An Unlikely Writer
Does this sound like a future writer to you? A child with abandoned journals and disgruntled pen pals. Assigned essays left until the absolute last minute. A teenager reading only non-fiction whose worst subject is English. An extroverted people-person who couldn’t bear the solitude of flipping burgers, let alone being stuck at a desk. Writing? For fun? Yeah, if you’d told twenty-one-year-old me I’d be a published author a couple decades later, I… I wouldn’t have known what to do with that.
During my period of reading only non-fiction, I read Mover of Men and Mountains, a biography of inventor and industrialist R.G. LeTourneau. Much of LeTourneau’s life bears mention, but what resonated most was how he ‘bounced’ from job, to job, to job, seemingly without purpose or connection, yet the varied skills he gained contributed to his ability to invent graders, excavators and monstrous dump trucks. At the time, machines without parallel.
Initially, I loved fiction. At age four, I took pride in ‘reading’ my favourite Raggedy Ann and Andy book. Really, my mom had read it so many times I’d memorized it. An outing to the library was pure excitement. I could recite Baby-Sitters Club titles one through seventy-two. But Elizabeth Manley rocked my world at the Calgary ’88 Olympics, and I fell HARD for figure skating. By fourteen, fiction faded away as I immersed myself in biographies of the skaters I admired, and read all I could find on the history of the sport.
With the perspective time lends, figure skating appealed because I told a story. The music, movements and the pop of technical elements combined to entertain and evoke emotion in the audience. I was fortunate to skate at one of the best facilities in Canada, having the privilege of witnessing Canadian Champions in the discipline of everyday training. Unbeknownst to me, many of the skills I learned applied beyond figure skating. Pacing. Drawing in the spectators by giving yourself emotionally. The degree of focus and mental commitment it takes to manage fear and create a standout end product. Ring a bell fellow writers?
When I get hooked on something, I just dive right in. I became engaged to my husband at eighteen, married at nineteen, and had my first child at twenty. Suddenly, I was a stay-at-home-mom without an outlet for expression. And I felt it. One day, with my infant son sleeping on my chest, I watched The View on television, disquieted by the woman representing my demographic. Her view certainly wasn’t mine—not that it had to be, but I longed to see my values and culture represented. For the first time, I felt an intense desire to write. But what to write? I was a twenty-year-old high school graduate with one season of coaching experience. Who would consider me an authority on any non-fiction topic—I wouldn’t! That writing urge was a persistent bugger, but eventually it submitted to my will and got shelved.
My first job was at a shoe store, and it bears mention because there, I discovered I could sell. My words, my ideas, my knowledge could contribute to people’s decisions. It was a high. Over a decade and a half, this progressed to direct sales and then to executive recruitment. People fascinated me; what they believed and why, what informed the choices they made. I loved being a middleman, negotiating between two parties, dispelling misbeliefs and finding mutually agreed upon truth.
When I was encouraged to write an article on an aspect of the recruitment process to promote my services, I balked. Writing and I had a hate-hate relationship. But I wanted to progress, and wow, did I have fun writing that article! I felt confident in the subject matter and it was a welcome reprieve from the incessant rejections of targeted clients (Ring any other bells writers?). I did a press release, and was astounded to find my article published by over 150 news outlets, including the websites of The Boston Globe and the San Francisco Chronicle. ‘Huh,’ I thought. ‘Maybe I can write.’
Fast-forward to thirty-seven-years-old. My youngest son was entering school, and I faced a choice: return to recruitment, where I had done well enough, or pursue something new, hopefully to find an outlet of artistic expression I’d craved since my figure skating days. From the depths of my soul stirred a suggestion, Why don’t you write a book?
For the first time, I considered a novel. By then, my first love of fiction had returned and I’d become a thriller aficionado. I loved the idea of writing something fast-paced and entertaining, but I knew a thriller wouldn’t give me a deep sense of purpose, the impact I was used to making in people’s lives. But… what if I deepened the romantic elements, the character arcs? What if I wrote about the heart, psychology, the relationship hard-knocks I’d encountered by marrying so young? What if I looked at a novel as a medium to share my life experiences? “My view.” Then… yes. I was in! And quickly, I was hooked. All those years, I’d been hungry for a way to communicate the beauty I saw in life and humanity. Lo-and-behold, writing fiction was the answer.
Fast forward a few more years and I’ve submitted a short story to Saga Fiction, hoping to publish a collection. But they asked me to expand my story, wanting to see how the conflict I introduced would unfold. I submitted an outline and now The Birdcage is a published novella. Hearing the impact my book has made on readers has brought the writing process full circle for this lover of humans. Sitting “alone” at my desk has never held more appeal.
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THE BIRDCAGE
One true love. Under fire from all sides. They’ll need each other to escape their birdcage.
Matt’s in awe of his wife.
Feisty, intelligent, capable and now excelling in her first executive sales position. But Jillian’s job requires long hours, and Matt can’t help but suspect an affair. Jillian’s become more suited to her impressive boss than the hapless schoolteacher she’s outgrown.
Jillian’s marriage is slipping through her fingers.
Jill loves meeting the challenge of her new job, despite the unreasonable demands of her misogynistic boss. But she needs to find the balance between being a woman, wife, mother and hard-charging Vice President. Even a patient man like Matt won’t tolerate her neglect for long.
Set in corporate Canada, The Birdcage is a fast-paced novella that will inspire you, scare you a little, and feed your heart and mind. Perfect for fans of Marian Keyes and Elin Hilderbrand.
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