I got to know an engineer-turned-author a little better last year
and had a chance to sit with him for a few minutes before I wrote this piece at the end of 2016.
Any of my pre-conceived notions of what an author’s life is like now
appear more myth and fantasy than many of my previous misconceptions.
For instance, this is what 2016 looked like for the man I talked to
as he finished his last book event at the end of November. He had completed over 54 appearances
that included book signings, book clubs, and other author events that just
happened to correspond with his age. He did his first signing in Barnes &
Noble Amherst NY early in the year followed by seven more in some of their other stores through the northeastern United States. He did 44 signings in
Indigo-Chapters stores across Canada. He drove over 40,000 kilometers to attend
these events.
Over 10,000 new followers joined his 91,000+ Twitter following that
includes authors Margaret Atwood, James Rollins and Heather Graham. He met
authors Neil Pasrisha and Terry Fallis at book events. He sold over 1100 copies
of his books at those author events and met thousands of constant readers and
book lovers along the way.
In October he passed a
milestone 2500th book at a book signing. “There’s some irony there,”
he said, “as I originally had no intention of doing even one event after The Actor was published.” Now he can’t
imagine his writing life without them.
In between all this, he’s finished the follow-up to The Actor. Entitled The Musician, he hopes it will be published in early 2017. Along
with The Musician, he also wrote the
third book of the trilogy, The Author.
At the beginning of the year, he launched a new website www.douglasgardham.com for The Actor and The Drive In as well.
He’s conducted three of four webinars for the Author Learning Center
on Booksignings and Creativity,
with more planned for 2017.
He managed to get in
Canada’s The Globe and Mail with a front-page
article in Globe Arts by Books Editor Mark Medley who wrote “The Actor, a bizarre, David Lynch-like
thriller about obsession, delusion and determination …” and giving him the moniker "the hardest-working Canadian novelist you've never heard of." He was featured in one
of The
Sudbury Star’s “10-Questions” interviews; did a TV interview
for Rogers TV in Canada; and a radio interview with Cap’n Dave Somers at 99.3
County FM. He had two in-store video interviews at Chapters
Kitchener and Chapters
Woodbridge. His latest video interview was for his event at Barnes & Noble
Burlington MA.
But after talking about all the stats and figures of the year, he
looked me in the eye and said “but it was the people, the book lovers and
constant readers, I’ve met over the year that made the most difference.”
For instance, at a recent signing, his last of the year as a
matter-of-fact in Burlington, Ontario, he witnessed something extraordinary
between two strangers. A friendly young reader was looking at The Actor and was overheard by a kind
young lady behind him that his budget didn't have room for another book.
"I haven't done anything nice for someone this week," she said to the
man, "I would like to buy you The
Actor." He accepted and she did.
He told me if there's one thing he’s experienced at his many book
events, it’s that the world is full of good people. It’s renewed his faith in
humanity.
Another shared experience
took place in the summer in Kingston, Ontario where Betty-Anne Howard (author
and financial planner) drove from out-of-town to attend the event and then
included The Actor in her Making
Dreams A Reality blog. Another was Mary, a blogger he met at an event in Pittsford,
New York in October. She hadn’t blogged for months but she had a new blog
posted before the end of the month. He was reacquainted with friends from high
school and college like Craig and Paul and Dave and Bob and Jerry and people
he’d worked with like Gord and Donna and Rob and Donna and Laura (who invited
him to her Book Club when The Actor became
one of their monthly selections). Even readers who’d seen him on Twitter like
Heidi and Mike and Shauny stopped in to say hello.
He’s says it scares him at times when he thinks about what he gets
to do today, so different from what he ‘d done for most of his life. “I’m
grateful for all that’s been granted me in this life time and that I get to do
what I do today.”
Much like what he says when
talking about his novel The Actor
being about “a dream that’s not quite what it seems”, so was this interview as
this author friend is in fact … me.
