Ok, enough said with the title, right? Not many authors I know enjoy marketing their books. I released a second independently-published book in March this year. Unlike with the first book that trickled out via family and friends and blind perseverance from its eager hobby author who spent hours on phone calls and emails to … More Book Marketing Experiments
August 2020 is over, already. Finally. What a month of highs and lows. The weather was fantastic, full on summer, heat and rain, gardens and fields heavy with harvest here in “la belle province”. The leaves still only tinged with a shy blush of promise for brilliant autumn raiment to come. And now fall is … More August 2020. Light and Dark.
SO. Exciting day yesterday. My first book sales and signing in 2020. The setting : Ottawa’s Byward Market. Perfect sunny day. Light breeze. Large crowds throughout the day, surprisingly busy. Masks in abundance, despite the outdoor venue, beautiful personalized masks, colourful summer clothes, many high-end shoppers (by the bags). 5 of us local authors wonderfully … More Book Selling in a Pandemic
July went by fast. Sometimes I hope the whole year, this year of the pandemic, would just be over with already. Then I remember, and tell myself, “You’re not getting any younger! Don’t wish your life away. Live and Adapt.” So I try, as well as possible, what with all the “new normal” ways to … More July 2020. Normal, Outside.
Where are you from? Where is “home”? Is home where you grew up as a child? Is it where you graduated high school? Where you got married? Is home where you live now? Well, for me and many military brats, yes, to all of the above. We’ve had many homes and even a few hometowns. … More Home. Again and Again.
I’m lucky to still have my Dad around. His health isn’t the best anymore, and I live far enough away that I only get one, maybe two visits a year. But yes, lucky, and even luckier that he’s started to share more of his military stories with me now, more than I ever knew growing … More Father’s Day 2020. My Military Dad
For a month that started with Winter in Canada still sending snow flurries – (bizarre sight to awaken to – condo landscaping efforts begun; overnight sprinklers in freezing temps turning leafless shrubs into gorgeous morning sunlit icicle clumps) – May is ending with a heat wave and signs of life for this author. Yes, I’m … More May 2020: Back to Living
May 24. My birthday. I needn’t count them anymore; I don’t anticipate presents or cake or a party, but I still like my day. Something about feeling like a kid again. Such a beautiful time of year – I may be biased, but the weather always feels perfect on this day. The smell of … More Birthday Post, “First We Eat” Excerpt
My mother has been gone for over 20 years now, but I think of her often. Mother’s Day is now a day for my own grown children to call me, and to talk to my mother-in-law. But this Mother’s Day, my first as a grandmother myself, I’d like to share a personal gift that Mom … More Mother’s Day. A Parting Gift.
For a month where nothing was possible to do outside the home, I find I’m struggling to summarize April 2020 in my preferred manner of short and concise. How can I have so many words to describe so few actions? Let’s start with the obvious : In April, Lockdown against the COVID-19 virus got serious. … More April 2020. Lockdown Gets Real.
Stevie Szabad, Author 