About

Photo by Ginny Coombs

“It’s never too late to try something new…”

and I’m the grey-haired proof.

If you’d said seven or eight years ago that I’d have three children’s books published in as many years, I’d have replied, “Oh yeah, and I’ll run the Boston Marathon a couple of times as well.”

If you’d said I’d spend a week visiting schools and libraries the width of Newfoundland – schools? – I’d have told you your imagination was way out of whack.

If you’d said I’d find myself at an award ceremony at Toronto’s Harbourfront along with 1500 screaming kids desperate to find out if their favourite book had been chosen, I’d have sent you to the Yellow Pages to look for a good psychiatrist.

I’d have been wrong on all three counts.

In 2003, my nine-year-old grandson asked me to write him a book with hockey and snowmobiles in it. Yes, I said, of course I will.

By the time I got home, I knew I was in trouble. Serious trouble. There’s a blue line and something called icing, but I’m not sure of the connection. And I don’t even like snowmobiles.

But a promise is a promise.

Five years later, The Nine Lives of Travis Keating was published. I dedicated to my grandson. Its sequel, The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy, followed a year later. Home Truths, my first young adult novel, came out in the fall of 2010. Next on the list? I think I might try writing another book. Wish me luck!

And yes, I had a wonderful time in the Newfoundland schools; and I can’t imagine what more a writer could ask for than an audience of over a thousand kids who love to read. I hope you do, too!