A once in a lifetime opportunity

One of the biggest challenges facing struggling authors these days is how to promote their writing. The growth of accessible, high quality self-publishing and professional printing services has made it easier than ever for writers to put their work out there, even without a contract with a big publishing house, but writers often face huge barriers in attracting readers to take an interest in their work.


I myself have tried to make liberal (and efficient) use of social media (mostly blogs like this one, as well as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube) to get my writing out there but the impact has been somewhat limited. I have had better luck generating local media attention and having articles in local newspapers and reports on local radio and television help promote my books.


But even that is hit and miss. The media may cover your work once, especially if there is a significant issue of local interest attached to it, but they are rarely willing to come back to you time and again as each new book hits the shelves.


Imagine, then, how awesome it would be for a writer to be invited... INVITED... to appear on a immensely popular national TV show, starring one of the country's favourite personalities?


I was honoured and humbled to have just that happen to me recently.


As you probably already know, my Abigail stories are written and sold to support the restoration of the historic McAdam Railway Station and Hotel, located in Southwest New Brunswick. So, when CBC's comicumentary Still Standing decided to focus on the Village of McAdam as one of the communities that is still standing after all these years, I was invited to participate.


I had a blast working with the folks at Frantic Films, who produce the show, and the crew from CBC, including host Jonny Harris (of Murdoch Mysteries fame) as well as writers Graham Chittenden and Fraser Young, when the episode was filmed in February.


And I was absolutely psyched/amped/stoked/excited when the broadcast date finally arrived this past Tuesday.


The episode was awesome. Funny, informative and affectionate, beautifully constructed to tell the story of McAdam and its Station while providing hope for the future. And I was delighted to see that I was given ample screen time, with the story of my Abigail books told clearly and concisely.


This is the kind of exposure (on national television, no less) that an author would die for. I know just how lucky I am and I am already seeing the positive impact of that exposure. I have been stopped on the street by people who saw the Still Standing show. I have received emails and tweets from several people across Canada enquiring how to obtain copies of the books.


The social media coverage of the show has been significant and the reaction universally positive, with literally hundreds of people declaring that they must, absolutely MUST visit the McAdam Railway Station and, more importantly, that the Station must be preserved.


If you didn't get a chance to watch the show, you can stream it from CBC.ca here. If you want more information on the station, visit the McAdam Railway Station's website. For more information on the Abigail stories, visit the Abigail website.


I am grateful to the good people at Frantic Films and CBC for this amazing opportunity and, even if it doesn't make me a best-selling author, Still Standing has given me the absolute thrill of seeing myself and my work receive national attention.

A stunning, heart-in-throat moment

Mark and Jonny

Picture this. I'm on my lunch hour. I've just visited my local library to check out its permanent book sale and I stop on a bench outside the building to check Facebook before heading back to work.

My FB feed tells me that the CBC TV show "Still Standing" has posted a new 90-second trailer advertising the new season that launches tonight (June 14). I click on the video and attempt to watch it on the tiny screen of my BlackBerry Q10.

Great video. Fun, action packed, with some wonderful images. Then, out of the blue, there's me. Yep, that's right. Me. Sitting at the lunch counter in the McAdam Railway Station and Hotel, talking to "Still Standing" host Jonny Harris. Just a split second image but it's me nonetheless. No doubt about it.

Wow. What a feeling. I've been on TV before, sure, but this feels different. This is an advertisement for a national TV show that is gaining in popularity. Who knows where the 90-second spot will run? Who knows how many people will see it (and me)!

Just me and the Abigail books

So my stomach is in my throat and I'm totally excited and then... boom... there I am again! Me, standing with all of my Abigail books in my hands, smiling at the camera. Another split second, sure, but clearly me. Again.

I am so pumped. I have already shared it on FB and gotten some likes and some congrats from others and I am so totally thrilled. I just wish I could find the video online so I could link to it here and share it more widely!

Writing: You don't have to do it alone

So now, after my brief brush with fame, it's time to get back to my own writing.


Yes, it was an amazing experience to get a chance to "work with" the likes of Jonny Harris, Fraser Young and Graham Chittenden of CBC's Still Standing last week (and I put the quotation marks around "work with" because, let's be honest, I did work with them in the sense that I went down and was interviewed and took part in the show but I really didn't work with them in the sense of writing with them in any way, shape or form) but now I have to settle myself back into life as a writer of middling success.


And try very hard to improve on the "middling" part of it.


I am very fortunate to have the chance, in my current writing pursuits, to work with some great people. I had long thought of writing as a solitary pursuit but, as this Abigail project in particular has progressed, I have learned the importance of creating a vibrant writing community around yourself.


On the Abigail stories, for example, I have always enjoyed the participation and input of my sister Lynn (who is both artist and designer for the books), my partner Patti (who is an exceptional editor and a wonderful sounding board for creative ideas) and some excellent reviewers (like Patty, Lola, Verne and Mary).


And now Mary O'Keefe has joined me in writing the stories themselves and I couldn't be happier. Mary is an upbeat, optimistic person with a wonderful writing voice. As a native of McAdam, she has insights into the community and its history that I simply do not bring to the table and, as an experienced writer herself, she is a great source of input and inspiration.


Mary and I met yesterday for a working lunch. Our goals: set down the basic structure of the upcoming fifth volume of Abigail stories, agree on some book-long plot arcs and start to settle on the plots for each of the individual stories.


It was a fun and productive meeting. In this next collection of stories, Abigail and the folks at the McAdam Railway Station will move in interesting new directions and face fun new challenges. We'll introduce some new characters without losing the innocent, playful joy of the first four collections of stories.


I can tell Mary was as excited as I was by our meeting: she's already sent me a long email, filled with the thoughts and ideas she's generated since our lunch less than 24 hours ago.


On the other projects, I am very lucky to be working with Nancy Lynch, who is as energetic as she is creative. She's working on several film projects of her own but still has the time and enthusiasm to push me to work on the scripts for The Station, our proposed web series.


And then, over coffee the other day, she looked across at me with a twinkle in her eye and said, "I think we need to get back to working on the Abigail play."


Creative colleagues can push you to be better and they can push you to be more productive. I'm very fortunate to have so many such colleagues in my life who are pushing me to the best writer I can be.

Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to other writers

I am a self-identified "writer of middling success". I take writing seriously as an art, as a craft and as an intellectual pursuit. And, with a number of professional publishing credits to my name, hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles out there as well as a series of surprisingly successful self-published collections of children's stories to my credit, I think I have some grounds to feel I can comment on the writing accomplishments of others.

Jonny and me with Abigail Vol 1

But what I witnessed this weekend in McAdam, New Brunswick, is a feat to which I can only tip my hat and offer a sincere "Well done".

Jonny Harris, Fraser Young and Graham Chittenden, from the CBC show Still Standing, supported by a cast of producers, directors, camera, sound and lighting folk, strolled into McAdam, New Brunswick a week ago and, over the course of just those several days, researched, wrote, rehearsed and staged a truly remarkable set of stand-up comedy that focused entirely, and affectionately, on the Village and its people.

I was aware of the concept of the show going in: host Jonny Harris arrives in a small Canadian community that has managed to survive all the challenges of our modern world, talks to a representative cross-section of its citizens, then takes the material collected through those visits/interviews and turns it into stand up comedy to entertain the townspeople.

The show's own promotional material calls it "an entertaining and affectionate love letter to small-town Canada" but the worries of those of us who were interviewed for the McAdam episode (called "contributors") still surfaced:

• were we being suckered into participating in a show that would mock and insult us for our efforts?
• would the final stand-up routine be simply a rehash of canned "how ridiculous are small town people" jokes with a couple of mean-spirited shots at the people who opened their hearts, their homes and their community?

To be honest, it took only a brief chat with the show's advanced rep to assuage any fears I might have had on that first count. It became clear very quickly that there exists a genuine interest, respect and affection among the show's crew for the people with whom they were interacting.

The second concern remained with me right up until show time. As a writer (and one who has tried and failed to write "funny" on several occasions) I simply could not believe that Jonny, Fraser and Graham could turn around an extended, detailed, specific and genuinely funny set of comedy about McAdam and its people in so short a time.

I thought for sure that the show Saturday night would be rife with retread material about small-town life and that the local content would take the form of a shot here and there at the people who participated as contributors. And I think my concerns were echoed throughout McAdam.

How else could they possible turn things around so quickly?

Me, acting calm before the show

So it was with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that we all filed into the McAdam High School gymnasium Saturday night for the show, especially among us contributors.

And, I think it's safe to say, we were all blown away.

The show was exactly what Still Standing's promotional material promised and more.

Fraser opened things up with a very funny review of the rules of the evening, followed by a hilarious set from Graham that covered everything from the joys of being old to the challenges of loving a dog. Then it was back to Fraser again, with a very funny set that seemed oddly fixated on eating meat, and finally the introduction of Jonny as the headliner and McAdam comedian.

As hard as we were all laughing at that point, I think those of us who had contributed to the show drew a collective intake of breath in anticipation of what Jonny Harris was going to say about us.

Now, I have been asked/directed not to discuss the details of Jonny's set nor of the information and material that will be covered in the Still Standing episode when it airs this summer and I will respect that restriction. I won't go into any details here.

I will say, however, that I was impressed in the extreme by the quality of the stand-up set that Jonny delivered and that Jonny, Graham and Fraser had written. It was smart, it was funny, it was creative, it was respectful and it was affectionate. The audience was in stitches and the contributors walked away feeling tickled rather than attacked.

The set was also of extremely high quality from a comedy standpoint, with strong internal structure and jokes that built off each other and referred back to each other over the course of the 45-minutes during which Jonny delivered it.

I love stand up that isn't just a series of jokes but that actually has movement and development throughout and this set delivered all of that.

I take my hat off to these three writers and comedians. Well done. What you accomplished this week, I didn't think was possible. And the fact that you will do it over and over again over the course of the show's season just blows me away.

We may have to re-subscribe to cable TV, just to watch Still Standing this season.