2016 Cavalcade of Authors

Jeff Bailey and Michelle Lane

 

 

I participated in a regional readers/writers event for young people this last week. It’s called the Cavalcade of Authors. ‘Cavalcade’ doesn’t begin to describe the scope of the event. The organizers brought twenty-seven nationally recognized authors of books for young adults to our local junior college. The Columbia Basin Junior College in Pasco, Washington and the event organizers provided a classroom or lecture hall to each author. Each guest author gave several lectures and workshops for the students in the course of the day.

Twelve hundred students from Washington and Oregon attended. Each student had to complete a reading series of books by the guest authors. Said another way, each student had to work for the privilege of attending the cavalcade. The organizers reserved a few minutes at the end of session for autographs, book signing, and photos ops. A large group-signing event closed out the day.

Jeff Bailey

Fifty members of the local chapter of the National Honors Society also volunteered for the day to help keep the ‘flow’ pf the event going smoothly. They led groups from one place to another, gave directions, and rescued lost attendees. I want to give a special salute to those members of the National Honors Society who gave their day to help keep the huge event well regulated.

I quote Michell Lane, the creator of the Cavalcade of Authors, "The Cavalcade of Authors is dedicated to providing the secondary students of our region access to some of the best Young Adult authors of our modern era. Our special interest is to celebrate Pacific Northwest Authors while introducing students to a variety of genres and subject matter and to furthermore, promote reading and writing within our community. We provide for our participants an authentic writing conference experience where students can learn from the ultimate mentors: the authors of the books they are reading"

Group book signing

The event reminded me of the National Science Fair. I was a scientist/judge for the science fair for years. I was always amazed at the quality of the young people that I had to honor to meet and evaluate. I look forward to meeting the best of our regions emerging writers and the cadre of successful author mentors again next year.

Every day I try to concentrate my efforts on the single most productive task on my daily to-do list. For the three days of the Cavalcade of Authors, the cavalcade is the single most important and rewarding activity that I can imagine.

One of 27 lecture halls

Become a Writer in One Hour a Day by Jeff Bailey

You want to be a writer? Let me start you off with a simple challenge. Some years ago, I read an opinion ( I don’t recall the source) that if a person spent one hour a day studying any one subject or skill; in one year, he would be a world-class authority on that subject or skill. I thought at the time that the advice was too simple, too generalized. Now that I’m attempting to learn a new skill set, writing, I’m finding the recommendation is not so easy to follow. But, it seems (to me) to be true.

 I’m making the effort to spend an hour a day (most days, several hours), minimum, working on some segment of being a writer. I write. I edit. I proofread. I market and if all else fails, I blog. Most days, I have no difficulty. I enjoy the whole process. But, the letter of the law says, “Every Day.” It is hard to start work at ten at night after an all-day family reunion/n or a Super bowl winner’s celebration. I try to envision a student of classical piano going to his music room in the middle of the night and having the mental wherewithal to practice. So, an hour a day can sometimes be a formidable exercise.

Now, I’m going to throw one more rule into the mix. For every minute in the hour(s), one must do the single most productive item on their to-do list. Before I start each day, I review the list of twenty or thirty things that I want to accomplish that day and pick the one item that I would deem (honestly deem) the most important item to complete. I don't always want to do the hardest thing on the list. Let’s go back to the piano student. Do we suppose he will ever master anything if he sits and plunks middle ‘C’ with his right index finger for an hour? I look at each task and ask myself if I’m plunking middle ‘C’. I have one or two tasks on my to-do list that I rank right up there with plunking middle ‘C.’ I sincerely hope that neither one ever gets to be my single most important task.

So, try the plan. Pick any endeavor that interests you. Try to work for one hour a day, every day, at the single most important aspect of that task that you can find. It’s an interesting study in dedication to see how many days one can keep up with the regime. I can most assuredly promise that no one can complete the year. But, if you really want to be a writer, you should enjoy the challenge.

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A trip to Vegas

I've been doing some book marketing preparation for the last couple of weeks. Boy, what a thankless job. I seem to go in circles and accomplish very little. I must admit that it is a fascinating learning curve, but I'm getting a bit burned out.
Abby Sing and the terrorist threat to the Pacific Northwest wine industry is calling me. Wine Country, my current project, beckons. For the next couple of days, I'm going to spend every minute writing. I get lost in writing for hours at a time. It's rejuvenating. I'm looking forward to the return to the writing routine.
The marketing effort will still be there in a few days. But, marketing is like farming. There is a never ending list of things to do, each more important that the others. No matter how hard a farmer works, the must-do list never seems to get any shorter. Sometimes, a farmer just needs to "bag it" and go to Vegas. Diving into the depths of Wine country is my Vegas trip.
See you all in a few days.

Jeff

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