When I first told Matt we’d be touring the world to talk about his story, he was rapt. But when I mentioned a June/July tour, he groaned, “But that’s exam time.” So, we agreed on a compromise – a blog tour! What a great way to meet people without having to even leave your own computer/desk.
Matt’s shy, so I’ve promised to take most of the heat, but every now and then, he’ll be popping up on tour to have his say.
I was a complete dunce when it came to travelling in Cyber Space, so Matt had to teach me all about it. I discovered that a blog is not a weird form of Cane Toad – and that Facebook is not a bizarre beauty routine.
It has been a fair and fun exchange. I’ve fed Matt’s obsession for Leonardo da Vinci and he has taught me all I need to know about the internet.
Matt told me that setting up a blog is just like planning a painting – you have to think about what you want to say, who you want to say it to, and how you want to say it.
As soon as I set up my blog Matt couldn’t wait for me to start telling his story. We found that blogs are great because you don’t have to just use words, you can also use pictures, videos and audio to talk to people.
Once the blog was set up, we were ready to go on tour. Now we just needed blog hosts. Lucky for us Sally that you’d already set up Aussie Blog Tours so we already had a list of people who might be interested in hosting us.
Matt’s the creative one; he said we needed to come up with different things to do at each blog stop. Our conversation went something like this:
Matt: We can’t just talk about the same thing every day. That would be lame.
Dee: Good point. So, what do you think we should talk about?
Matt: We should talk about our tour of course – and the story.
Dee: It’s your story, what do you want people to know?
Matt: You know, all sorts of stuff.
Dee: What stuff?
Matt: Things like how you did the research for the book and where your ideas came from…
Dee: And why art was important in telling your story…and how we ‘both’ became obsessed with Leonardo da Vinci while we were writing it.
Matt: People might be interested in the themes in the book too…
Dee: And how hard it was to get it published…
Matt: And what it was like working with a publisher – with all the editing and rewriting…
Dee: They might be interested in how I turned the facts into fiction…
Matt: It would be good if somebody could interview me too.
So once Matt and I agreed on all the different things that could be in the blog tour, we asked the blog hosts to choose their topics, which they did with great enthusiasm.
Next, we had to think of some way to celebrate Letters to Leonardo coming out.
The Cyber Launch was my idea. Matt wanted a party to launch the book, but Dave (Matt’s dad) was worried that it would interfere with his exams and like Dave said to Matt, “If your mum finds out about it, she could turn up and there might be trouble.”
I said, “What about an online party – a Cyber Launch?”
Matt thought it was a great idea. “That way, people from all over the world could come.”
The next big job, was organising the Cyber Launch at http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/ on 1st July. Planning the Cyber Launch was a real team effort. We had to come up with activities – and work out who was going to do what, when.
Matt made a movie preview of the book, telling a bit about his story. Then we asked Margaret Hamilton if she’d Cyber Launch the book because Matt and she had sort of clicked right from the start. Our wonderful publisher Walker Books Australia had agreed to provide a piece and Matt suggested we get some YA readers to review the book. The publisher also said we could publish a Sneak Peek from Letters to Leonardo on Cyber Launch day.
And because Matt and I both became obsessed with Leonardo da Vinci during the writing of Letters to Leonardo, we decided that Matt would interview me about how I incorporated Leonardo’s works into the book. The parent in me said that we needed to include some classroom writing activities for the Cyber Launch and Matt wanted a word search and some tips for young writers to be included – so we’ve got all that as well.
So basically, there’s heaps of interactive Letters to Leonardo reading and writing activities happening over the next two weeks and we are just so lucky to have people like you Sally who have invited us to drop in to talk about our book (which of course we love doing).
Thanks so much for having us Sally. We’ve had a blast. Hope to catch up with you in Cyberspace at our Cyber Launch on 1st July.
We’re also going to be visiting some other fantastic author, reviewer, book lover, YA and literature blogs, so feel free to come along for the ride. Here’s our hectic itinerary:
24th June 2009 http://sallymurphy.blogspot.com/
Dee and Matt talk about promoting Letters to Leonardo online.
25th June 2009 http://spinningpearls.blogspot.com/
Author interview
26th June 2009 http://thebookchook.blogspot.com/
How art has been used in Letters to Leonardo
27th June 2009 http://belka37.blogspot.com/
The research process involved in writing Letters to Leonardo
28th June 2009 http://weloveya.wordpress.com/
Guest blogger – talking with Vanessa Barneveld – interactive discussion with bloggers
29th June 2009 http://www.livejournal.com/users/orangedale
An author interview covering things like inspiration and perspective
30th June http://www.letshavewords.blogspot.com/
Mentors in YA fiction, and Leonardo da Vinci’s involvement in the book
1st July Cyber launch http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/ including cross to Robyn Opie’s blog http://robynopie.blogspot.com/ – hurdles overcome on the way to publication.
2nd July http://persnicketysnark.blogspot.com/
How the author’s life paralleled Matt’s – her growing obsession with Leonardo da Vinci
3rd July http://bjcullen.blogspot.com/
Working with a publisher and the editing process
4th July http://sandyfussell.blogspot.com/
Interview with the elusive Matt Hudson
5th July http://teacherswritinghelper.wordpress.com/
Class writing activities based on Letters to Leonardo
6th July http://tips4youngwriters.wordpress.com/
Tips 4 young writers on how Letters to Leonardo was written
7th July http://www.jenniferbrownya.com/
An overseas stop before heading home