Happy One Year, from R2-D2 and C-3PO! (image taken from Google images)

This past Tuesday marked my one year anniversary at Dundurn. My, how time flies!

As trite as this sounds, it really feels like yesterday I was starting here. Remember my very first blog post? Wow, so much has changed since then. I thought I’d take my post this week to reflect on some of the most memorable moments I’ve had at my first year at Dundurn. Come along, won’t you?

Within my first three weeks here, I was diving head first into the world of author tours. Glenn Dixon, author of Pilgrim in the Palace of Words, was coming to Toronto to participate in the Ben McNally Travellers Series at the Harbourfront Centre. Karen, our publicity manager, was going to be away, so yours truly was responsible for making sure Glenn go to and from his scheduled appointments. From a Dundurn welcome dinner, to his presentation at the author event (I’m biased, but he was by farrr the best speaker of the night), to an early morning spot on Breakfast Television the next day, my newbie publicists’ skills were certainly tested. It was definitely a challenge, but a lot of fun too!

This summer I spearheaded Dundurn’s Summer of Murder and Mayhem on the blog. It was my baby from the outset; just a fun promotion to do on the blog to help our readers beat the heat. After all, who doesn’t dig a good murder case when they’re lounging on the beach or by the pool?

We featured authors like Lee Lamothe and his much-praised Free Form Jazz (tip: the sequel, Picasso Blues, is coming this fall!), Tom Henighan’s sly and sensitive detective Sam Montcalm in Nightshade, and Don Easton’s rough-and-tough Mountie with a heart of gold, Jack Taggart (whom I liken to Canada’s Jack Bauer, only wayyy cooler, and based on ACTUAL events. His next case, Dead Ends, is coming in July). It was gratifying to be the brains and action behind this campaign, and see tangible results and such positive feedback from our readers. And who knows? We may be gearing up for a second edition this summer.

The last memory I think I will share will be our 2010 Holiday Party which we held at our office here in Toronto. Having joined the team in January 2010, I missed the ‘09 party but was regaled with all the details from my new coworkers. It was certainly made out to be the event of the season, and this year’s party didn’t disappoint.

Although the entire Dundurn team was hard at work making sure the party ran smoothly, I got to carve out time to chat with some of the authors I’ve been working with, and some I’ll be working with in the future. Because of the nature of my job, I don’t always get to meet authors face to face and am more often than not relegated to email and phone for our interaction. To chat with them, get to know them on a more personal level, and put a face to the name, and show them that I, too, am a real person? Well, that’s just awesome. And while I didn’t get a chance to eat during the party, I hear the food was awesome too.

It’s been a jam-packed 12 months! Don’t believe me?
I’ve worked close to 50 titles, with over 50 authors.
Prepared submissions for 92 awards programs.
Cut 11 inches of hair to donate to cancer patients.
Eaten at Fran’s far too many times to count (mmm Eggs Benedict).
And blogged, now, for the 54th time.

Here’s to another busy year.

The highlight of my week was getting to assist one of our authors as he came to our city for a speaking event. Glenn Dixon, author of Pilgrim In the Palace of Words, flew in from Calgary to participate in the Ben McNally Traveller’s Series event as part of Authors at Harbourfront Centre this past Wednesday night. My responsibility while Glenn was in town was to make sure he arrived at his arranged destinations while in the city and handle any last minute shifts in his schedule that may arise.

I’ve been looking forward to Glenn’s visit since I started at Dundurn about a month ago. Glenn’s was the first book I read after I accepted my new position and began to familiarize myself with our catalogue. I’m sure my views are a tad biased, but it’s a fabulous book that I really enjoyed reading (in fact, I enjoyed it so much that I’ve read it twice!). When I heard that I would be the “go-to” person for Glenn’s visit, I was excited to meet the man behind the incredible stories, and a little nervous to handle my first author visit, too.

With the week all over with, I must highlight two of the best parts:

First, the event itself was fabulous. Glenn was paired with two other travel writers, all of whom offered entertaining, humourous, insightful snapshots of their worldly experiences and their published works. They were each so different, but perfect complements to one another; each with a different focus but all a common idea – seeing the world and learning more about themselves.

Second (and this is the PR nerd in me coming out), I was able to escort Glenn on Thursday morning to CityTV where he appeared on Breakfast Television for a live interview about his book. Having never been to Breakfast Television as a guest, audience member, or publicist, it was both an invaluable learning experience as a newbie communications professional and an amazing opportunity for Glenn and his book. The interview went really well – and not just in my opinion! A few family and friends heard I would be escorting an author to the show and tuned in that morning, all to rave reviews.

It was both wonderful to spend last week learning more about one of our authors while also proving to myself that although I may be fresh meat in the publishing world, perhaps I’ll be able to handle the type of events that will come my way.

We passed a lot of ruined monasteries – destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and came at last to the central plateau and the palace of the Dalai Lama.  An interesting story: the India sage composed a lot of texts – and he used the local Tibetan dialect – writing it in a Sanskrit script.  He buried the texts just before he died, saying that they would be unearthed when they were needed.  One of these was found, many centuries later and it’s called the Bardo Thotrol.  In the West, we know it as the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

It’s a series of chants to be read over a person as they die (and for the 24 hours afterwards) to ease them into the next incarnation (it’s apparently a bit of a worrying time).  The discarded body, meanwhile, is given a sky burial.  It is taken to a sacred spot and chopped up into pieces with an axe.  Then the birds of prey carry off the bits and pieces, scattering them to the winds.  

My video podcast of the Tibetan Book of the Dead is now on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/PilgriminthePalace

Or, even better.  On itunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=344689204

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7TwKWeO_6g

And check out the ROM museum’s display if you haven’t already. I managed to see them just kilometres from where they were found… especially the amazing Copper Scroll.

Glenn Dixon
www.pilgrim-in-the-palace.com

Wandering back, though, I realized that I didn’t have a converter for my camera battery (or not the right one anyway) and I went into a little electronics shop. Well, try explaining battery converter in Arabic. The guy actually understood – after lots of hand motions – three prongs instead of two – diagonal, not straight – and I eventually got my camera charged up again. Back at the hotel, the owner brought me sliced watermelon and some little kids from down the lane came over, giggling and pushing the bravest ones forward. “Hello, hello, English” they said, then ran off giggling… so I guess all is right in the world after all.

Talking about the media, I would like to send a big shout out to Don Graves, mystery book columnist with the Hamilton Spectator, who continually provides insightful reviews of Canadian mysteries. Recently Don reviewed John Moss’ Grave Doubts - his second novel featuring the detective duo Quin and Morgan. Here’s a brief snippet from that review.

“Quin and Morgan are as quirky and dynamic a duo as there is out there fighting crime, exploring life and spinning solutions to life’s mysteries … Grave Doubts is writing that moves the mystery novel beyond the often trite label of genre fiction into crafted storytelling that delves into the energy and desperation behind actions that can both define and destroy lives.”

Click here to read the entire review.