Good Morning
It’s going to be a nice day here on the lake. I have so much cleaning to do now with the drywall dust all over everything. It’s going to look fantastic when finished though.
I’m anxiously waiting to hear from my publicist. Anxiously waiting to hear from my Editor. Anxiously waiting to see my book in BOOK form. It’s a waiting game to be sure, but not for much longer. If everything’s on schedule; only 10 weeks to go!
So how did I decide to write a book. That’s a very good question indeed.
When we came to Ontario in August of 1977 with 4 teenagers and our sheltie dog Pollution; yes that’s his name…we had no job, no money, no place to live. But we were determined to find a better life for our children. They weren’t so happy though because they had left their friends and homeland and arrived in this strange new place called Burlington, Ontario; where they knew no one…
After a few years of trying to adjust, I kept thinking of how far away they were from their roots. I kept thinking of the primitive lifestyle I had lived as a young child. I kept thinking that maybe I should write my story for them…to let them know where they originated from and the importance of family history. I didn’t plan to become a writer.
After the four of them had left home I became despondent,lonely and lost. I started drinking…heavily. In 1994 I decided to quit and again started to think of my story, so I called my mother in Labrador and asked her a few questions. So, my early years are of her perception of life as it was in the 40’s.( Sadly she died 3 years later of cancer)so I had to rely on my own perception of my life as I saw it way back then.
I started writing my story of how I was raised in total Isolation, where survival was paramount and gathering, food,wood and water, was all consuming.
I didn’t have a clue how to start! Not only did I not have even a high school education, I knew nothing of the English language. I barely knew a noun from a pro-noun or adjective, I didn’t know how to put a sentence together! Thank God for my computer’s ability to correct my spelling, punctuation and restructure my sentences!
In the meantime I enrolled in a writing course at McMaster University! ME in University! One of Canada’s finest! After that I enrolled in a writing course at Long Ridge Writers Group in Connecticut, USA. and got my diploma from there….All the while continuing to write what turned out to be after 10 years, my 535 page story of the first 17 years of my life!
They say persistence pays. I struggled and suffered through several crashes one in which I lost half the book! Thank goodness I had printed it out so my son Mark was able to copy back into my new computer for me page by page. However, it came back all jumbled! It took over a year to straighten it out and get it back to where it became readable again!
“You should have backed it up” Mark said.
“What do you mean back it up” I asked blurry eyed…
2006 I sent it to several publishers but was told I needed to rewrite it and I needed it edited! So I rewrote it over and over. I then hired an Editor Mary Labatt from Port Rowan On. She worked on it for a year, and was very patient, compassionate, and sensitive to my struggles.
I sent it to The Dundurn Group. Thanks to my friend Sarah whom I met during a writing course I attended at Mary’s home in July of 2007.
Dundurn decided to take my book!!!!! Michael called me late in the summer of 2009! I was jumping around like a monkey. I could not believe what I was hearing!
And the rest they say….is history…or a work in progress…
I’d just like to add that there is so much more to this story then I’ve written here . This is just a summery of how I entered into this experience. I have tried to keep my emotions in check. I used to tell my friends; if you want to write a book just sit and start writing.
Well to be true to myself I have to add that there is a lot more to writing a book then just putting the words to paper…BUT I’m up for the challenge, although there are days when I ask myself “Are you crazy, what have you got yourself into?”
…nothing ventured nothing gained…
Enjoy
Josie