LIVING THE WRITER'S LIFE: CATCHING UP!

Well my goodness! It's been months since I posted here. I hadn't realized just how remiss I had been. The reason, of course, was that I have been busy with other blogs, stories and writing events.  Most importantly though, I have been doing a lot of promoting for SHADOW OF THE LION; BLOOD ON THE MOON and this has included various readings and presentations which included writing workshops. I presented a workshop on Travel Writing Basics for the Royal City Arts Society last November and also presented a workshop on So You Want to Write a Historical for the Lit Fest in New Westminster in April 2015.  More recently I conducted a travel writing workshop at my home in the Spring and this weekend did one on Travel Writing Basics for the VPL which was attended by a huge, enthusiastic group of would-be travel writers. 

The "Empowered Writer" award from World Poetry Assoc.

I have also been actively trying to catch up on my travel blogs which you can find here at 

http://travelthroughhistory.blogspot.com  

And planning my next adventure, leaving here Aug 28 for England, Wales, Spain and, of course, Greece.  I had run out of travel writing material for one thing and needed some new destinations to write about. And I also love visiting my cousins in Wales, will see some friends in Spain (Torevieja and Malaga) and reunite with all my friends in my adopted city, Athens. 

Meanwhile I am also working on my Celtic novel DRAGONS IN THE SKY, which is moving along rather slowly these days because of all the other distractions. And yesterday I did a Travel Writing Basic's workshop for the Vancouver Public Library which was hugely successful.

So...I HAVE been living the writer's life. And now I'll share a few of the adventures I've had with SHADOW. There's been many great comments about the book and some very good reviews posted on Amazon and Goodreads which I appreciate.  After the book launch, I did a reading to a book club group on Vancouver Island thanks to my cousin Lynette.  Then I did a reading/workshop for Grind Writers and Burnaby Writers Spoken Word. I was invited to read at the Vancouver Public Library in June for Greek Heritage Month and also at the Kitsilano Library.  The day I read at the VPL (June 10) happened to be the exact date of Alexander the Great's death.  Both these library readings were well attended and successful. I more recently read for Surrey Muse at the Surrey Public Library, to a small but enthusiastic audience.

Showing my book off to cousins in Wales, 2014

Showing my book off to friends in Athens, 2014

I've been doing a lot of book promo on-line which includes queries to as many local writer's groups (and some across the line in Washington State) in regards to reading and workshops.  I have also sent out notices to as many independent book stores I can find across Canada and to Writer's festivals as well as university classical studies departments.  Unfortunately I have not hear anything back as yet. I really don't know what it takes here to get yourself noticed and invited to these events. I can be rather discouraging when you get no replies at all!  But I will continue to press on with this and hope that eventually a bit more notice will be taken and sales of the book will increase.  (SHADOW is available on Amazon as well as by order through other bookstores such as Barnes & Nobel, Chapters/Indigo etc).  

I am pleased to report that the Canadian Archaeological Society of Athens is planning a book reading for me on October 4.  I'm really looking forward to this and will also be contacting other associations there for the possibility of more readings.

Reading at the Kitsilano Library, June 18, 2015

So that's all the book news I have for now.  I will begin posting bits and pieces about DRAGONS again soon. Currently, I'm trying to catch up on a few blogs and those will include blogs for the novel which can be found at http://shadowofthelion.com   

 Reading at the Athens Centre, Sept 2014

 Reading at the Athens Community School, Oct 2014 

 Books on display, Burnaby Writers' Spoken Ink, November 2014

Book launch, Hellenic Community Centre, Vancouver January 14, 2015

VOLUME TWO, SHADOW OF THE LION: THE FIELDS OF HADES is due to be released in 2016 by my publisher, MediaAria-CDM,  Bristol England. 

LIVING MY DREAM

Me, Junior High Grad. age 14

It occured to me tonight as I was making my way over to the East side to take photos for a story I want to write for the Vancouver Guide, that there are some parallels to my life at this time as there were when I was a kid in Junior High, dreaming of being a writer. Back then, and all through high school, I was more interested in writing my stories than anything else. I didn't usually date boys and all during my high school years spent hours alone in my room typing on the old Underwood typewriter I treasured so much. (It was like the one Ernest Hemingway used and he was my writer hero).

I was on my way to the Latin Quarter tonight, alone. I haven't been there for weeks (either broke or busy) but the last times I was there I felt isolated, and solitary. That's often the way I felt when I was a teen-ager. I didn't have boyfriends like some of my school mates. I was a dreamer who was always thinking in another space, my mind drifting to other worlds. I was always romanticizing, living in my fantasy world. All I really ever wanted to be was a writer. And I had wanted that since I was a small child.

Me, High School Grad. age 17

I spent my last year of high school writing my first Alexander themed novel. I was captivated by Alexander the Great from the instant I heard about him (briefly) in a history class. I had been writing historical novels since I was twelve, starting with Pioneer stories written in pencil in lined scribblers, to novella sized manuscripts with Biblical settings. I wrote a few plays too, and sometimes they were perfomed for friends at home or church.

My teachers scolded me because my grades were not what they should have been. I dropped science and math after grade 10 because I simply didn't get it and couldn't care less. It was words that meant something to me. Words, and historical facts, and the lives of people who lived in other times.

I lucked out with my first job after I graduated, and went to work as a copy runner at the Vancouver Sun newspaper. I wanted to be a crime reporter; ended up a news librarian. But the writing bug had really bitten me and I was determined.

Then the usual distractions diverted me. Marriage, children, and being removed from the artsy atmosphere of the city that I loved, to another part of the country where I didn't have the same kind of inspiration or encouragement to write. So I quit for awhile and took up dabbling with paints instead. (That made my husband happy as I didn't stay up all night bashing away at the typewriter keys).

Then a few years later, moving back to the Coast and finding myself a single parent, I decided to take a creative writing class at night school. That set my creativity on fire again. I repeated the class for a couple of seasons, long enough to get me writing seriously again.Then, through the writing classes I met other writers and began to get involved in the writing community.

All this time I was working as a daycare supervisor and writing in my spare time. Then I started traveling and found that my journalism skills could be used to write travel articles. I sold the very first one I sent out and that marked the beginning of my writing 'career'. Since that first article in 1982, I have sold many others and ten years later started to teach travel writing for the School Board continuing Ed.

I had started a novel, (My Celtic novel) before I took up travel journalism as a means of getting publishing experience. Then I went to live in Greece and did more writing. And my interest in Alexander was renewed. I shelved the Celtic novel when it was half-way through in order to write a juvenile historical about Alexander's little-known son. But that turned into a major work which is now almost complete. In the meantime, I've had a play produced that I first wrote in 1953 when I was 18 (rewritten in 2000); published lots more travel stories; started my own travel 'ezine www.travelthruhistory.com ; I write for the web (The Vancouver Guide at www.planeteyetraveler.com And I'm instructing lots of different writing classes as well as editing and critiquing manuscripts. I 'retired' from thirty three years of daycare work a couple of years ago. I am now a full time writer!

I thought all about this tonight as I set off for the evening after a day of editing, attended a life-writing workshop, and headed off to do photos of an event I want to write about for the Vancouver Guide. Then I ended up (solo, of course) at the Latin Quarter. Just like when I was a teen, any 'romance' I have is all in my head. As I sat there sipping my crantini I felt strangley out of place. Guess I've been spending too many hours at my computer, isolated and living in my writer's world. But it's a world I like to be in.

Yes. I am now a full time writer! I am living my dream. My next big achievement will be to get the novel published. And that will be another dream come true.

The thing is, you have to hold on to your dreams and don't give up. Because eventually, they will come true. It takes hard work, patience, and perseverence though. And a whole lot of dedication! And sometimes it means spending a lot of solitary time in that other world you are busy creating.

Me, toasting my contribution to

the Downtown Memory Project at S.F.U. downtown campus