Posts by Susan Crossman
The ADD of Writing
Glory be to heaven’s above I have a nice problem to share today: my publisher, Manor House Publishing, has asked me to go ahead and complete my first non-fiction book and they want it done by the end of August. Say what? End. Of. August. With a working title of “The ADD of Writing” you can probably guess what it’s about – I’m taking a look at the lessons I’ve learned over 30-plus years as a professional writer in the fields of journalism, government and corporate communications, marketing and creative writing. And I’m distilling it all down into a book that is designed to help people navigate their way through writing conventions in each of those fields. But I have a confession: I think how-to books are usually hideously boring. I like reading fiction, biographies and books about history, psychology, time management and quantum physics. But handing me a book about how to do something is akin to inviting me to use it as a door stop. It is very hard for me to get excited about the step-by-step of anything, although I have laboured through parts of books aime at teaching me about gardening, knitting, financial management and child birth. I believe there needs to be an element of creativity in everything we do on this planet and following rules about something bores me to smithereens. I remember working at the London Free Press and Canadian Press very early on in my career and feeling oodles of delight at devising strange new words that my editors, naturally, excised. It was always worth a try. Thus the ADD part of the story: ADD shares a lot of DNA with creativity. You sit down to complete a task (like writing a book). You stare at a blank computer screen. You hear a car going by outside your window. It is making a strange sound. You get up to investigate. You sit back down. The phone rings. You answer it. You’ve forgotten where you were so you stare at the computer screen for a moment and realize what you’d really like is a nice hot cup of coffee. As you wait for the coffee to brew you realize you haven’t gone to get the mail at the superbox for a few days. You decide to take the dog with you and because it’s a sunny day, you go for a longer walk than you had intended. You come back from your walk and realize the coffee is old. You brew another pot. You also realize that you forgot to get the mail. Damn! You go back up to your computer and stare at the screen again. What were you going to write today again? Oh yes, the book outline. Gotcha. A book outline. A. Book. Outline. What’s the best way to write a book outline you wonder? You Google it. Ahh, OK, there are 5,190,000 entries for “How to write a book outline”. You wonder why there are so many. Does that mean there are a lot of incorrect methodologies out there? Who are all these people who write instructions for book outlines, anyway. Are they writers? Editors? Publishers. Oh, and there’s that “how to” piece again. Do you really want to get into a tedious “How-To” spiral of ineffectiveness at 4:37 in the afternoon? I’m sure you get my drift. My challenge will be in making this new book interesting enough that even I will want to read it. And interesting enough that I will also want to write it! Stay tuned for more...
Read MoreAdventures in Book Signing
As a published author now I’ve come to realize how important book signing events are to the process of book sales and thanks to the efforts of my Marketing Director, Leah Roberts, I’ve been able to organize quite a number of them for this year. Taking the step of hiring in help was a big deal for me. I’m a freelance copywriter in my day job and a single mom to boot – every minute of my day is crammed with competing priorities and I have an enormous control freak button that a lot of self-employed people share; it sometimes prevents me from letting go of details. Since hiring Leah, however, all that has changed. She has taken over the organization of my schedule with vigor and grace and I am enormously grateful to her for stepping in and taking charge. So far this year I’ve been at Chapters and Indigo stores in Milton, Brampton and Mississauga and I’ll be appearing at the London Chapters on 1037 Wellington Road, Saturday May 25 and the Oakville Chapters at Dorval Crossing on Sunday June 9th. Leah is also working on book signings for Burlington, Stoney Creek, Peterborough, Dundas and Toronto/Etobicoke. I tired this on my own last year and although I had the best of intentions, I was just unable to organize the number of book signings I would have liked. Although my publisher, Manor House Publishing, has been stellar in all ways, it is a sad fact of life that unless one is a bona fide best selling author, a publisher doesn’t have enormous resources to devote to promotion. That’s cool with me. I now have Leah! Each book signing has a different flavour. I’ve been very fortunate to share the signing table at each of my events so far with fellow Manor House author Heidi Cowie. Heidi is an accomplished therapist and her book, “Touch the Whales” is a superb collection of stories from her own life about how she has conquered fear. We’ve noticed that even though the large Indigo and Chapters stores appear to have similar layouts and outlooks, the clientele that walks through the front door can vary, from the gregarious and outgoing folks in Brampton and Milton to the focused and introspective individuals in Mississauga. Being a relatively outgoing individual, I am always open to conversation and I love talking to people about their favourite books, genres and authors. I’ve enjoyed many lively conversations with people about how e-readers have affected their reading habits and whether social media will affect how the next generation reads. (Or doesn’t). I invite you to take a look at the book signing schedule on my website and, if you’re available I would love to see you pop in to say hello! In the meantime, Happy Reading!...
Read MoreA Book Tour of a Different Kind: Favourite Books From My Youth
We all have favourite authors and I thought I’d take a few minutes to share a few words about some of mine. I’ve been an avid reader since I was first able to hold a book and although I was probably chewing on a few in the early days of my life, I can’t remember a time when I haven’t spent anguished moments of non-book time wondering when I’d be able to get back to the story I was exploring. It’s painful, sometimes isn’t it, to be away from a good story that can only unfold when you decode the miracle of the alphabet? Very early on I discovered the work of Lucy Maud Montgomery and I can remember thrilling to the story of Anne of Green Gables as the poor girl navigated a world where she didn’t, ever, seem to fit in. I read several books in the “Anne” series as a girl and when my oldest daughter was around seven we plowed through the entire set to the great delight of both of us. Another set of favourites for me has always been Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” and “Little Men” books–I adored Jo, who seemed to be just like me in many ways and the winding path of her life held a fascination that few have been able to touch. Stephen Leacock’s “Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town” warms my heart every time I read it and the delicious irony applied to the behaviour of an unsuspecting community is priceless. No wonder Orillians were perturbed by Leacock’s unflinching look at their adventures. And thank goodness he gave us that timeless snapshot of an olden-days Canadian community. Mark Twain’s stories of “Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn” were both told with great deftness and I’m due to re-read both of them. I’m sure to find new aspects of his writing to admire and his dry wit absolutely tickles my fancy. Anything by Charles Dickens buries me immediately in a completely irresistible world of times we will never see again. And Charlotte Bronte has brought me to tears every single time I’ve read “Jane Eyre.” Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” has been made into a movie more times than I can count. But the movies are never as profound a pleasure for me as the reading of the book. Perhaps my most precious childhood books, however, are represented by the set of original “Winnie the Pooh” books that I treasure, both for the dear ratty covers that testify to how much my sister and I loved them as children and for the illustrations that evoke for me the remnants of a childhood spent in the absolute certainty that the Hundred Acre Wood really did exist. Is there anything more precious than childhood certainty? The writing of “Shades of Teale” and “Passages to Epiphany” have undoubtedly been influenced by many other of the countless books I’ve read over the course of my life. But I think there’s something formative in the early stories we absorbed and I have great fondness for the books I’ve listed here. I’d love to hear about the books that have shaped your love of reading: what are the books you would love to share with your friends and colleagues, and, more importantly, with the young people of our generation who are increasingly drawn away from words and into the hypnosis of an online world? Drop me a line and let me...
Read MoreBook Sale ‘N Sign in Oakville Saturday!
I’m looking forward to my book sale ‘n sign Saturday, April 20th at the Square Peg Kids fundraising event in Oakville and, If you’re attending, please stop by my table to say hello! Square Peg Kids is an organization dedicated to providing resources and peace of mind for families and children whose lives have been affected by autism, asperger’s, AD(H)D, sensory processing disorder, OCD, giftedness, anxiety, and a grab bag of other challenges. It’s run by Oakville resident Tracy Grant, a very special lady who feels she has been put on the planet to make a difference in the lives of families who are bewildered and often overwhelmed by the difficulties of managing their children’s journey through life. As my premiere besty, Tracy has been researching about and advocating for children since probably Forever. I met her 25 years ago (can it really be?!) when I chose her to look after my then-one-year-old daughter when I went back to work. As a nervous new mom, I interviewed dozens of people before settling on the only one I felt I could trust to give my little girl oodles of affection, structure and fun while I was toiling away at my keyboard all day. Tracy was an ECE with experience in licensed daycares and she had opened a daycare in her home, just around the corner from me. More than that, she was highly organized, extremely creative, completely focused on the children under her care, and pretty much the most cheerful person I had ever met. I never looked back! In the years since we first met, Tracy and I have followed each other through turbulence and triumphs and I am so thrilled that she has embarked upon a new adventure that will make such a big difference in the lives of Halton residents. The Square Peg Kids fundraising event will take place at the St. Volodymyr Cultural Centre at 1280. Dundas Street West at Fourth Line on Saturday, April 20, from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm. There will be a vendor market (where you’ll find me!), a silent auction and a steady stream of scheduled activities. I’ll be selling copies of my novel, “Shades of Teale,” which tells the story of a woman’s experience of an abusive marriage. Statistics show that pretty much everyone knows someone who is or has been in an abusive relationship and if my novel can go a little way towards helping someone navigate through that horrific experience, I will be very, very pleased. I’ll also have available copies of my second book, “Passages to Epiphany.” It’s a collection of short stories and creative-non-fiction pieces written around the theme of “awakenings” and it is designed as an inspirational work to help people find comfort in tough times. Both “Shades” and “Passages” are nice companions to the coaching service I offer. As a certified Awakening Coach I help people break through the paradigms that have been limiting their success in life and glide into a way of being that fully supports them in their daily lives. It is especially effective for anyone who has been feeling overwhelmed and “stuck.” If you’re interested in finding out more about Tracy’s fledgling organization, I invite you to visit her Website or her Facebook Page. And come join the fun on Saturday!...
Read MoreBook Tour 2013
I’m excited to announce that I’m back on tour to promote my new book, “Passages to Epiphany” and I hope you’ll drop by to say hello if I show up at a bookstore near you. Better yet, if you have an event coming up and would like me to speak to your audience, I would be more than happy to bring a few books and provide some insights about my life as a writer, editor and coach. I began writing professionally in 1982 and it was only in 2011, with the publication of my first novel, “Shades of Teale,” that I began revealing the more creative side of my writing. It’s been a wonderful exploration and I feel a great kinship with the many other enthusiastic writers who populate our world. Some of them are scribbling out a living as a freelancer or other paid writer but when I’m at a book signing I’m also often approached by people whose “closet writing” is a source of enjoyment for them. Although they may be employed in a totally unrelated field, it’s that delightful pursuit of fitting words together to create a story that fuels their heart. I’ve coached a number of people whose dream it is to write a book and it’s incredibly fulfilling work. If you’re interested in how I might help turn your dream of writing a book—or how I might help you polish your manuscript to put it in publishable form—please get in touch. I offer an “Editing Appetizer” for $347 (plus HST) that includes a sample edit, a writing skills assessment, an hour-and-a-half of consultation time with me, and a few other goodies. If this sounds like something that you’d be interested in, I invite you to visit my business website for more information. On the book tour front I have stops planned so far for London, Peterborough, Oakville, Milton, Stoney Creek and Mississauga. Other locations are under negotiation as I write and if you’d like to request that I stop by your community, please let me know. Book signings are one of my favourite activities as it’s a fun way to get to know what readers are interested in and to share stories about the crazy world we live. If you’d like to buy “Passages to Epiphany” online immediately I can direct you to Amazon.ca. The digital version will be coming out in a month or two but I’d love some feedback in the meantime on what you thought about the book so we can share them with other potential readers. Oh, and if you’d like to see the details of all the stops on my book tour, check out Manor House Publishing’s Facebook Event...
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