Well it's done.

I've done it, I've rebranded myself.  jmfilipowicz.com is up and running.  I'll be blogging over there now.  This blog will stay here as a record of my years of super happiness.  I might even add an entry or two if I have ranting to do that doesn't fit my professional persona.  But for now I'll be concentrating on that site.  Oh, and writing my novel, always writing my novel.

I plan to post every Wednesday.  With more posts whenever I feel like it.  Go check it out now, and then again next Wednesday, and then again on Halloween, and then the Wednesday after that.  Basque in the awesomeness of the site until you are so excited about the release of my novel that you simply must buy copies for yourself and all your friends the moment it comes out.

Enjoy!

Re-branding Myself

This summer my book is coming out.  Wardroids by J M Filipowicz.  I decided to go by my initials for a couple reasons, not the least of which is that when writing genre fiction being female is not necessarily an advantage.   Not that I plan to hide my identity (in fact, a photo of me will be included with my bio on my publisher's website).  But how much of myself should I show to the world?

My husband recently redesigned my mom's professional site. Her blog appears on the front page.  "I need a site like that to promote my book!" said I.  My initial thought was to transfer this blog to my new domain, but no, this will not do.  J M Filipowicz is a serious professional.  Super Happy Jen's Super Happy Blog has too much stuff about my kids and not enough writing-related wisdom.

The logical thing to do would be to keep two blogs.  This one, for personal stuff, and a professional one for writer stuff.  But the line between Super Happy Jen and J M Filipowicz is not so clear cut.

If I am researching for my book about lizard-like aliens and I discover an interesting fact about how turtles mate, is that worthy of a professional entry? Or is the type of silliness that should be branded Super Happy?

If I take part in an improv show, is that personal? Or should I promote it on my professional site?

Should I mention my art on my professional site?  Am I completely barred from mentioning my children? Should I keep my opinions to my personal blog, or will that leave my professional blog wanting substance?

And seeing as I can barely keep this blog up to date, how will I be able to maintain two blogs, and two distinct personas?

I've been Super Happy Jen since 2004.  J M Filipowicz is brand new.

BTW: Everyone like my facebook page!!!!

Telling Tales

That's right, I attended 2 festivals in one weekend.  I'm just that kind of crazy town.  Yesterday, my children and I headed to Westfield Heritage Village in Rockton, Ontario for Telling Tales, the festival that makes me miss the Eden Mills Writers' Festival every year.  Honestly who schedules two literary events on the same day?  Telling Tales wins because it's closer, free, and has more stuff for the kiddies. Sorry Eden Mills.  Change your dates!

Even though I love Telling Tales, I do have some suggestions for improvement. First of all the schedule is insane.  There's zero time between talks that cater to the same age group and in some cases the two talks are several buildings away.  And in between there are trains and chickens that you can pet and a black smith and historical and literary characters.  As a result, we only managed to catch two talks in their entirety.  Those would be Ted Staunton and Ruth Ohi.  I thoroughly enjoyed their fabulous high energy presentations.  Ted sang about chickens and Ruth drew us pictures based on children's scribbles.  Both were enthusiastic and entertaining readers.

If you enjoy the talk you can purchase books at the book sellers tent way back at the entrance.  The authors go there to sign for about fifteen minutes after their talk.  This means you can't get your book autographed and also watch the next author's talk.  I did get two of Ruth Ohi's Chicken, Pig, Cow books signed (to William and Jadzia, so I can pretend they are for them).

So here's what I propose.  There should be at least a fifteen minute buffer zone between talks.  In addition to the main bookseller's tent, there should be a small selling table set up at each venue that features books by the authors presenting at that location, so you can buy and get your book autographed right then and there. Then you can have a little time to travel between venues, or get kettle corn, or pet chickens, or whatever. Simple right?  I'm going to write them a letter suggesting it.

My other suggestion: trays for the food sellers.  Children cannot carry their own grilled cheese without dropping it.

Supercrawl 2012

What better way to enjoy a crawl than with your babies? Hamilton closes a portion of James Street every year so they can celebrate art, music, and other creative ventures.  We walked the length of the street, danced past the bands playing on stage, browsed through the various street vendors, saw some art and even created some of our own.

The kids were well behaved and so I assume enjoyed the festival.  When we reached the end of the street though William pointed out, "We haven't actually done anything that I want to do."

"What do you want to do?" I asked.

"I want to get ice cream."

So we back tracked and went to the ice cream truck.  Both Will and Jadzia ordered popsicles and became a sticky blue mess. By this time it was almost five.  We decided to meet some of my Staircase friends for dinner. I asked a police officer where the restaurant was and he said it was a five minute walk.  It took us half an hour.

We enjoyed some tasty German food at the Black Forest Inn. The kids were on their best behaviour (minus some crawling under the table) despite a long long wait to be seated, then they dazzled everyone by eating large quantities of bread and spaetzle.

It was a good day.