I thought
you might want to know how books happen.
Anyone who
has read The Goddaughter books knows they are comedies. But you may not know that I got my start
writing standup. I wrote for comedians,
and I also had a newspaper humour column.
About ten
years ago, Orca Book Publishers wanted to add comedy to their Rapid Reads
line. All the books they had at the time
were pretty serious. So they asked if I’d
write a comedy series for them.
The
Goddaughter series is about a mob goddaughter who doesn’t want to be one. But her mob family can’t do anything right, so
she’s always dragged back in to clean up the mess.
It’s a
perfect series for me to write, because although I’m not a mob goddaughter, my
family had family that was in the mob.
Plus, I lived close to Hamilton.
I could set the books in Hamilton, which is a fun and quirky place.
Now, writing
books is a lonely job. You basically sit
alone at a desk for hundreds of hours.
And when your book comes out, it’s sort of quiet. It’s not like you’re at a play, and people applaud
at the end of it.
So feedback
from readers is SO important. When The
Goddaughter came out, I got in touch with the Hamilton Literacy Council. Asked if they wanted to be involved in the
launch. They said yes, and seven books
later, I’m happy to call many of their students my friends.
So when I asked
what they wanted me to write next, they said, “We want a romantic comedy!” My publisher listened. And Worst Date Ever came out this fall.
I guess what
I’m saying is, we really do listen to you.
My goal in writing these books is to make reading fun. For *you*.
And so, The
Bootlegger’s Goddaughter is shortlisted today.
I’m so very grateful. But you
know what I’m even more grateful for? At the
launch of this book, a man came up to me and said, “If it weren’t for the
Goddaughter books, I wouldn’t be able to read now.”
I can’t tell
you what that meant to me. It's made
all the difference. Please, please,
if you really like a book, let the author know.
It goes two ways.
You have the power
to make a difference to her.
