Some Happy Book News
I finally have some sweet, wonderful, exciting,
BOOK NEWS to tell you about!
Two weeks ago, when I joined North Dakota Humanities, I sent them a thank you email.
I didn’t even think about my email signature.
“The Clean Daughter: A Cross-Continental Memoir”
Forthcoming. February 2022.
Two Cultures. One Home.
The signature caught the eye of the program director, Sue Skalicky and she wrote to me about it!
We emailed back and forth (talking books of course)
Sue invited me to be a part of the NORTH DAKOTA HUMANITIES Page Turner event!
Page Turner invites various local authors to read from their books. Sue asked if I’d read from my first memoir, So Many Africas, Six Years in a Zambian Village.
Page Turner is pre-recorded and open to the public to watch. I was thrilled to be asked.
In preparation, I purchased a new YETI microphone.
Cutest box ever!
I spent hours carrying a new ring light, my Yeti mic, and computer around my house searching for a spot that would be quiet and look professional. I tried different backdrops – the fireplace, an empty brick wall, my writing room. Everything was too busy or too boring. or too noisy. In the end, I settled on hanging a pretty Zambian cloth over the basement fireplace.
I practiced Zoom with my online writing club. They helped me choose lighting and mic settings.
Behind the scenes of the picture-perfect Zoom, I’m sitting in a cramped position, in the corner of a cold basement.
What you see is not what I see!
My view is that of an old stationary bike and some glaring lights.
The heat’s turned off, so the noisy furnace won’t interfere. I’m trying to be professional, to give the listeners a good experience. I want to be heard and not muffled. I want to be easy to see, not a blurry image in shadowy light.
I spent hours deciding how to introduce myself, what to read, and how to end the EIGHT-minute program. Then I spent hours reading, practicing, and timing myself. It was a fun challenge.
This morning, I Zoomed with Sue and Naomi at NDH.
It couldn’t have gone better!
It was such fun to “meet” some of the staff at NDH and to be a part of their programming.
PAGE TURNER will air on November 7th from 4:15-5:00pm
In even more exciting news,
NDH also asked me to be part of ONE BOOK ONE NORTH DAKOTA
I said yes and signed the contract. It’s a GO!
My forthcoming book, The Clean Daughter: A Cross-Continental Memoir will be featured on One Book One North Dakota in May!
This will be a live one-hour long interview and reading.
Save the date. May 15th, 2022, 4-5 pm CST.
Both of these activities, Page Turner and One Book One North Dakota began with a random email and some serendipity.
It reminds me that good things exist, just around the corner.
May your corners be full of good things, just waiting, for you to turn and encounter them!
Thanks for being a part of my journey.
Love always,
Jill