Pleasant Discoveries

This weekend the Kemptville District Hospital Auxiliary held its fifty-fifth annual Heyday! garage and yard sale in the North Grenville curling arena. It's almost always raining, parking is impossible to find within a couple of blocks, and I try never to miss it each year. I was there Friday night, circulating with the dense crowd, elbowing my way in to the tables, searching for a bargain.

Among my purchases this year was a pleasant discovery: a Canon PowerShot A550 digital camera in its original box. When it came out in 2007, it was considered a decent, affordable model that retailed at $149 in what was at that time a burgeoning digital camera market. I took it out of the box, found that it still contained batteries and a memory card, and was able to turn it on. I shot a few pictures of boxes filled with cables and power bars and junk, and since it seemed to work all right I asked the volunteer behind the table how much he wanted for it. Five bucks. I gave him a nearly-new plastic fiver and dropped it into my bag.

Yesterday morning, nursing a sore head after a massive migraine attack that lasted all day Saturday, I took my new purchase out into the back yard for a test run, taking random shots, just enjoying being out in the warm morning air. Back inside, I uploaded the photos to my computer for a closer look. No problems. I brought one of the pictures into my copy of old-school Paint Shop Pro 5 (circa 1998) and added a text caption. Something to get the creative juices working before I tackled the manuscript in progress.

When you figure that the camera is eight years old, which is ancient for lifestyle technology and one step away from the local landfill site, picking it up at 97% off its original price was a decent deal. Everyone uses their phone to take pictures now, but I'll carry this little PowerShot in the canvas messenger bag I throw in the back seat of the car whenever I go out, and use it for impulse photography when I'm on the road. Et voilà:

A New Local Point of Sale

Photo: M.J. McCann

Independent authors understand the challenge of getting paperback copies of their books onto the shelves of  bricks-and-mortar bookstores. As I blogged recently, independent bookstores have been struggling to keep their doors open, and their urgent priorities don't leave much time for giving a hand up to independent authors and micro-publishers.

In Ottawa, the Donaghue and Stainer Crime Novel Series can be found on the Prime Crime Book Shelf at Britton's in the Glebe. I posted earlier about how much I enjoy having my books in venues such as Mr. Britton's terrific shop.

We're now pleased to announce that readers in Kemptville and surrounding area can buy The Fregoli Delusion and the other novels in the series at Brewed Awakenings in the Creekside Mall, 2868 County Road 43, Kemptville. Co-owned by Karen Brulé, who also owns the bistro Elements in Merrickville, Brewed Awakenings is a coffee shop that roasts its own beans and bakes its own pastries, including a selection of gluten-free offerings. Karen has thoughtfully included some very comfortable-looking leather furniture to relax in while sipping coffee, munching pastry and checking out the latest in crime fiction.

Photo: M.J. McCann

As you can see, we have the top two pigeon-holes on the shelf just above some good-looking products from Just Wing'It, a company making gourmet cooking sauces and chutneys in nearby Toledo, Ontario.

Why am I so excited about placing my books in a local coffee shop?  I've mentioned before that I don't have anything against the conglomerate bookstores like Chapters/Indigo and wish, longingly, they'd carry my books, but a book like The Fregoli Delusion tends to disappear inside a bookstore that's 2,600 square feet in a small-format store and a whopping 24,000 square feet in a large-format store. I understand it's always a question of volume and traffic and whatnot, and having your books in a place where people go specifically to buy books is terribly important, but I really love the fact that my books can be seen by customers from almost every square foot of Brewed Awakenings as they're inhaling the aroma of delicious fresh coffee and baked treats.

It's also a privilege to be included in the business operations of remarkable entrepreneurs such as Karen Brulé and Ted Britton. One hopes a little of their magic will rub off onto the shoulders of Hank Donaghue and Karen Stainer!