Let’s Get Writing

Dr. Hodder is 82 years old but perpetually young. My first interview with him was in 2017 when he launched his first book, Follow Your Bliss. Having grown up in a very small community in Newfoundland, he was the only graduate in his grade 11 class. Yet he went on to become a teacher and then, for forty-five years, a family physician. In this episode we talk about why he writes and how to collect stories from a lifetime of living and consolidate them into a book. In this instance, Leftover Stew, his latest release is compiled of new material along with “leftovers” from his first book which was, at 500 pages, not able to accommodate anything more. I enjoyed our discussion so much, we spontaneously shot Part 2. Interesting fact: the proceeds from his books go to charity. He has donated $6000 from the proceeds of his first book to three organizations, and his recent book supports the local Food Bank.

Follow Your Bliss is Available at:

https://books.friesenpress.com/store/...

https://www.amazon.ca/Follow-Your-Bli...

To Order a copy of his book, Leftover Stew; Write an e-mail: [email protected]

Youtube Video Link: https://youtu.be/ulPETA4jTdY

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Carolyn R. Parsons is a proud fisherman’s daughter born and raised on Change Islands, Newfoundland and Labrador. She spent twenty-five years in Ontario, returned home to Newfoundland in 2012, and now resides in Lewisporte.

An advocate for social issues, she was co-chair and spokesperson for the Manolis L Citizens Response Committee, which lobbied government to remove oil that threatened the marine environment from the sunken cargo ship in Notre Dame Bay. She penned a regular community column entitled “Connections,” a biweekly arts feature, “In Conversation,” and wrote general news for the Pilot.

Today she writes a weekly column, “Art & Soul,” for the Central Voice and co-hosts an online radio program, Bridges. A founding director of Literary Events NL, she also serves as the current Central/Burin representative for the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador (WANL).

Carolyn is married to Kent Chaffey, also a Change Islander, and they have four daughters and three grandchildren. In the past decade, she has written a poetry collection, two novels, and a book of short stories. The Forbidden Dreams of Betsy Elliott is her debut novel with Flanker Press.

My first guest on today’s show, Keith Mercer,  was born in Gander. NL,  and currently lives in Bedford, NS. He holds graduate degrees in history from Memorial and Dalhousie Universities and currently works for Parks Canada as the Cultural Resource Manager in Mainland Nova Scotia based at Halifax Citadel National Historic Site. He’s an historian and the ideal person to write a book called Rough Justice on the early history of policing and crime in Newfoundland. 

My second guest on today’s show is Emily Hepditch. It is my pleasure to welcome Emily back for the second time. Emily is an award-winning author from Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. She was a guest on LGW last year, if you’d like to check out her interview the link is provided below.

In 2020, Emily’s debut thriller, The Woman in the Attic, was published by Flanker Press and quickly rose to the #1 spot for local interest books in Newfoundland. Her debut novel remained on the Atlantic Books Today top five local bestsellers list for ten consecutive months. The Woman in the Attic has also been shortlisted for the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing for Best Crime First Novel Category.  In this show we talk about her most recent book, Alone on the Trail, another great thriller!

Both authors are published by Flanker Press.

My guest is Bridget Canning and I’m looking forward to finding out how she creates her characters and all about that movie venture for The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jaynes.

Bridget Canning’s debut novel, The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jaynes, was selected as a finalist for the 2017 BMO Winterset Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, the NL Fiction Award, and was longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Award. It is currently being adapted to film. Her second novel, Some People’s Children, was a finalist for the 2020 BMO Winterset Award and the Thomas Raddall Award.

Bridget holds a Masters of Arts in Creative Writing from Memorial University and a Masters of Literacy Education from Mount Saint Vincent University. In 2019, she received the CBC Emerging Artist Award with ArtsNL. She grew up in Highlands, NL and currently lives in St. John’s. 

www.bridgetcanning.com

https://www.instagram.com/bridgetcanning/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bridgetcanning

To get the book:

https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Hits-Wanda-Jaynes/dp/1550816705

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Running the Goat Books & Broadsides is as unique as its owner. Marnie Parsons started by making hand-crafted books and broadsides. She describes that as a true labour of love – love for the work being published, and also love for the book or broadside as an aesthetic object. Each aspect of the ancient craft involves intimate hands-on engagement, including setting the type letter by letter, printing it page by page, and binding.

“It’s this kind of freedom,” she says, “that makes small presses cutting edge, free to be idiosyncratic and experimental without worrying about the conventions and assumptions that inhibit mainstream presses.”

In talking to her about her passion for historic printing processes, it also becomes obvious that it’s not the best model to reach mainstream markets which is why her company has also focused on the children’s book market in Canada, the United States and now England. 

But one thing remains true to both her historic and modern printing passions; her children’s books offer beautiful language, wonderful illustrations and are finely designed and printed.

I hope you’ll enjoy our discussion as much as I did.

Marnie Parsons, Publisher

www.runningthegoat.com

https://runningthegoat.com/virtual-book-launch-footsteps-in-bay-de-verde/

https://runningthegoat.com/story-of-the-dance/

https://youtu.be/gE1H6unlLqE

http://www.irishloop.nf.ca/home/tors_cove.htm

https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/traditional-dance.php

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Since starting her first business in 1987, Mary Jane has been analyzing the psychology of phone communication. Today, whether she’s working with entrepreneurs, not-for-profits, corporations or government organizations, she uses this knowledge and skill to improve all of their conversations (phone, video, in-person or email) with stakeholders, funders, clients and prospects ... and helps them build stronger, long-lasting relationships.

Mary Jane has worked with over 700 clients since launching The Phone Lady brand in 2006. And she has trained over 15,000 individuals, giving them the necessary skills to increase revenue and customer satisfaction through her proven communication techniques. Throughout each year she participates in a limited number of “cold calling” projects, allowing her to continually test her theories and adapt them to the ever-changing business communication landscape.

Mary Jane works with large corporations, small businesses and startups throughout North America, and in England and Australia. She has long-standing NDAs with several of North America’s best-known companies. In the financial sector, her clients currently represent $2.7 trillion in assets under management.

As a personal coach, Mary Jane works with individuals, helping them find and embrace their strongest communication skills and use them as the foundation for excellent conversations.

● Author of “The Phone Book - Essential Phone Communication Skills” https://thephonelady.com/the-phone-book/

● Coaching program for entrepreneurs, small business owners and salespeople https://inspire-conversation.com/

● LinkedIn Profile - would be delighted to connect https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryjanecopps/

● Free monthly webinar “Inspire Conversation” https://inspire-conversation.com/webinar/

● The blog https://thephonelady.com/blog/

My guests in Let's get writing are so much fun that I may even consider taking up knitting just to feel even more connected to them. There are hundreds, if not thousands of knitters worldwide, who are indeed very connected to these ladies. They celebrate the traditional knitter of Newfoundland and have become quite famous for the beautiful patterns they create and recreate. Please welcome Christine LeGrow and Shirley A. Scott (better known as Shirl the Purl) to Let’s Get Writing.

Welcome to Let’s Get Writing. Let’s Get Writing is all about the writing process from creation to publication. Find inspiration, ideas and meet the people behind the stories. We bring life to books! My guest today is a much-loved storyteller. She is one of Newfoundland and Labrador's most beloved, prolific, and respected authors. Winner of provincial and national awards; published nationally and internationally. Meet Nellie Strowbridge.

A former columnist, editorial writer, essayist, and award-winning poet, Strowbridge has won the NL Arts and Letters Awards a record seventeen times. Al Purdy included her in the Sandburg Livesay Award Anthology No Choice but to Trust, featuring outstanding populist poets around the world. She has been Writer in the Library, a mentor to young writers, an adjudicator in the NL Arts and Letters Awards, an assessor on the NL Projects Grants Committee, and a judge for the WANL Book Awards and Fresh Fish Awards. Strowbridge has held school workshops in Canada and Ireland and hosted a Seminar/Gabfest for International Women’s Day in Cobh, where she was writer-in-residence. The Canadian Embassy in Dublin sponsored a reading and reception for her. She also read from her work during a Scotland bus tour.

The author is a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC), The League of Canadian Poets (2009 NL and NS Representative), the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador (WANL), and Page-One-Writers on Facebook.Previous books: Widdershins: Stories of a Fisherman’s Daughter; Doors Held Ajar (tri-author with Isabel Brown and Peggy Krachun); Shadows of the Heart; Dancing on Ochre Sands (shortlisted for the Newfoundland and Labrador E. J. Pratt Award 2005, and long-listed for Relit); Far from Home (a bestseller and a finalist for the 2006 Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage and History Award); The Gift of Christmas; The Newfoundland Tongue (a bestseller); Catherine Snow (a bestseller); Maiden from the Sea; and Ghost of the Southern Cross (a finalist in the 2015 Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage and History Award). Nellie P. Strowbridge was also nominated for the NL Artist Achievement Award.

Get in touch:

www.facebook.com/nelliepstrowbridge

https://twitter.com/zyxpalme

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Hold Fast for today’s interview. (That’s a hint, by the way.) Today my guest is well-known to most people. He’s the author of more than twenty books for both young people and adults. He has won numerous awards in Canada - too many for me to list but they will be in his biography below and his work has been translated into several languages. How cool is that? Meet Kevin Major.

It’s not always that you get to sit down with (albeit, virtually) an author who has had such a profound influence on the literature of our province, Newfoundland and Labrador, to say nothing of Canadian literature. In this delightful chat, Kevin and I discuss how writing in our province has evolved over the years and how he has maintained his enthusiasm for his profession. His latest books are part of a series that not only introduces a witty new protagonist who happens to be that unique combination of a tour guide and a private investigator. He also drops some great tips for aspiring writers and talks about his stint as an historian on  I hope you enjoy the show and please share your comments and let me know from where in the world you are watching!

Here is my guest’s impressive biography.

In 1992 Kevin was given the Vicky Metcalf Award, for an outstanding body of work of significance to young people. The languages into which his work has been translated include French, Danish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew.

An adult novel, No Man's Land, about the Newfoundland Regiment in World War I, was published in 1995 to much acclaim. Kevin’s adaption of the story was brought to the stage by Rising Tide Theatre and has played for more than a dozen years.

His more recent books include the Christmas classic The House of Wooden Santas, and a history of Newfoundland and Labrador: As Near To Heaven By Sea (a Canadian best-seller and finalist for the Pearson Non-Fiction Prize). Ann and Seamus, a verse novel released in 2003 was shortlisted for a total of ten awards. It has since been turned into an opera. The adult novel New Under the Sun was published in 2010, book one of a trilogy of historical fiction. The second, Found Far and Wide, was released in 2016, and the third, Land Beyond the Sea, in 2019.

In 2018 Kevin started the Sebastian Synard series of crime novels with One for the Rock. Two for the Tablelands followed in 2020. The third will arrive in bookstores in the fall of 2021.

Kevin has been named Memorial University’s Alumnus-of-the-Year, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council’s Artist-of-the-Year . He has been awarded an honourary degree by Memorial University.

John Moss, writing in “A Reader's Guide to the Canadian Novel,” has said, "Kevin Major is among the best Canadian writers of his generation.  He has established himself as a figure of singular importance in our literature."

www.kevinmajor.ca

www.facebook.com/kevinmajor

https://www.breakwaterbooks.com/books/two-for-the-tablelands

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My guest Jerry Cranford, Publisher, at Flanker Press shares his unique insights about this bright star in the Newfoundland and Labrador publishing scene.

It’s not always that you get to sit in front of a publisher and hear what life is like at a busy publishing house. That’s exactly what I got to do in this recent interview with Jerry Cranford of Flanker Press. This family-owned business was established in 1994 and they have continued to grow and nurture homegrown talent as the province’s most active publisher of trade books. The company now averages twenty new titles per year. Jerry takes great pride in establishing a great work environment for his team and his ever-present sense of humour peppered with great insights makes for a wonderful discussion and plenty of learning. As Jerry told me if you like a book, be sure to leave a review. It’s really a great gift you can give the author in return for the joy you received from their book. The same applies here. We appreciate the moment you take to subscribe and comment.  As well, you can hear more from me and Jerry on my Instagram page at kathrynmusseau where we continue this discussion.

Jerry Cranford

www.flankerpress.com

www.facebook.com/flankerpress

https://www.instagram.com/flanker_press

https://ca.linkedin.com/company/flanker-press-ltd

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