Authors See Their Books for the First Time

Authors spend months - sometimes years - writing their books. They put their hearts and souls into their writing and they work closely with editors and publishers like me to provide the best books they can to potential readers everywhere.

As an author, editor and publisher, one of the most rewarding moments in this process of creating books comes when the author - or, in some cases, illustrator - sees their book for the first time. That first moment can be exciting, scary, nerve-wracking, thrilling, rewarding, some combination of those emotions or so much more.

This year, we assisted several authors and illustrators in creating their new books. We hope you enjoy their reactions to their books.

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We weren't with Swift Current, Saskatchewan rancher and cowboy poet Bryce Burnett when he opened his first box of Homegrown and other poems books, but we're pretty sure Bryce looked like this when he saw his book for the first time...

...  because Bryce is just a happy kind of guy.

We caught up with Bryce at Swift Current's summer fair. He happily launched his book there and signed autographs for folks as well.

This is Bryce's first book and we are receiving wonderful responses to his poems, which celebrate rural life on the Canadian Prairies, community connections, love, laughter, and spirit and soul. The poems are sometimes funny, sometimes gentle, sometimes enlightening, and always well-written.

* * *

In August, we received two more new books from the printers. 

 

Here I am, holding the book and the bookmark for Jennifer Kuchinka's inspiring memoir, After the Truck Hit: Jennifer Kuchinka's True Story. 

The book details Jennifer's recovery from an accident in which she was hit by a semi after she ran out of a hospital onto a highway due to postpartum depression. Jennifer's story is quite incredible. She has recovered to the point that she is back to work as a teacher and is speaking at conferences across Canada to raise awareness of acquired brain injury and of postpartum depression.

When Jennifer received her first shipment of After the Truck Hit books, this first-time author sent us this photo of her reaction:

Looks like a pretty proud author. Or a pretty, proud author. 

(Punctuation is important, but both sentences in this case are accurate - and thus correct.)

Jennifer's book is also receiving accolades from readers and is one of the 'Wow!' books we have in our stable of true stories written by Prairie authors.

'Wow' is what customers say to us when they hear the book's storyline.

* * *

The second book we received from the printer that particular August day has a special place in our hearts, because it was written by our eldest daughter, Lisa Driver. 

  

Here are the proud editors/publishers/parents Al and Deana (me) Driver, with Lisa's book, Opening Up: How To Develop Your Intuition And Work With Your Angels.

This picture of us was taken by our eldest grandson, who happened to be visiting that day and begged to use my camera to take this important picture from his six-year-old's view of the action.

And what did Lisa, another first-time author, think of her book when she first saw it?

No caption is really necessary for this photo, but let's just say she was happy with it.

Lisa's book is the first spiritual wellness book we've produced, and we're happy about the positive response to it and to Lisa's message of health and healing.

This is one of the books that we've produced which have prompted people to come to us and say, "I need this book." Well done, Lisa!

* * *

Ten years ago, I met Mary Harelkin Bishop (a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan teacher and award-winning, prolific author) at a self-publishing workshop in Saskatoon. We became instant friends and have worked together on Mary's books Seeds of Hope: A Prairie Story and Moving Forward: The Journey of Paralympian Colette Bourgonje. 

Mary, above left, visited us in July to put the finishing touches on her new children's picture book Gina's Wheels, based on a true story related to a little girl who met Canadian Paralympian Colette Bourgonje.

Mary and I always have fun when we're working together, as you can tell by the big grins on our faces.

When Gina's Wheels arrived from the printers' shop, this was Mary's reaction:

"Just picked up my books. They look wonderful!" she told us.

We're pleased. The book tells a great story with a wonderful lesson of tolerance and acceptance of others. A clerk in a bookstore told us, "This book needs to exist." We heartily agree.

Gina's Wheels was illustrated by Saskatoon artist Diane L. Greenhorn, with chalk drawings. Nice, huh?

* * *

The fifth book we published in the past few months is Jamie and the Monster Bookroom, a children's picture book by Kerry Simpson and Jamie Simpson, illustrated by Regina artist Erika Folnović. It's about a little girl who loves the library and reading, and has a marvelous adventure in one of the rooms of her local library.

Here's the book and bookmark:

And here is how artist Erika Folnović reacted when we showed her the printed book:

Nervous ...

... and then happy.

But really, Erika?

That's your reaction?

Come on, girl.

Show us how you really feel about your first illustrated picture book.

There you go.

  That's the Erika we know and love!

(Erika also created the cover and inside illustrations of our award-winning humour book Letters to Jennifer from Maudie & Oliver by Sharon Gray, by the way.)

At the launch of Jamie and the Monster Bookroom in Regina, Saskatchewan a few days later, we asked author Kerry Simpson to show us her response when she saw the book for the first time:

Thrilled. 

Nice.

Definitely another happy, first-time author.

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So there you are, folks. We hope you enjoyed these glimpses into some of the special moments in our publishing lives.

We look forward to adding more of them to our list, as we help authors create more stories for your reading enjoyment.

We invite you to talk to us about how we can help you publish your first book. Check here for more details.

Until then, take care.

********

P.S. A few days after I posted this blog, we received word that ALL FIVE of these new books received awards in the Great Midwest Book Festival competition in Chicago! We were so excited! 

Opening Up: How To Develop Your Intuition and Work With Your Angels by Lisa Driver was the Winner of the Spiritual category!

After the Truck Hit: Jennifer Kuchinka's True Story by Jennifer Kuchinka was awarded Honorable Mention in the Wild Card category.

Homegrown and other poems by Bryce Burnett was awarded Honorable Mention in the Poetry category.

Gina's Wheels by Mary Harelkin Bishop, illustrated by Diane L. Greenhorn, was awarded Honorable Mention in the Children's Books category.

Jamie and the Monster Bookroom by Kerry Simpson with Jamie Simpson, illustrated by Erika Folnović, was awarded Honorable Mention in the Children's Books category.

Congratulations to our authors and illustrators!

These five titles have now joined Seeds of Hope: A Prairie Story by Mary Harelkin Bishop, The Little Coat: The Story of Bob and Sue Elliott by Alan J. Buick, Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope by Deana J. Driver, and Letters to Jennifer From Maudie & Oliver by Sharon Gray in our stable of award-winning books. Not bad for a small publishing house like ours!

A Birthday, 2 Book Signings, A Book Sale, A Book Launch - Our Happy Thanksgiving!

This coming weekend is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and we at DriverWorks Ink publishing are ever thankful for all the great events happening in our lives every day, but for this week in particular.

Today, October 7th, is a special day for a very special woman:

 

Dionne and I will be signing our hope-filled Never Leave Your Wingman book this Thursday, October 9, at the Pasqua Hospital in Regina, Saskatchewan, in the foyer - so stop by for a free hug if you're in town!

This Saturday, October 11, there are two important events happening for us and our books.

Jennfier Kuchinka, who survived being hit by a semi after she ran out of a hospital and onto a highway, is signing her After the Truck Hit book at Coles in the Northgate Mall, Regina, SK.

 

And my husband and publishing partner, Al Driver, and I will spend most of the day at a craft show in Central Butte, Saskatchewan. It's their Festival of Creative Crafts and Trades - and Oktoberfest! Yes!

At the Central Butte Arena, Central Butte, SK.

Craft show and sale 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., supper 5 - 7pm, followed by dance.

                               23rd annual show and sale of crafts and trades in junction with
                           Central Butte Recreation Board's Oktoberfest. Event features a variety of                          creative work and commercial exhibits. Food court. 

Then on Sunday, October 12, we're hosting the Regina launch of Opening Up, written by our daughter Lisa Driver, an angel reader and spiritual healer:

That Sunday night, we're having our Thanksgiving celebration with family.

On Monday, we're putting our feet up and trying not to answer the phone.

Yeah, that never happens.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, everyone!

Authors - Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

I love working with authors who care about their written work. I care deeply about the words I write and the words we publish, so I would not be happy working with someone who was not passionate about the words they place together.

Lately, I've been noticing a number of authors and would-be authors who are prone to apologize.

"There are still errors," some will say about their manuscript, with a deep sigh as if they've committed a crime.

"I think I caught all the typos, but I'm not sure," others will tell me, with apologetic puppy-dog eyes.

As an author who is also an editor and publisher, I have a unique perspective on feeling the angst from all sides of this process called book publishing. While I spend countless hours editing, rewriting and touching up my own manuscripts before editors and proofreaders see them, I also know what it feels like to have someone else point out a mistake in my writing.

So to would-be authors everywhere, please remember these words:

                      Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

When you give your manuscript to an editor, acknowledge to yourself that:

• There will probably be typos. 
• There will probably be words missing from sentences. 
• There will probably be words used incorrectly in a sentence.
• There may be incorrect punctuation marks.
• There may even be a section of the story that belongs in a different spot in the manuscript.

Why does this happen?

Because we're human. And because writing and publishing are subjective exercises in which individual expression and experience are paramount.

Writers' brains often work faster than their fingers do when typing, and we sometimes miss typing some words that we know ought to be in a sentence. One of our former newspaper colleagues is known to emit the ' 'nt ' on words - which is a serious error when you're telling readers about another person's position on a topic. 'The leader is going to run for political office again' is significantly different from 'The leader isn't going to run for political office again'.

Also, when we proofread our work, our brains can sometimes read words into sentences that actually don't exist in the written document. We think they're there because we know we wanted them to be there, but we accidentally forgot to type them into the document.

Also, computers incorrectly auto-correct words and we humans don't always catch those errors when reading a long document for content versus reading it for spelling. 

As for incorrect usage, punctuation and placement of pieces within the story - those are some of the sticky points that crop up between a writer and an editor. While there are set rules for sentence structure and punctuation, editors (and publishing houses) differ in their knowledge levels and writing style preferences.

So please give yourself a break. Accept that you are not perfect ... and neither is anyone else.

Find a good editor. Do your best to work together to make the document or book as good as you both can.

Then leave it to the reader and move on to your next project.

That's right. Move on.

We are creators. We must create. Always.

So stop stewing and go make more stew... word-wise, I mean.

Have a great rest of the day!

The Best Introduction I've Ever Received

Having spent most of my adult life as a freelance journalist who has listened to numerous speeches of others, I have had to adjust my mindset considerably since I became an author in 2001 and began giving speeches about my books. I usually talk about my background a bit, then get into my writing history and focus on one or two books, depending on the audience and their initial request of me.

Instead of asking the questions, I am now attempting to answer them - during and after my presentations. Instead of listening to others being introduced, I am hearing how others introduce me.

Usually, they take information from the About Us page of our website and add a couple of lines.

That is not what happened in Swift Current, Saskatchewan on September 17, 2014.

Several months ago, I was contacted by Betty McDougall, chairperson of the Write Out Loud Committee in Swift Current, to see if I would be willing to speak at their Write Out Loud event, which is part of the regular programming for the Southwest Cultural Development Group (Lyric Theatre). They wanted me to talk about writing the Never Leave Your Wingman book, my work as an author and perhaps even a bit of information about my work as a publisher.

I agreed and confirmed that Al, my husband and DriverWorks Ink publishing partner, could come as well to sell our books to anyone who was interested in purchasing them. And so it was settled.

On September 17, Al and I arrived in Swift Current and met Betty McDougall and another committee member, Terry Toews, for supper before the event. We had a great visit and, as most Prairie people do, we quickly became comfortable with each other and were laughing and telling stories in no time.

After supper, we drove to the historic Lyric Theatre building in downtown Swift Current, and took a few photos of the poster announcing my speech/reading.


One of the committee members kindly made some adjustments to the book's cover ...

... to get all the information in for the evening event.

We also took a couple photos of me with the sign outside the theatre, which hosts local artists, including a husband/wife musician team who performed before my reading. They were the opening act, if you will.

While Al and I were setting up our table of books inside, people were flocking over to look at our numerous titles and purchasing numerous books before Al could even get them all out of the boxes. We were thrilled! (Thank you, Swift Current! You are the best!)

After the opening act, it was time for Terry Toews to introduce me. 

This is what she said:

INTRODUCTION

It is my pleasure this evening to introduce the first author for our brand new Write Out Loud season. 

Deana Driver is an author, editor, book publisher and freelance journalist based in Regina.  She is the author of five non-fiction books and the founding partner of DriverWorks Ink publishing, which specializes in non-fiction stories, and helps authors self-publish their work.  It is of special interest to us that DriverWorks recently published Bryce Burnett’s first book of cowboy poetry, Homegrown and Other Poems.

Since 1983, she has published more than 2,000 articles (while raising three kids - so she's kind of an underachiever), in addition to her non-fiction books.  Her latest release is also her first children’s book.  The Sailor and the Christmas Trees is the true story of a Manitoba sailor who cut down trees in Newfoundland, hid them on his ship, and surprised his shipmates and some small English children while at sea during the Second World War.

Ms. Driver has a passion for sharing the stories of fascinating Prairie people and unsung Canadian heroes.  She enjoys speaking to audiences of all ages, and uses her own experiences and those of people she has interviewed to show the importance of reading and writing as the path to learning and a better future.

When I read Never Leave Your Wingman, I was impressed by the degree to which Deana Driver is willing to take a back seat to the story she is telling.  Throughout the book, I was thinking about introducing Deana and what I would say about her, and then I would realize that I was accidentally introducing Dionne Warner in my imagination, so successfully has Deana written herself out of the book!  It takes real skill and a willing sublimation of ego to be able to do that. 

The fact that the book is definitely Dionne’s story says a lot about Deana Driver.  It tells me that she is dedicated to giving these unsung heroes their own voice, without imposing her voice or value judgments.  It tells me that she is secure enough to be willing to disappear into a story in order to be able to tell it with authenticity, and it tells me that she is, herself, something of an unsung hero.

It is no small thing to want to tell the stories of prairie folks and amazing people who otherwise escape the notice of the world.  And it is no small thing to want to help other writers move forward with their work.  When I came to the end of Never Leave Your Wingman, I concluded that it was no accident that Ms. Driver wanted to write about Dionne Warner.  In many ways, they are cut from the same cloth, in their willingness to help others and their responsiveness to reactions and emotions that sometimes go unnoticed by others.

We are very fortunate to have Deana Driver with us tonight.  Please join me in welcoming her to the Write Out Loud stage.

Wow. That was very high praise ... and I was a little taken aback. 

Last fall, during our large tour of schools and libraries in which I made 62 presentations in 27 communities across the Prairie provinces, a high school teacher in Prince Albert introduced me as 'a humanitarian' - and I was thrilled and honoured with that reference. 

In Swift Current, with Terry's introduction, I had never heard so many kind words about my work, my writing, or my person from someone who had never met me before.

Her introduction made me a little emotional ... which led to a rather emotional speech about a very emotional topic - the amazing eight-time cancer survivor Dionne Warner and fighting cancer with laughter, courage, and above all, hope.

I calmed down after a few minutes and by the end of my ad-libbed speech, the audience had heard a bit about my own story, plus some excerpts from the book, some background to those excerpts, and more. One woman kindly told us later that she "could have listened to that all night. Dionne's story is great, but to hear how Deana went from freelance writing to publishing was really good. And when she started talking about the different books, I could have listened to that about each one of them.

Some of these authors just come and read from their book. This was really entertaining - but more than that, it was educational, too."

So to all you authors out there, please add those extra touches to your readings. Tell the audience something they won't read in the book. Who are you and why do you write? Where did the story idea come from for this book? What is your favourite part of the book? Was one part more difficult to write than another? 

It's all about engaging the reader, at every level.

Swift Current's Write Out Loud was an amazing experience and Al and I are so grateful to have been invited, welcomed, and appreciated by these wonderful Prairie people. 

Thank you, Betty, for inviting me to speak at Write Out Loud and thank you, Terry, for that remarkable introduction. It's the best!

(L to r) Betty McDougall, Deana Driver, Terry Toews - Sept. 17, 2014.

My Pens from Europe - 2

'The pen is mightier than the sword.' This is my second of two blogs (here's the first blog) about the souvenir pens I bought while in Europe last summer, and it was Al's idea to start this blog with that old familiar saying. Since I am a writer who dislikes fighting and believes we can truly heal the world through written words, the saying seems to fit, so I went with it.

After a wonderful time in Nice and Monaco last summer, we travelled to Barcelona. We would have loved to stay there longer, but maybe we'll do that next time.

This pen has a great pull-out strip that has photos on both sides, featuring various sites of Barcelona and area.

Oh my gosh, Paris was next! We LOVED Paris. It was the best experience with so many beautiful sites and experiences. 

We bought this pen at the Vincent Van Gogh Museum. It is the most unique-looking pen we purchased.

  At the Eiffel Tower, I bought this pen...

 ... it lights up, just like the tower.

At the gift shop on the second level of the Eiffel Tower, I couldn't resist this pen that names some of the historic sites in Paris. 

Mont Saint Michel is a fascinating island in France, and we met another author while there.

The day we spent in the Normandy area of France was one of the most significant days of our travels. We walked on Juno Beach, and set a copy of Alan Buick's book The Little Coat - a true story of an Alberta soldier and a little Dutch girl - down on the sand at that historic spot.

We couldn't find a pen to purchase at any of the spots we visited in Normandy. Frankly, we didn't look too hard either. We were far more interested in the history, and too overwhelmed in absorbing the pain and the emotion of those places. What a feeling it was to view those sites in person, to see those many, many graves, and to honour those who have fallen for our freedom.

We travelled to Belgium next. Bruges is very pretty. We would have liked another day or two to explore that city.

But we had a couple of very important stops that we wanted to make in the Netherlands, so we had to keep going.

Our first stop was the National Liberation Museum in Groesbeek, Netherlands.

 A parachute sits on the outside of the museum building, and the parachute on the pen goes up and down as you move the pen.

We saw a special exhibition that featured Sue Elliott, the subject of our The Little Coat book.

Then we met the amazing and still feisty Sue Elliott. Incredible.

We went on to Amsterdam and enjoyed those days a lot as well.

Back into Germany, Berlin was next on our list. 

We were attracted to this dark, strong pen from Germany.

I fell in love with the Ampelmann (please forgive the written misspelling below), and had to buy a green and a red version of this popular figure displayed on pedestrian walk signals there.

We felt the war in Prague, Czech Republic, and we loved this historic city.

Back into Germany now, we visited the site of the Dachau Concentration Camp. Nothing but pain and sadness came from that site. We were glad to move on. 

To a happy, elaborate, over-the-top set of castles at Fussen. 

This pen from Switzerland was a challenge to find. But it was worth it. Look at this beauty...

Then we stayed in Colmar, France - just down the street from the Statue of Liberty.

The stork is a symbol of the region.

This was the hotel we stayed at in Frankfurt before flying back to Canada. 

So this is my collection of pens from Europe. I can't wait to use them all in my writing for years to come ... and to add to them the next time we travel to Europe.