Since the lockdown began, more and more stuff has been moving online. I’ve now participated in a three-day story meeting, a book launch, a book panel and a couple of Zoom calls with family.
The launch of TWO MONTHS by Gail Schimmel
Gail and I have great rapport so this was not a difficult one, which I was grateful for as I was a Zoom virgin at this point (am now a Zoom slut). It also helped that we had the lovely Eileen Bezemer from Pan Macmillan helping us out with serious technical issues like: “How do I see Gail’s face and my face at the same time?” and, “Comments? Which comments? Where are they?” What was a thrill was having over three hundred people registering for the launch, and about two hundred people pitching up.
To put this in perspective, if you get seventy people at a physical book launch, you’ve done well. What we did notice at the end was that we felt a bit flat, there wasn’t the usual milling around swilling red wine and getting your book signed. So online launches also need space at the end for a bit of a chat between participants and the author and interviewer. Will they replace physical book launches? No, nothing beats a book launch at Love Books. But I think they’re a nice addition.
Ps…if you would like to buy a voucher to support Love Books go here:
And if you’d like to buy Gail’s book you can do that here:
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B085JMXY8K
Kobo: http://www.kobo.com/za/en/ebook/two-months-1
Three-day online brainstorm for our TV show
Instead of all meeting up in a big group, we met in our small groups immediately over skype. Technically, there were a few hitches but nothing insurmountable and it was amazingly efficient. This may have been because I wasn’t spending the entire time shovelling scones, and sweeties into my face which is pretty much what I do at all brainstorms that happen IRL.
However, what I did find was that I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the day – brainstorms are usually tiring – but this was something else, possibly due to the levels of concentration needed to listen and communicate or maybe from staring at my computer screen all day? I’m not sure. Still, it did the trick and we came up with some brilliant stories. Ps…one funny moment happened when a porn account joined our meeting and showed off his wares 😊. He was swiftly ejected by one of our more IT savvy writers.
Family Zoom Call
I was feeling quite miserable over the Easter weekend as this is the weekend everyone is usually in town (unlike Christmas in Joburg). We usually head to one of the many rugby festivals that are happening, and then there is always a lunch on Sunday with family and friends. Of course, we had none of that this year although we still did an Easter egg hunt (the kids are 16 & 19, but I’m not ready to let this go) and then we arranged to have Zoom calls with the husband’s family and my family. His family live in Durban, Kokstad, Southport, Perth and Auckland.
My family live in Benoni, Victoria Falls, Lusaka, London, Oxford, Australia, Scotland, and Wales. We would never have bothered with a Zoom call if it hadn’t been for Lockdown so that was rather special. We did spend a ridiculous amount of time grinning inanely at each other and exclaiming over how much the kids had grown but that was all part of the fun. I am usually TERRIBLE about phoning people so this lockdown has been good because it’s made me want to connect.
Book panel for the South African Book Council
This was quite tricky because there were so many of us on the panel, but I think Lorraine Sithole handled it brilliantly, ably assisted by the team from SABF. What we did find was that an hour wasn’t nearly long enough so I’m going to talk a little bit more about the topic now. To prepare for the panel, I asked British author, Joanne Harris who is also the chair of the Board of Directors of the Society of Authors in the UK to tell me her thoughts on how to combat book piracy.
She feels that we have to start with changing hearts and minds. I agree.
During Apartheid, circulating PDFs was a way of people being able to read banned books, unfortunately people still think it’s fine to do this. But it’s not. It’s stealing. It’s no different from people looting a bottle store. There are a lot of sites that offer free books. I use Bookbub but there are loads more. Google is your friend, and if you need further help, contact the South African Book Council for help. I also spoke to my brother who is an IT whiz (actually this applies to both my brothers but I spoke to Tom from PBS https://powerbs.co.za/) about this issue.
I started with “explain this to me as you would a child of three”. He did. So, from what Tom said, it sounds like people are crazy to be opening any PDF that lands up in their inbox as this is a great way for hackers to access your devices (same goes for movies, music and games). They can steal your bank details, infect your computer (just because they can) or lock your hard drive. Another reason to pay for your books.
Let me stop now before I start ranting about data costs, tax on books and the lack of support the arts in general receive – which feels particularly ungracious considering how we’ve been keeping y’all entertained during Lockdown. Bottom line, we do need to take books and reading seriously. It is not just ‘middleclass nonsense’ as I read in one tweet. Kids who cannot read cannot progress. It’s that simple.
(image: Panel for SABF2020 to celebrate #worldbookandcopyrightday)
What more can I say except that #ReadingMatters! Happy reading and keep safe xxx