite wingman) Graham Warner, and Curves Regina's Sandi Ellert Day and Tracy Thompson.

Okay. Now you can pull, ladies!

And pull they did! Good job! (They made it look easy.)

And here are the winning teams - with Tracy Thompson and Jill Collins: 

The ladies' team.

The co-ed team (minus some members who had to leave early).

And the best-dressed team. Nice tutus, folks.
They called themselves #boobs (Hashtag Boobs). Fun, huh?

So a good time was had by all.

More cancer awareness happened.

Cancer survivors were celebrated.

Money was raised for a worthy charity. 

And finally ...

The rain stayed away until everyone was on their way home.

Good job, Tug For Tatas! We'll see you next time!