The Importance of Family Stories by Eileen O'Finlan

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On February 25, 2022 my Aunt Joan passed away. She was 88 and had been living in a nursing home in Vermont for years while her Alzheimer's progressed. A few days before her passing, she fell and broke her hip. Her condition made it impossible to operate as she would not have lived through the surgery so the only option was to keep her comfortable. On the evening of the 25th, she died peacefully in her sleep.

My aunt's passing means that out of a family of seven kids, my mom is the only one left. She, too, is in a nursing home. At 95 and stricken with dementia, she is unable to comprehend that she has lost her last sibling. Knowing this, we have made the decision not to tell her. The necessity of that decision made all the more profound for me the wealth of family lore that is now gone. I know many of the family stories, but until I no longer had anyone to ask, I didn't realize how many questions I have about them. For years, we'd been asking my mom to record her memories. She'd always promised to do so, but somehow never got around to it. Now it's too late.

Family stories are important. They tell of a shared past, of lives lived, relationships built and cherished, sorrows endured and shared, and joys celebrated. They express the things that were important to a family. Pay attention to the stories that get handed down, told repeatedly. Commit them to memory or, better yet, write them down. And ask all the questions you can think of while you still can.

I remember one day when my mom and I were washing dishes together. She was in a reminiscing mood so I heard all about the time when she was thirteen years old and her mother was hospitalized for weeks with a serious illness caused by drinking contaminated raw milk. As the second-to-oldest child and the oldest girl, it fell to her to run the household and care for her younger siblings while her mother was in the hospital and her father was working. This story was told to me only a few years before her dementia progressed to the point where she had to go to a nursing home, but unlike many family stories it was the first time I'd ever heard it. She also regailed me with details of how she and her mother worked in a factory together during World War II. They were working on a project for the U.S. Navy, but each group of women was making a different part and none of them ever knew what it was they were building. I thought about how many of the events from my mom's life would make great stories, but I have so many questions. I've no doubt a lot of them will find their way into my future novels, but I so wish I had the opportunity to ask all the questions that come to me now when I ruminate on them.

My aunt's passing and the inevitable day when my mom follows her, signals the end of an era in our family. But the stories will live on as best as we can continue to share them. No doubt we'll add new ones of our own for future generations. I hope they ask a lot of questions.

Rest in Peace, Aunt Joan

 

Elizabeth Goudge Best Selling Author ~ 1900 - 1984 by Rosemary Morris

To learn more about Rosemary and her work please click on the cover.

Elizabeth Goudge – Best Selling Author -1900-1984

By unknown. Original publication The Joy of The Snow by Elizabeth Goudge immediate source scanned from book.

 

Recently I re-read some of Elizabeth de Beauchamp Goudge’s acclaimed novels, which include The Little White Horse that J.K. Rowling selected of her favourite books and one of few with a direct influence on the Harry Potter series. (The novel won Goudge the annual Carnegie Medal of the Library Association, as the year's best children's book by a British subject. It was her own favourite among her works.) I have also re-visited my copy of Elizabeth’s autobiography, The Joy of The Snow. “For the millions enchanted and inspired by Elizabeth’s THE JOY OF THE SNOW will be an enduring monument to her life’s work. It is more than an autobiography. She tells us, in poignant, candid detail, the story of her spiritual, and physical journey from a golden Edwardian childhood…and gives a glimpse of the deeply personal inspiration behind some of the best loved writing of our time.”

Elizabeth’s parents were Reverend Henry Goudge, who taught in the cathedral school in Wells, Somerset, and Miss Ida Collenette, who met in Guernsey. Elizabeth loved her holidays at her maternal grandparents’ home on the Channel Islands. She lived in Wells until eleven years old when her father became a canon at Ely Cathedral and principal of the Theological College. Ely, was Elizabeth’s “Home of homes.” In 1923, her father accepted the prestigious post of Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, and she was uprooted from Ely.

First educated at home by a governess, then sent to a boarding school in Hampshire in 1914, she was taught ‘how to run a big house, arrange flowers and be presented at court.  However, she had a teacher who introduced English literature, especially Shakespeare. It also familiarised her with the New Forest and the sea marshes at Keyhaven, fodder for her novels. There were few genteel ways for a young lady to earn a living so her parents insisted on her attending an Art College to learn crafts she could teach to others. She liked weaving, leather work etc., and wrote in her spare time.

The only child of a loving family, Elizabeth enjoyed a privileged life, but was neither well-educated nor prepared for the onslaught of the 20^th century, yet places where she had lived, would be the settings in her books. Her first published novel, Island Magic, set in Guernsey, was a great success in England and America. I enjoyed it as much when I read it for the second time as I did when I read it years ago. It incorporates Elizabeth’s invalid mother’s memories, island’s folklore, and myths. In the novel she describes St Peter’s Port where her maternal grandparents lived until they moved to a farm close to one which gave the fictional name Bon Repos. Her characters Rachel and Andre, who live there, are based on those grandparents she adored. The protagonists’ children, whose external and internal lives, hopes, and dreams Elizabeth portrays so sympathetically and vividly, that they almost leap from the page.  

A founding member of The Romantic Novelist’s Association, her next novel Green Dolphin Country published in 1944, brought her fame, won a Literary Guild Award and a special prize of £30,000 from Louis B. Mayer of MGM before being filmed.

Elizabeth’s gift of changing the commonplace into a magical, wonderous world inhabited by unique characters enthralled her fans. Her realistic, fantasy or historical fiction intertwines, legend and myth, spirituality and love of England that add to their appeal; She stated “As this world becomes increasingly ugly, callous and materialistic it needs to be reminded that the old fairy stories are rooted in truth, that imagination is of value, that happy endings do, in fact, occur, and that the blue spring mist that makes an ugly street look beautiful is just as real a thing as the street itself.”

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

 

bookswelove@shaw.ca 

 

Ending a Book Series by Diane Bator

 

The Conned Lady, Book 5 Wild Blue Mystery series

I hit send on Valentine's Day and submitted The Conned Lady, Book 5 of my Wild Blue Mystery series. As all writers know, every time you hit send on a book, it takes a little piece of you with it and stirs up a jungle of butterflies. This book was exactly like that – but different. The Conned Lady is the last book in the series that started my writing career.

To tell the truth, I’ve thought about ending a series for a while now but there were so many unknowns:

·       How would I do it?

·       What would happen to my characters?

·       How hard would it be?

·       Will my readers be upset?

·       Will that mean I can never revisit those characters again?

When I started writing Book 5, I hadn’t intended to end the series just yet. I had plans for one more book but the characters had other ideas. This one wrapped up so many things that it left me no option! Once I got to the final climax, the next move was for them to all live happily ever after. Who was I to argue with an organic, natural ending to the series?

What would happen to the characters? Life will go on even though the readers and I will no longer be a part of it. Working out what would happen to them next was so easy. The last chapter truly wrote itself.

I truly hope my readers are not upset. I was prepared to struggle with that last chapter and saying good-bye to a long list of old friends that I’ve worked with since I first started writing about their adventures around 2010 then published in 2013 when Books We Love took a chance on The Bookstore Lady. Characters definitely become a part of your life and it’s hard to imagine not having a next book to follow them around and see what they’re up to. At the same time, I still have the freedom to use those characters in future short stories or novellas or even a new book or series should the vision arise.

I guess for me, I think of ending this series much like going home after a vacation. You’ve had a great time with friends but it’s time to go home and get back to work on something else. Since I do have more series in the works, there will always be more endings. Hopefully the next series ender will be as smooth as this one.

Happy reading!

Diane Bator

http://bookswelove.net/bator-diane/

Make Believe World

 https://bookswelove.net/dowell-roseanne/

 I live in a make-believe world. Okay, not literally, but vicariously through my characters.  I decide where they live, name their towns, or sometimes I let them live in a real city/town.  I prefer small towns, maybe because I’ve always wanted to live in one. I especially like towns with Victorian houses and apparently so do my characters, because I use them a lot.  I often say I must have lived during the Victorian area, probably as a mean old nanny. I’m sure I wasn’t the lady of the house, and by house I mean mansion. Queen Anne Victorian homes are my favorite. I love the round turrets, all the gingerbread, and wrap-around porches. It was always my dream to buy one and restore it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be and I’m past the point of wanting one now.

Back to my make-believe world. I’d like to say I choose my characters, but truthfully, they choose me.  Sometimes I even get to name them, but if they don’t like the name, well, believe me, they misbehave until I change it. And, yes, that’s happened several times. Just because I like a name doesn’t mean they do. The last time it happened it wasn’t even a main character. She was only in the story for a short time, but boy was she stubborn. She refused to talk to me and anything I wrote was garbage, better known as dreck in the writing world.

As I’ve said previously, I write many different genres, from Women’s Fiction to Romance to Mystery and even Paranormal. Most of my books are a combination of romance and another genre. As a reader, I’ve always favored mystery and romance, so it only made sense to combine them.  Mine would be classified as cozy mysteries, the gory stuff takes place off scene.

 I also love ghost stories – not evil mean ghosts though. One such story is Shadows in the Attic and another Time to Love Again. I’ve always been fascinated by ESP, hence my story Entangled Minds – previously published as Connection of the Minds.

My character’s ages range from their mid-twenties to middle age and into their seventies. Yes, seniors need love, too. Geriatric Rebels is a favorite.  It’s fun working with different characters, and I especially like when they add a bit of humor. I really form an attachment to them. Once a character chooses me, I make a character worksheet so I know everything about them, not just what they look like.

I love creating my characters, picking their careers, anything from housewives, authors, teachers, floral designers, and interior designers. Sometimes their careers play a part in the story, sometimes not. The character in my work in progress (WIP in the writer’s world) is a former teacher. It’s not a big part of the story, but it’s something I needed to know. She’s a real character in the true sense of the word. She came into being in a previous story, All in the Family. It started out with her having a small part, but Aunt Beatrice Lulu (ABLL) grew into a big part of the story. Once I finished that book, she popped up again and demanded her own book. Problem is, she takes fits and goes into hiding every so often, which is where she’s at right now and has been for some time. Sometimes she pops up for days of writing. Other times, I get a paragraph or two. I’ve never had a character do that before.

Oh, I’ve had writer’s block a time or two, but once I’m over it the writing flows. Not so with ABLL.

  It’s also fun describing my characters, their hair and eye color, height, even their weight. I’m often asked if I’m a plotter or punster. I tried plotting once and ended up blocked for almost two years. For me, plotting doesn’t work. I usually know the beginning and end of my stories. What happens in the middle is as much a surprise to me as it is to my readers. ABLL is full of surprises. What that woman doesn’t get into. So even though she goes into hiding, it’s generally worth it when she reappears. I’m not sure where she came from, but I’m sure enjoying working with her. Okay, I’ll be honest, a little bit of her is me, a little bit my sisters, and even my mother. She’s a combination of all the people I love and it’s so much fun living in her make-believe world.

You can find my books at https://bookswelove.net/dowell-roseanne/

BWL Publishing Inc. New Releases, books to take your mind off all the Roman troubles and the Ides of March

 According to Wikipedia,  In modern times, the Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the Senate.  This meeting is famously dramatised in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March."^[20][21] The Roman biographer Suetonius^[22] identifies the "seer" as a haruspex named Spurinna. Some fascinating historical research presents itself for our historical authors.  

But at BWL Publishing March is another one of our Release Dates, and to take your mind off all that doom and gloom from the Romans we're delighted to present four more fabulous BWL Releases that we're positive you're going to enjoy.

NEW RELEASES FOR MARCH 2022

 

Musgrave Landing is located on Salt Spring Island in the Pacific Northwest. This small village is serviced by a ferry from Vancouver Island. Isolated, everyone is interested in everyone else’s business and apparently someone is capable of murder.
Eccentric romance novelist Mimsy Lexington has a secret. When she approaches Katie Mullins to help find details around her late husband’s death, Katie and her boyfriend Danny Walker are drawn into a web of lies and deceit. The deeper they dig, the more they realize the biggest dangers may lurk close to home and need to suspect everyone—including Mimsy.
Living with survivor guilt ex-soldierJared O’Connell craves forgiveness from his childhood friend for the death of her brother in Afghanistan. To get himself emotionally fit before he sees Mardi, he relocates to the coast to renovate his family home. Close to finishing her studies, Mardi James can almost taste success. Her world crumbles following an alleged assault resulting in partial memory loss which may end her long-term career plans. Recovering at her family’s coastal holiday home, she is approached by a man who apparently knows her, and calls her by name. Jared is devastated when Mardi doesn’t know who he is. An opportunity to seek her forgiveness and move on with his life appears lost to him.
Villages have idiots. Peladon? Peladon is a country, so it has an Idiot. The day job? Getting blamed for things other people did. The other job? When the world’s about to end (or the washing up won’t get done—whichever comes first), who you gonna call? When nothing else has worked, you call the Idiot. Because some things? Some things, only an Idiot would try. This is his story.  Segorian Anderson used to be an Idiot. Now he’s a King – though his wife tells him there’s not much difference. And there isn’t. Because somebody always hasto get the blame. Like now. Not just because of the naked girl floating on the Royal bedroom balcony, screaming. And not because everything’s going to hell. But this time? This time, it might really be his fault.

 

 

Honoring Ukrainian Courage, Culture, Devotion, and Life By Connie Vines

All of the world is focused on current events at the moment. Therefore, my blog post will feature my 'Slovic' background, to honor the courage and devotion to democracy by the Ukrainian people.

Like many whose ancestors were able to immigrate before the time of the Iron Curtain, I also came to not all of their extended family members chose/or were able to make the journey.

My maternal grandmother's family traveled from Bohemia/Czechoslovica via a ship and settled in Chicago. Many of my childhood memories are of the Slovic culture, foods, nursery rhymes, fairytales, music, dance, and the drive to succeed.  Hard work, Family, Faith, and honoring those who came before them, was part of daily life.

Where did Ukraine originate from?

The history of Ukrainian nationality can be traced back to the kingdom of Kievan Rus' of the 9th to 12th centuries. It was the predecessor state to what would eventually become the Eastern Slavic nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.

Famous Ukraine Story

"The Mitten” is a story of a little boy that lost his mitten in the snow. Soon after, an animal finds its way into the glove to seek warmth and shelter. It doesn't take long until many more animals have the same idea. The mitten becomes stretched out and cramped for space.

Traditional Crafts

Posted on Pinterest

Petrykivka painting (or simply "Petrykivka") is a traditional Ukrainian decorative painting style, originating from the village of Petrykivka in Dnipropetrovsk oblast of Ukraine, where it was traditionally used to decorate house walls and everyday household items. The earliest known examples of this style date from the 18th century, but it continues to thrive and develop as a modern art form.

The distinctive features of this folk art style are its flower patterns, distinctive brush techniques, and its traditionally white background (contemporary painters, however, often work on black, green, red, or blue backgrounds. (Wikipedia)

Traditional Clothes

Pinterest: Traditional Clothing and Embroidery 

Traditional Food

(Ukrainian hostesses cook this dish with sweet potatoes as a dessert.)

 Pinterest photo

Potato Pancakes

Ingredients:

6 potatoes

1 egg

3 tablespoons of flour

1 onion

sunflower oil

1 package of sour cream

Instructions:

Peel potatoes and onion and grate them. Beat an egg and combine it with potato. Add salt, flour and mix everything properly. 

Heat the sunflower oil in the pan and pour the potato mixture in the form of round pancakes. Fry until one side of the pancake until golden, then and then turn over.

Serve a dab of sour cream.

I will close with a Ukrainian Proverb: 

Take care, my dear friends and readers,

Connie

XOXO

Remember:  All of my books are on sale at Smashwords this month!!

https://bookswelove.net/vines-connie/

https://books2read.com/Lynx

https://books2read.com/Gumbo-Ya-Ya

https://books2read.com/Brede

https://books2read.com/Here-Today-Zombie-Tomorrow

https://books2read.com/Tanayia

WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE? - by Vijaya Schartz

 

Azura Chronicles award-winning scifi-romance series 

The conversation, on some Facebook groups for authors this month, turned to common mistakes in English grammar. As a wordsmith, I cringe at typos, misspellings, and grammar blunders in professional books. And I’m talking about simple mistakes, not wrong tenses, dangling participles, or run-on sentences. In the media arena, the language of Shakespeare is taking a beating. But it’s a lot worse than you would expect.

Here is a reminder of a few common mistakes… are you guilty of those? Maybe you should stick this note to the side of your tablet or computer screen.

And these are only a few. There are many more. I particularly resent “it’s” instead of “its” and “than” instead of “then.” There is also “lie” and “lay,” “affect” and “effect,”

I can easily forgive readers and casual posters for not remembering their schooling. But if you make any of these common mistakes on your resume, for instance, you may well have forfeited the job.

And if you run an ad for your business with a mistake in it, the return will be so low, you’ll lose your investment in advertising.

Furthermore, I see these common mistakes repeated by newscasters, on advertising spots, on printed ads, and in articles by news writers and other professional people of the spoken and written word.

What about “verbing” or “verbification?”

There is also the new tendency of making verbs with nouns, called “verbing” by the Oxford University Press, or also verbification. This is part of normal language evolution. When there is no verb to express the action, you can use a noun as a verb. “To parent,” for example, has become part of the vocabulary, like “to vacation.”

It used to be that the printed word was respected and valued. Nowadays, anyone can write and print anything, without any knowledge of proper language, grammar, or spelling. Worse, they do not hire an editor. If it’s important enough to say or write for the public at large, it’s important enough to be edited.

Another way to improve your grammar is to read well written books. Here are my latest series.

Vijaya Schartz, author
Strong Heroines, Brave Heroes, cats
http://www.vijayaschartz.com
amazon - B&N - Smashwords - Kobo - FB

A little more about the 1860s in Australia. Tricia McGill

 

Find this and all my other BWL books on my author page

In these weird days where thoughts of Covid lie heavily upon us, and technology changes by the hour let alone by the day, we spare little thought about the struggles and lives of the ones who came before us—those heroic souls who forged a life for themselves and others in the early years of settlement. Of course, I am concentrating on this fledgling colony of Australia. By the 1860s most major towns had been settled. Being an avid researcher I am now deep in this time period. Men set out in search of gold as well as land to call their own. It seems the 1860s was dominated by the struggles of small land holders (called selectors), along with the miners. These settlers were intent on persuading the government to gain control of the land from the squatters who had occupied large areas of Crown land either under a licence or lease. They believed it was time to make this Crown land available for farming. These selectors faced much resistance from the squatters who had found ways to keep the most fertile land for themselves.

Thus, this high demand for land caught the eye of those interested in exploration of the more regional and remote parts of the continent. They set out to find rich pastures for farming along with clean and fast-flowing water. Better routes between colonies needed to be established, and to better serve this an Overland Telegraph Line was essential. Explorers like Charles Stuart, Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills led expeditions to discover arable land. It was these intrepid explorers and others who mapped routes between the far-flung settlements. To cross this vast continent for the first time was a dangerous quest and proved to be fatal for some.

Burke & Wills were the first Europeans to cross Australia from south to north. This expedition is probably one known by most Australians, perhaps because of its sad ending. Both were inexperienced—Burke being a police investigator and Wills a surveyor and meteorologist. Burke was chosen to lead the expedition across the inhospitable interior so that Victoria could win a reward posted by the government, who wanted to build a telegraph line from Adelaide to the northern coast of Australia. Their party left Melbourne on August 20, 1860, with horses, Indian camels and 3 drivers. They followed the Darling River and then headed north to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition included John King, Charles Gray, and William Brahe. Brahe remained at a base camp at Cooper’s Creek waiting for more men, who were delayed by months. Quarrels between the men over bad timing and spring rains marred the trip. They reached the mouth of the Flinders River (at the Gulf of Carpentaria) on February 9, 1861. Low on supplies they turned around. Gray soon died from fatigue. Burke, Wills, and King were very weak when they returned to the camp at Cooper’s Creek on April 21, 1861. Heading home hours behind Brahe, a group of Aborigines gave them food and water. They later were forced to kill and eat their last two camels. After more than a month of traveling since leaving Cooper’s Creek, they had wandered back to it. They missed Brahe, who had returned to the camp to check for them. Burke, Wills, and King again wandered off, but Wills became weak, so they left him with some of the food. Soon after that, Burke died (June 20, 1861). King returned for Wills but found him dead. On September 18, 1861, King was rescued by Alfred Howitt and his party who had searched for the lost expedition.

Charles Sturt led an expedition down the Murrabiggee and Murray Rivers and his exploration is considered one of the greatest in Australian history. The expedition disclosed extensive areas of land for future development in New South Wales and South Australia

He later led an expedition north from Adelaide to the edge of the Simpson Desert. Although he discovered no fertile land and was eventually driven back by heat and scurvy, his party was the first to penetrate the centre of the continent.  

New industries such as pearling began in Western Australia and a centre in Broome was established. The cities in all colonies grew and the arts flourished with the publication of books and poems about Australia by native-born Australians; artists born overseas and the native-born drew the Australian landscape and colonial personalities. Albert Namatjira was one of Australia’s greatest artists. Blending traditional use of colour with Western-style landscapes brought him fame and citizenship in a time when Aboriginal people had few rights. His early works transmitted the same spiritual connection with the land as more traditional Aboriginal art, and he represented his love of trees through lovingly rendered portrait-like paintings. Tragically he was just 57 when he died.

Find excerpts and reviews of all my books on my web page

 

First Lines

https://bookswelove.net/martin-paula/

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?"

A modern editor would probably use a red pen on Jane Austen’s first two paragraphs, both of which are author statements. He/she might say the story should begin at the third paragraph – or maybe even later in the conversation between Mrs. Bennet and her husband. Thus we would lose one of the most quoted ‘first lines’ of any novel.

I’ve sometimes wondered about the emphasis that the ‘advice givers’ put on the first lines of a story. The first line, ‘they’ say, must hook the reader, but is that true? Do readers really get pulled in by the first line of a story? Do they decide whether to buy or not to buy based on the opening sentence or paragraph?

It seems to me that this advice is based on an image of someone standing in a bookstore and picking up a book. In that scenario, the cover, the back cover blurb, and the first few lines of a book are probably the most important ‘hooks’ for a reader.

However, in this digital age and with Amazon’s facility of ‘click to look inside’ i.e. a sneak peek at the first few pages of a novel, the reader is sitting at a computer or using a laptop or tablet. They have more time – and therefore, in all probability, will read more than the average person standing in a bookstore.

I’ve done this many times before downloading books to my Kindle, and have usually read far more than the first sentence or even the first page (unless that happens to be riddled with grammatical errors or typos etc). Therefore I’d hazard a guess that the majority of readers with e-readers will make their decision based on part or even the whole of the Amazon excerpt, and not just the first line or paragraph.

Therefore, instead of agonising over our first lines, perhaps we should be thinking more about whether our first few pages will hook our potential readers into downloading our books. Those pages should pull them in somehow and stimulate their interest and curiosity about the story. It’s been said that a character doesn’t come to life for the reader until he/she speaks, so a conversation of some kind on the first page can be a good way of attracting a reader.

In my experience, as a reader rather than a writer, any long introspection or back story at the start of a novel is a big turn-off. Neither should the first page contain a lengthy description of a place. A couple of well-chosen sentences can be equally effective.

Finally, while it’s not essential for the main protagonists to meet on the first page or even for some kind of ‘conflict’ to be introduced immediately, it’s probably better to introduce some kind of surprise (pleasant or otherwise) or an unexpected event for the main protagonist in the first couple of pages.

I’d be interested in your thoughts about the first few pages of a novel – what attracts you and what puts you off?

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Link to my Amazon author page:  author.to/PMamazon

Virtual Writing Conferences VS Physical Writing Conferences by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

 

https://www.bookswelove.com/donaldson-yarmey-joan/

In the time of virtual everything because of Covid, I took part in my first virtual writing conference last year. I was both a panelist and in the audience for some sessions. I have attended physical writing conferences in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton and there is a definite difference between the two. In my opinion each has its own pros and cons.

     There is a lot of coordinating and cost for the organizers of the physical conference. They have to find a venue usually a hotel with boardrooms. This allows the panelists and attendees to book a room and stay close to the conference. There are usually guests of honour who have to be paid. Besides monetary costs it takes a lot of time to figure out the panels: subjects, panelists, and the timing of sessions to accommodate writers or editors publishers who are on more than one panel. They also have to recruit volunteers to look after the rooms. These volunteers make sure the moderator runs on schedule, the audience clears out in time for the next one, and there are fresh glasses and jugs of water for each new session.

     There are also costs for the panelists and audience members of the physical conference. If they don’t live in the city where the conference is being held they have to travel which entails gas, hotel, and meals or plane tickets and car rental plus hotel and meals. If a presenter wants to be in the audience of any of the sessions they have to pay the registration fee just like everyone else. There is the also the extra cost of a banquet ticket if one is planned.

     I lived on Vancouver Island at the time and in order to attend any physical conference off the island I had to drive 1.5 hours to the ferry, and to make sure I get on it I have to be there about an hour early or pay for a reservation. Then it is almost two hours ferry travel to Vancouver. So that is four hours. If I am going to Calgary or Edmonton, it is another day’s drive. I could fly which is quicker but I would still have to pay for the ticket and to rent a vehicle to get around once there.

     Like the physical conference it would have taken a lot of time to plan the arrangement of the panels and panelists of the virtual conference. Monetary costs were probably low because there was no venue, no banquet, and no guests of honour.

     It cost me, and everyone else who took part, nothing to attend the virtual conference either as a panelist or an audience member. I had no plane ticket or vehicle gas and parking to pay for, no hotel room to book, and no new clothes.

     The length of the physical conference has to work around the time frame of the panelists and attendees. Unless they take a day off work the first panels can’t start too early on the Friday because of ability to get there. For that same reason, it has to close early on the Sunday so those leaving can start their long drive home or get to the airport in time to catch their plane.

     Because there is no travel involved, the first session of a virtual conference can start around the time people get home from work on the Friday. The only thing everyone has to remember is the difference between time zones. Being on the west coast the morning sessions started very early for me. The evening sessions ended before my supper time.

     When it was time to be a panelist I set my computer up and clicked on the link a few minutes before the session was to start. Pictures of the other panelists showed up on my screen and we visited a few minutes before the moderator started the session. When I was in the audience I clicked on the link and waited for the panelists to show up on my screen.

     Being on a virtual panel, the guests only see a shoulders and head shot of me so I just have to wear a good top and comb my hair. I have to make sure there was no light like a window behind to put my face in shadow. Also, depending on where I was I could have some unexpected interruptions—pets, children, phone ringing.

     Getting ready for a physical conference I have to pack enough clothes for the weekend. If I am on a panel I have to make sure I have all my material with me when I leave home. If I forget anything, I am out of luck. No packing for a virtual conference and all my material will be in my house somewhere.

     At a physical conference there are many panels taking place at the same time which can be frustrating if I want to attend more than one of them. For this virtual conference only one panel was offered each hour so I was able to take part in as many as I wanted. When I finished my panel or the presentation was over I could leave my office and pet my cats, pick strawberries, sit on my deck, or train my chickens to run an obstacle course.

     The downside to the virtual conference is that the only people I see are my fellow panelists. I don’t see the audience expressions so there is no interaction between me and them. I like to watch them to see if they are bored or glad that they came. I am happy to see that ‘ahah’ moment when something I say answers a problem they have been having.

     At both conferences there is time for the audience to ask questions. When answering a question at a physical conference I can speak with the audience face to face, I can judge to see if my answer is making sense. The questions at a virtual conference are typed so I don’t see the person asking. When I answer it I am only looking at my fellow panelists.

     Part of the fun of going to a physical conference is the contact with my fellow writers. We can meet for meals or a drink or have a quick chat between panels. I can walk through the conference centre soaking up the writing atmosphere. I meet readers, talk about books, and get feedback on my own books. It is wonderful when someone comes up to me and tells me they enjoyed a presentation I made or want some advice, or liked one of my books. This does stroke my ego because we writers need to have our egos stroked once in a while. We spend months, years even, alone writing a book, wondering if a publisher is going to like it and if a publisher does, will the readers like it and if they do will they tell us. It is a great feeling to go to the Vendor’s Room and see my books displayed on my publisher’s table. Even better to have someone buy one of mine and ask for an autograph.

     During a virtual conference, there is a Vendor’s Room showing a picture of all the panelists and their books. There is also a chat room where authors and readers can connect.

     There are a lot of differences between the two conferences. Most physical conferences have been cancelled for this year or turned into a virtual conference which is perfect in today’s time of lockdown and social distancing. In the future I am sure they will return as writers and readers decide what they like best: the convenience of the virtual conference or the comradery of the physical conference. I like both and if, in the future, I am able to attend either of them, I will.

February new books from BWL Publishing Inc.

 

RELEASED FEBRUARY 2022

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