My Latest News and Offerings

Award-winning writer Charlotte Gray (my idol – have I mentioned that?) says that “every research trip is a fishing trip.” I think this is true. But there are two styles of fishing: there’s casting a net, and there’s setting a line. I’m not sure if Charlotte said that or if I did, but in any case, last week I cast my net in the online catalogues of:

• the public libraries in Ottawa and Muskoka;
• Library and Archives Canada (LAC); and
• the Ontario Archives (OA) in Toronto…

 looking for anything they have on the Muskoka Road. Some of this I know from the article I wrote, but now I can indulge in more detail.

My focus until Christmas (as you, my loyal followers will know from earlier posts!) is on the surveyors of the road. But I know that I will find most of the information about the surveyors in the Ontario Archives in Toronto. In fact, most of the data I need for the entire book is in Toronto. Toronto is a five-hour drive and it doesn’t make much sense to make a separate trip there for every single topic in the book. So I’ve decided:

1. To order up everything I think I’ll need  for the book from the OA catalogue, drive to Toronto and look at all of it over a few days. (I know I’ll have to go back.)
2. Wait until early November to go to Toronto, when Mr. Busy can come with me. We’ll combine the research trip into a bit of a getaway. 
3. Meantime, order up  everything I think I’ll need from the public libraries and LAC, taking advantage of the time before the Toronto trip to review some local material.

 The search of local material has snagged all kinds of fascinating results! Like: A Guidebook Containing Information for Intending Settlers With Illustrations, published by the Government of Canada in 1886. And a photograph titled, “Dredge fleet at Muskoka Road, December 1916.” Neither of these have anything to do with the surveyors, of course. Plus, each one includes an interesting twist. The guidebook is only available through the University of Guelph library and they charge $12.00 plus $2.00 shipping to lend it out. The photograph is actually a glass negative, available for viewing only at LAC’s “preservation centre” in Gatineau, and only with prior arrangements with an archivist.

I ordered the guidebook and will talk about my need for arts funding in a later post. I’ve deferred arranging to look at the photograph until later.

This net-casting is dangerous work! I can easily drown in data. I can easily get sidetracked and lose sight of what I wanted to achieve as a first milestone. I have to force myself to file information that is not related to the first milestone and look at it later. (I should probably have delayed ordering the guidebook until after Christmas!) I need really, really good records and files, so that months from now I can cast my line directly to a piece of data that I already know exists, instead of casting my net all over again, trying to remember where I saw a particular reference that I now need.

To remind myself of this, here’s what I’ve added to my whiteboard:

There are two ways to plan out this project overall:

1. Figure out how I’m going to get from today to a finished manuscript a year from now.
2. Identify the first milestone, plan for achieving that, then adjust as needed. Identify the next milestone, then repeat until the manuscript is finished.

I’m choosing Option 2. Until I get into the research more, I can’t do a good job of planning the entire project. I’d prefer to get started and adjust as I go, of course keeping the end in mind.

So for now, I’m going to define the first milestone.

I’ve already decided that I want to start with the surveyors of the road. I think you should always start a project with something you find really enticing, and these guys – Gibson, Dennis et al – were fascinating people in their own right. They also pioneered some new surveying standards that literally laid out the province of Ontario. But imagine if you will – pulling a length of metal chain 66 feet long through virgin forest, based on a sighting taken by a “circumferentor.” Better send the axemen in first to hack down all the trees that are in the way!

I’d like to start with a short time-frame, between now and the end of December. That allows me to assess and re-adjust before I get too far along. So here’s a bit of book math:

Days available, Oct 12 to Dec 23, not including weekends =

53 days

X 50% (Remember, this project is to be “joy, not a job.” This gives me plenty of contingency!) =

26 days

So here it is – [insert all appropriate fanfare]:

My first Goal/Milestone: Complete research on 19th century and modern surveyors of the road and their methods. Draft one or two stories highlighting the experiences of early settlers.

A more detailed task list is here: Task List Towards the First Milestone

Off I go!

I need a project plan. I know this because I was a project manager for 20 years. Plus, I’m more of a planner than a “seat-of-the-pantser” by nature. I also want to enjoy the process of writing this book, maintain momentum while keeping in balance all the other things I’m doing in life, and meet my deadlines.

So today I started planning from the top down, with a big picture and some stakes in the ground.

Here is my overall goal: To write this book in balance with all the other aspects of my life.

The balance thing is vitally important to me. I teach writing workshops, write this weekly blog and other non-fiction articles. I own a house and a cottage and have two young-adult children still at home and a husband who works out of town 10 days a month. Just to name a few of the balls I’ll be juggling, while I try to maintain momentum on this project.

Momentum is also really important. I’ve learned that you can lose a lot of time by going away from a writing project, because you have to re-orient yourself when you return to it before you can be productive again. It will be easy for me to work daily when hubby (Mr. Busy) is out of town. When he’s here, we tend to hang out together, or travel a bit, or go for long lunches. Maybe some changes are in store? Regardless, I want to manage my time so the writing is a pleasure, not a pressure.

This is my overall timetable: 1 year.

Sounds like a long time, doesn’t it? I think so too, sometimes, until I remind myself that research is like a kitchen renovation. To estimate the time it will take, you start with the longest possible time you can imagine. Then you double that, and you might be close.

There are two key elements in the story that I want to tell: The Muskoka Road itself and the people who walked or lived along the road.

I am fascinated by road-building “technology” and how it changed over the century I’m writing about. (Imagine being a contractor facing a wall of eighty-foot-high white pines with an axe in your hand, and maybe you can see why.) And I want to tell the stories of the surveyors, the settlers and the entrepreneurs who made and used the road.

I’m using the whiteboard in my office to help me stay anchored in what is really important:

Hey, I’ve just found out that “Clio” is the muse of history and writing! Whoo hoo – I have a muse! I’ll look for a picture of her to add to the white board.

I’m still in the very early stages of writing Muskoka’s Main Street: The Muskoka Colonization Road, so you haven’t missed much. Because the publisher approached me, I did not have to produce a full Book Proposal, which is the typical first step when you are shopping for a publisher. I did produce an outline, which consists of:

• a one-page overview of the book
• a description of my vision for the tone and style and a proposed Table of Contents TABLEOFCONTENTS
• a chapter-by-chapter summary of the book, describing the beginning, middle and end of each chapter and suggestions for illustrations.

Remember, I’ve already written and published a 3,000 word article on this topic, which has provided the backbone that I will now expand.

I’ve met with the publisher and discussed:

• how long I expect the book to be (about 40,000 words, which is not a big book – under 300 pages in final form)
• when he expects to publish it (spring 2012)
• how he works with his authors (a book contract, royalty payments based on sales of the book, and a schedule that we agree on to accommodate the editing and production phases.)

I’ve drafted a 300 word synopsis that will be our overall guide and descriptor of the story I intend to tell. ABOUTTHISBOOK

Does it surprise you to know how much a writer has to think through a project before actually getting started? This is standard operating procedure for non-fiction (and fiction too, with some differences.) The publisher has to know what he’s buying; I have to be clear on what I intend to deliver; we both have to know this subject is big enough to be a book. The synopsis helps us both to market the book well before it’s published and also helps me to stay on track to write the book I said I would write. Of course, my research might uncover some terrific new material that I will want to incorporate, but for now, all of this serves to provide the broad perameters for the book.

“Book math” is important too – estimating how many words I expect to write will help me to figure out how long it will take me to write it. Which will provide me with a good idea of how the next year of my life is going to unfold! I’ll talk more about book math in a later post.

Oh – and there’s also the blog itself, which is a key part of the process. I’ve spent the better part of the past few weeks getting myself up to speed on the whole blogging thing. I’m going to have lots more to say about that!

I think all writers hope to get published some day, and many readers are curious to know how that process works. So I’m going to step back and tell you how I got to the point where I have a book deal with a publisher.

First things first:

• I’ve done lots of writing for many years, decades in fact. I’ve written newsletters and business reports, short stories and novels, book reviews and magazine articles. Some for pay, some for free, some never seeing life beyond my desk drawer.
• I have a small group of trusted writers who critique my work and help me to get better.

These are the constants, for me and I think for most writers too. Lots of work and lots of help, for a long time.

Now I’ll fast-forward and take you through the steps that led me to the book contract. I did not set out with this book as a specific goal. Instead, I made a decision, took one step, made another decision and took another step.

In 2005, I decided to self-publish my mother’s family history, Strength Within: The Granger Chronicles. This book has brought me so much joy and opportunity! Not the least of which:

• the knowledge that I love bringing history alive through storytelling
• and a spin-off workshop series, which I still run and which gives me great confidence in myself as a writer.

In 2008, I decided to switch gears and focus on writing short stories. By the end of the year I had eight stories that I loved – but found myself completely exhausted.

• And I realized that for me, the process of creating something out of nothing (which is what fiction writing is), is exhilarating, magical, and well, exhausting.
• And I decided I don’t want to exhaust myself by writing. The fact is, writing non-fiction comes easier to me than fiction.

In 2009, I switched gears again and started writing non-fiction articles for magazines. One day I found this wonderful magazine called The Country Connection, which is a publication all about Ontario history, the environment and the arts. Is this me or what? Not only that, but it features a series on the colonization roads of Ontario. I was so excited when I found out there had not been an article on the Muskoka Road. Muskoka is an area that I know and love, so I proposed an article, and it was published in the Winter-Spring 2010 issue.

In April 2010 I was approached by Muskoka Books. The publisher had seen my article and wondered if I was interested in writing a book about it, since the story of the Muskoka Colonization Road has not been told in book form.

So. One step at a time brought me to the point where I was approached by a book publisher. But it goes much deeper than that. I think what really matters is:

1. Writing from the heart. Anything I have ever published, any contest I have ever won, any invitation I have ever had to speak or teach about writing came from a project I did because I was fascinated by it. This goes for the Muskoka Road book too. I love the Muskoka area where my family has had a cottage for over 40 years. Is this me or what?
2. Finding a publisher who publishes what you like to write. If you’re going the traditional publishing route (not self publishing) you need to find a match for your work. A match as good as pearls with a little  black dress, or a good cigar with a glass of port! I am writing this book for a publisher in Muskoka. Perfect match. This book expands on an article I submitted to a magazine that has a feature series on the colonization roads of Ontario. Another perfect match.

So that’s how it happened for me. Do any of you writers have a story of heart and hard work? What about you book readers? Does any of this surprise you?