The Giller!

Canada's most prestigious award was announced last night and the winner is Ottawa resident, Elizabeth Hay and her book: Late Nights on Air. Her work of fiction is based on her experience as a late-night radio personality at the CBC in Yellowknife.

Info about last night's ceremony is here.

The book is described as "'a flawlessly crafted and timeless story, masterfully told'. Late Nights on Air triumphed over a record 108 books submitted by 46 publishers." You can get it here.

Well, it has been a while, hasn't it?

This fall has been ridiculously busy and has had heartbreaking moments aplenty. The latter I'm not going to discuss except to say that the history of challenges around life with my daughter continue. I wrote a blog about it one day that stayed up for about three hours before I took it down. Somethings really are to personal to be shared. And then, of course, there is the issue of respecting her privacy.

On the busy front, I have begun my work with Amnesty International and spoke briefly about my role at the regional conference on Saturday. I'll post more on that at on my other blog.

I've found a job teaching public relations at a local college. It's an exciting, but scary prospect. Yesterday, I was provided with the books and curriculum and spent the evening feeling rather overwhelmed. Today is a better day. I begin on Nov. 12.

Then there is organizing homeschool activities for a teen group, being involved in my son's educational activities, helping to organize my mother's 80th birthday party, planning for Christmas, and just regular life.

I'm also writing content for an IT website which I had better get to right now.

I'll be glad when things settle a bit and I can get back to some writing. Real writing.

I wish you all the best in whatever endeavours are consuming you today!
Colleen

Doris Lessing Wins Nobel Prize in Literature

Breaking News AlertThe New York TimesThursday, October 11, 2007 -- 7:14 AM ET-----

Doris Lessing Wins Nobel Prize in Literature

The Swedish Academy said that the 87-year-old British author"has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny" with"skepticism, fire and visionary power."

Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

Interview with Brian Tucker

Vagrant Press has just released Brian Tucker’s first book, Big White Knuckles, a story of an artistic boy growing up in a coal-mining town in Cape Breton.

Here’s the publisher’s description: “Dagan Cadden knows that one day he will grow up to be a hard man like his Da. But the older he gets, the more he sees himself away from the coalmine and perhaps away from Cape Breton itself. If he follows his dreams of becoming an artist, Dagan will have to break some of the rock-hard traditions of his family, and make his way toward a future that is much less certain.

“Funny and poignant, captivating and raw, Big White Knuckles is a novel about what it takes to become the person you want to be while staying loyal to the things that made you what you are.”

Leo McKay Jr., author of Like This and Twenty-six says: “Out of the rough-hewn lumber of the working-class male vernacular, Brian Tucker has crafted a tender portrait of a young man simultaneously at odds with and in love with his community.”

This is what struck me most about the book. Books that deal with blue-collar communities sometimes focus single-mindedly on the negative aspects of such a place, but this one does not. As a matter of fact, even the most gruesome physicality is described in a way that allows the reader to, at times, find a degree of sympathy with the perpetrators. This is quite a feat because I cringe at even the mildest violence and often skip over these types of passages in other books.

Brian’s portrayal of Da is another work of subtlety. The man with the big, white knuckles is no one-dimensional brute, but a man who lives by a code of honour he tries to pass along to his son.

I enjoyed Brian’s work immensely and encourage you to pick it up.

Link to Chapters.

Link to Amazon.

Link to Vagrant Press.

Interview

Brian, I’ve just finished your book, Big White Knuckles, and have to ask: how biographical is it?

I get that question a lot. I would say that half of the book is based on some true event. I’ve highly fictionalized a lot of those true events but there are some I hardly touched at all. I think people will be surprised as to what is true and what is not.

Your characters aren’t always portrayed in a positive light. Are they based upon real people and, if so, do the people they’re based upon see themselves in your pages? How do they feel about being in your book?

There are a few characters based on real people. Some are composites. The character of Styx for example is based on a friend I had in Cape Breton and a good friend here in New Brunswick. I haven’t heard anything yet but I’m expecting some shit to come my way over certain depictions.

You studied art at NSCAD University. What drew you away from art and towards writing? Are you still involved in art? Do you find the two complementary, or does one inspire the other?

I haven’t painted anything since I started writing BWK. I don’t know why. It used to be different. When I wasn’t painting I was writing and when I wasn’t writing I’d start pushing some paint around. I used to love painting but now all I want to do is write.


How long did it take you to write your book?

I read in a writers guide that all publishers were looking for were 30 pages of a manuscript, a SASE and a query letter. I wrote the 30 pages over a weekend and sent it out figuring by the time I heard back I’d have most of the book completed. In my query letter I said that the book was finished and that it was 48,000 words, which was a complete lie. Three months went by and a get a call from Sandra McIntyre from Vagrant Press looking for the rest so I did what most writers would do in that situation, I lied again. I told her that the book was written out in long hand and I would need some time to type it out. I still only had 30 pages. I wrote the entire book in a month and sent it out. She liked what I sent and asked if I could double it in three months. I told her I could even though I was working two jobs at the time. I had to wake up at 6:30 am write until I went to work, come home at 10pm, write until 2am and do the same thing all over again the next day for three months.

When you write, do you edit as you go, or write full drafts and edit after each?

I write entire drafts in long hand and then type it out later. I edit during the typing stage.

Will there be a next book? If so, have you given any thought to it yet?

I’m about four chapters into my second novel. The working title is Somethin Fierce.

Do you have any advice for writers who are looking to be published?

Not really. I’m new to this game, just stumbling around hoping to end up in a good place. The only advice I could give at this point is find the right publisher for your work. Vagrant Press has been very good to me. I think I ended up in a good place.

Many thanks for taking the time to speak with me. I wish you all the best on your book.

Colleen

Sylvanus Now Contest: The book, the winner and the last entry

I have been looking forward to this day and being able to give a copy of Sylvanus Now away to someone. Thanks to everyone for participating. It's been fun to read your submissions.

Before we get to the draw, I'd like to tell you a bit about the book.

I finished my own copy (in case you thought I was sending out my used one) of Sylvanus Now on Wednesday. One of the things that makes writing great is a writer's ability to create another world for us. That is something Donna does with great skill.

When I read one of her books about Newfoundland in the 50s and 60, I feel as though I've been transported to a previous century. For those of us who remember growing up in that era, the place and life Donna describes is somewhere outside of most of our experiences. It is this life -- the life in Newfoundland's outports -- that she brings to us in a way that no other can.

When she writes about the collapse of the fishery, her prose doesn't slip into sermonizing, as it might. Instead, she captures the anguish and utter stupidity of it all with a dexterity that had me racing through the pages with my heart in my throat.

In the pages of Sylvanus Now, you'll discover the heartbeat of something we've lost that's been recaptured for us to experience.

I believe it is a rare writer who can perform such a feat.

Thank you, Donna. I am looking forward to your next book next year.

Now, without further ado, may I have a drum roll, please? (I guess that technically counts as further ado, but, hey, this is my blog!)

My hand is dipping into the container and... the winner of the Sylvanus Now contest is..... Carla!

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy the book as much as I have.

For everyone, if you haven't already, begin to explore the works of Atlantic Canada authors. (If you aren't sure where to look, check out interviews on this blog done with Ami McKay, Linda Little, Maureen Hull and, of course, Donna.)
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And now the last submission for the contest. This one isn't eligible because it comes from my partner Pat, whose words I have promised not to edit -- even if they embarrass me. That was the deal. I think it's kinda sweet that he -- a guy who doesn't usually write -- would make the effort to send something in. So, here it is: Pat's view of things.
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Living with a writer

by
Patrick McCarthy

Being a creative person is a wonderful gift. Sharing ideas, art, music and writing for others to enjoy. To most it brings a few hours of pleasure.To some it brings a life changing insight never before realized. Not everyone gets to see the other side of the page though. That's where the the time agonizing over ideas, characters, just the right phrases and creating the all important hook, occurs.

I have been discovering that side for the last year and a half. Now, I never read a book where I don't think of the author's journey to get that book to print. The long and winding maze that brings frustration, disappointment and heartbreak before jubilation. I don't think the general public realizes how much heart and soul goes into toiling for weeks, months and years to do something that is a passion. It has to be a passion or it would be just plain insanity!

I have discovered, over the last four years, what it's like to be living with a passionate, creative person. I feel the frustration and disappointments right along with her. I also feel my own disappointments and frustrations, even jealousy.

Disappointment when I come home after work and find she is on a creative roll, I know I'll have to wait longer to enjoy her company.

Frustration when that may be the case for days or weeks.

Jealousy when writing becomes another partner that demands all her time.

I can sympathize with others who are in the same position as I am, but I can also hope that they enjoy being there as much as I do.

I have discovered that there is no where else I would rather be. I enjoy being with someone who is so full of life and I am totally in love with my beautiful, creative writer.

Sylvanus Now Contest: The Reasons

Here is the second of today's entries.

The Reasons
by
George Carveth

My friend and I chat through the night into the early morning. We talk about everything, anything. After a particularly spell-binding conversation I found I could not go to sleep until I had written a poem, something I'd not done for a long while. After a bit of polishing off it goes and the ensuing conversation revolves around writing.

Do I write?

No, not really anymore.

Why not?

Nervous laugh: defense mechanism. That question's as difficult as answering why I started writing in the first place.

As a child I loved to draw -- I loved colors to be exact. My father was blind and what good were my drawings to him? Was it that simple: a boy seeking his father's approval, looking to communicate in the most effective manner possible? Is there a better reason? Maybe there is no reason. I just happened to have away with words and enjoyed playing with them, more so than with toys--though I loved toys very much.

Ideas, however, did not break, but grew, took on a life of their own. Their articulation was limitless to me, unlike G.I. Joe, who couldn't even straighten his fingers.

And so, there are two of perhaps many reasons I began to write, though where the truth lies is up to the reader to decide: I became more concerned with tone, images. I continued to write, fill volumes of notebooks, all through high school and into college. Looking through them now, I cringe mostly and laugh sometimes. I laugh again when I think that I was convinced that I would be a writer -- a poet to be precise, after I graduated.

I was editor of the college literary magazine, The Writers' Revue. And what happened after college? I became a printer for the next fifteen years, scribbling verses frantically, albeit with less frequency, throughout my breaks and lunches. I fell in love a couple times in those years. I drank and fought, became a parent in those years. I wrote less frequently.

Why did I stop? I honestly don't know; but if I did I probably wouldn't admit the reason. Why don't I call my friends more often? Why aren't I a better person? As you've read above -- I'm more concerned with other things.

Sylvanus Now Contest: Payin' for your Raising

As today is the final day of the contest, I will post any entries received.

This one is from Travis Erwin, a big Texan with a heart for women's fiction. This was originally published on his blog in May, but there was no rule against that. (I don't like having a lot of rules -- as a general rule.)

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Payin' For Your Raising
by
Travis Erwin

I've decided that writing a novel is a whole lot like becoming a parent. As I get serious on my, as-yet-untitled fourth novel, (all unpublished at this point) I am reminded just how tough the process can be.

Conception - This is the fun and exciting part. Daydreaming and coming up with story ideas is as exciting and blissful as sex. Every plot, or potential child, is full of potential. With every new idea and twist and turn I interject I can visualize literary agents beating down my door, editors vying for the rights, book clubs and Oprah clamoring to read my words, best-seller lists. Hollywood itching to convert my manuscript into film. Would be parents, visualize their unborn as the next Einstein, or Payton Manning, or Bill Gates, future president, or (feel free to insert hero or heroine of your choice). No writer sees his book as just another rejection letter and no parent sees his child as a crack addict.

Birth - Reality sets in when that great idea hits the paper in the form of words sentences and paragraphs. Or when you have to slip out of a nice warm bed to comfort a crying baby at three in the morning. Then you realize that some of the stuff in your head just doesn't work in print. You stare at your first couple of pages and say this is crap. The stench makes you gag like a first time dad changing a dirty diaper. Oh, but there are those moments. That one great metaphor you come up with, or that exciting new dimension to one of your characters. It's kind of like that first time your child reaches up of their own will and touches your face. You realize -- Hey, I created this and the cockles of your heart turn all warm and fuzzy. What is a cockle anyway?

Terrible Two's - Okay, so a manuscript can't throw itself on the floor kicking and screaming. It can't yell no and kick you in the shin. But a novel in the beginning stages of life can be unruly just the same. Characters that do not develop the way you envisioned. Secondary characters who develop too well and threaten to override their supposed stronger and more interesting rivals, YOUR PROTAGONISTS. Plots can suddenly wither and stop growing. Complications arise that make your entire storyline implausible or simply ridiculous. Like a young child testing the boundaries this first rough draft stage is a writers test to see if they remain focused and take a story from beginning to end.

Going to School - Potty training is over. You've laid the groundwork for you baby but now it's time to send them out in the world. Kindergarten or critique group. First grade or a contest entry. Is it any harder to have somebody say I hate your heroine and the plot doesn't make sense, than it is to hear your child bit little Timmy Smith, or I had to send him to time out because he refused to sit down and listen? But just as you child needs the attention and guidance of classroom so does your novel. That is not to say you want a teacher to raise your child, or someone else to write your novel, but sometimes it takes that objective unbiased person to take a look and say this needs to be changed.

Graduation - I haven't gotten this far with my own children as they are still young, but I can imagine how proud I'll feel when it does happen. I have experienced that surge of pride of finishing a novel. Three as a matter of fact. It is quite an accomplishment to hoist that four hundred page stack of paper after it has gone through my critique group and half a dozen readers, and say I did it. I finished a novel. That is when it is time to send it out in the world on its own via query letters to agents.

I'm Only Guessing - Just as my children have not reached the graduation stage yet my novels have not progressed beyond the solicitation stage. But I correlate getting an agent with being accepted into a college. Sure there are the Ivy League of literary agents and then there the community junior college ranks of agents. I'd stay away from the online technical and vocational agents since they are likely to charge you fees for things such as editing and what not. Then I'd associate an editor as grad school and so forth. I think you get my idea. So you send your little charge out in the world and if you are talented, lucky, and persistent it is accepted, everyone loves the little guy and before you know you are grandparent. Yes, that truly is how a sequel is born.