OLA Silver Birch nomination, and why the universe is laughing at me!

Gordon Lightfoot died last week (May 1, 2023), so I am reposting this blog entry from October 2011 which is mostly about him. Thanks to him for his music, and all the inspiration he gave this guitarist.

From October 17, 2011:

"The universe is a prankster, I think we all know that. Today, I can only laugh and shake my head along with the crazy pranking universe, which is laughing quietly at me.

On October 17, 2011 my second book, The Gargoyle Overhead, was nominated for the Silver Birch Express award. It's a large award, a great honour, from the Ontario Library Association. The book is listed along with 9 other books selected by the OLA committee, and many thousands of Ontario school-children between the ages of 9-12 will read it over the coming months, and vote on their favourite book from the list next spring, 2012.

Here's the link to the nominee page: Silver Birch Express 2012, Nominees

Some great books on there, I'm in fantastic company for sure. My book is number four on the alphabetical list. Now, cast your eye to book three on the list ... The Canadian Railroad Trilogy, by a certain Gordon Lightfoot. Yes, the musician who wrote "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and "Early Morning Rain" and "If you could read my mind love" and well, hundreds of other songs. I have always loved Gordon Lightfoot, and I'm so awestruck and honoured to have my book listed along with his. I've listened to his music my entire life, and have learned to play many of his songs on my guitar.

Here's the hilarity.

I have recently created my first guitar CD. It's a collection of my own guitar songs, all instrumental. It is called (and I'm not kidding), This is NOT Gordon Lightfoot. As I say above, I love GL. It's just my picking style can sound a little like his, and when listening to me play people will often ask if my music is his. The title song of the CD is called, well, This is NOT Gordon Lightfoot.

Here it is: This is NOT Gordon Lightfoot

Give a listen. I'm giggling. Are you? And what if I spend time in his company, getting to know him at the awards ceremony at Harbourfront next spring (where presumably we'll stand side by side on the stage) ... do I take a copy of the CD for him, just in case? Or do I ... just shake my head and laugh?!

PD/OCT 17/2011

Philippa Dowding reads Moonlight Dance!

10 Years! Published April 2009

Have you ever seen a gargoyle dancing in the moonlight? 
Katherine has. In fact, she has quite a problem: there's a gargoyle dancing in the moonlight in her backyard!

Hear a new recording of me reading from The Gargoyle in My Yard: Moonlight Dance 

The month of April 2019 marks the 10th Anniversary of the publication of my first book, The Gargoyle in My Yard (April 2009)! Celebrations all month include a new recording of my guitar piece, The Gargoyle Shuffle.

AND I'll be reading chapters from the book over the next few weeks. This week, listen to Chapter 4: Moonlight Dance 

FREE Teacher's Guide: The Gargoyle in My Yard is a 49thShelfTeachers Canadian Kids Book of the Day for
April 8/2019, thanks! The post includes a FREE Teacher's Guide.

BONUS: Here's a link to my Dawg FM RADIO AD for The Gargoyle Overhead and the Forest of Reading, back in 2012. HAHA, that was a fun day. As I remember, the first take was the best one, even though we spent another hour trying to do another take that was as good. Beginner's luck!

Enjoy! More About The Gargoyle Series on this blog.

The Lost Gargoyle Books are going to CANNES!

The Lost Gargoyle series, 2009-2012

You know, I haven't talked about The Lost Gargoyle Series on this blog in a while, but here's some big news I can finally share ...

... the books have been optioned by a New York company, and a concept for a cartoon series inspired by the books is going to be pitched at MIP JR in CANNES next month!

I can't tell you more right now (legalities and such), but I couldn't be more excited, honoured and honestly a little verklempt.

Wish Gargoth and Ambergine luck finding a production company. I'll be thinking about them flying around above Notre Dame.

Purchase the Lost Gargoyle Books now
Read Goodreads Reviews
More about the Lost Gargoyle Series on this blog.

A 14-foot gargoyle and a giant fly

Once in a while I get a totally unexpected surprise in my email. Like today. I received this wonderful picture of a 14-foot gargoyle in a Halloween installation last month. The artist (who asked to remain anonymous) sent it to me, because he loved my third book, The Gargoyle at the Gates, and it inspired him to build this wonderful gargoyle for his friends at Halloween. Did I mention that it's 14 feet tall?! (That's a little over 4.25 metres). Thank you to the artist for reaching out and sharing this -- I'm inspired, too!

In other gigantism news recently, I ordered this giant green fly off the internet (thanks amazon and Zymetrical), it's about 8 inches long. I've been taking it to events for my newest book, Jake and the Giant Hand, in which Jake has some interesting interactions with well, giant flies among other things. Kids really want, no NEED, to pick it up when they see it.

So, 14-foot Halloween gargoyles and giant, 8-inch flies, all in a day's work for this writer. Just one more reason to love the job!

Birth of a children's author, part 2

This is part 2 in a 2-part post:

How a copywriter becomes a children's author, was published last week.

People often ask me: how do you become a children’s author?

Everyone’s journey is different, of course (my usual answer). But I’m pretty sure the journey is seldom straightforward, or what people expect.

For one thing, a writer’s life is lonely, there’s no other word for it. You have to be able to sit for hours and hours, with only your imagination and your computer for company. You have to be able to lose yourself in your head, so a penchant for daydreaming is important. I sometimes wonder what I must look like, sitting at my desk (or on my couch, or at my dining room table), staring at a laptop.

Distant, self-absorbed and pretty dull, no doubt.

Reading a lot is important, too. And maybe a degree in something like English, or communications, or even writing (not an option when I was in university), but even those things probably aren’t essential.

More important than any of that, I’d say the most crucial element in becoming a children’s author is an absolute belief that stories matter.  You have to care.

Can you teach that? Can you learn it? I’m not sure.

I guess you either feel it, or you don’t.

When my children arrived in the mid- and late-nineties, I was still a full-time gainfully employed copywriter. Then in 2000, I went freelance (there was a buyout offer, with a monthly retainer from my ex-employer, and with two little kids at home, it seemed perfect).

For the next five years, I did continue to write copy, lots of it (I still do write copy, for clients when they ask, I love it and always will). Like every other parent who decides to go freelance and work from home, I knew the family bank account would take a hit. It did. I knew I’d miss the daily connection with other adults. I did, at least a little. I also expected it to get harder and harder to find new copywriting clients once I was working full time at home. It was.

All pretty forseeable. But what I didn’t expect, what I couldn’t have known, was how much I was going to absolutely LOVE reading to my kids. Or how much fantastic children’s literature had been written in the two decades that had passed since I’d stopped reading kids’ books. 

Like most writers I imagine, I read everything I could as a child. The Narnia series (dozens of times), the Hobbit, Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, John Christopher and John Wyndham, then later, Lord of the Rings, I read it all again and again.

But there was no Robert Munsch, no McHale, Rowling or Riordan. It was all to come.

Wow. Reading children’s books to my kids was like discovering a new planet. We were lucky enough to inherit an older cousin’s huge children’s library, and we had hundreds of the finest books (my sister-in-law spared no expense) from the ''80s and '90s, filling the shelves. Picture books (Corduroy Bear, what a delight!), early readers (25 Magic Treehouses, all of the Berenstein Bears, Franklin the turtle, dozens of Goosebumps), then middle grade books (Tuck Everlasting, the Bobby Pendragon books, Jacob two-two and so on and so on).

Then like some special gift, along came Harry Potter. I have a confession: I read each Harry Potter book in the entire franchise before my children did. When the last book came out, my children (who were tweens by then) couldn’t find me. I locked myself in my bedroom, and spent a twenty-hour read-a-thon, finishing the series. I didn’t feed anyone, or cook anything, or answer the door or the phone, or make eye contact with the outside world.

I just read.

Thanks to Emma Dolan for the drawing of Gargoth

It mattered to me, deeply, what happened to Harry, Hermione and Ron. I really, really cared. Just like my willingness to read Franklin’s Blanket ten thousand times, or Dinosaur in the Park (a weird little picture book that my son and I adored, about a dinosaur-shaped garbage can that comes to life), or any of the other books we read together for years, I deeply, passionately loved them all. I believed in the story.

Then it happened. My future came calling.

On Christmas Eve of 2004, my children, husband and I were walking through a snowy downtown Toronto, on Queen Street’s east end. We ducked into a small antique shop. My family wandered around, and I was drawn, like something was calling me, to the back of the store. A funny glow was coming from a stairway, beckoning me.

I was drawn to the staircase, and there … on each step, lit by a candle … were dozens of gargoyles.

Yes, gargoyles! I watched the little statues in the flickering candlelight, and was struck by how … alive they looked. One of my children called me, and I looked away. When I looked back at the staircase, I gasped: I was sure that the gargoyles had all switched places while my back was turned!

That night, I put my children to bed with sugarplums and gargoyles. I started a bedtime story about a little gargoyle in our backyard. He was lost, scared, sad, and naughty. He got the little girl who lived in the house in trouble, but the adults couldn’t see him. After a few nights, my children were asking for more stories about the gargoyle. Where did he come from? Why was he there? Why was he sad?

He had a huge backstory, and what amazed me was that it was all there, waiting to be told.

After a week of gargoyle bedtime stories, my daughter said one night, “You know, that’s good, Mum. You should write that down.”

And it was like someone had hit me. I just hadn’t thought of writing a children's book before, but she was absolutely right. This little character came to me, fully formed, into my head. And into my heart. He had a story to tell, and there he was, just waiting for me to tell it.

I cared, I really, deeply cared, about him. So I told his story. It took me a year of Saturday afternoons, trying to figure out if I could actually tell a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. When I finished my first draft (64 pages), I got my daughter (ten at the time) to read it. She spent a few hours in her room with my manuscript, and I kept trying not to hover outside her door. I was really resigned: if it’s no good, at least I tried, I thought.

Finally she emerged from her room, and said flatly, “How did YOU write this?”

And that’s how I became a children’s author.

See part 1 from last week, how a copywriter becomes a children’s author.

The Gothic Gargoyle Ballet

Listen to the Gargoyle Shuffle

What would a dancing gargoyle look like, do you think? 
I can't show you, sorry, you'll have to imagine it. But I CAN let you listen to the Gargoyle Shuffle. It's a guitar piece I wrote for the description of gargoyles dancing in my children's book, The Gargoyle at the Gates (p. 91).

Click here for the Gargoyle Shuffle. Enjoy!

"Christopher ... picked up his guitar and began playing into the night. Snow was falling delicately, softening and quieting the busy city. His music lifted through the snowy air. Ambergine came out of the bushes first and stepped into the spotlight near the apple tree ... Then she started spiralling and pirouetting in the snow, dancing to the guitar music. Slowly Gargoth joined her ... and there in the snowy, strange little gothic park, Christopher watched the two ancient creatures dance and pirouette and move together in a gargoyle ballet, as the snow fell gently upon them." From The Gargoyle at the Gates, p. 91

Philippa Dowding author events, April and May

Spring is here, and with it comes author and book events. This year I'm very honoured to be presenting at libraries and schools in and around Toronto in April and May. If you're in the neighbourhood, come say hi:

Life Long Reading Event
Where: Richmond Hill Library
When: Tuesday, April 16th
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
FREE, open to public (registration required, see above)

TD Canadian Children's Book Week

Author Visit
Where: Barbara Frum Library
When: Monday, May 6th
Time: 1:30 -2:30 p.m.
FREE, open to public

Author Visit
Where: Albion Library
When: Wednesday, May 8th
Time: 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
FREE, open to public

Author Visit
Where: Holy Name Catholic School
When: Thursday, May 9th
Time: 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
FREE, open to public

Spring, spring, spring! Here are two of my favourite youtube videos about spring.
Toronto Island Spring Tree Tour
Jane Siberry, Spring Song

The Gargoyles are watching ....

Giant Gargoyle at Abraham's Antiques, Toronto

This week, a friend sent me a photo of a huge gargoyle at an antique store on Queen Street in Toronto.
Another friend sent me this photo, too, of a gargoyle over a bookstore in London, Ontario:



It's begun. Friends and family are starting to inundate me with gargoyle photos, statues, figurines, naturally enough I guess, since I DO write children's books about gargoyles. I love the photos, it always amazes me how many gargoyles are actually watching us from above.

This is in stark contrast to an earlier similar experience. When I was in university, someone gave me a Smurf figure. I put it on my desk, innocently enough. I really had no feelings either way about Smurfs. Then the flood started. Whenever someone wanted to buy me a gift, it was a Smurf. For the entire first year of university, my desk was a landing pad  for the little blue things. I had a few dozen by the end of the year, doing everything you can imagine: surfing (smurfing?), skateboarding, playing tennis, fishing, driving a car, carrying a briefcase, swinging a hammer. You get the picture.

It's an interesting compulsion that we humans have, to share and collect on each other's behalf. Not so crazy about Smurfs, but gargoyle photos? Awesome! Thanks to my friends for looking up (or down) for me this week.

Oh, and here's another great gargoyle photo a friend sent last fall from out west (thanks Natalie Hyde!):

Gargoyles at Yorkdale Indigo this Saturday, March 16!

Well, I have to admit, it's been a quieter winter than last year. The OLA Silver Birch nomination kept me really busy in 2012. This year is more contemplative, a slightly slower pace, allowing me to write much more than I did last winter. So I guess there's a balance there, somewhere.
I WILL be at Yorkdale Indigo in Toronto this Saturday, March 16th, signing books and saying hello. Come on out if you're up that way.
Here's a blog post about running a good bookstore event from last fall. Hope I remember to follow my own advice!

Gargoyle at the Gates & Goodreads

The Gargoyle at the Gates, book 3 in the Lost Gargoyle Series, is doing really well. It was a top-3 bestseller for my publisher, Dundurn, in December, up there with the LemonAid 2013 guide and a book about hockey (which was very timely since due to the hockey strike everyone was desperate for anything hockey-related).

I feel incredibly honoured to know that my YA book about a lost gargoyle in downtown Toronto is selling as well as a perennial bestseller about used cars and a new book about hockey.

Cars, hockey and gargoyles, a natural fit!

The book has had great reviews by trade magazines which you can read from an earlier post here. It's also got lovely reviews on Goodreads here.

One reviewer said, "The writing is imaginative, poetic, exciting and layered." Love that!

But I think my favourite review starts like this:

"Picked this book up upon recommendation, but hadn't heard of it or the series before reading. The idea of befriending gargoyles that come alive sounded unique, and hey--it's set in Toronto. Why not?"

Love it. Being recommended, read, then reviewed. This writer is very thankful.

Of Gargoyles, Yoda and Mr. Miyagi

It's been a busy month for interviews! I'm always surprised at what questions interviewers come up with, and I always learn something about myself when I answer them.

This week I'm the featured author on the Defining Canada blog from my publisher, Dundurn. My favourite question:
"In your own work, which character are you most attached to and why?"

My main character, Gargoth the gargoyle, of course! He's a wonderful character to write for, being naughty, wise, and hilarious. A writer's dream. I really think of him as a cross between Yoda and Mr. Miyagi, both the wise other.

Here's the interview: Philippa D. on Defining Canada

There have been a few more interviews too, lately, if you'd like to read them here:

Author Interview, Inside Toronto

Author Interview, OpenBook Toronto, Proust Questionnaire

On psychic stability and the perfect grilled cheese

Open Book Toronto very nicely asked me to do the Proust Questionnaire this month, to coincide with the publication of my new YA book, The Gargoyle at the Gates.

The Questionnaire was a 19th century parlour game, made famous by Proust although not invented by him.

It was a lot of fun to answer these questions, and actually did get me to reveal quite a bit (despite my reservations).  Here's the link to my answers: On psychic stability and grilled cheese

Nothing beats a great grilled cheese. Thanks Open Book!

10 author tips for a happy bookstore event

My third YA book has just been published, The Gargoyle at the Gates, and I am starting a new promotional phase. Every children's author will tell you that they do classroom and library visits all year long, but when a new book comes out, they have to also add another element: the bookstore event.
Hard core, full on, cold sales on the floor of a busy bookstore can make some authors want to quit writing right then and there. And yes, it can be grueling, to spend two hours standing in a bookstore, beside your table, hoping people will make eye contact and talk to you.
Lots of people won't. You'll be disheartened by having crowds of children and their parents walk, no run, past you to the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid display, or mistake you for an employee and ask you where the bathroom is (this one happens a lot). You'll also find people who want to talk to you for fifteen minutes, and you still don't make a sale. Still, there ARE ways to make the bookstore sales event more pleasant and successful. And face-to-face selling is really, really valuable for any writer, especially if you are starting out. You get to talk to your audience and tell them what's so great about your book. You'll see how potential readers react to your title. Some kids will even sit down and start reading (I love that). And no matter what, there will always be someone in the store -- it's a bookstore, after all, people are there to buy books -- who is really excited to meet an author, even if they've never heard of you before. Full disclosure here: I've been a marketing writer and events planner for over twenty years. I've shilled for magazines, books, publishers and now my own books at various events, big and small, for decades. It IS hard, but here are a few tips I've found that really help:

1. Have an inviting table. Don't expect the bookstore to do it for you. Buy some book holders, take a table cloth, and make sure people can pick up your book easily. Put the display in the middle and the books at the edges for easy browsing.
2. Take flyers. It seems like an extra expense since you'll be standing right there, but some people are reserved, they'd like to read about you then decide if they want to talk to you. I take colour posters of my books with brief descriptions and stick them to the table, and leave a few for people to read or take away. This is also great if the table gets busy, and you can't answer everyone right away.
3. Get a prop. I have two: a gargoyle puppet and a 4-foot gargoyle poster. The puppet is a strangely outgoing salesman, and the giant 4-foot poster draws people to the table. (It is also at least as big as any other poster in the store, as big as say The Diary of a Wimpy Kid poster, for instance).
4. Hand out bookmarks, have a fun freebie. Bookmarks are a great way to introduce yourself, and inexpensive walk-away marketing whether someone buys your book or not. I also have a gargoyle stamp for inside books and kids' hands, another great freebie.
5. Don't just sit there. Ask the store to place you somewhere with lots of foot traffic, and don't sit down (unless you need a break and no one is around). Stand near your table, and talk to people. I wear my gargoyle puppet and get him to hand out bookmarks. If your section is quiet, walk into other parts of the store and hand out bookmarks and introduce yourself. Engage people, politely.
6. Know what  you're going to say. "Hi, I'm a local author selling my latest adventure book here today, perfect for 9-12 year olds," or something else fast and inviting. Tell them who you are, what you're selling and why, fast. If you're sincere, and you will be since it's your book, it's possible not to come across as a car salesman.

7. Don't assume about people. You never know who is going to buy your book. Humans never cease to amaze me. The harried mum with five kids, the quiet grandmother, the businessman, the young jock, engage them all. The person who seems completely unlikely, the 19-year-old skater dude in dreads for instance, might love what you are selling and buy five books for his little cousins. It's happened!
8. Third party endorsements really help. If you've won an award or been shortlisted or commended anywhere, invest in some stickers and slap them on your titles. People care what other people think.
9. Take "no" for an answer. You aren't a telemarketer. No means no, especially face-to-face. Don't take it personally, either. Just politely move along.
10. Thank the bookstore owner, and keep in touch. You are developing a professional relationship with someone, and you'll presumably be writing and promoting another book, one day. They want to promote you, it's good for them to have authors in their store. Plus, once they know your titles, they will likely be sure to keep them in stock and promote them. Win Win!

So, bookstore events do get easier the more you do them. And often, it's even fun.
PD

Gargoyles come out to play!

I had a wonderful time at my book launch for The Gargoyle at the Gates on Nov. 17, 2012 in Toronto. We had a great crowd and sold lots of books, thanks everyone so much for coming! A local school came and performed a gargoyle play, plus we had a gargoyle-drawing contest, door prizes, and finally (after much anticipation) the coffee and donuts showed up. Some pics of the fun...

100+ crowd

Grade 3 students put on a play: "There's a GARGOYLE in my yard!"

The author reads

Some of the great gargoyle drawings by school kids

First in line to get some books signed by the author

Sharing a laugh with my publicist, Jim Hatch, who did a great job (and we almost sold out of books!)

Guida, the amazing and talented librarian at Bloor Gladstone branch!

Little gargoyle

more great gargoyle drawings

The author's daughter, who many years ago, told her to write down a bedtime story about a gargoyle

Henry's apple

A good friend of mine tutors children who are learning to read. Her specialty is working with children with dyslexia.

Last week she asked if I could meet a student. Henry has worked with her for three years and has, after a long journey, read his first book: The Gargoyle in My Yard.

He loved it. We had a very special morning, the three of us, reading and talking about gargoyles.

He had a gift for me, a drawing of an apple. It's a sweet illustration, since my gargoyles love to whip apple cores at people.
Then he read a few lines from my book, out loud.

And that, of course, was the best gift of all.

Here's a related blog post about a reluctant reader and gargoyles: Why do I write? Just read this letter

Resource Links Loves The Gargoyle at the Gates

"I would recommend this book to young independent readers with an interest in gargoyles, magic and adventure fiction.
The inclusion of Toronto history and landmarks are an added bonus to a great read."

E (for Excellent), Resource Links Magazine,
Fall 2012 

Thanks Resource Links!

Here are two more links to other nice things people are saying about the book:

CM Magazine, September 2012

Facebook

Spookiest Gargoyles in Trees in Paris ...

Gargoyles in Trees, Clement Briend

Imagine what it would be like to see THESE in trees in a park near you on Halloween night!

I think this is the single coolest art installation I've ever seen: gargoyles in trees in a little park in downtown Paris. It makes me goofily happy to look at ... I've visited the site again and again this past week.

Here's the link to more photos.

Clement Briend, please come to Toronto Nuit Blanche in 2013!

The Gargoyle at the Gates is now IN STOCK!

IT'S IN STOCK!

The Gargoyle at the Gates, Book 3 in the Lost Gargoyle Series, is now available online at amazon.ca. (Order it in the next hour and get it by tomorrow).

First sighting!

Cool!

Upon holding one's new book for the first time ...

Does anyone else burst into tears when they first hold their new book?

Or is it just me? 

The contractual publisher's copies of my new book,
The Gargoyle at the Gates, have just arrived on my doorstep. As a third book in a YA series, I wondered if I could love it as much as numbers one and two (The Gargoyle in My Yard, The Gargoyle Overhead).

This is a new publisher, a slightly larger size for the book, and well, as much as I love them, it's the third time around the dance floor with many of the same characters. 

When my first book arrived at the door in 2009, my husband took pictures of me opening the box and clutching a copy in either hand. I poured champagne into a thermos (!) and walked the neighbourhood, pounding on friend's doors and showing them my new baby. We drank champagne from coffee mugs on doorsteps. A friend coughed on a celebratory cigar (I declined).

When my second book arrived, I took pictures of my new child stacked up against the wall in my office. I spent a whole day mailing copies to far away family members. There was no champagne that time, though.

Now here is my third book, stacked patiently on the mantel. I am busily finishing another book (off to the editor this week) and trying to complete grant applications, while also planning a launch and bookstore appearances for book three. 

Still, when I opened the box this morning and pulled out that first copy, I did burst into tears. Why? Ask any writer you know, and I'm sure they'll tell you the same thing: spontaneous joy just never gets old.

It's RELEASE DATE for The Gargoyle at the Gates!

Today is the RELEASE DATE for
The Gargoyle at the Gates,
book 3 in the Lost Gargoyle Series.
Copies are speeding their way to bookstores, libraries, schools, and individuals, even as we speak.
Hope you enjoy it!