Who was the mystery writer?

For anyone paying attention, I had left off with my manuscript being somewhat praised by a then-somewhat-famous, now-truly-famous novelist.

The author, for those who didn't follow up on the hint in the last post, was Miriam Toews. At the time of my original submission to the Winnipeg Public Library Writer-in-Residence (Toews), she was a fairly well known author in Winnipeg. She had published three novels to date (most notably her first, the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour-nominated Summer of my Amazing Luck). Miriam was truly encouraging, and asked to see the full manuscript when complete.

In the interim, however, she released A Complicated Kindness, one of those sudden successes you only read about. Instantly, Miriam went from Miriam Toews to MIRIAM TOEWS. Giller prize nomination, Governor General's Award...Miriam's life changed practically overnight.

So, why would she even remember me?

Well, good news, she did (and still does, I believe). Despite the craziness, she remembered me, and agreed to read the full manuscript. Two weeks later, she sent me a letter saying "Go for it," (I'm paraphrasing). And so, I did.

Next post - The First Rejection

Step two...

So, the novel was written. Actually, calling it a 'novel' is not quite the truth per se. Coming in at twenty thousand words, it was more of a lengthy short story; a novella, really. But still, not bad for three days.

My next step, after a few months of ignoring the damn thing, was to get a second opinion.

I decided to not show the manuscript to anyone I knew (my ego could not take such a mauling). I thereby took advantage of the Writer-in-Residence program at the Winnipeg Public Library. I submitted my first twenty pages, and waited. And waited. And then forgot all about it.

Finally, I received a phone call from the writer, asking if I could come in to discuss the work. While I was hesitant - who needs criticism, anyway - the meeting went far better than I hoped. At the conclusion, she offered to read the rest of the manuscript as well, which I took as a solid sign that there might be something to all this.

After a few more weeks, the writer let me know that she thought I could build upon what I already had, offering a few suggestions for improvement, but leaving the majority of changes up to me. I thanked her very much for the praise, and extracted a promise from her to read the manuscript again once I had given it a thorough going-over.

So far, so good. A writer I was familiar with had given me a much-needed boost. I immediately (well, in the next month or so) began rewriting the beast.

But who was the author? Well, that I shall leave for the mext installment, but if there's anyone actually reading this thing, I shall provide a hint here.

Second time - as good as the first?

Wow, the first time posting was so intense! Can it get any better?

Anyway, welcome (all three of you) to Shelf Monkey (patent pending). This is to be the official blog of the publication of, you guessed it, Shelf Monkey (patent pending). It is the title of a novel I wrote, and have subsequently managed to find a publisher for. It will be released in the Spring of 2007 (Canada) by ECW Press.

You can check out their website at www.ecwpress.com .

More to come soon. I'll try to write every day or so, going through the whole process of writing, publishing, and getting a book on the shelves. Should be a wild ride, or at least informative.

By the way, did you know the spell check function on this blog does not recognize the word 'blog?' Weird oversight.

First time...

As this is my first, virginial foray into blogs (does that make me a blogin? Virlog?), this is only a test of the blog's basic abilities and functions. Rest assured, there will be more to come.