A to Z Blog Challenge -- E is for Author Event

Welcome to Day 5 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.

Today you'll find me at the Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax, taking part in the Halifax Author Event. 
  

E is for Author Event

I'll be signing copies of my Dark Ages vampire novel, Vampires, Saints and Lovers as well as my dark YA fantasy Bound by Dragonsfyre.

I'm a big fan of taking part in author events. I love meeting readers and chatting with you at in person book signings or presenting an author panel at conventions like Hal-Con.

I also like to meet up with the other writers and artists at events like these. It's very nourishing for my creative soul.

If you're a reader, do you like attending book fairs or going to book signings? What do you like best about them?

Thursday Thirteen - 247 - 13 Things About My Fan Expo Author Event

1 - Nine months into being published, this August saw my third official author event, which took place at Fan Expo in Toronto Aug. 23 - 26.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my friend Tara for helping me to navigate the hoops and hurdles involved in being an exhibitor.

2 - After flying into Toronto, I made a quick dash downtown to snag gift certificates for my Fan Expo contest--one for Bakka-Phoenix Books and one for Silver Snail. Here I am with Chris, my good friend and the manager of Bakka-Phoenix.

3 - Day 2 in Toronto became Day 1 of Fan Expo. My brother-in-law Jeff drove us first to UPS Store 421 on Front St. to pick up my boxes of books, and then a few blocks further for the load-in at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Dino, the manager of the UPS store, had them all ready for me right by the counter. More strategic brilliance from Tara--thanks!

4 - It took awhile, but I finally got to the Artist Alley counter to pick up my exhibitor badge. Excitement was building...

5 - Once we trundled our way through the enormous convention centre and found my booth, we set up my books, along with a looped DVD showcasing my book trailers, my mom's watercolor ink prints (including her dragon print featured on the back cover of my Dragonsfyre series) and my contest for the book store gift certificates.

6 - My neighbor for Fan Expo was Alan Draven, horror and urban fantasy author.

The saying "when the student is willing, the teacher appears" pretty much sums up the cosmic placing of Alan next to me at my first convention. He sold out of his books by the last day with a few hours to spare. My husband could quote verbatim Alan's disarming pitches that stopped strolling convention goers in their tracks and ended up with a sale nine times out of ten.

He was on fiyah.

7 - The costumes of convention goers were phenomenal. I had to stop Jack Skellington for a picture.

8 - Day 2! Look at the hordes!

Look at my clear-sailing exhibitor entry. Sweet.

9 - Saw the Batman villains having lunch as I stood in the Pizza Pizza line-up. Hats off to Pizza Pizza for getting me through a 30-customer line-up in 15 minutes. And for somehow having pizza that wasn't dried-out or under-cooked.

10 - Since my blog readers voted Spike the Ultimate Vampire last October during the Take it to the Mat Ultimate Vampire Smackdown, I figured I should tell James Marsters about it, since he was at Fan Expo as well.

Okay, so he was headlining at his own panel and I was in the Indie Artist Alley, but whatever.

When I mentioned that he'd won "over the two True Blood guys," he said. "Well, that's because we had the better writers."

Spike = Ultimate Vampire

James = generous co-creator with writing team of the Ultimate Vampire

11 - My thanks to my brother-in-law Jeff, at left, for all the help with picking up the boxes of books on both Day 1 and Day 4 of Fan Expo.

To my sister-in-law Karen, second from left, for doing some early Christmas shopping!

And to my niece Pamela, at right, for getting my Dragonsfyre banner and author logo t-shirts ready for me.

Also enjoying a delicious Thai dinner out are my sister-in-law Violetta and her niece Natalia.

12 - Now that I'm back from my post-Fan Expo vacation, I held the draw for my contest last night.

13 - Whose name did I pick?

Check your email for a notice from me...

Thursday Thirteen - 246 - 13 Things About Shooting the Book Covers and Trailers for My Upcoming Dark Fantasy Release

1 - Last Saturday I was back on set with Charlie Mac Productions, directing the shoot for the book covers and book trailers of my upcoming dark fantasy release.


L to R: Caroline Ruyle, the Director of Photography with talent Bobby Rossong.



2 - I've been writing my Scorpius tale with Richard Armitage as the model for the character.


As he is rather inconveniently shooting The Hobbit in New Zealand at present, I went in search of a local model who had that certain indefinable something that whispered Scorpius to me.


On The Cassidy Group website, I found a head shot for Bobby Rossong.


I stared at the picture and heard the whisper.


Then I emailed my producer and asked for Bobby. 

3 - My mom asked for his measurements as the wardrobe mistress, which The Cassidy Group provided.


I then scoured the thrift stores for pieces that would start out as one thing and end up as late-medieval / early Renaissance-like costumes.

4 - These are the pieces that make up the costume for the Book 1 cover, when Scorpius is a youth apprenticed to the falconer.

The transformed clothing--now a tunic and rustic jerkin. I designed the costumes, disassembled the clothing and described to my mom in detail what I needed.


She then put the costumes together.

5 - Woo hoo!

Scorpius!

Falconer's apprentice, from Book 1, which is set to release at the end of the month.

6 - Since we had Bobby for the shoot, even though books 2 and 3 are works in progress at this point, we shot all three covers and all three book trailers while we had our Scorpius.

Shown above is the 'before' version of the Book 2 costume.

7 - This costume was the most difficult one, with much swearing and pricking of fingers by Mom.


But it's also the coolest one, if you ask me.


For Book 2, Scorpius enters adulthood and serves Lord Thibault as his personal bodyguard.

8 - Notice the completely awesome reproduction Norman sword he's wielding. From Darksword Armory out of Quebec, where the dagger for the Book 1 cover was also sourced.  

9 - The original pieces for the third costume, taking place when Scorpius has matured and serves the Lady Elysande as her Chamberlain.

10 - This one was a bit complicated, but still wasn't as hard to deal with as the faux leather.

Scorpius...moving up in the world.

11 - The shoot began against white screen, for easier manipulation in post production.


As opposed to the green screen live action shoot we did last spring for my debut novel book trailer, we decided to go for a stills shoot this time out.


In a bit of super-fabulous timing, just after wrapping on this year's shoot, my producer Tara MacDonald got word that the book trailer for SAINT SANGUINUS won an Award of Merit in the Best Shorts Competition out of La Jolla, California. 

Here's a look at that one:




Grateful thanks to producer Tara MacDonald, DOP Luke Hudgins, Editor Doug Woods, PA and Stills Photographer Caroline Ruyle, Actors Scott Baker, Stevie Cooper, Bernie Matthew, Brennan Handy and Brad Smith. 

12 - Just because my mom wasn't busy enough during the week leading up to the shoot, she also decided to become craft services, and provided the homemade lunch for cast and crew.


...mmm... 

13 - And because it's me, of course there was a need for manacles on this project. This is Tara with the manacle kit: extremely heavy manacles, duct tape to attach the chain to the grip stand, twine to close the manacles and pink scissors to keep it light.

Thursday Thirteen - 243 - 13 Ways My First-Ever Book Signing Was an Amazing Night to Remember

1 - CLICK HERE to watch a news feature--my writers' group's Hearts on Fire event

Local CTV cameras were at The Halifax Club last Thursday night to interview members of Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada in time for their Valentine's Day broadcast.

L to R: Tara MacDonald, Heidi Hamburg, Renee Field, Jennie Marsland, Donna Alward and me









2 - This is our second group networking event. Last year's was held at Argyle Fine Art.

This year we met up with cross-industry media guests, film & television production professionals and business community members, as well as celebrating with family and friends at the elegant Halifax Club.














3 - Almost immediately I found myself introduced to Karen Wentzell and Lara Cassidy, both on the Board of Directors for Women in Film and Television Atlantic.

Since I'll be attending their conference next month, Women Making Waves, it was a real pleasure to meet them beforehand. It's less than a month before the conference opens on Mar. 9th - can't wait.














4 - Also following nearly two decades in the film and television industry doing wardrobe and costume design, Jeanie Kimber now runs her own wardrobe consulting service.

I also once looked after her wee Kimbers when Jeanie worked as the layout and design guru for a local magazine she produced with her husband. So, we're family, really.















5 - While CTV's Kelland Sundahl set up her interview with Bev Pettersen...














6 - ...Giacomo Bruno took shots for SNAP Halifax.


















7 - Celebrating this life milestone alongside me - my husband Brad...


















8 - ...and my best friend forever, the one, the only...Connie.














9 - With my family - husband Brad and mom Paulette.














10 - The evening was put together by Shawna Romkey who runs Dogwood Consulting, and Tara MacDonald who runs Charlie Mac Productions.














11 - Shawna gave me my dream-come-true moment. This was the moment I signed a copy of my book for the first time ever.

Thank you, Shawna.















12 - The evening also included absolutely delicious hors d'oeuvres and wine. Brad enjoys some chicken skewers while Tara catches up with aesthetician Shelley LeBlonc and photographer Caroline Ruyle.














13 - Stepping inside the doors of the Halifax Club was a personal joy for me, as the mid-Victorian mansion had long been admired by me from afar.

Here's to more dreams coming true. Is there something you've been longing to do? So much has changed for me in the space of only one year. If you have a dream that burns inside, maybe it's time to let it out to play.

5 on Friday - Set 103

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

















My good writing buddy/film producer Tara MacDonald/Tara MacQueen invited me to a concert last Wednesday night, hosted by In the Dead of Winter, an acoustic music festival here in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Here's a little taste of what the evening sounded like:

1 - Swing Song - Don Brownrigg

Don Brownrigg is a Newfoundland-born, Halifax-based singer-songwriter. LOVED his set.



2 - In It - Don Brownrigg



3 - Words - Shawn Colvin

She did a lot of cover tunes in Wednesday's concert. It was a really nice peek into her personal favorites list.



4 - Sunny Came Home - Shawn Colvin



5 - Hold On - Shawn Colvin

This Tom Waits cover was my favorite tune of the night.

My Book Trailer Premiere and Web Site Launch

Welcome to my official web site launch and the premiere of my book trailer.

CLICK HERE to visit the web site

Grateful thanks to:

My web designer Anne MacFarlane

My graphics designer Karen Valentine

My name logo designer Andy Miller

And now -




Roll credits:

Fallen warrior - Scott Baker

Vision of his beloved - Stevie Cooper

Vampire - Bernie Matthew

The Saint - Brennan Handy

Battlefield scavenger/Brotherhood member - Brad Smith

Producer - Tara MacDonald

Writer/Director - Julia Phillips Smith

Director of Photography - Luke Hudgins

Production Assistant - Caroline Ruyle

Picture/Sound Editor & Special Effects - Doug Woods

Thursday Thirteen - 214 - 13 Things About Moving Onto the High Resolution Editing System During Post Production

1 - Met up with Doug Woods for our third editing session at 902 POST, his post production facility here in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

2 - The editing system shown above displays the offline edit stage - this part took us two sessions to complete.

3 - In the offline stage, the creative decisions are made by the editor and director using the original footage as shot by the director of photography.

4 - The director verifies which shots will be used, and the editor lays them out so that the sequence of shots tells the story.

5 - At this point, the final decisions in digital file form are loaded onto the high resolution editing system. For this project, Doug is using the Avid editing system. I can vouch for its gee-whiz, jaw-dropping, cutting-edge hallmarks.

6 - For the initial session with the high res system, Doug completed the first of two sequences in online edit form.

7 - At this point, all the technical elements are in place at full resolution. He can now add backgrounds and effects to the footage shot against greenscreen.

8 - Using the chroma key process, Doug places the photographic stills which I chose to stand in for exterior locations, and adjusts the moving footage to match the implied exterior. This stage is called compositing.

9 - During this process, Doug creates a negative image where the background is black and the moving figure is white. If you've seen Sin City, you'll know what these images look like. He then adjusts any greenscreen spill which shows up as gray sections on the black or white figures. After these adjustments, the positive footage then reads true against the supposed exterior.

10 - He can also draw a section around the middle ground of the two-dimensional background photo, and using his effects toolbox, blur the section selected. This contrasts nicely with the foreground figures, who are in focus. It gives the impression of greater depth of field to the background, which adds to a feeling of authenticity for this effect.

11 - He added a glowing effect to surround a near-death vision of the main character's beloved, as well as slowing her movements to suggest that she is a vision and not moving in real time.

12 - He morphed one character into another by first matching the two characters' body positions in the frame, then matching up eyes to eyes, nose to nose. Freakin' cool.

13 - Finally, he color corrected the shots to match the lighting of the supposed source of the exteriors. For example, as the sun sets, he bathes the main character in a warm glow. But when twilight comes, he leeches out the warmth to create the cool tones of moonlight.

Stay tuned to A Piece of My Mind for more updates as the book trailer nears completion.

Thursday Thirteen - 213 - 13 Things About the Road to Post Production For My Book Trailer

1 - Two November 30th's ago I successfully completed my second NaNoWriMo novel-writing marathon.

This gave me the second half of the vampire novel I'd begun during my first NaNoWriMo, a few years earlier.

















2 - Last October at the writing retreat at White Point Beach, I finally finished the revisions which married those two NaNoWriMo storylines together.













3 - It was during this retreat that I was matched up with Tara and Shawna for the brainstorming session. Tara is at far left, back row. Shawna is at far right, back row. I'm in the front, at right.

Our time at the retreat sparked Tara's feeling that we would work well together on set. She has a production company, and she thought it would be a great beginning project to work together on a trailer for my vampire book. She knew the manuscript was going out to readers for critique as soon as I got back from the retreat.













4 - I plunged ahead into the next NaNoWriMo that November, setting my vampires aside to write the adult Scorpius story (his boyhood backstory makes up my Saturday serialized fiction.)

After a lot of intense writing, I set everything aside - including my blog - and went to Toronto to spend Christmas with family and friends. This is me with my sister-in-law, Violetta.

A great time of renewal before 2011 brought me to the Year of Reinvention.













5 - While in Toronto, I had lunch with two writer friends, Charlene at left and Chris at center. Charlene and Chris have a tradition of giving a name and an intention to their creative year.

They had named 2011 the Year of Reinvention. So I enthusiastically took them up on this and named it my Year of Reinvention, as well.

















6 - After plunging right into pre-production meetings with Tara over the winter, by spring we were ready to shoot the two-minute book trailer.

On April 30th, I spent a long but exhilarating day putting aside my Clark Kent life to direct the shoot.

This is the Director of Photography, Luke Hudgins setting up a shot.

Photo by Caroline Ruyle

7 - Notice the green screen behind him. The actors were shot against this screen for later replacement with a photograph, whose light source he matched in the studio.











8 - Here, the actor is placed against the green screen to simulate laying wounded upon a battlefield.












9 - Wednesday evening - a year-and-a-half after I finished typing the 50,000th word into my NaNoWriMo vampire manuscript - our editor Doug Woods from 902 POST in Halifax spent a second session with Tara and myself tightening the book trailer from a two-minute piece to a one-minute piece.

The initial rough edit is put together on his Avid editing system.

You can see Scott Baker as my main character Peredur laying against the green screen on the right-hand side of the editing screen. He struggles as a battlefield scavenger - played by my husband Brad - steals his ring.













10 - Delirious, Peredur sees a vision of his betrothed, seen above on the right part of the screen. Stevie Cooper as Tanwen gets some special effects treatment to suggest to viewers that she is not actually present on the battlefield.











11 - Tanwen's effects shot blacks over the green screen, but the editor controls the digital layering and can still place Tanwen against an image like this sunset sky, except the ones used in the book trailer were purchased from Shutterstock Images.

12 - To the left side of the Tanwen shot above is the effects stabilizer screen which the editor uses behind the scenes for matching the live-action digital footage to the static sunset shot.

13 - Doug and I got a lot done tonight, honing the footage into several tight, editorial sequences. We'll meet again next week, when Doug will move the footage to his high definition equipment.

Stay tuned for more updates as the book trailer nears completion!