I was one of seven authors invited to participate in the 2014 Milwaukee Irish Fest in the Literary Corner.  This year the Literary Corner included two book stores, a vendor selling coffee and hot tea, an IBAM (Irish Books Arts & Music) and in a small corner,  a desk with two bookshelves behind it for the authors.  A volunteer sat with me to collect all the money or credit cards from selling books.

Irish Fest was a learning experience, not a book selling experience.  Stuffed into the corner of a tent on a +85 F degree day is not exactly a halcyon day.  My first shift was at noon when the Fest opened.  The Literary Corner is located at the far south end of the festival grounds and in the first hour the crowd didn’t make it that far.  I didn’t have a single person make their way to the author’s corner, although the two bookstores sharing the tent did robust business.

The person from the Festival was generous, kind and well intentioned but had not a clue on how to sell books.  I pointed out that both book stores had long table displays where customers could browse books.  The Festival staff didn’t want customers touching our books, she was afraid they would get soiled.  I sat behind the desk, as instructed, for an hour.   As I left the person from IBAM suggested that at my next stint on Saturday I stand in front of the desk and my wife suggested I hand out bookmarkers to attract customers.

I did make great contacts at Irish Fest.  I met fellow author David McDonnell who has written a wonderful book, Clan Donnell  on his family history.  David and his wife Linda are spending the summer selling books and making presentations at Irish Fests across the country.  I also met Cliff and Kathy Carlson from the Irish American News.  They invited me to participate in the IBAM conference in Chicago on October 3-5.  Cliff introduced me to Frank West the Irish American News Book and Theater reviewer.  Frank agreed to review Murphy’s Troubles  for the newspaper – an incredible stroke of Irish good luck.  I also learned about the irishbooksite.com a good place for me to market my book.

On Saturday I followed all the suggestions I received and didn’t behind the desk.  I passed out bookmarkers and engaged customers as they strolled by.  I sold four books in my hour.  I also learned that the one of the bookstore sponsors of The Literary Corner, The Little Read Book of Wauwatosa was selling my book.  I also autographed a book sold through the bookstore.

For what it’s worth, I learned two lessons.  First, I need to always be myself when participating in author events.  Sitting behind a desk is not me.  I like to engage people, have conversation and if that results in a sale fine, if not fine – but it’s interactive.  Second, all author events, regardless of the format is about networking with people.  By networking I was invited to another event, will have a book review and learned from the experiences of another peripatetic author.     

Cead Mile Failte – a thousand welcomes to Milwaukee Irish Fest 2014!   I spent the weekend preparing my presentations for the Milwaukee Irish Fest, which runs from Thursday, August 14 through Sunday, August 17th.  I received my presenter about a week ago and noticed I am the only one without a traditional Irish surname.  To remedy the situation, for the weekend I will go by O’Owens.  It’s only fitting.  The surname Owens is Welsh, another Celtic people and there are records that Welsh Owens’ immigrated to Ireland.  I’m sure I descend from the Irish Owens clan.

My presentations will take place in The Literary Corner which is part of the Cultural Village.  Ireland has such a rich literary tradition that The Literary Corner is a key element of the festival.  Only Ireland can boast more Nobel Prizes for Literature than any other country.  The Literary Corner features books for sale on all aspects of Irish culture and history.  In addition, every year a small number of authors are invited to make presentations on their books.  I will be one of seven authors making a presentation during the Fest; I will be among an elite group.

My presentations are scheduled for:   

Friday         August 15       4:00-5:00

Saturday    August 16      2:00-3:00

Sunday       August 17     7:00-8:00

Signed copies of my novel, Murphy’s Troubles will be available for sale throughout Irish Fest.

Following the each presentation I will have a book signing and talking with readers informally.

For more information about all events go to:  irishfest.com

Milwaukee is a city of festivals during the summer.  Each summer in August Milwaukee hosts Irish Fest, which runs from Thursday, August 14 through Sunday, August 17th.  The Fest begins Thursday night with the Grand Hooley, a traditional Irish celebration with music, food and dancing.

A special feature this year is the Brian Boru Millennium Celebration commemorating the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.  Brian Boru was the first high king of Ireland and the battle ended Viking influence in Ireland.



I submitted my novel MURPHY’S TROUBLES to Fest organizers to be considered for The Literary Corner.  The Literary Corner is part of the Cultural Village.  Ireland has such a rich literary tradition that The Literary Corner is a key element of the festival.  The Literary Corner features books for sale on all aspects of Irish culture and history.  In addition, every year a small number of authors are invited to make presentations on their books.

I have been honored to participate in the 2014 Irish Fest Literary Corner.  My novel, Murphy’s Troubles will be available for sale and I will be giving three presentations:

                                 Friday         August 15       4:00-5:00
 
                                  Saturday    August 16      2:00-3:00

                                  Sunday       August 17     7:00-8:00

Following the each presentation I will have a book signing and talking with readers informally.

For more information about all events go to:  irishfest.com

I have an eighteen month old granddaughter, Vivian Grace, who lives with her parents in Omaha, Nebraska.  Distance dictates that we see her, in the flesh, about every six months.  We supplement these visits with an hour Skype visit every two weeks.

Last week we spent four days in Omaha visiting with parents and Vivy.  Our daughter-in-law, Sandy, had told us how she has taught Vivy sign language to help her communicate.  A friend of the parents taught their children sign language and claimed it made a significant difference in their language, reading and thinking skills.

Of course, I was skeptical.  When we arrived Vivy was in a playful mood and like any good grandparents we joined her on the floor to play.  Soon she was making these wild motions.  Her Mom calmly told us she was signing that she wanted water.  I gave Vivy a sippy cup; she smiled and took a long drink.  I was dumbfounded.  An eighteen month old was able to tell me what she wanted without verbal language.  She understood thirst, water and how to ask for the water.

Over the next few days the challenge was to get white bearded grandpa to complete a crash course in sign language, taught by my eighteen month old granddaughter.  Vivy can sign for:  eat, milk, tired, thank you, please, cookie, all done and book.  These eight words accomplish a lot in the life of a toddler.

One morning Vivy woke very early because she was busy cutting her molar teeth.  Her Mom was exhausted from being up tending to Vivy during the night.  I told Sandy she should return to bed and I would feed and care for Vivy.  I was able to “talk” with Vivy through sign language and understood what she wanted.  She had a breakfast of fruit and oatmeal, milk, and water.  She would ask for more cereal if hungry and let me know when she was finished.

Vivy’s life and mine have been enriched by the magic of sign language. 

I have attended the Tuesday Morning Book Talk, led by Dr. Emily Auerbach for years.  So many years I’m not sure how many but I’m guessing more than ten years.  When I launched my book I sent her a copy and asked if she would consider including it as a book for our Tuesday Moring Book Talk.  Months went by and I never received a response.  I didn’t understand because we’ve communicated by e-mail many times.  I finally mustered the courage to ask her about it after one of our Tuesday morning sessions.  I learned that the university e-mail system had changed and she was having a problem that her e-mails were getting filtered and deleted as scam.

At our last two classes in April she invited our group members to submit books to read in our fall 2014 group.  I didn’t say anything in class because I felt I had already been bold to suggest my own book.  She did send me an e-mail to ask if Marshall Cook would be willing to lead the discussion if she included my book.  Of course, he agreed.

Several weeks ago I received an e-mail from Marshall telling me my book had been selected but no details on the date.  Then he sent me a follow-up e-mail telling me it would be discussed on October 28th.  I was both overwhelmed and exhilarated, Marshall even published the date and time in his e-zine Extra Innings and invited readers to attend.

I was confused that I never head directly from Emily.  Yesterday, I received the notice for the Fall 2014 Booktalks and there I am, listed on October 28th and 9:30 a.m.  I’ve never received the notice in the mail previously, so my guess is that is Emily’s very subtle message that she’s selected my book.

It is a great honor to have Emily read my book and decide it is worthy of discussion by our book club.  As an independent author/publisher it just doesn’t get any better. 

Here is some information to follow-up:

October 28, 2014 9:30 a.m.                                                Registration:  608-262-2451 or
Madison Public Library – 3rd Floor                    http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/classes/literature.htm     201 W. Mifflin St.
Madison, WI               
                                                                                                                                  





  

I like to write in the mornings at our local coffee house.  I wait until after the rush of the work-a-day folk have rushed in to fill their travel mugs with java and dash out the door.  Between 8:30-9:00 calm has returned and tables near electrical outlets are readily available.  I find there is something unique about the coffee house environment that fuels my creativity and the noise and constant background chatter are a wonderful distraction that enhances my focus.  It’s also fun to hear the little comments:  “he’s the write;”  “somebody said he’s writing another book;”  “I think he’s writing a sequel.”  I’ve also had two reading events at the coffee house and the owner is kind enough to keep a small supply of my book on a shelf in the front of the store.

One day recently I was finishing my writing session and glanced up to see my friend, Peter.  He was looking around the room, I thought for a place to sit or find someone to visit with.  I motioned him over to my table and asked him to join me.

“Oh, I can’t stay but I wanted to share a story with you.  My wife read in the newspaper that your book was listed as one of the good reads for the month.  She didn’t say anything to me but went to Madison and inquired at several bookstores.  She came home and told me that she didn’t understand but none of the book stores she visited carried my book.  I told her to look on our shelf.  There she found your book.  She opened it and asked me, ‘how did you get a signed copy?’  My friend just laughed.  We know the author, remember?”

I thanked Peter for sharing his story and promised myself to return to the coffee shop the next day for another writing session and who knows what else.  

Last week I attempted to negotiate with two independent bookstores to host an author reading/signing event for me.  One of the bookstores currently carries Murphy’s Troubles on consignment; the other is out of state, in Omaha where our son lives.  I had made the assumption, maybe leap of faith, that there is a natural bond, relationship between independent authors and independent bookstores.  I frankly was under the naïve notion that all I needed to do was ask for a date and like magic, I would be scheduled.

Both bookstores routinely host author reading events.  My local indie bookstore often hosts at least one event a week.  To be honest, the local indie bookstore specializes in a specific genre and Murphy’s Troubles doesn’t fit their specific niche.  The local bookstore does support Wisconsin authors and in fact has an entire bookcase devoted to Wisconsin authors where Murphy’s Troubles shares self space.

I found it interesting that in discussing the potential for an event both owners asked if I could guarantee an audience of 20-25 readers at the event.    That doesn’t sound like a roaring crowd but I was startled at the question.  I have participated in four events to date and the largest crowd I had was 16 people, which I considered a fantastic turn out.  One of the bookstore owners explained that their experience was that advertising and promoting an event didn’t bring in readers – the author brings in readers.  

From the book store owners’ perspective the purpose of an author event is to bring in traffic to the store.  The hope is that attendees will buy the author/presenter’s book at a minimum and hopefully browse and purchase other books.  I’ve witnessed this phenomenon myself so it’s not some pie in the sky idea, it is reality.

I was honest with both bookstore owners and admitted that I couldn’t guarantee attendance of 20-25 readers with credit cards burning to be used to make $50 in purchases.  My honesty means I won’t be scheduled for a reader’s event at either bookstore.  I don’t really consider their request unreasonable.  However, it is sad.  Even independent bookstore owners must be risk averse and not support independent publisher/authors just because it’s the right thing to do. 

Book Review for

 

MURPHY’S TROUBLES

By

Rex Owens

 

Propelled by insatiable grief, patriotism, and youthful naivety into a decades-long double life, a popular Irish author’s secret ties to the Irish Republican Army finally implode in Murphy’s Troubles, Rex Owen’s soulful political thriller.

A Catholic from far southern Ireland, Ian Murphy joins the IRA after the violent death of his childhood friend, an IRA volunteer fighting to liberate Northern Ireland from British rule.

But after thirty years of living as both a best-selling novelist and the secret author of an infamous IRA training manual and other published IRA propaganda, Ian’s dual existence is upended by family tragedy and a lover’s betrayal.

Some of the story’s most wrenching scenes come as Ian’s lover, a married, aggressively professional, award-winning newspaper journalist, stumbles upon his secret and must weigh whether to share it with the world. The couple’s subsequent confrontation, in a dank pub cellar, is rawly emotive. 

Emotions run deep, in fact, throughout the story, as Ian deals with other deaths, the accidental maiming of his young niece in an IRA bombing, the demise of his affair and bitter recognition of the role he has played in the IRA-related deaths of thousands of people. His tortured existence is further complicated by an increasing propensity to drown his sorrows in alcohol.

Ian’s struggles, however, lead him to chart a new course, working for peace rather than violent confrontation. Love – and love lost – can cloud our minds but can also clarify, is the message.

The story charts the characters’ motivations for setting their lives on a particular course, the hard choices they must make to stay on that path or divert from it, the courage required to do either, and the repercussions of it all.

Owens does his homework, offering a credibly researched, albeit fictionalized, primer on the IRA and its place in Irish history. Historical context is woven into the novel in a clear, concise way that will appeal to readers in and outside of Ireland, including those only marginally familiar with the country’s politics and past.

The novel could have been improved by clarifying one key point in the plot’s chronology, a scene early on in which Ian, in despair after his niece is injured, crashes his car into a British barricade. Owens places enough importance on this explosive crash to lead the novel with it. But did it occur before or after his lover’s betrayal? That’s never clearly stated, even in careful retracing of the text. Recapping this scene by coming fully back to it, rather than leaving its place in the overall course of events to the reader’s imagination, would have brought the story full circle and might have lent important context to Ian’s mindset.

This omission isn’t fatal, however, to this otherwise excellently researched and well-penned, deeply human story about life-changing decisions, reverberations and the potential for renewal.

-Inkspots Reviews

Recently I heard a report on NPR about reading in America.  Since I was driving while listening to the report I wasn't confident I heard what I thought I did.  So, in the week the world wide web turned 25, I searched on Google for "reading statistics."

This is what I found:
    - Percent of U.S. high school grads who will never read a book after high school               33%

    - Percent of college students who will never read a book after they graduate                     42%

    - Total percentage of U.S. families who  did not buy a book in 2013                                 80%

Fortunately, several weeks ago I met with a local book club to discuss my novel, Murphy's Troubles.  I was invited to attend their discussion and was even asked to lead the discussion.  I prepared background material on Ireland, talked about my path to write and publish the book and then prepared a series of questions to spark discussion.

Two members of the group had traveled to Ireland and two others had Irish heritage.  I asked the members to be frank with me because that's how I grow as a writer.  They were frank but not unkind.  I was surprised how some of the club members reacted to various characters in the novel. We talked together for just over two hours.

As an author there is nothing better than sharing the experience of your book with readers.  The data shows we are not a book reading nation, however, there are enclaves of book clubs that maintain a fierce devotion to books whether hard copy, trade paperback or ebooks.

It's generally accepted that during the Dark Ages Irish monks saved the knowledge of Europe by copying and maintainng books.  Book clubs are keeping reading and discourse alive and well and by doing so saving the world.

I am working on my second novel and having a bad time of it.  Writing my second novel some days I feel like Sisyphus.  My first novel took fourteen years to write and I worked on in in bits and pieces with UW-Madison Writer's Institute classes; UW-Madison's Weekend with your novel; , UW-Madison's critique groups; and, UW-Madison's Writers by the Lake.  I did it this way because I was still in the work-a-day world and used these special classes to devote myself to writing in short, intense bursts of learning, energy and creativity.  In those days I thought being free from the stardard job would be a panacea for my writing life.

My career ended abruptly one Friday morning when I learned that my managers' salary was dragging the company I worked for into the financial abyss, twelve others got the same news that day.  I am fortunate to have a pension so financial security was ensured and I saw this change as my chance to finally finish my first novel.

Murphy's Troubles was published in November 2013, it had taken four years.  I've finally settled on what to write for my second novel, only because the protagonist, Ian Murphy scolded me in a dream and said he wasn't finished telling his story.  My working title for the second novel is:  There Was Sadness, There was Joy.  As I began to write I discovered I don't have a writing routine.

I have complete control of my time and yet I struggle to develop any sort of writing routine.  The entire book is in my head, of that I am certain.  I found myself obsessing with chapter one, which has been written and re-written at least 25 times.  There is some part of me that has to have the first chapter exactly right before I can move on.  So, I'm accepting that as part of my writing routine.  I've also been indecisive about point of view, that demon that haunts me whenever I splash a work across the screen of my lap top.

Just this week I've settled on first person point of view.  While some consider it limiting, it allows a more personal, in depth story.  I want to see the world only through Ian Murphy's eyes because that's the only way I can convey it on the page - the way Ian wants the story told.

I will be working on having a writing routine for a long time to come.  Who knows, maybe my routine is not have a routine.  I know there's a lot of advice to just sit down at the keyboard every day, same time, and do my thing.  That approach seems to be common among writers.  For me, it doesn't feel right; maybe I'm fighting the self-discipline it takes.

So, a lot of days I feel like Sisyphus, pushing the boulder up the mountain only to watch the boulder roll down and do it again tomorrow.