We did have one challenging dilemma on the Monday of Book Camp. Bill Hanna had kindly offered to give a phoned in presentation. He was in the throes of moving house and it was amazing that he was able to share his expertise with us despite his personal upheaval.
But the only speaker phone available in the Laurier Brantford Student Union Building was in the reception area. This was an open area with offices surrounding it, plus one of the kids’ workshops with Robin Baird Lewis was going on in a board room directly across from the reception area.
The staff in the building benevolently put up with our invasion of their reception area and closed their office doors to minimize the noise. All 16 of the adult participants, plus me and Bobbie, crowded around the speaker phone, trying not to cough or shuffle so everyone could hear.
During Bill’s talk, Robin’s workshop finished. Robin knew what was happening right outside her door, so she had the kids pack up their stuff and get ready to leave with the door firmly shut. Once they were all ready, the door silently swung open and the kids tiptoed out. The only noise was the shwooshing of one pair of flip-flops.
Ha! I love it! If anyone can meet a challenge it’s you, Marsha! 😀
Aw, thanks Maggie! Btw — you got a terrific review in the current CM. Have you seen it?
http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol13/no1/theprincessmage.html
My favourite line is this:
If you know a middle school reader, run, don’t walk, to the nearest bookstore to buy your copies of this fabulous fantasy and its first volume, The Princess Pawn (See Vol. X No. 8, December 12, 2003.).
Yes, I did see it, and oddly enough that’s my husband’s favourite line too! Heh. Heh. 😉
It’s a very quotable quote, my dear. I’m sure it’ll end up on the back of your next novel!
Neat 🙂 I’ve talked to Bill, and know he has a good strong voice. Bet that he had some invaluable info and advice.
Anita
He was really good, Anita. One of our guests during the week was Joan Itoh Burk, whose first adult literary novel is coming out this month. She’s a Brantford local and I’ve known her forever. Bill is her agent. In fact, when she was looking for agents, I told her about Acacia House. So it was neat that he agreed to speak at Book Camp.
Very cool! I didn’t realize he worked with individual authors. When I was with Great Plains, he was our foreign rights agent, which is another whole basket of interesting.
Hi Anita, I get the impression that doing foreign rights for small presses is a major part of his business, but he does represent a few authors too.