On June 6th, the first annual Prose in the Park was held in Parkdale Park. Over 100 Canadian authors and publishers were in attendance. Every seat was filled at both panel stages.
It was wonderful to see. I remember a meeting last June where the man with the vision, Ian Shaw who writes under the name Con Cù, began talking about how wonderful it would be to have an open-air literary festival. Initial discussions mentioned a date that was only a couple of months away, but everyone involved realized that was overly ambitious. A lot of time was spent by the organizing committee in making the connections and soliciting the donations needed to get this event off the ground. It was highly successful, in my opinion. Even the weather cooperated.
I helped out with the sound equipment as that was my assigned duty, but that was completed quickly. Next was chairs, tables, and tents. Then I helped direct traffic for pick-up/drop-off, registration, and parking.
There are some things that could be better, for sure. That happens with any event. The open mic stage where authors did readings, could have gotten more traffic flow, as with the booths in that area. Parking was a little confusing and could be improved for next year.
I bought the first two books in The Grigori Legacy Series by Linda Poietevin.
An Author First
I had my first interview! It felt weird giving an interview when I had nothing for sale yet. I was sitting beside a friend, Benoit Chartier who is the author of the Red Nexus, as he was being interviewed. Then Donna Thompson from The Glitch Factory started interviewing me! I totally wasn't prepared for it, but I think my answers were okay. She asked me to talk about the book I'm working on editing right now, The Page & The Magician, so I gave a synopsis. She also asked me what genre I write, to which I said that I write most genres. I said I enjoy the hybrid genres the most because of the variety, but I should have also said that I feel it brings more realism to it because life isn't just one thing. I'll link to the interview when it's available.
I was shaky for a while after the interview. It was quite the experience. I was actually trying to be ultra still and pretend I was invisible prior to it, because it was my friend's moment, not mine. That made it feel extra weird for me. As soon as she learned I was also a writer though, she wanted to talk to me and get my views. She was looking mainly for straight sci-fi (as in not cross-genre), but we got talking about how a lot of sci-fi writers as write fantasy and because I do both an cross-genre we talked about things like how fantasy writing is a little more free to be outside the box. Benoit had previously mentioned that sci-fi is usually an extrapolation on what is known in the present day.
As I've mentioned before on this blog, in the post on values, I prefer to think like there is no box and I feel I can get closer to that with fantasy. There are some rules, for sure. Your magic system needs to have rules, like mana isn't endless and has a cost to it, for example, but I have leeway to be more silly with things.
As I told her though, no matter what I write, I like an element of reality. I think that helps make a story more believable for the reader.
My Bonehead Moves
1. Not bringing my business cards with me. I need to get a holder for them to keep them nice and always have some with me. I'm not sure where to get one, but I bet the Internet knows.
2. Not dressing warm enough. I didn't know there would be so much shade in the park, so I was cold most of the day.
3. Lugging around more stuff than I should have given neck and shoulder issues. I'll be seeing a specialist soon about it.
4. I forgot to bring any books to get signed by authors in attendance, but that could've been a blessing as carrying them around without the option of putting them in the car could've been awful on my back, shoulder, and neck.
Things for Next Year
1. Work Gloves. Why? The tents bit one finger pretty badly, though not enough to draw blood. I got a sliver from a barricade.
2. Jeans rather than capris, so I don't freeze. Another layer of clothing on my top half too.
The Bus
In the morning, I caught the bus before 7 a.m. Near the end of my trip, I ran into a roller derby friend and excitedly told her all about Prose in the Park, but sadly she was working. The ride there was easy.
My friend dropped me off at Tunney's Pasture to catch the bus home. I think I'm getting a little better with the bus system, but I still have issues with it. Tunney's to Blair Station was easy. I laughed on the bus as I rummaged around in my bag to pull out my knitting because I still had a screwdriver in it and that probably seemed weird to people, my tired brain thought and made me giggle. At Blair Station it was impossible to find level 3 without asking for directions as none of the signs I saw pointed me to level 3, only level 1. That was a minor frustration. I was a little nauseous on the bus as my hunger skipped the rumbly tummy stage and went there instead. There was a lady that really needed to wash certain areas of herself better. That was unpleasant. I got home around 11p.m., and took a quick shower as I was freezing all day. Then I cooked a quick meal and ate though nodded off while cooking and thankfully didn't burn my place down.
I'm too broken for much today, so I plan to do some editing, some guitar, and not much else.
Ciao,
R~
It was wonderful to see. I remember a meeting last June where the man with the vision, Ian Shaw who writes under the name Con Cù, began talking about how wonderful it would be to have an open-air literary festival. Initial discussions mentioned a date that was only a couple of months away, but everyone involved realized that was overly ambitious. A lot of time was spent by the organizing committee in making the connections and soliciting the donations needed to get this event off the ground. It was highly successful, in my opinion. Even the weather cooperated.
I helped out with the sound equipment as that was my assigned duty, but that was completed quickly. Next was chairs, tables, and tents. Then I helped direct traffic for pick-up/drop-off, registration, and parking.
There are some things that could be better, for sure. That happens with any event. The open mic stage where authors did readings, could have gotten more traffic flow, as with the booths in that area. Parking was a little confusing and could be improved for next year.
I bought the first two books in The Grigori Legacy Series by Linda Poietevin.
An Author First
I had my first interview! It felt weird giving an interview when I had nothing for sale yet. I was sitting beside a friend, Benoit Chartier who is the author of the Red Nexus, as he was being interviewed. Then Donna Thompson from The Glitch Factory started interviewing me! I totally wasn't prepared for it, but I think my answers were okay. She asked me to talk about the book I'm working on editing right now, The Page & The Magician, so I gave a synopsis. She also asked me what genre I write, to which I said that I write most genres. I said I enjoy the hybrid genres the most because of the variety, but I should have also said that I feel it brings more realism to it because life isn't just one thing. I'll link to the interview when it's available.
I was shaky for a while after the interview. It was quite the experience. I was actually trying to be ultra still and pretend I was invisible prior to it, because it was my friend's moment, not mine. That made it feel extra weird for me. As soon as she learned I was also a writer though, she wanted to talk to me and get my views. She was looking mainly for straight sci-fi (as in not cross-genre), but we got talking about how a lot of sci-fi writers as write fantasy and because I do both an cross-genre we talked about things like how fantasy writing is a little more free to be outside the box. Benoit had previously mentioned that sci-fi is usually an extrapolation on what is known in the present day.
As I've mentioned before on this blog, in the post on values, I prefer to think like there is no box and I feel I can get closer to that with fantasy. There are some rules, for sure. Your magic system needs to have rules, like mana isn't endless and has a cost to it, for example, but I have leeway to be more silly with things.
As I told her though, no matter what I write, I like an element of reality. I think that helps make a story more believable for the reader.
My Bonehead Moves
1. Not bringing my business cards with me. I need to get a holder for them to keep them nice and always have some with me. I'm not sure where to get one, but I bet the Internet knows.
2. Not dressing warm enough. I didn't know there would be so much shade in the park, so I was cold most of the day.
3. Lugging around more stuff than I should have given neck and shoulder issues. I'll be seeing a specialist soon about it.
4. I forgot to bring any books to get signed by authors in attendance, but that could've been a blessing as carrying them around without the option of putting them in the car could've been awful on my back, shoulder, and neck.
Things for Next Year
1. Work Gloves. Why? The tents bit one finger pretty badly, though not enough to draw blood. I got a sliver from a barricade.
2. Jeans rather than capris, so I don't freeze. Another layer of clothing on my top half too.
The Bus
In the morning, I caught the bus before 7 a.m. Near the end of my trip, I ran into a roller derby friend and excitedly told her all about Prose in the Park, but sadly she was working. The ride there was easy.
My friend dropped me off at Tunney's Pasture to catch the bus home. I think I'm getting a little better with the bus system, but I still have issues with it. Tunney's to Blair Station was easy. I laughed on the bus as I rummaged around in my bag to pull out my knitting because I still had a screwdriver in it and that probably seemed weird to people, my tired brain thought and made me giggle. At Blair Station it was impossible to find level 3 without asking for directions as none of the signs I saw pointed me to level 3, only level 1. That was a minor frustration. I was a little nauseous on the bus as my hunger skipped the rumbly tummy stage and went there instead. There was a lady that really needed to wash certain areas of herself better. That was unpleasant. I got home around 11p.m., and took a quick shower as I was freezing all day. Then I cooked a quick meal and ate though nodded off while cooking and thankfully didn't burn my place down.
I'm too broken for much today, so I plan to do some editing, some guitar, and not much else.
Ciao,
R~
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