Recently I met a woman musician from Serbia.  She explained that she had few opportunities to pursue her profession in her home country.  She moved to Paris to study music and found few opportunities there too and she felt mistreated.  She wasn’t sure if it was because of her gender or her nationality or both.

She decided to come to the United States and was accepted at the University of Wisconsin Music Department.  Last year she received her doctorate in musical performance.  While studying she became aware of how few compositions performed are from women.

During a lunch with friends she offered a bold idea – let’s organize a festival with all pieces written by women and recruit women to perform as well.  Her friends challenged her to make the dream a reality and recruited one of them to work hand in hand with her.

The festival attracted a woman composer in residence to write a piece to be performed for the first time at the festival.  They also founded an all female treble chorus who made their debut performance at the Festival.  In total 90 women participated in the three day event.

Some of the events were free and others had a small fee.  The grand finale was only $20 a ticket and held at the First Unitarian Church Auditorium.  The audience was appreciative and responded with a standing ovation at the close of the concert.

My new friend had a dream and brought it to fruition in the United States.  My friend is an immigrant and is staying in our country on a green card.  She hopes to become a citizen in five years.  She has already lived here for three years.  Her path to citizenship is long but she clearly has determination.
We need to remember we are a country of immigrants. Even though our country is struggling with unprecedented divisiveness this story demonstrates that the unique American promise is alive and well.
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On this July 4th I am grateful I can share this story with you.    

Those of you who read my blog regularly know that I love to travel.  We have a trip to Europe every other year, visit family, go on book tours, go birding and just exploring.

I have a confession.  I have days where I don’t leave the house.  Once in a great while I stay home two days in a row.  It affords me the opportunity to be alone, decompress and realign myself.  Many of those days I hang around in my bathroom until lunch – just because I can.

I work on the little things that need to be done in life.  I do laundry; I put that blue liquid stuff in the dishwasher for clean glass and cups.  I fill the soap dispensers in the kitchen and bathroom from the giant bottle purchased at Costco.

I explore YouTube to find what I can find.  I watch a video on how to use my new WORX power scrubber or listen to The Three Irish Tenors.  Every half hour or so I intentionally get up from my laptop computer and do some little chore that requires me to walk around the house - like cleaning the cat litter boxes.  There are times I like to sit in the sunroom, watch the birds, feel the breeze on my face and daydream.    
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These are important days – they keep me balanced and sane.
Do you ever take a lounging, stay-at-home day?  Send me a comment.

Following my book launch on April 24th I had a series of six book events through the first weekend of June.  The events included traveling to Green Bay and Oshkosh along with local events.  At the same time I was working to organize the Wisconsin Writers Conference on Sept. 21-22 at the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield with the goal of beginning registration on June 1.  My goal was partially met, the mail-in registration form was available on May 30th but the on-line form wasn’t available until June 4th.  My role as President of the Sun Prairie Library Board is intense.  I meet with the Library Director weekly, attend all committee meetings and we have hired an architectural firm to guide us through how to expand and improve our physical facility.
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In a word, I was tired – not exhausted – just tired.  I didn’t schedule any book events after June 2.  Yet, somehow my month is filled with activity.  I am doing one live radio show and recording three others for future broadcast.  I have three board meetings, my monthly book group meeting, three committee meetings, a remote radio show to host, and two parties to attend. 
My wife tells me I’m working full time and I’ve reluctantly agreed with her.  Well, I grew up as a Midwest, small town, Protestant with the adage: ‘no rest for the wicked and the righteous don’t need any’ and now I’m living it.  
 

A development I have been lucky enough to participate in has been the experience of authors helping authors.  Recently friend and author Rebecca Spindler organized the Great American Summer Read at the Common Ground Café on the first Saturday in June.

The idea was to high light local authors for a day and kick off summer reading by giving readers a great deal of choice from authors living near their back yards.  There were two formats.  The first was to have a panel of four authors each given the opportunity to describe their work.  Rebecca led the discussion with poignant questions which allowed each author to share their writing journey.  The second was to have authors give 20 minute presentations on a very specific topic.   My topic for the day was ‘Selecting Your Path to Publication’.  Rebecca also monitored each presentation so the time allowed was followed.  The panels were conducted downstairs on a small stage.  The presentations were held upstairs in a very informal setting where authors could sit down and talk with audience members one on one.

The crowd was modest and it quickly became clear that having the event on two floors was an advantage turned out to be a problem.  The folks attending the talks never came down stairs to listen to a panel.  The folks listening to the panels never went upstairs to listen to a talk.

Those listening to a panel were very passive.  I was tempted to use a mirror to check their breathing.  The audience upstairs were “needy” all were in some early stage of publishing their work and they only wanted to learn the publishing ropes without spending any money.  Not a single person asked a craft question, having their work professionally edited or etc.  I felt this was the group of people when asked: do you want to write a book someday? – never do.

I sold one book that day.  We couldn’t get the square to work or at least accept the book buyer’s credit card.  He didn’t have cash.  He said he would send a check.  He did.
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The image above is one of me pontificating on the panel.  Do me a favor if you attend an author event – buy books. 

Local Wisconsin author and publicist Valerie Biel created Books n Beer in Columbus, Wisconsin.  The concept was pure Wisconsin – combine a book club with an evening beer and invite authors to attend to discuss their work.  It all began  in April 2015 when Val experimented as the first author to visit..  Books n Beer is held once a month and since its inception (number) authors have had the unique opportunity to talk with readers.  My first visit was in August that year with my first novel Murphy’s Troubles.  

Since 2015 total of  33 authors (through May 2018) have been fortunate to sit down with readers at Books ‘n Beer.  Among the 33 authors 8 are award winners.

The other unique feature is that readers have the opportunity to buy books directly from the author.  The Black Kettle Pub in Columbus agrees to display and sell books prior to each event.  The restaurant provides the service to authors at no cost nor do they require a percentage of sales.  This is a one of a kind business venture for any author.

The number attending every month varies but there is a core group of 8-12 readers.  Valerie begins the discussion with a broad question and then readers spend about an hour asking questions and making comments.  The one on one experience is beyond pale.

At the close of the session everyone wanted their books signed so you can see in the image I’m concentrating on writing a unique message in each book.
Visit:   https://www.facebook.com/BooksandBeerColumbus/

This would have been my fourth year as a beekeeper.  Whoever coined the term “beekeeper” had it all wrong.  Humans don’t keep bees.  Bees are a wild inspect.  Yes, they may agree to live in a wooden box hive for a short time but it is only because it is to their temporary advantage.

If you recall my story from last year I bought a package of bees with a queen.  Inside of a week the queen disappeared.  A have cannot survive without a queen.  The good folks who I buy my bee packages from took pity on my and gave me a second queen.  I never knew what happened to her.  My hunch is that she was rejected and the drones killed her.  This was short sighted because without a queen they all died within a month.  By August the hive was empty.
I had great resolve this year.  The bees were not to come from Florida but from Georgia.  The bee mongers drove to Georgia and watched them be carefully loaded into their temporary homes and were personally transported to south central Wisconsin.  The bees were ready for pick-up on Monday, my bee keeping friend and I made the trip to Columbus Tuesday afternoon.

We placed the queen in the hive and shook the bees into the box hive.  That evening I watched the bees fly around their new home and discover Wisconsin.  On Wednesday I was busy and didn’t pay much attention to the bees.  Wednesday night I noticed there were no bees going in and out of their new home.  We enjoyed dinner with our bee keeping friends and I expressed my fear that they were gone.  Just gone.

Thursday afternoon I suited up and took apart the wood hive.  As I suspected gone.  Only a few dead bees filled the bottom of the hive.  “I QUIT” I shouted to no one in the back yard – Mother Nature heard me I’m sure.  I let my friend know my bee keeping days were at an end.   I called the bee sellers to sell my sad, sad story.  They offered to give me another package, with a queen free.  Sorry, no.

On Saturday I met my friend down town for coffee.  From across the street he shouted “You won’t believe what happened.”  We bought our coffee and sat outside the coffee shop in the town square.  “They’re gone.”

“What?”
“I gave them a new queen and they’re gone.”
How likely is it that we both purchased bee packages and both swarmed away.  I guess Wisconsin isn’t Georgia.
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They are gone bees.     

​Roadside Sales
For the third consecutive year I’ve traveled to Ashland Wisconsin in mid-May for a few days of personal respite.  Quite by accident the last few years I’ve become intrigued with birding.  Birding requires being very alert and sensitive to your outdoor environment and is an activity that helps hone those skills for writing.
I drove the first leg of the five hour trip and my wife drove the last half which gave me the opportunity to just look.  What I saw was disturbing.  I call them road sales.  People will put items near the road with a sign FOR SALE in three foot letters. 
Sometimes they even include the price – which is always in even dollars - $1500. Why not get creative and post $1434.76?
It was disturbing because of the number and variety of items.  A lot of the things were recreational – boats all shapes and sizes, camping trailers, tents, snowmobiles.  Others were household equipment – lawn mowers, lawn tractors, rakes, shovels, etc.  There was some farm equipment – tractors, wagons, and a manure spreader.  I must have seen at least 50 items for sale.
I’ve pondered why people sell by the road and wonder if they are successful.  I desperately want to stop at one and ask the owner if they sell by the road often and is it successful.  I see it as an act of desperation.
The economy is supposed to be humming along just fine but by the number of roadside sales I don’t think it has reached north central Wisconsin.
Make a comment if you thought the Blog title was about book sales!
   
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​Wisconsin Community Media Award
 
I have been a volunteer radio host at 103.5 FM The Sun community radio station since September 2015.  It’s a non-profit, low power station that provides free public service primarily to Sun Prairie but programming is live streamed at: www.sunprairiemediacenter.com.
I talk with a variety of artists including:  writers, editors, publisher’s playwrights, musicians, composers, and actors.  My guests share their stories about living a creative life. 
I am proud to announce for the second consecutive year I have won a Wisconsin Community Media Award for Achievement in the Talk Show Category.
Listen on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday every month at 9:30 am to hear me interview a fascinating artist.
Go to my Events Page at:  www.rexowens.us for a list of who I will interview.    

​Lake Fly Writers Conference
 
https://www.lakeflywriters.org/
 
Click on the link to learn about the fantastic Lakefly Writers Conference in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on Friday May 11 and Saturday May 12.
I am presenting “How to Create A Successful Blog” at 3:10 pm on Friday, May 11th.

Blog 5-2-18
 
Be Careful What You Say
 
Last Tuesday I had the perfect book launch.  Over thirty people attended, my wife served the best Irish tea cake on the planet, and the audience asked intelligent and interesting questions.  The event lasted just an hour and people lingered for another thirty minutes after my presentation buying books, asking more questions and having me sign their books.

In all the presentations I’ve made about writing I always make one point, that for me at least, as proven to be true – that is, the real writing begins with re-writing.  For a 90,000 novel it takes me about 11 months to finish the first ROUGH draft.  I always put the draft aside for at least a month.  The next thing I do is read the rough draft just to see if it is a story worth re-working and polishing.  I have been lucky, with all three of my novels I’ve found them worth undergoing the re-writing process.

As I was packing up books following the book launch my publisher approached me.  She said she had a question that she didn’t want to ask during my presentation.  I couldn’t imagine what question she wouldn’t ask in front of the audience.

“Did you really mean what you said about re-writing?”  she wondered.
“Yes, of course, I really think the real writing happens in re-writing.”
She smiled and her eyes twinkled ‘gotch ya’. “Well, would you be willing to re-write Murphy’s Troubles? (My first novel).  What could I say?
“Of course.”

“Sure, just rip it apart.  Start all over if you want.  I have this image for a cover.”
I thought fast to recover from understanding the size of the job I just agreed to undertake.   “It will give me something creative to do again – not just promoting books.  I don’t know how long it will take.”

“Doesn’t matter.  I have to drive back to Milwaukee”

So there you have it.  I’ve made a commitment to re-write my first book.  When I am honest with myself and the world I know it needs the work.
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So, fellow writers, be careful what you say – especially when your publisher is in the room.