The ball is rolling

I try to spend about an hour a day working on something to do with being an author.  Sometimes, I don't even manage to get in five minutes before I'm too tired and watching a movie on tv instead.  Sometimes, I manage 3 hours in one day.  But the average is probably about an hour, and it seems to be enough to keep the ball rolling.

This week, things started coming together:

• I finalized plans to do a reading at a local bookstore, The Munich Readery.  The reading will take place on January 14th.  We'll sell Turkish wine by the glass at the reading, and we'll also provide "pogaca" for snacking.  I'll have signed books available for sale.  I am VERY excited.
• An acquaintance with whom I occasionally play tennis and who is also totally friendly, liked the sound of my book and asked her book club if they wanted to read it and have me as a guest on the evening when they discuss my book.  And they said YES!! That will happen in February.  I am VERY excited.
• My book was mentioned in the Alumni newsletter of my high school, and the Alumni Relations Coordinator gave me some contact information for the instructors who should hear about my book.  So far, two instructors have written, expressing their interest and saying they would buy my book.  The librarian jumped at an offer of a copy, so my mother will bring her one.  Moms rock.  The instructors both sounded genuinely interested in Secrets of a Summer Village.  I loved my high school.  Being a teenager was as awkward for me as it is for anyone (or perhaps it was more awkward for me), but my high school was really special and different and truly inspired me to go for my dreams.  I would be thrilled if the students there read my book and let me know what they think of it, what they learned from it, and whether they want a sequel.  I am VERY excited.
• I'm finally in touch with a local international high school that is interested in having me lecture about the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Sign Language(s).  This has nothing to do with Secrets of a Summer Village EXCEPT that I mentioned the book when I was talking to them, and they're now also interested in my talking to their students about my book, the writing process, and maybe about self-publishing. 
• One of my brothers ordered a bunch of copies of my book to give as Xmas gifts.  I hope that none of the future recipients is reading this... Aren't brothers great?  

In order to keep things going, I've been working on some sample illustrations for my next book, which is a children's picture book about the winter solstice.  The illustrations are made of paper, like the cover of Secrets of a Summer Village, using a method called quilling.  I have submitted the text to a number of agents.  I get the feeling that they liked it but not enough to take me on as a client.  A large portion of agents that represent children's books only represent author-illustrators.  Even though I'd rather have some awesome artist illustrate my books, I'm just going to try and see.  What makes me feel significantly better is the quality of the illustrations in some of our children's books.  Or, shall I say, lack of quality.  It's worth a try.  Without illustrating the book myself, those agents are entirely out of reach to me.

I'm also filling out a form so that I can submit my ESL-version manuscript to Macmillan Education.  I am not very hopeful that someone as big as Macmillan would take on the project, but I have nothing to lose in trying....

Which is the message to take from this blog.  Try.  You just don't know until you try. 

Chapter 3 Discussion Questions

Chapter 3

1)   Americans generally don’t kiss each other on the cheeks as an informal greeting – in fact, Americans only shake hands in relatively formal/business situations.  The only physical contact that usually occurs in an informal greeting is hugging, which is only between relatively close friends and family, and not between two males unless they are very good friends.  This is called "personal space" - in every culture, the personal space we have that others usually don't enter, is different.  How do your friends greet each other in your culture?  How much "personal space" is usual in your culture?

2)   Shoes are not worn inside Turkish homes, but slippers are always worn.  Rachel prefers to go barefoot, but Aylin’s mother insists that she wear slippers.  Are street shoes worn inside the home in your home country?  Why or why not?

3)   Are there any formalities concerning food in your native language or native culture?  If so, what are they?

Secrets of a Summer Village as an ESL/EFL teaching tool

Something I have in mind for Secrets of a Summer Village is an ESL/EFL (English as a Second Language/English as a Foreign Language) teaching version.  Not necessarily for teaching grammar, but more for teaching culture and as a conversation starter.  American culture is discussed in the book in contrast to Turkish culture, and each chapter naturally raises multiple cultural questions.  A friend recently suggested that the book might also be useful for Turkish students who are learning English, and the book could in that case be formatted with English on one page and Turkish on the facing page - an idea that I love, but that I could not do unless the book were, in fact, taken up by a Turkish publisher and professionally translated.

Months ago, I started writing discussion questions for each chapter.  I haven't finished them all, but I am going to start posting them on this blog.  Feel free to respond with your thoughts in the comments section!

Here are the Chapter 1 questions:

Chapter 1

1)   Many American high school students get after school and/or summer jobs.  They use the money to pay for a car, as pocket money, and/or they save the money so that they can attend college.  Do high school students in your home country usually get jobs in the summer or after school?  If so, what do they use the money for? 

2)   Rachel’s mother didn’t know where in the world Turkey was when the letter Rachel received mentioned it.  Did you know where Turkey was before you started reading this book?  Geography is not a regular school subject in the United States.  Is it in your country?

3)   “Pig Latin” is a code language that is created by taking the first letter of every word, putting it at the end of the word, and then adding the sound “ay” at the end of the word.  For example, “Pig Latin” in Pig Latin would be “Igpay Atinlay”.  Do you have such a code language in your language?