The Word on the Street Toronto Festival 2015

Publisher PS invited me to bring Growing a Rainbow to The Word on the Street Toronto Festival to be one of the authors in their booth programming. The WOTS festival is a book lover’s dream! There is every kind of book, genre, author, poet, and wordsmith you can image, not to mention TVO Kids, performers, book binders, publishers, printers, editors, and food trucks (because, hey, what’s a book festival without churros?).

The weather was fab-u-lous! I couldn’t have asked for a better day to share my love of writing, to raise awareness about prematurity and to hang out with other bibliophiles.

During my first author signing session, I met Maria, a Montessori teacher who had such a touching reaction to Torran’s story, that she almost made me cry!  Her enthusiasm and obvious love of children is contagious.

One of the disadvantages to hosting a table at a book fair is being stationary. You meet the people who come to you, which is great, but you may miss out on other opportunities if you can’t go on walkabout. I wasn’t able to stay for the entire WOTS Festival this year, so I pounded the pavement.

I’m really glad I did, because I bumped into Canadian authors like my pal Lee Bice-Matheson and her co-author (and son) J.R.,  of the Paige Maddison Series. Lee and I stumbled upon each other as exhibitors at last year’s TIBF.

An aside: I had returned to my TIBF booth from having stepped away to get lunch. Lee rushed over to me and said, “You have to meet this young man who was just at my table. Your book is exactly the kind of thing he needs to hear about.” Lee wowed me with her graciousness, and continues to do so. The Paige Maddison Series has just been picked up by Chapters – congratulations!

As I wandered through the maze of white tents, I happily stumbled across Elaine Chen, author of The Good Brother, and ChiZine co-Publisher, Sandra Kasturi. I met both Elaine and Sandra at Ad Astra earlier this year. ChiZine is definitely on my “submit to” list of Canadian Publishers! (Oh, how my “to do” list gets longer!)

Elaine’s hat does not mean she is, in any way, the real Polkaroo. Although, I’ve never seen the two of them together in the same room.

I’m new on the Canadian author scene. Going to events like WOTS stirs up that inner drive to ramp up marketing and exposure, and to connect with other authors. The wonderful folks at the Ad Astra Convention (April 29 – May 1, 2016) had a booth, where I stopped and said, again, thanks for putting me on panels. I’d love to do it again next year.

A little ways away, more Ad Astra contacts! I met Simon McNeil (The Black Trillium), published by Brain Lag Publishing, and had a quick chat with Simon, and Brain Lag founder/author Catherine Fitzsimmons (Enduring Chaos).  I hope I get to spend more time with them, when I’m not blocking access to their booth. I have Catherine’s book in my beside library, each item bookmarked.

Never enough time to read it all!

I also came across another familiar community: The Ontario Writer’s Conference (I was a finalist for their 2015 story starter’s contest). The next OWC is April 30 – May 1, 2015.

Writing is about the art and skill, true. Being an independent is also about marketing your books. When the folks at the Writer’s Community of Durham Region said, “You should bring Growing a Rainbow to our Bookapalooza,” I said, “Yes!” The WCDR volunteers I spoke with were bright and inviting. They didn’t care that I’m not “traditionally” published. Writing is for everyone, after all.
Today, I announced that I’m bringing Growing a Rainbow to Bookapalooza Saturday Nov 21, 2015!

There’s another convention that weekend and I’m going to try and swing both, somehow.

How many copies of me are there?