:: Some Words Spoken ::

:: Monday, June 02, 2003 ::

still can't believe that i'm going on a reading tour. it starts in just 12 days! last night i packed up a box of books to ship to the third stop on the tour, and was struck all over again - looking at a box full of your own book is a really trippy thing. i'm not sure why - seeing a few copies doesn't hit me. but a box full just seems like a LOT. hope that many of them sell on the trip, since lugging them home will break my back. that's a good way to sell fine literature - guilt people into taking the load off of your back. ha!
please check out nomediakings.net/june.htm to listen to our audio tour diaries once we get started!
-cyn
:: 9:15 AM [+] ::
...

The other day I was scribbling in my journal in a coffee shop. The cute boy washing the tables and doors asked me if I'm a writer. My first reaction was to say, "well, someday I hope." Then I realized - hey wait... i AM a "writer" now. It's official. So I told him yes, I'm a writer, and my first book came out in December. He looked impressed. I tried not to giggle like a geek.

-cyn
:: 10:40 AM [+] ::
...

I was updating the "shows" page on this site, and realized that shows seem more important now. As if I'm representing the book every time I read. It's a strange abstract thought.

Although I'm currently working on new material, I do usually still read from Some Words Spoken when I'm at a show. Partly due to the convenience of throwing the book into my purse on the way out the door, and partly because my favourite pieces are in there and those are the ones I enjoy reading most. Nobody has commented yet that they are sick of them, so I guess I'm okay so far :)

-cyn
:: 3:02 PM [+] ::
...

Last night at a show, I was chatting with the owner of a cafe where monica and i performed a few weeks ago. He was saying that his bartender, who is not into poetry in the least, simply could NOT put our book down!
Somehow, that is one of the highest compliments. For the book to be enjoyed by those who aren't even into poetry. And perhaps now that they've found something that grabs them, they'll try more.
-cyn
:: 7:54 AM [+] ::
...

Last night while modelling at the 'Ho Ho Horrorshow' event, I bumped into Lesley. Lesley's old reading series Tangled Oak Tops was my first introduction to the spoken word scene in Toronto. I performed at that show exclusively for almost a year. During my second year as a regular performer, she handed over the hosting duties of the series to me and that's how I came to ran my first regular spoken word event.

It was great to see her again, she's looking wonderful. We did the usual catch up thing and I found myself feeling very proud to announce that what was new with me was that I had my first book out. Saying it outloud really makes the weight of the achievement hit home. Equally shocking I sold every copy I had with me in my bag last night (and I didn't even read from it.)

Someone once told me that if people can see that you are passionate about something, they too will be inclined to want to share your passion and get excited about it too. I wonder if this is true.

monica.


:: 12:57 PM [+] ::
...

Everything in the past six days has been about "the book" and this delay and that delay. We did manage to make prelaunch in style and relative grace but if I told you there weren't a few frantic calls, exchanged emails and unexpected setbacks, I would be lying through my teeth, nails and flesh - as a matter of fact I would be lying through the entire core of my being. I am learning that running a publishing company is less about fun than it is about damage control and the kind of hard work that makes you miss friend's going away parties and other friend's birthdays. I feel like an ass but so much of the weekend was spent holed up in my home-come-office-come-crashpad burning limited edition CDs that there was just that - the absolute missing of everything except for yesterday's tongue-tied radio appearence on CIUT and the forty minute prelaunch set at Syntactic Sunday(thanks again Clara for making that possible.)

Saturday saw the most frantic run to the post office ever. 40 packages under our arms and on our backs, jogging through the streets of downtown Toronto towards that most daunting deadline ever. Post Office closes before we arrive and nothing goes out. Eek! We skated through the doors five minutes before closing and suffered the wrath of the people working for dumping that much stuff on them at the very end of their day. Sorry again! I hope everything goes out safely. All the media copies were in that batch too, so... yeah... it's amazing how paranoid creeps when it is your company and your book and your dream and your reputation.

Like this journal entry, everything these days is about lists: Launch lists, media lists, sales lists, online sales lists, pre-order lists, I feel like I am wound completely up in carefully ordered and numbered items that it are absolutely pertinent not to forget. That said, I am overwhelmed and tired and wondering if I got a little in over my head here. Not that being in over one's head is a bad thing, sometimes the best way to learn how to swim is to throw yourself right into the shark pond and see if you survive.

Some of my confidence has faded slightly. The dream is always easier than the fruition of it into reality.

So I guess we're swimming now. The prelaunch is done. The first media interview is done. All the books have been delivered to us. I guess we're in stage two now. Which is the bigger battle writing and editing or promoting, performing and selling? Which has the bigger current to drag us under?

I don't know. But I will find out. We will find out. Time tells all.

So what did you think of the book?

monica


:: 7:49 AM [+] ::
...

December 5th, my boyfriend and i picked up nine cartons of books from the printer. it was a pretty amazing experience!
having a copy of Some Words Spoken handed to me, and seeing it finished with the glossy cover and perfect binding... it was suddenly so real. then the printer gave me two "artist's copies", which were special books with lovely wine coloured end papers added. cool.
at the front door of the print shop, beside our pile of book boxes, was another pile of boxes labelled "Eunoia" - the runaway bestseller of literary gymnastics by Christian Bök that i've been meaning to pick up. so i guess we're in good company.
it was a handy thing i was high on adreneline, as it made carting the books around less hellish. we had to carry these heavy boxes out to the street, load the in a cab, watch the cabbie slam the trunk ON one of the boxes, repeat in reverse at monica's place... it was quite unglamorous.
the first batch of orders from the website are in the mail, and tonight is the pre-launch at Syntactic Sunday. i'm hoping that people will be giving us honest feedback about it. i mean, it's polite to say nice things to the writer's faces, but i really am hoping that some brutally honest email will come in, telling us how Some Words Spoken compares with other poetry books. curiousity is prickling up my spine!

-cyn
:: 7:38 AM [+] ::
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