At age five, when the nuns at St. Anthony’s school gave me the key to unlock the magic of words, I started scribbling and I’ve never stopped. I’ve used whatever I could find when I have the fever to write – torn pieces of copybook paper, the backs of envelopes and my mother’s grocery lists, the margins of old newspapers and magazines.
I’ve always been enthralled by stories and the alchemy of authors’ language – whether printed, spoken or heard. My Dad was a poet and my Mom a constant correspondent, so I figure I come by this love of language honestly. Words are powerful vehicles for human emotions, for forgiveness, inspiration and best of all, learning.
My first commercial sale was in 2001, a short story called ‘In The Bath’. Unfortunately, Heritoca Press went under shortly afterwards and although the anthology was published in 2007, I have note received a cent in royalties. So that was my first lesson learned from the publishing industry.
In early 2012, a story I wrote about my dad was selected as a finalist in the Whispered Words contest and appeared in the Anthology launched in June. I’m almost finished my second novel in the Kenora and Jake series, The Fifth Man, but entering contests and writing short stories diverts my attention. I’ve won One Book: One Aurora with two of my short stories – The Covenant and Origin Stories – both based on family memoir.
As Past President of the Writers’ Community of York Region and former Chair of Crime Writers of Canada, I’ve been privileged to work with a terrific group of people, rub elbows with some of the best authors and ‘writerly’ folk and support emerging writers on their creative journeys.
