A Pennie for Your Thoughts
30/03/09 18:01 Filed in: Writing
Last Thursday night, I had the happy privilege of
meeting up with my old writing pal, Ross Pennie, at a
coffee shop in West Hamilton. Ross, John Hewson and I
spent three happy years meeting every two or three
weeks to share our drafts, swap tall tales and
challenge each other to get better as writers. Both
Ross and John are medical doctors by training and
wonderfully skillful writers by talent and hard work.
They are also exceptional human beings.
Ross published his medical memoir, The Unforgiving Tides, a couple of years ago with a small publisher in the Hamilton area and then worked his own tail off to make it sell. And sell it did. He then decided he wanted to try fiction on for size, specifically medical mysteries, and John and I had the honour of being involved on the ground floor of that venture.
As I've mentioned before on this blog, Ross's first medical mystery novel, Tainted, has recently been published by ECW Press in Toronto. The early drafts were very good. The published novel is even better. I'm still reading the beginning stages but I'm impressed with how good it is: how much credit for that John and I can claim I'm not sure, of course.
But I'm not writing this entry to talk about Tainted. More on that book later, once I've savoured every word. I'm more interested in writing about what a nifty evening it was to chat with Ross now that he's a published purveyor of fiction.
In preparation for our meeting, I had wandered over to a place called Bryan Prince Booksellers, just up the street from the coffee shop, to see if they had Ross' book on the shelves yet. In keeping with Prince's commitment to local authors, they not only had it in stock, it was beautifully displayed both in the big picture window at the front of the store and on a table inside. For good measure, a stack of Tainted sat right by the cash register, with the other "must buy" books. This is just a small sign of the fantastic support Bryan Prince gives to writers from the Hamilton area.
I met up with Ross in the line for coffee. He had a copy of the book in hand for me and I was admiring its cover while we waited to order. The barista looked up, saw the novel, and cooed, "Oh, that looks good. What is it?": one of the nicest unsolicited compliments I've ever heard. Ross beamed while I opened the cover and held the author photo on the dust jacket up next to Ross's smiling face. The barista was duly impressed.
Ross and I took our coffees and sat down to share our news. We talked family, we talked writing, we talked publishing. Ross told me he's already about a quarter of the way through the next "Zol Szabo Medical Mystery" and filled me in on the basic plot. I gave him a little update on Phillip Gold and we compared notes.
Ross was good enough to sign my copy of Tainted for me and I'm even mentioned, alongside John, in the Acknowledgments at the back. A nice compliment for both of us. After our coffee, Ross and I walked back to Bryan Prince to look at his book in the window. What a great experience, to stand with a first-time novelist and share in his joy at seeing his beautifully published book in a bookshop window!
Other than the very pleasant chance to catch up with an old friend and a respected colleague, I also gained some excellent tips from Ross on how to improve my Gold book. I'll be looking to work up a strong subplot, something in a legal, courtroom line to compliment the main mystery plot. I'll also be working to add some convincing personal habits for my main character.
No, Ross didn't suggest that one directly. But he does it so well in Tainted that I figure I'll steal the idea from him.
Ross published his medical memoir, The Unforgiving Tides, a couple of years ago with a small publisher in the Hamilton area and then worked his own tail off to make it sell. And sell it did. He then decided he wanted to try fiction on for size, specifically medical mysteries, and John and I had the honour of being involved on the ground floor of that venture.
As I've mentioned before on this blog, Ross's first medical mystery novel, Tainted, has recently been published by ECW Press in Toronto. The early drafts were very good. The published novel is even better. I'm still reading the beginning stages but I'm impressed with how good it is: how much credit for that John and I can claim I'm not sure, of course.
But I'm not writing this entry to talk about Tainted. More on that book later, once I've savoured every word. I'm more interested in writing about what a nifty evening it was to chat with Ross now that he's a published purveyor of fiction.
In preparation for our meeting, I had wandered over to a place called Bryan Prince Booksellers, just up the street from the coffee shop, to see if they had Ross' book on the shelves yet. In keeping with Prince's commitment to local authors, they not only had it in stock, it was beautifully displayed both in the big picture window at the front of the store and on a table inside. For good measure, a stack of Tainted sat right by the cash register, with the other "must buy" books. This is just a small sign of the fantastic support Bryan Prince gives to writers from the Hamilton area.
I met up with Ross in the line for coffee. He had a copy of the book in hand for me and I was admiring its cover while we waited to order. The barista looked up, saw the novel, and cooed, "Oh, that looks good. What is it?": one of the nicest unsolicited compliments I've ever heard. Ross beamed while I opened the cover and held the author photo on the dust jacket up next to Ross's smiling face. The barista was duly impressed.
Ross and I took our coffees and sat down to share our news. We talked family, we talked writing, we talked publishing. Ross told me he's already about a quarter of the way through the next "Zol Szabo Medical Mystery" and filled me in on the basic plot. I gave him a little update on Phillip Gold and we compared notes.
Ross was good enough to sign my copy of Tainted for me and I'm even mentioned, alongside John, in the Acknowledgments at the back. A nice compliment for both of us. After our coffee, Ross and I walked back to Bryan Prince to look at his book in the window. What a great experience, to stand with a first-time novelist and share in his joy at seeing his beautifully published book in a bookshop window!
Other than the very pleasant chance to catch up with an old friend and a respected colleague, I also gained some excellent tips from Ross on how to improve my Gold book. I'll be looking to work up a strong subplot, something in a legal, courtroom line to compliment the main mystery plot. I'll also be working to add some convincing personal habits for my main character.
No, Ross didn't suggest that one directly. But he does it so well in Tainted that I figure I'll steal the idea from him.