The Big Question

One question I am asked above all others is, “What made you decide to become a writer?” It is difficult to answer because I have always BEEN a writer. I often give a quip of an answer like, ‘For the money.” And then I laugh until I fall down. I began writing stories around the age of eight and therefore have been working on my writing for thirty years so. I wasn't bored one day and decided to write a novel. Frankly, that’s not the way it works.

I would never write what the assignment was in elementary school. I thought stories about an owl or ‘what I did this summer’ were stupid. I had ideas in my head for the fantastical and bizarre and baffled more than one teacher with pages of random creatures and rivers made of grape soda.

At twelve, I wrote a short story that my Auntie Marilou took into work with her, typed up and copied for me. She handed me ten copies, made me sign one for her and announced me to be ‘published’.

I was hooked and I promised myself right then and there that I would see my name on a spine in a book store.

In junior high I wrote notebook after notebook of fan fiction for my favorite TV show or book. I still have them, no you may not see them. It's important for you to know that they are written in bright pink pen. I think fan fiction is a great way for people to hone their writing skills and when I visit schools I encourage young writers to try it. There are websites that you can share your work. I never did, being of such an age that things like that didn't exist (insert prehistoric joke of choice here). In high-school, my English teacher pulled me aside after an essay assignment to look me dead in the eye and make it clear that I was an excellent writer.

I started to cry.

I have my degree in English from the University of Calgary, not because the Engineering Department wouldn't take me (although they wouldn't because I am not even clear about what Engineers do) but I went for my English degree because I am a writer. I loved every single second of it.

I have started many novels but would get stuck or busy or drunk and forget all about them. I may still finish them, who knows? After my son was born I wrote a children’s /YA book about a little boy and a fly that he meets on an airplane. It’s cute and I even shopped it out halfheartedly with a nursing baby on my hip but nothing came of it.

FEATHER came to me in a spark of genius one day and I obsessively wrote it down by hand in a series of notebooks - not in pink pen in case you were wondering. Once done, I was thrilled that I wrote a novel and prepared to tuck it away somewhere for a future generation of archaeologist aliens to find it and base a religion off of. However, my husband read it and insisted that I send it out. And so I did. I sent it and sent it and sent it. Becoming a published author does not happen over-night and don’t believe anyone who tells you that it does. It is work.

Writing is a heartbreaking, thick-skin building exercise.

People often say to me, ‘You never mentioned that you write!”, this is said in an almost accusatory tone that implies there was a party they weren't invited to. And I often shrug this off but really, before Ring of Fire Publishing picked up FEATHER, I wasn't a successful writer. How many of you would discuss your failed projects? “Well, I feel this compulsion to tap dance but can’t seem to figure out how the shoes work.”

FEATHER got revamped several times before Ring of Fire took it. I ingested every single critique offered by agents and publishers alike and wrote and re-wrote huge chunks of it. I think I wrote the prologue about fifty seven times.Because that’s what you do when you are a writer.

It’s work. Joyful, encompassing, beautiful work but work all the same.

So when I hear about people who read Twilight and figure that they can sit down and replicate that formula, I shake my head. I have been honing my craft for thirty years and I could not replicate that magic. No one could.

I didn't wake up one morning and say, ‘Gee, I've nailed knitting, what should I do now?’ Writing, like any other talent, takes practice. Now, I am sure that there are authors who are the exception to this rule. The first thing they wrote was fantastic but I bet my bottom dollar that their third book was worlds better than their first book. The beauty of writing is that you get to practice at what you love to do and you will keep practicing because you love it. It feeds upon itself.

I, in no way, am an expert in this as I have just completed my fourth novel and my second published short story. In the big scheme of things, this is peanuts and I bow down to the long standing authors who could build furniture with their work. This is my opinion. Writing isn't my hobby, it isn't something that I just decided to do one day. The word ‘writer’ will be on my tombstone (paired of course with mother, wife, friend and champion lobster eater).

I hope to one day have the success that other authors have but for me, every contract is a glass of wine and every publication date is a party. My ideas could dry up at any moment and I will relish every second until they do. That’s not a hobby.

So in answer to the question, “What made you decide to be a writer?”

I reply simply, “I had no choice in the matter.”