Book launch More than meets the I

Finally! Monday November 2nd, at 20h Dutch time (convert to your time here) we will PARTY! You’re invited 🙂 We’re going to celebrate with you that our book is going live on Amazon! And we want to show how beautiful it is You’ll get to see all the photographs in the coffee table book version. Angela will read some of the poems (requests are welcome), you can ask questions… There’s 40 minutes of time to be together and go ‘wow’

Let me know if you want to be sent be the login details for the party. It will not be recorded. It will probably be on Zoom, but I’m checking different options as well.

A special message for my Introverted friends: feel free to leave your camera off or anything else that makes you feel comfortable in what we hope will be a gathering of more than just my mum and me. Everyone is welcome to participate in a form that’s relaxing for them! We just want to share our joy.

It’s almost here…

…but we need help in getting it there 🙂 Anywhere. Everywhere!

Since it’s our first book, we’re still figuring out how to do all of this. One thing I’ve figured out, is that it’s better to no do this alone.

Wanted: reviewers

Reviews on Amazon will make a big difference in our book being shown to people, for example. They might even make the biggest difference of all that we can do (except for paid advertising maybe, but even that works better when you have reviews).

You don’t need to be an art critic to write a review. It can be as simple as clicking on a number of stars, if you don’t like writing. Or sharing some words that don’t even form a sentence. Or, your heart felt reader experience – that’s welcome too of course!

Honest opinions

To us, it matters that you mean what you share. My goal for this book is that it will reach people who’ll love it as much as we do. Either because of the stunning pictures of my mother, or because of my poems, or, my favourite option: both.

Maybe you can help us? You’ll receive a PDF version of the book before it goes live. In return we’ll ask you to leave a review on Amazon, or any other online bookstore you might be using. You can browse through the (translated) Dutch edition if you’re curious what the book will look like.

Join the team

Apparently, when people help you out with your book it’s called a launch team. Would you like to be part of ours? You can sign up here. Our main focus at the moment is finding reviewers who’ll share their review during launch week (somewhere in October I expect). But we also need people who are willing to share the existence of our book with the world. Through social media. By telling people about it. Gifting it to their loved ones… Anything that can help making the book a success.

Why?

Why am I so passionate about this book? It’s not because of my own poems. I’ve been happy enough slowly growing my audience through this blog, meeting nice people online and enjoying the connections. I don’t need to conquer the world. But… my mother’s work motivates me. She became a professional photographer after the age of sixty. Her work is incredibly beautiful, and I believe it deserves a huge audience. I asked her to make a book with me, because I want to share her work with the world. And she said yes.

Questions? Doubts? Yes.

If you have any doubts or questions about being in our launch team, please let me know. Personally I’d be worried about the amount of work it would be, what to do if I don’t like the book I’m reviewing, how I’m supposed to get the review online (so the technical side of things) and much more. I’m simply good at worrying, and I’d procrastinate at signing up.

You’re invited to do it the other way around: sign up even if you’re not sure. And we’ll figure out the rest together.

Draft2Digital try-out

When I saw Norm’s door post today, I was relieved to see a lot of beautiful street art. I took this picture because I want to share it with you, but I’m not even sure it has a door… Luckily, #ThursdayDoors is a flexible place.

Corona times have been a rollercoaster these last months. Lockdown, no work, homeschooling, too much work… Strange and exhausting times even without getting the virus.

I’m slowly finding my way back to some creativity. My mother and I can finally continue the work on the English edition of Meer dan wat het oog ziet. We hope to have it ready for preorder soon.

As an experiment, I’m also making a book to publish through Draft2Digital. My procrastination workbook brought me experience with Amazon and the Google Play Store. For the Dutch edition of the oncoming poetry/photography book I also tried out Blurb, Kobo, and Publish Drive, which got me into the Apple Store and Scribd. This may sound impressive, but don’t forget that being in a store doesn’t automatically means you sell your book. It’s just one in millions, and it needs to find its audience somehow.

Thus far Drive2Digital was missing. All my choices have had to do with which types of file I already had available and which ones I could convert into easily. A long and boring story, but something to watch out for if you ever want to self-publish. In a next post I’ll share some first impressions of the different platforms and distributors. I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts and read a lot of stuff online to figure everything out, but in the end, I like to try everything out to figure out what I like best.

The new book will be called From my skin. At the moment I’m figuring out the lay-out challenges, since a number of the poems that will be in there has an unconventional layout. The poem in the picture beneath is called Ire, and will feature in the book if everything works out well.

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A door, and a book preview

A door from Mechelen, Belgium provided by… yes, you guessed it, I’m still sharing my mum’s doors 🙂

De Dutch version of our book is ready. I’ve uploaded a test version (not for sale), so you can take a look what all the work has been about. If you click on the photo you can browse through the upload on the Blurb site.

Meer dan je ziet

By A. van Son, G. van Son

 

I still can’t believe I managed to translate 20 of my poems from English to Dutch. But is was worth it, now my mother’s friends can buy the book and read it too. We’ll continue working on the English version in March.

For now, I need a break. After the intensive editing we did, all my brain can think of is book-book-book. I’m grateful that my sister showed me what a huuuuuge difference a professional editor makes when it comes to details. I was convinced my mother and I we’re doing a great job at being precise. My sister did The Best job at being precise.

New skill!

I learned something new today, all in favour of the fundraising I’m doing. You can combine any of my poems wih any of my paintings or drawings if you want one.

Where poetry dies

Between tears I do not cry
Between words I do not speak
Between thoughts I dare not think

That’s where poetry lies

Beneath facts and measurements
Beneath productivity and stress
Beneath coping mechanisms and denial

That’s where poetry hides

Covered by criticism and self doubt
Covered by punishment and fear
Covered by demands and failure

That’s where poetry dies

Before I got my eye installed

Before I got my eye installed
I put out
to whoever cooed me

I liked
as much
– well –
to hear
their voice

I see that now

As other creatures that have eyes
have said
I wasn’t blind
as much
as deaf

And know
that I repent – no
Any other way

But were it told to me
that today
that
tomorrow
that
one day
I might have the roars of the sky for mine

I tell you that my heart would trade

A split second of sight
for the thrill
one size
one fill

All of me
All the meadows
Mine to deafen
– The mountains
Mine to reverberate
– Mine!

All forests
All stintless stars
All as much as -oh

The sight of noon
a split second
as I could
– trade

Take me
I have a fair use policy
between my finite eyes
I don’t mind the motions

I will focus on
the sound of the dipping birds
on the grind of
the morning’s amber road

Take me
for mine

When they installed my eye
I got to look at
whoever

When I liked one
I would coo them
but the news wore off
quickly

Any sound would strike me dead
– almost
a surprise –
so –
safer I guess
to trade

With just my soul
at risk
opon the window pane

Where other creatures
primp
put out
their eyes incautious of the sun

The day 5 prompt for #NaPoWriMo suggested to find an Emily Dickinson poem and alter it. Here’s the original, called Before I got my eye put out: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182805

Today’s prescription

three lunges—————————–be told
two planks——————————- what to do
five seconds —————————- to get better
times series —————————–reduce fatigue
stress reduction ———————–feel fit
neuro plasticity ————————cope

Tomorrow’s schedule
will be different
yet the same

outdoor activity ————————-helpful indeed
never mind the weather ————my body is thankful
individual session ———————-someone finally got it moving
group session —————————-my mind reassured
yanking ourselves———————- to get help
out of our misery ———————–and not struggle alone
by the hairs ——————————-yet I’m irritated
it’s between the ears ——————to the bone
what messes us up ———————full of resistance

Each day I’m exhausted
proud of making changes
fed up with the time it takes

writing poems —————————prescription followed
is an act of defiance ——————-check
protesting the void ———————escaped into creation
reclaiming imagination—————-check

The prompt for #OctPoWriMo day 9  is to write about why you are choosing to continue to write poetry now.

He craved poetry

As he was waiting
for the delivery man
his mouth watered

He pictured how the
carefully chosen words
would fill his stomach

How his blood sugar
would rise from
the rhythm of the sentences

How the line spacing
would nourish him

What the aftertaste
would be like

What took him so long?
The poem would be cold
by the time it arrived