My Confession

It's a bit late in my life to confess this, but writing is hard for me.
It doesn't come easily. Stories don't fly off the ends of my fingers onto the computer — or in my case, out the end of my pen; computers are for later drafts.

When I was a kid my head was full of story ideas. Now, not so much. I wonder if it is because I've since learned about all the elements a good story is supposed to have — conflict, inciting incident, a story arc. Am I worrying to much about this and blocking my creative flow, being forced into deliberate thinking?

But even before all the how-to books, I was never one of those brilliant writers who could hardly wait to finish one story to start the next, because they already knew what the next one, or the next half-dozen, was going to be about. I am envious of writers with such skill, and honestly, I don't want to hear about it.
It used to take me agonizing months of Morning Pages before I'd finally discover a character taking shape on the paper, someone I could feel empathy for and work with.

Maybe that is why I've lately preferred writing non-fiction and have published two biographies, with the third to be released in a few weeks. It's the research into the subject that has opened the doors and let me start a new project. I love the research. And maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Write on!

Small World

Three years ago I wrote a biography of Laura Secord. Currently, I am working on Molly Brant's story. Again and again I am struck by the same cast of characters that appear in the lives of both these women.

It shouldn't surprise me, I guess.

Both biographies are about Canadian women whose lifetimes overlapped by twenty-one years.  It's inevitable that the same figures in British, American, and Canadian government would turn up in both. Governor Guy Carleton and John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant-governor of the province of Upper Canada, for example.

But there are also a handful of other notables who cross story-lines between Molly Brant and Laura Secord — the Mohawk Chief John Norton, half Cherokee, half Scot; the ill-fated British General John Burgoyne; and William Johnson Kerr, Molly's grandson who fought in the War of 1812, the war in which both Laura and her husband performed acts of courage.

Molly Brant died in 1796, one year after twenty-one-year old Laura Ingersoll and her family arrived in Upper Canada, but Molly's younger brother, Joseph Brant, appears in both biographies. Richard Cartwright was a Loyalist living in Cataraqui as was Molly. Coincidentally, Cartwright married the sister-in-law of Laura Secord. I had discovered him when I wrote Laura's story, and then there he was, a prominent business man in Molly's world.

It's interesting to encounter historical figures who wander in and out of both stories. It's a small world. And in those early days of the province, even smaller.

Till next time.

Laura Secord: What Happened Next?

A view of the back of the Secord homestead, Queenston, Ontario.

The story continues from last week's blog.

The press picked up the story of the prince's reward for Laura Secord's bravery, and in 1861 Niagara resident, Emma Currie, read those newspaper accounts.

Who was this woman, Laura Ingersoll Secord, and why had Emma Currie never heard the story of her heroism?

When the Woman's Literary Club was formed in St. Catharines in 1892, twenty-four years after Laura's death, Emma Currie, as its founder, wrote a paper to be delivered at the opening. The subject of her address was Laura Secord.

With further research, Currie's paper became a book that was published in 1900. The Story of Laura Secord and Canadian Reminiscences to this day remains a respected source of expert information.

If Laura Secord, at the age of eighty-five, had not been so determined to have her name included on a list of veterans of the War of 1812 that was to be presented to the visiting Prince of Wales, and if his subsequent gift had gone unnoticed by the press, the public might have continued to be unaware of the heroine who had lived among them for so many years.

Laura Secord: The Secret is Out

The Secord homestead, Queenston, Ontario

Laura Secord never boasted of her heroism. For years after her 30 km walk to warn a handful of British soldiers at their outpost at Beaver Dams that they were about to be attacked by an army of five hundred Americans, Laura kept silent about it. She and her husband, James, feared reprisals, and the War of 1812 was long over before it was spoken of, even within her family circle.

Laura did remind the government of her deed in three personal petitions when, years later, the Secords struggled financially. They hoped that James or herself might be given some form of employment by the lieutenant-governor.

In 1860, the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, was to visit Canada and pay homage to the veterans of the War of 1812 and the Rebellion of 1837. Laura, who was then 85, insisted that she be allowed to add her name to an address that the vets were presenting to the royal visitor.

At first, she was refused. But the Niagara Mail and Empire took up her cause in the press. As a result, permission was given for Laura Secord to travel to Niagara-on-the-Lake where she added her signature to the page. She also wrote a petition for the prince where she asked him to tell his mother, Queen Victoria, the story of Laura's service to her country and the Crown.

Whether or not the prince ever saw Laura's personal petition we can't be sure. But someone drew his attention to the lone woman's signature on the veterans' address. The prince was intrigued and began asking questions about Laura Secord.

A year after his visit to Canada the Prince of Wales sent Laura 100 pounds in gold. It was the only remuneration she ever received for her bravery.

For more of this story, please read my newly-released biography, Laura Secord: Heroine of the War of 1812

On Switching Gears

I've had to do some switching of gears lately. I am preparing for presentations and launches, and readying myself to answer questions about a number of different books I've written.

Now, a journalist is doing an article about the early movie industry in Trenton that was the subject of my first book, The Movie Years, back in 1989. Can we arrange a time to talk about it? I dig through the pile of boxes that hold my research notes. NOTE TO SELF: Keep that box on top. Every few months someone inquires about the story.

With the publication of my biography of Mary Pickford still fairly recent (it was released seven months ago) and still very much on my mind, I am about to launch the biography of Laura Secord. I am giving a talk on each of them on successive days. Sometimes I worry about  getting the significant dates in Mary's life mixed up with those in Laura's!

At least it's easier to keep track of the names of the characters in the biographies. Last month saw me delivering a talk to school children about one of my middle grade novels. I had to keep reminding myself that Joel was the name of the main character in that particular story. Not Martin, or Jesse, or Mark.

But I do remember that it was Laura Secord who rescued her husband from the battlefield at Queenston Heights, and Mary Pickford who won the first Oscar for an actress in a talkie.

A Year Filled with Writing

I can't remember if anyone wished me a Happy New Year last December 31st and a "year full of writing." If they did, that's exactly what I got—a year of almost non-stop writing.

After six months work, the manuscript of my book Mary Pickford, Canada's Silent Siren, America's Sweetheart
was delivered to the publisher at the end of March, 2011. Almost immediately I began reading biographies of other Canadian women, looking for another subject I might write about. But none engaged me the way Mary Pickford had. She had seemed a good fit for me, and I believe the fact that she always maintained strong ties with Canada has made her especially appealing to readers in this country.

Early in June 2011, my publisher asked me if I'd be interested in writing the life of Laura Secord, another in Dundurn's Quest Biography series. Laura Secord wasn't a person I would have chosen; her story began all the way back in 1775. But I said I was up to the challenge, and I'm glad now that I did. Over the weeks and months she too came to life for me—a real flesh-and-blood woman with a loving husband and seven children, living amidst the turmoil of the War of 1812.

I began researching Laura's life while I was still working on the copy edit and proofreading for Mary Pickford. That book was released in mid-September and launched officially on November 5th while I was still furiously writing Laura Secord. At times it was hard to switch from one subject to the other. But on December 29th, I delivered Laura Secord, Heroine of the War of 1812 to the publisher, right on time. A Bicentennial Book, it will be released in May, 2012. There is lots of work to be done before then.

So, wish me a year full of writing for 2012, and if you're a writer I wish for you the same: a year filled with joyous writing!

Tracking Laura Secord

View across the Niagara River from Niagara-on-the-Lake

Last week we were in the Niagara peninsula, on the trail of Laura Secord, the subject of the biography I am working on. I wanted to spend some time in the locales that would have been familiar to her, to soak up some of the atmosphere. I believe it worked: I do feel as if I know her a little better.

Display case at the Niagara Historical Society Museum

We arrived in Niagara-on-the-Lake on an almost summer-like afternoon. The trees that lined the streets were shedding leaves the colour of gold, and one could smell the oak as we walked along the sidewalks.
At the wonderful Niagara Historical Society Museum in the town I found a display of some of Laura's personal possessions: a copper kettle where she is said to have hidden some doubloons from the Americans, a coverlet, handmade by Laura and her granddaughter, a small trunk, some teaspoons, some sugar tongs, and other small items.

This museum also has an extensive collection of artifacts from the War of 1812, and since that was the backdrop for much of Laura's story, I found it most interesting.

I was delighted to find in one alcove in the museum a sculpted bust of Laura, a smaller version of the one that sits atop her monument in the cemetery in Lundy's Lane.

Bust of Laura Secord by Mildred Peel

Because we arrived on a week day, historic Fort George was not open this time of year, but we did stroll around the property and take a few pictures. All along the scenic Niagara Parkway people were walking, cycling, and basking in the early November sunshine.

Fort George, Niagara-on-the-Lake

Now, onward up the river to Queenston. Stay tuned!

Making History Interesting

Happy Labour Day! Tomorrow all the students will be going back to school. This always seems a better time for New Year's than January 1st. Time for new beginnings and for making resolutions. A few years back I used to resolve to make writing a priority in my day. Then, lo and behold, it happened!

I now write an average of eight hours a day, largely because I'm under contract for two biographies, with only six months to deliver each one. Laura Secord is proving to take many more hours to write than Mary Pickford did. There's so much history to research. Laura was born during the American Revolution, and her feat of heroism took place during the War of 1812. I used to love history back in my student days.

What am I saying! I'm still a student, learning something new every day.

For instance, did you know that in February 1813, during the War of 1812-14, two hundred American soldiers and some volunteers crossed the frozen St. Lawrence River from Ogdensberg, N.Y. and freed a group of American citizens held in the Brockville jail. Before they fled back across the ice, they seized arms, supplies, and forty-five of Brockville's most prominent citizens.


The good news is that those prominent citizens were soon set free, but it conjures up some interesting pictures in my mind. Were those people snug in their beds when the Americans came calling? Or in formal dress attending a fancy event? They definitely were not planning on a stroll in the dark across the frozen St. Lawrence.

That is the kind of tidbit that makes history come alive for me!

The Next Project: The Life of Laura Secord

Now that I've signed the contract with the publisher for my next book, I can share the news. I am writing another biography in Dundurn Press's Quest Biography series. This one, to be released in June 2012, will be about Laura Secord, the only female heroine ever mentioned in the narratives of the War of 1812.

And no, she didn't start the candy company that goes by her name.

Stay tuned!

Into the Home Stretch

I'm in the home stretch now, reading the manuscript from the computer screen, chapter by chapter, aloud, so that I can "hear the story." Above all, I want to make my version of Mary Pickford's biography more than a collection of facts.

As I read, I search out typos, move paragraphs to improve the flow, and delete unnecessary words. You know the gremlins -- adverbs and cliches.

The books bibliography is finish, the illustrations chosen, the index entries ready, but I've been having trouble getting the chronology into two columns. The dates for "Mary and Her Times" have to align with the dates of events in "Canada and the World," including the world of film-making.

I was fortunate on the weekend when I asked for suggestions from my writers' group that one of them, Helen, not only emailed me a table I can use, but also provided me with instructions for how to add to it.

Before this, I was entering information into both columns, only to have it move to the next page and into the wrong column. I was getting nowhere, and the deadline for submitting everything to the publisher was closing in.

That's the thing about writers' groups. Someone is sure to be able to help you out, but better yet, will be willing to share her knowledge. No one is holding his trade secrets close to his chest.

Write on!

A Sneak Preview

I signed the contract with the publisher this week for a biography titled, Mary Pickford: Canada's Silent Siren, America's Sweetheart.

Ever since I first decided which Canadian woman would be the subject of my next book, I have immersed myself in everything Pickford.

The above illustration is a collage my eleven-year-old granddaughter created this afternoon, while she was showing me how to select and save images on the computer. The subject, naturally, is Mary Pickford.

It amazes me how easily today's youngsters adapt to the new technologies. I'm lucky that my grandchildren are willing to share their knowledge with me.

Time to Begin

The books on the subject of my latest project, a biography of Mary Pickford, are still coming in on inter library loan. Today I picked up the eighth of these. I've been reading, and making copious notes, almost non-stop since I was first offered the project, on September 21st.

 My dining room table holds piles of notes on the lined, yellow pads I use, each stack labelled as to its source. I've bought myself a used copy of Mary's autobiography, Sunshine and Shadow, published in 1955. I've also ordered a copy of the best of the books I've discovered so far. I know I'll want to refer to it again and again.

I've reached the point in the research now where I am finding nothing new. Soon I must start writing. A 45,000 word biography seemed a gargantuan task at first, but now that I've made an outline (I never write fiction from an outline) and divided into chapters the topics I must cover, the project is starting to take a manageable shape.

Monday is November 1st. That seems like a good time to begin. The beautiful young girl above will be my muse.

Write on!