memoir – Norma J. Hill

It’s official! I have picked up my books from the printer in Vernon (and yes, they did an awesome job!), and my book launch is taking place on May 4 at the Summerland Anglican Church, 9311 Prairie Valley Rd, at 6 pm! There is plenty of parking–one lot beside the church, another across the roundabout to the north, and two more across the street to the west! Come in the church sanctuary’s main doors (red doors!). Hope to see you there! I’ve been having an exciting time getting ready 😊

I went to the church with Rev. Ken Gray the other day to check out the location and plan for the launch. Wondering what will be happening? Let’s see:

While folks are arriving, there will be a PowerPoint slide show about 20 minutes in length with lots of photos of Summerland people, places, and events from the time period of my book, Summerland Stories Scrapbook: Memories and Memorabilia 1930s-1960s.
The launch itself will start at 6 pm, with an introduction followed by a reading of one of the stories and one of the poems.
After that there’ll be a Q& A period, where you can ask whatever questions you have related to the book.
Next, you can purchase a copy of the book(s) for yourself ($20/book) and I’ll sign it for you (and add a message if you wish, too).
While I’m doing the book signing, you can watch the slide show again and enjoy baked goodies made from recipes passed down from my Grandmother, Emily Mott, and my mom, Marjorie (Mott) Wright …
and you can also check out a variety of “memorabilia” including scrapbooks, photo albums, books from the time period, and lots of other items that will surely bring back lots of memories of Summerland back in the day!

If you can’t make it to the book launch, the book will thereafter be available online, as well as at various events such as local farmers markets and at locations such as libraries and museums. But I really do hope you’ll be able to make the launch itself on May 4^th!

I’ve been working on lots of preparation. I have:

created a brochure of the recipes for the baked goodies we’ll be serving at the launch, so if you like you can take a brochure home and try out the recipes yourself.
put together the PowerPoint presentation.
Last weekend I got in practice for reading at the book launch by joining some other local writers doing readings at the Hillside Winery in Penticton during the annual Ignite the Arts festival.

created some flyers/posters to advertise the launch and today I posted one at the Summerland Museum where I do volunteering; I also created some smaller handouts with launch information on them and have been passing them out to people I meet. I’ll be busy posting more flyers over the next couple of weeks, too.

A week ago today, I attended a slide show and talk by Summerland historian David Gregory, at the Summerland Museum, which featured early Summerland homes and residents—good inspiration for my upcoming launch!
I’ve also been interviewed by John Arendt, editor of the Summerland Review and Penticton Western News about the book and the upcoming launch.
I’ve created “business cards” with information about my book, which I’ll be handing out before and during the launch.
I’ve gone through my boxes of old books, photo albums, scrapbooks, and memorabilia, and organized them for the book launch display.
I also wrote an article about my process for writing a local history book, and took photographs of some of the memorabilia; the article is to be published in the next issue of Archivos magazine .

And in case you might be thinking all I’m doing is getting ready for the book launch, fear not! I’ve been enjoying the spring weather and going for walkabouts, taking photos of spring flowers—including my favourites, buttercups!—and posting the photos on my Penticton Pedestrian website ; also taking a couple drives around our beautiful South Okanagan with my husband, Lionel, to enjoy our beautiful spring; editing a thriller for a local writer; attending local writers’ group meetings … and of course doing all the usual daily round of life’s activities.

Are you a writer? Thinking of publishing and marketing? Have my Summerland Stories posts provided ideas for your own writing, publishing, and marketing journey? What else do you want to know? Please share your thoughts in the comments! Thank you!

Norma J. Hill

a pen and paper mama site

Category: memoir

Summerland Stories #19 – Book Launch May 4th!

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