Ever since the release of my book, Raincoast Chronicles 21: West Coast Wrecks & Other Maritime Tales, in October, I’ve been very eager to pick up a copy of the Vancouver Sunevery Saturday morning. Why? This is when the B.C. Bestseller list, compiled by the Association of Book Publishers of B.C., is featured in the paper’s Weekend Review.
I must say, it’s been heady times seeing the outcome of my efforts up there on that list for over four months now; especially after pounding away at the keyboard in the basement in isolation for so many years. Still, my making the ‘list” didn’t happen all on its own.
Rick at the Royston hulk breakwater
I can’t say enough about Harbour Publishing who have done an absolutely fabulous job of promoting the book. Howard White’s staff went the extra mile ensuring that book review editors in all the big papers on the coast, as well as various radio show hosts all had their review copies and invitations to interview me.
But I also went the extra mile on my own since since I wasn’t content to just sit back and leave it entirely in Harbour’s hands. And I realized that they, like all publishers, only have so much money available to send an author gallivanting around the landscape to book store readings or PowerPoint presentations.
So I volunteered to head over to Tofino and up to the North Island, where I was convinced there was an excellent market, on my own dime. I was right, and much to Harbour’s credit, they contributed to expenses after all.
And what about social media you ask? That must have been a major factor in the book’s success. Right? Well, as much as some friends and colleagues are totally convinced this is the way to go, I avoided it. No blogs, Facebook, or even a webpage! While it might seem I’m a total throwback to a different day and age, I have never been fully convinced that this route was ever worth pursuing. (God forbid, I waste enough time trying to keep with emails!)
I must admit though, I did rely on some social interaction. But it was the old school kind. Since I was up and down Vancouver Island a lot this winter, I made it a point to stop at each and every bookstore I was going by. Whether it was Chapters in Nanaimo or Ivy’s, the small independent on Oak Bay Avenue in Victoria, I walked in, introduced myself and volunteered to autograph any copies of my book they had on hand.
I did this, not once but twice and even three or four times over the past four months. And has it paid off? You bet! Here it is mid-January and I’m still sitting at #6 on the BC Bestseller list!
Where do you want to go and when do you want to get there?
Most people ask themselves those questions before heading out on a trip. I also ask them when I’m writing a book.
Completing a book requires a huge commitment of time and energy. If I don’t have a map of where I’m going and when I want to arrive, the project can stretch on into infinity. That’s scary.
So I set goals.
It took me a while to figure out what a goal is. I want to write a book and have it published is not a goal, that’s a dream.
A real goal goes something like this: I want to complete a 60,000 word manuscript by August 31, edit and revise it by December 31 and send it to a publisher/agent by January 1. In order to accomplish this I will work on my book for two hours every Saturday and Sunday.
Now that’s scary too. But it also gives you a clear idea of what you need to do.
However, sitting down at the computer knowing you intend to write 60,000 words is enough to give anyone writer’s block. So what I do is break the project down into smaller increments, say so many words or chapters each month.
I try to be reasonable about what I can accomplish, yet push myself a bit too. Every month or so, I review what I’ve done. To be perfectly honest, I never meet my self-imposed deadlines. But they keep me on track and motivate me to try harder.
Most folks lead busy lives and frequently have to give something up in order to create writing time and achieve their goals. That might involve setting the alarm an hour earlier each morning, having a writing lunch break or drafting your manuscript in the laundromat while waiting for your clothes to spin dry. Many writers – including me – don’t watch television and limit their email and social media time.
But simply having a goal isn’t always enough. To be really effective experts say you should write your goal down, make a commitment by telling it to someone and to also be accountable to someone.
It’s early January, the time of year when many people make resolutions and set goals. Have you given any thought to where you want to be in your writing journey by the end of the year?
When you write for a living, you enjoy each story as you work on it. But once it’s published, it’s on to the next one. That’s the way it happens most of the time. But some stories stay with you. They become a part of you just like your shadow on a sunny day.
A couple of years ago photographer Barry Peterson and I created a photo-journalism project called On the Edge. We invited people living on the edge of mainstream society to let us photograph and interview them. They reviewed the text and picked out a photo and Barry framed them.
All together we interviewed 15 people. Their stories touched me in a way I never imagined and forever changed my thoughts about homeless and street people. The stories contained heartache, illness and tragedy. But there was also a love story, humour and hope.
I had seen Kevin before I met him. He often sat in his wheelchair on the edge of the Superstore parking lot looking out over a field. But what struck me most was the flock of seagulls that were always with him. Sometimes they were perched on nearby buildings but often they sat on the pavement very close to Kevin.
We interviewed and photographed Kevin behind Superstore. That’s when I found out that he fed the birds on a regular basis. It was fascinating; he knew all the birds as individuals and filled me in on their different personality traits and the ins and outs of the seagull hierarchy.
Kevin was warm, funny, smart and compassionate. But what really impressed me was his ability and willingness to help others even when he was in need of assistance himself.
Somewhere near Superstore Kevin met a couple who had been homeless but were now housed. They became close friends and visited often. Like many on the edge folk, this couple deals with physical and emotional problems on an ongoing basis.
Kevin was always there to listen and offer encouragement and support. The couple was — and still are — devastated that Kevin is no longer here.
About a year after Kevin died, a woman in Calif. tracked me down. In a series of emails she told me how Kevin had travelled with her family in the US and Canada when she was young.
It was a hard time for her family as her father was beginning to exhibit signs of mental illness and became abusive towards her mother and even his good friend Kevin. She said Kevin helped her and her brother by teaching them about birds, to play the guitar and just being a stable, caring person.
She said he stayed with them even after her dad became abusive just so he could help out.
Now in her 30s, she had been looking for Kevin for years so she could tell him how much he meant to her and her brother and how much he had influenced their lives. They still study birds and she plays the guitar professionally.
Earlier this month the On the Edge show was displayed in shop windows on the main street of Courtenay. Kevin’s photo and story were at The Golfer’s Edge and the owner told me that Kevin used to be the doctor of one of his employees.
Many people were intrigued by the stories and photographs but Kevin’s made the strongest impact. His is the story that reaches out to people and makes them aware that, given the right circumstances, anything can happen to anyone.
Kevin, age 58
“There are three things that will do a person in: poverty, mental illness and physical disability,” explains Kevin. “You can live with one or two for a while but when you have all three, you’ll never get back what you’ve lost.”
For more than 30 years Kevin was a medical doctor in eastern Canada and BC. He enjoyed the challenge of remote locations and being on call 24⁄7. His favourite position was as a health consultant and lands claims assistant for the Inuit in Labrador. He’d work, earn a grubstake and then spend time hiking, kayaking and travelling.
Kevin also worked on many Canadian military bases including CFB Comox and, after moving to the Comox Valley in 1991, was physician for sea cadets training at HMCS Quadra for ten summers. He often bought books to donate to daycares, sent care packages to Labrador and bought a special TV for a nearly blind girl. He even gave a homeless fellow
known as “Bob the Bum” $500 to buy a van that Bob lived in for a time.
Tormented by bouts of depression since he was 27, Kevin suffered a major relapse in 2004 that cost him his medical license. His physical health deteriorated leaving him partially blind, hard of hearing and with high blood pressure. Then his left leg was amputated due to complications from diabetes.
Last winter Kevin was isolated in his small apartment by the heavy snowfall, malnourished and depressed about the loss of his leg. A scratch on his thumb got infected. When the finger was literally hanging in two, he cut it off himself. A short while later, his second leg developed gangrene and was amputated. Chronic pain is a constant companion.
Kevin behind Superstore
“I used to earn $10,000 a week, now that’s the annual total of my disability pension,” says Kevin. “My savings are gone; I don’t know where I’d be without the sister and aunt that help me out.”
Even so, he still manages to distribute small gifts to hospital residents during the holidays and regularly feeds the birds that hang around Superstore.
“Now the homeless and poor are my peers instead of doctors and lawyers,”
he says. “I try to laugh a lot and make the best of things.”
