Had lunch with my agent yesterday. It's such a thrill just to say that.
We went to a nice little bistro and talked about my wip--The Poets' Preservation Society. She loved it! It's a very rough first draft, and needs lots of work, but she loved it. Which is great, because if your agent doesn't love you, who will?
Here's a site I just love--check it out if you haven't already.
http://www.authorsaloud.com
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
inaugural post
I guess I should introduce myself...
I am a writer, living in Toronto. My extended family is from Middleton, Nova Scotia, in the Annapolis Valley, where I spent many summers. Ernest Buckler, author of The Mountain and the Valley, was my cousin.
I went to school at the University of Toronto. I wanted to study English, but felt it was impractical, so I got a degree in political economy and went to law school. I practiced law for only one year, because I disliked practicing law even more than I disliked law school. I did a fair bit of bankruptcy law, seizing airplanes and so on. Then I went back to school to become an English teacher. But I’ve always known I wanted to write novels—I knew when I was nine years old. I wanted to write Nancy Drew books and pony books. I really should have listened to my gut.
To get through school, I did lots of menial jobs. I sold advertising over the phone, which didn’t last. I waitressed at the Horseshoe Tavern during the punk years, which was interesting. I was a chambermaid at The Royal York Hotel for a while, and I washed dishes at a chronic-care hospital, which paid well, but I never want to see pureed food again.
Staying home with my children gave me the opportunity to write. I’m trying to bring up my kids so that they turn out. I love dark chocolate. I do yoga every day. I’m learning to play the piano. I suspect I have a spatial learning disability, but I’m pretty good with words.
I attended the Humber School for Writers, where my mentor, David Adams Richards, worked with me on the manuscript of my first novel, Things Go Flying. An excerpt from that novel appeared in the Spring 2005 issue of the Dalhousie Review. In 2004, I won the Globe and Mail’s Great Toronto Literary Project competition and had my “final chapter” of the serialized story published. That was great fun, because part of the prize was being picked up by a limo and taken to a swank dinner attended by all the contributing writers—Catherine Bush, Paul Quarrington, Susan Swan, Michael Winter, Shyam Selvadurai, Kerri Sakamoto, and Andrew Pyper--where much wine was consumed. I was shortlisted for the 2006 CBC Literary Awards for my short story, “Dr. Deleterios on the Danforth.” Along the way, I acquired an agent—Samantha Haywood of Transatlantic Literary Agency, Inc. She’s awesome. And now my book is going to be published in March, 2008, by Brindle & Glass. Yay!
I am currently at work on my second novel, The Poets’ Preservation Society.
I am a writer, living in Toronto. My extended family is from Middleton, Nova Scotia, in the Annapolis Valley, where I spent many summers. Ernest Buckler, author of The Mountain and the Valley, was my cousin.
I went to school at the University of Toronto. I wanted to study English, but felt it was impractical, so I got a degree in political economy and went to law school. I practiced law for only one year, because I disliked practicing law even more than I disliked law school. I did a fair bit of bankruptcy law, seizing airplanes and so on. Then I went back to school to become an English teacher. But I’ve always known I wanted to write novels—I knew when I was nine years old. I wanted to write Nancy Drew books and pony books. I really should have listened to my gut.
To get through school, I did lots of menial jobs. I sold advertising over the phone, which didn’t last. I waitressed at the Horseshoe Tavern during the punk years, which was interesting. I was a chambermaid at The Royal York Hotel for a while, and I washed dishes at a chronic-care hospital, which paid well, but I never want to see pureed food again.
Staying home with my children gave me the opportunity to write. I’m trying to bring up my kids so that they turn out. I love dark chocolate. I do yoga every day. I’m learning to play the piano. I suspect I have a spatial learning disability, but I’m pretty good with words.
I attended the Humber School for Writers, where my mentor, David Adams Richards, worked with me on the manuscript of my first novel, Things Go Flying. An excerpt from that novel appeared in the Spring 2005 issue of the Dalhousie Review. In 2004, I won the Globe and Mail’s Great Toronto Literary Project competition and had my “final chapter” of the serialized story published. That was great fun, because part of the prize was being picked up by a limo and taken to a swank dinner attended by all the contributing writers—Catherine Bush, Paul Quarrington, Susan Swan, Michael Winter, Shyam Selvadurai, Kerri Sakamoto, and Andrew Pyper--where much wine was consumed. I was shortlisted for the 2006 CBC Literary Awards for my short story, “Dr. Deleterios on the Danforth.” Along the way, I acquired an agent—Samantha Haywood of Transatlantic Literary Agency, Inc. She’s awesome. And now my book is going to be published in March, 2008, by Brindle & Glass. Yay!
I am currently at work on my second novel, The Poets’ Preservation Society.
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