A Whirlwind of December Activities

Autumn 2020 was a fairly mundane, stay-at-home affair, as public health orders in our province forced everyone to avoid social gatherings by early November. The creative workshops I and colleagues had been facilitating were shut down, along with Christmas craft fairs and other public festivities. So were in-person gatherings on Christmas Day.

This fall is more normal, which means the past two weeks have been busy! I participated in two Christmas craft fairs (one 2-1/2 days long), facilitated 9 out of 11 creative writing workshops, babysat my granddaughter three days a week, and prepared for Christmas. The craft fairs were conducted with face masks, lots of hand sanitizing, and social distancing, when possible.

It’s a bit of relief to be slowing down this week. The creative writing sessions ended on Saturday, I’m not participating in anymore craft fairs, and I’ve finished my Christmas shopping, none of it online. Whew! It feels like I’ve gone from 0 to 60 since last year, but it’s been worth the effort. I can’t wait to celebrate Christmas with little Ellie and read her the new books I bought. I still have wrapping to do and shortbread to make, but I’ve slotted time for that.

Not my shortbread, just a baking reminder from Pixabay

Needless to say, I’ve haven’t written or edited much lately, and two out of three projects have been completely shelved this past month. I’ll make more time for writing after Christmas. The last week of the year is always a creative time for me, and a time for reflection.

How about you? Are you operating at a faster pace than last year? Was it easy to get back into it?

Christmas Craft Fair Season Wind-Up

Following up on last week’s blog about changing writing patterns in December, I’ve spent most of the past six weeks selling my books at various Christmas craft fairs. Happily, it turned out to be a terrific season that exceeded expectations. Expectations are always risky, as the success of any fair is always a gamble. But it’s nearly impossible not to have hopes after investing time and money, not to mention thousands of hours, in one’s writing career.

My first fair was a single-day event at a high school back on Nov. 2^nd. The second one was a two-day event a week later. The third was a three-day event over an hour’s drive from home. My booth was next to two booths both selling mustard, which surprisingly brought a fair number of customers to my table. The biggest and busiest show was the three-day Coquitlam Christmas craft fair this past weekend, which is only ten minutes from home.

One of the most satisfying aspects was the repeat customers who’d bought a book the previous year and who came back to buy more. The feedback was exceedingly kind and I couldn’t be more grateful.

If there’s any takeaway from selling at local markets it’s that building an audience and creating word-of-mouth buzz takes time and patience. Still, there are always people who stop to look at the books and say, “I’ve never heard of you.” Some will buy a book while others will walk away. It’s a lot like book signings in that respect, and like book signings, craft fairs create plenty of people-watching opportunities.

I’ve been at the writing/publishing biz long enough to offer tips to those just starting out, and there’s usually a shopper who wants advice about hiring someone to write their story. Others want to know if they should self-publish or look for a publisher. As you can imagine, I’ve had some fairly deep or thought-provoking conversations.

After a total of nine full days of book selling, I’m ready to stop for 2019. It’s always a challenge to spend hours at a table when there are so many other pre-Christmas tasks and errands waiting for me. There’s always the anxiety of wondering if this craft fair will be profitable or a loss (some fair fees are quite steep). Still, there’ve been far more pros than cons over the years, and I wouldn’t trade the experiences for anything.

Christmas Craft Fair Season is Almost Here!

I love craft fairs. I’ve been shopping at them for over thirty years and now often participate as a vendor to sell my mystery novels. I’ve met many wonderful people through these events, both customers and vendors, and I have to say that it’s one of my favorite times of the year.

This year, I’m participating in four events, starting this weekend with the smallest, and working up to the largest event in December:

Terry Fox Secondary Christmas Craft Fair

Saturday, Nov. 2, 10:00 – 4:00 pm

1260 Riverwood Gate, Port Coquitlam, BC

Mission Arts Council Christmas Craft Market

Saturday, Nov. 9, 10:00 – 5:00 pm

Sunday, Nov. 10, 10:00 – 4:00 pm

Heritage Park Centre-Clark Theatre

33700 Prentis Avenue, Mission, BC

 

 

 

Chilliwack Community Arts Council, Christmas Craft Fair

Friday, Nov. 15, from 12:00- 8:00 pm

Saturday, Nov. 16, from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Sunday, Nov. 17, from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Chilliwack Heritage Park

4414- Luckakuck Way, Chilliwack, BC

 

Coquitlam Christmas Craft Fair

Friday, Dec. 6, 4:00 – 9:00 pm

Saturday, Dec. 7, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Sunday, Dec. 8, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Poirier Sports Centre, Poirier Street, Coquitlam, BC

All of these fairs charge fees to vendors, and some of the fees are becoming uncomfortably steep, so it’s always a gamble, but I have to say that I do have fun.

I’ve also just learned that I’ve been invited to take part in:

Writers in our Midst, night of author readings

Tues., Nov. 19^th at Port Moody Library from 7 – 8:30 pm

100 Newport Drive, Port Moody, BC.

This wonderful program of readers is sponsored also by the Gallery Bistro and Timbercrest Publishing. If you live in BC’s Lower Mainland or Fraser Valley, and have time to drop by to any of these great events, come by and say hi!

The Rising Popularity of Audio Books

When I first began selling my novels at craft fairs five years ago, I was occasionally asked if they were available as ebooks, which they were, and still are. Most customers owned Kindles and a few had other e-readers. This year, however, the most frequent question is “Are your books available in audio?”

The answer is not yet, but it looks like I’ll need to do so soon. Based on what I’ve read and heard this year, other writers are saying the same thing. While audio books are rapidly rising in popularity, however, the majority of people I spoke with don’t actually buy them, but borrow audio books from the library. This is anecdotal information, of course. Still, it does appears that this is where my market is.

First, I need to research how to go about creating an audio version of my books. If any of you are aware of a good service, please let me know. I’m especially looking for Canadian options to avoid the high U.S. exchange rate.

Also, please note that I’ll be away this week from Wednesday to Friday, but will catch up on your comments and thoughts then. Thank you!

Craft Fairs and Crime? You’d Be Surprised

When plotting a mystery, I ask myself one essential question. What if? 

The idea for my second Evan Dunstan mystery (to be released one week from today), A TOXIC CRAFT, was born from that question and a very specific setting.

One of my favorite pre-Christmas activities is to sell my books at local craft fairs. I’ve attended several high school fundraisers, many of which have knitters selling their goods and trust me, they take their business seriously.

One year, my table was placed between a pair of knitters, who seemed well aware of each other, yet didn’t strike up any conversation. Furtive glances at one another’s tables suggested that there might have been a bit of competition between them.

By late afternoon, the fair’s attendance had slowed down, which gave me plenty of time to ponder craft fairs, big and small, and think about crime. For this mystery author, it was a natural progression to ask, what if a vendor took her rivalry a bit too far? What if she was a little bit crazy? A little bit violent?

I have to say that in real life everyone’s been friendly and generally have a good time selling their crafts. But in my line of work, I don’t deal in real life. Evan’s situation is much crazier, especially when his feisty grandmother’s involved. As this book shows, Gran has a real knack for annoying people. Find out just how much trouble she gets into in A TOXIC CRAFT, on December 6^th!

To pre-order, go to:

http://getbook.at/AToxicCraft

Kobo: http://tinyurl.com/ycsvuaj5