Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Mothers & Teachers

My mother and father-in-law just returned from a month long tour of the East Coast. In amongst their trip pictures of lighthouses were photos of my mother-in-law repositioning my novel to the front rack at every single Chapters/Indigo location she visited on the East Coast.

I've been doing Chapters book signings lately and my own mother comes out to them. When people stop by the table (yes, once in a while customers will do this), my mom pops out of nowhere and starts muttering to herself that her bookclub LOVED this book, or that The Prairie Bridesmaid will make the perfect Christmas gift for everyone she knows. She'll turn to the customer/victim and state "I've read rave reviews about this book!" and then she'll recite them. She wanders around the store with a stack of books in her arms - one facing out in every direction in a subtle attempt to recruit people over to the signing table.

I should curb all of this behaviour, but I don't. There's something really comforting about knowing that regardless of your book sales, your mom (or mom-in-law) will always support you.

There is a segment of the population who do not support me, in fact, they seem to hate me (and my book): elementary school teachers. The disenchanted, I-hate-my-job, the-world-f#@king-sucks teacher protagonist of this book has caused a few pair of cotton panties to get all in a knot. I have a lot of respect for what elementary school teachers (teachers in general) accomplish in a day. A lot people wouldn't be able to do it, and well, my character happens to be one of them. I'm surprised they are always trying to skewer me, because by creating this character, Anna, I've essentially elevated them to sainthood.


www.theprairiebridesmaid.com

4 comments:

Daniel Kresco said...

You'll never find a better salesman (woman) than Mom. I think it's the age, but Mom's are wise enough to know not to care what other people think, so they are happy to get in everyone's face to let them know what their child has done.
My Mom works as a hostess at a restaurant. Because of her, my wife's album pretty much sold out.
If I were you I certainly wouldn't curtail her. I'd bring her to every signing if I were you. Good on her!
The book sounds interesting. Is it on Amazon?
Daniel

sparsehackle said...

Hi Daria;
I work in a library where today I unpacked, catalogued, labelled, and handed your book over to Circulation ('cause it already had hold requests for it!). I've added my name to the request list, but I'll probably buy a copy because I loved the 4 pages I read at random.
Read all of your blog entries tonight, and I'm looking forward to the book. Nice going, author!
Regards,
Larry

Daria said...

Great music Kresco! Just listened to it. This book acutally comes with a soundtrack...very similar to the genre on your myspace.

And Sparsehackle...if I weren't a writer...my next choice of employment would be working in a library! But I fear the books I unpacked, datalogued and labelled would never make it to the shelves...they'd be redirected to my house. THat's why I will never get hired in a library

Gwen Smid said...

Have elem school teachers contacted you about not liking your book? That's bizarro. What teaacher wouldn't like your book? Maybe they've inhaled the fumes of too many Hallowe'en crafts.

(ps - my mommy-in-law bought your book when she was here visiting in Ottawa!)