It’s no secret that I love to ride. And I love to write. What I do NOT love is self-promotion. Give me a room of kids or adults, and I am happy to talk about books, about riding, about writing, about any of the stories I’ve written. I love that. It’s the best of teaching without grading papers.
However, getting there means I have to promote myself as a writer, as a speaker, etc., and THAT is the exact opposite set of skills than that of almost any writer I know. Give us our activities (for me that’s bikes and hiking and horses, friends, etc.), give us books, and give us a quiet room we can make our own with a computer or a notebook and our stories come alive in our heads and on the page… but please don’t make us use social media to talk about how great our work is!
So that’s what I’m up against right now. Promotion. Thank goodness, Flat Sole Studio is eager to promote CHASING ALLIECAT, but if any book is going to succeed in this day and age, the author has to promote the heck out of it.
So here’s what I’m doing: I’m going to mountain bike races every weekend in September, setting up a booth, and hawking Chasing ALLIECAT, and Slider’s Son while I’m at it.
Now, two weekends behind me, two days of Minnesota Cycling Association races at Lake Rebecca near Rockford, Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival in Cable, Wisconsin, and one day of racing at Jail Trail in Saint Cloud, I have discovered that I LOVE THIS. I get to meet people–Kids, parents, racers, cyclists of all ages, and people who love bikes–and this doesn’t feel like work. It’s just fun hanging out with my TRIBE. The energy is high, and I get to talk to all sorts of kids about how their races went, and what they love about riding. The best thing about this sport? Every kid, even if they didn’t exactly place they way they wished in their race, said that they had FUN! That’s what riding is supposed to be all about, right? Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it downright sucks, but it’s still FUN.
Here’s a great recap of the 2023 Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival! This is only three minutes long, so you have to watch this! I’ll repost when they have 2024 available, but this gives the essence of the weekend.
Here’s the FB video summary of the Jail Trail race this past weekend. So fun! I’ll have more to say about this, too, but for now, enjoy.
https://www.facebook.com/MinnesotaMTB/videos/852426793660669
Another great example of living out loud. ☮❤
Thanks! Yes, I’d say the entire mountain bike race scene is very much living out loud! So much fun! And thanks for all the support!
<3
Wow! I love your blog post and I smiled the entire three minutes of the video.
I also love the Chasing Alliecat trailer.
Thank you, Roger! Thanks ever-so-much! Isn’t that video fun? What a great sport…I just might need to come up with another story about mountain bikers… hmmmm. Thanks for always reading my blog!