Around the end of 2013, there was a special on David Suzuki’s The Nature of Things entitled Flight of the Butterflies, which featured Canadian icon, Gordon Pinsent.
I found it serendipitous that the programme followed the studies of Dr. Frederick Urquhart and his fascination with the migration of the monarch butterflies to Mexico. Pinsent played the role of Urquhart and I sent his agent a copy of The Monarchs to pass on to Pinsent. I included these words:
“I am sending you a book that I recently self-published. It is mainly fictitious; however, I did use the butterfly migration as a catalyst for the events of the novel.
Since you have a connection to Flight of the Butterflies, I thought that sending you my novel is the least I could do for such a respected Canadian icon as yourself.”
Whether he received it or not is another thing. I never heard anything back.
I wanted book reviewing companies to evaluate my newest foray into writing. I sought the opinion of Blueink again (See blog from Nov. 8, 2025). I received both positive comments such as “…offering a raw and sometimes painfully realistic book at how one paired-for-life couple handles their final years, months, and days together” and negative comments like, “One or two such scenes showing us the way cancer has made Robert’s life almost unlivable would be enough, but Coates revisits this theme so frequently and intensely that it overshadows the charming relationship between curmudgeonly Robert and his loyal, if frequently sarcastic, wife.”
I also received these upbeat words from the Clarion Review (See blog from Nov. 8, 2025): “Coates flawlessly combines their spoken and unspoken reflections and points of view, and what begins in jest…gradually takes on a deeper meaning.” The writer is referring to Robert and Sharon’s discussion about seeing the butterflies in Mexico.
In July 2014, I visited San Miguel de Allende and left one of my books at the Bed and Breakfast I normally stay at, the Villa Mirasol Hotel. I also left one at the Biblioteca Pública, the library, which has one of the biggest bilingual collections of books in Mexico.
When I returned from Mexico, I discovered another review of my book, this time from Kirkus Reviews. Again, I had to brace myself for some rather harsh words: “…Robert and Sharon’s social ideologies are jammed into the narrative at perplexing intervals simply to make what come across as half-baked points. Rants about…religion, and cultural differences between Mexico and Canada are unfocused and distracting.”
Jump ahead to Sept. 25, 2024. I paid a little less than $300 for a promotion of TM in Goodreads. Some very willing participants gave the book glowing reviews which were supposed to give me hope that people would read them and buy my book.
Alas, when I checked my royalties at iUniverse in December of 2024, I discovered that not a single, extra copy had sold.
Writers put out money to make money and rarely ever catch up.
Below is a picture of Friar Juan, one of the founders of San Miguel de Allende.
