Blog Post #1
Blog Post #1 implies there will be many more to come. One can only hope so!
Welcome to my website. I am a bit late to the game of putting up a site but I am here now and happy that you are too. Thanks for coming out to find out more about my books, or even about me. I hope you enjoy the site which will be ever-changing so please make this only the first of many visits.
My biggest news at the moment is that I recently published The Opening Act: Canadian Theatre History, 1945 – 1953. It is an important contribution to Canadian history that James Hoffman, in BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly, calls “an indispensable, highly readable compendium,” and the Vancouver Sun refers to as a “beautiful book.”
I imagine that most writers who have put together a website for the first time found it a bit daunting. Certainly for me it has been. At the beginning you convince yourself there is not enough material and that you have not achieved enough in your lifetime to warrant a site devoted to you!
Then, almost as quickly, as you start to write down the various page names for the menu, you think you have too much material and try to decide what is relevant and important and what is not. The “too much material” becomes onerous.
It is also vital that you find someone you trust to help with the site if at all possible. Thankfully, I had my friend Seema to help with the copy editing and I was lucky enough to have a webmaster able to take a purchased theme and turn it into a really good website. The person I used was Alison from Usable Web Designs. It is possible to do a website on your own but it is time consuming and I am technically not very literate. I could not have done this without her.
Actually choosing what parts of your writing to include (or not include) is probably the easiest part because next you have to decide how much of yourself you want to share with the world.
My ultimate goal in writing is to produce something that touches people, changes them in some way for the better. I want to help people by sharing my own journey in some fashion. Somehow I got sidetracked into writing books about historical murders. I still haven’t figured out how that happened!
However, one thing a writer needs to remember is to go with the flow. You never know where a path in front of you is going to lead. I guess that is true in life too.
A serious illness left me with the time to finally address the editing that still needed to be done on my theatre history. Without the illness my latest book, The Opening Act: Canadian Theatre History, 1945-1953, would most likely never have been published. The story is usually in the journey and not in the destination although I am ecstatic the book has been published.
How much of that journey I ultimately share will be partially dictated by the people who come to read my blog. If you have ideas for subjects you want me to discuss, then please Connect with me.
Congratulations on your new website! The layout is functional, crisp and friendly and yet it reflects the right balance of literary overtones woven with nostalgia, quiet reflection and professionalism. The colours, especially the sepia tones were well chosen.
Looking forward to visiting as often as possible; I am sure there is much to learn and experience here with you.
Your description of my site really touched me because it is exactly what I was trying to do with my website. That you see it just means you are very intelligent and insightful. I hope to learn from my readers and Jay fans so return soon.
Hello Susan,
I loved your presentation of your book today,”The Opening Act” at Jerry Wasserman’s History of Canadian Theatre class at UBC. You are absolutely correct in emphasizing that it is the belief, enthusiasm, energy and commraderie that spurs theatre people to go on with the show no matter what outrageous obstacles seem to lie in the path. It always amazes me how passionate theatre people are about life. I have spent many years teaching “the power of play” for that same reason and also received a government grant back in 1976 to develop drama classes in the schools of London Onatario. Now finally, I am just finishing my degree and hope to go back to “teaching the teacher.” I have been tempted to write many books and now finally I will write a manual on the power of play for teachers. Dreams do come true eventually. Thanks for dedicating your attention, devotion & resources to this endeavour. Kindest Regards, Angelika Krohn
Love the layout of your site, very functional…and the video of Jay in the chair (and not wanting to vacate it) is great!
Thanks Marie. Come back in December when there will be not one but two Jay videos as he helps celebrate the holiday season.