Do you have a book in you?
their combined six children.
MEC had nursing skills and a way with plants in that time before vaccines and antibiotics. She helped birth babies, then mourned when some of her boys died too young in a European war. She foreshadowed many of today’s societal issues: drinking, health care, poverty, war and clearcutting.
Beloved by her readers, MEC was recognized well beyond the borders of Hants County. When she died, her photo and obituary were on the front page. Yet she has no gravestone and her writing is all but lost. Today, there are no bush note writers in The Hants Journal. The weekly paper in Windsor amalgamated with Kentville’s to become this one —the Valley JournalAdvertiser.
Two generations after MEC wrote, my dream is to put together a homage to one talented writer and to an era in Canadian newspapers. But I also want to compare and contrast her time with this one. To shape that dream, the King’s MFA program is helping me craft together a collection of essays, a book of creative non-fiction.
To that end, I’ve been working with my award-winning mentor, Ken McGoogan, who has published a whopping 15 books. I write, send a draft chapter to him and then we Skype. There are six others in our small group, including a retired Canadian ambassador of 81, who is a fine storyteller. Another class member is examining the generation that went ‘back to the land’ and he’s done interviews here in the Annapolis Valley.
Just lately, my class of 30 and the previous year’s class converged on downtown Toronto to learn from some of the top publishing professionals in Canada. During our time in the ‘Big Smoke,’ we met with agents and editors, we visited Kobo headquarters and delved into the business side of writing. Accomplished journalist and novelist Linden MacIntyre visited to share details on his new non-fiction book, the Wake. He was captivating as he detailed his family connection to a 1929 Newfoundland tsunami.
The King’s MFA is the only program of its kind in Canada and it is a well structured one. Our three professors, all esteemed writers themselves — Kim Pittaway, Stephen Kimber and Dean Jobb — work with us to master the practical side of publishing. I’ve now recalibrated my book pitch about half a dozen times and it has to be perfect because I now know that 98 per cent of manuscripts don’t find publishers.
I have much writing to hammer out in the next 18 months. A chapter runs about 5,000 words, which is a lot longer than the 500-word newspaper stories I’ve grown used to compiling. Going back to school is truly a great challenge.