Well, this is a big day for me. Not only am I writing my very first post in this blog that I created two and a half years ago (let that sink in for a second!) but I just sent off the first part of my novel to a literary agent.
All my life (or at least since my teens) I have thought of myself as a writer. In fact years ago I thought that my life was a failure because I had not published a book. I can't recall when I stopped thinking this way. In fact my life is not a failure. I am a successful lawyer, with a wife and son I love dearly. My work is meaningful and important.
But all the same, I have never had a book published. I have written books and parts of books and outlines for books. I have started and abandoned more book projects than I will ever admit to. A couple of years ago I thought I had just about finished a book on First Nations law and policy. Then I realized I no longer believed as completely as I should in the things I had written.
Angelina said to me that I should put it aside and get back to the novel I had started. The novel was hardly a novel yet. It was about 30 pages. It was an interesting beginning. It was about my father and me. It was pretty raw stuff. I really had no idea how those 30 pages were going to become a novel.
So anyway, always an obedient husband, I sat down at the computer and just started typing. My problem was that I wasn't sure what to type. I even thought about making it a memoir. But when I made a decision just to make stuff up, it started to become a novel. I am just putting the finishing touches on the last couple of chapters.
In a previous life I knew just about everyone in the Canadian book publishing industry. The agent I have chosen is an old friend, and I think I can rely on that old friendship to get him at least to read the 40 pages I sent him today.
The picture is of Lake Louise, taken from inside the Chateau. Part of the book is set there.
So, dear readers, wish me luck! And stay tuned.
