My Thoughts on “Scribbling Women”

I really enjoyed exploring the lives included in Marthe Jocelyn’s "Scribbling Women". This book was interesting not just because of the rare writing that it explores, but because of the adventures portrayed. Real women - wives and mothers, sisters and slaves - who struck out in new and unconventional ways, and managed to write about it. The fact that many of them were literate at all is impressive for their eras.

One of my favourite "Scribbling Women" was Mary Hayden Russell in Chapter 3. She’s a bit like a real-life Elizabeth Swann, sailing the high seas and being entertained at various seaports in the Atlantic Ocean. Through Mary’s accounts, we get a glimpse of what life was like for other adventurous women – the wives and daughters of colonial governors. Perhaps for the same love of Pirates, I was also intrigued by Mary Kingley, who made a similar voyage to the Canary Islands and spent her life exploring and recording.

To me, "Scribbling Women" is the kind of book you want to put into the hands of any young woman who is destined for great things. It proves over and over again that life can take you anywhere. In a world where we record pretty much everything about ourselves and share with the public, the significance of a book like "Scribbling Women" could easily be lost. I hope it finds more readers like me who will treasure the life stories with in.

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On Saturday, September 25th, a very cool thing happened in Toronto: more than 600 screaming fans gathered at Six Degrees Club in order to celebrate books!

As a publisher and life long reader, I have to say that this scene brought joy to my heart. Just before the event, I was standing in line with oodles of readers aged 11-17, and all they could talk about were books! What they were reading, what they wanted to read. Recommendations were flying back and forth, followed by squeals of delight when someone mentioned a favourite title.

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Signing a book for dance buddy Jane, at Babar en Ville

WHOOSH! That sound you just heard? That was February rushing by. And the thump? That’s me, landing on my butt in March, thinking “did that just happen? Did I just do that?”
Do what, exactly? Everything. Seriously:

1- Launch Rhythm and Blues (a teen comedy of ambition, identity and Auto-Tune!) with my favourite Montreal writer friends, at Babar en Ville.

Reading and mingling with guests, including authors P.J. Bracegirdle, Monique Polack and J.L. Scharf, and illustrators Susan Mitchell and Suana Verelst.

2- Keep the party going all month with SweatFest, with my dancing buds at Studio Sweatshop, where we all did twenty eight street dance classes in twenty eight days.

3- Finish a whole manuscript draft for a future project of unknowable fabulousness.

4- Read 5 1/2 books, including C.K. Kelly Martin’s I Know It’s Over, Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun, Chris Cleave’s Little Bee and Gayla Trail’s Grow Great Grub.

5- Do fun authory things like go to writers union workshops, and speak on a panel for Yes Oui CANSCAIP, to help other writers figure out how to get their books out there.

The Babar en Ville party was warm, and fun, with lots of food. I got up and did a reading, and there was plenty of time to chat with new friends and old, and sign a few books!

At the end of SweatFest, there was a prize draw, and two intrepid SweatFesters, Janice and Julio, won copies of Rhythm and Blues, and Break on Through.

SweatFest Winner, Janice

And here’s a hot tip: February is over, but the winning is not! If you’re in Montreal, and want to pick up a copy of Rhythm and Blues or my first book, Break on Through if you go to Babar en Ville between now and March 17th, you still have time to enter our contest to score dance classes and Reebok, shoes!

Before it got light on the 24th of September, I was already awake to finishing my packing and set off for Toronto. My second book, Voices in the Dark, has just come out in Canada. Doubleday Canada were the first publishers to sign my books, four years ago when I had just finished The Eyes of a King, and I was looking forward to finally meeting some of the people who have been working on the trilogy since then. It was also an exciting trip as I hadn’t taken many flights before - I’d only travelled within Europe, and there was usually a greener way of going the few hundred miles, but this time it was too far to go by train!

The flight went quickly, and we landed in Canada while it was still light, which was confusing as by the time I reached the hotel it was already nearly midnight back at home. My first impressions were of the towering buildings, the wide roads, the beautiful lake, which looked more like the sea - everything was on a bigger scale than the UK. I’ve hardly seen any skyscrapers in London; in Toronto they were everywhere.

I had half an hour to get ready before the tour officially started, so I had a quick cup of tea then went downstairs to meet Nicola from Doubleday, who was organising the trip, and my editor, Amy. The tour was planned out very carefully, as I only had two days in Canada. First there was a dinner, then early in the morning we would be setting off to meet staff at ten different bookstores. I had a really good evening talking to everyone, then headed back to the hotel to get some sleep after nearly 24 hours!

I set off at eight the next morning, with Nicola and Mike from Doubleday, and several boxes of books, in Mike’s red Jeep. The plan was to travel around Mississauga and Toronto to visit bookstores, meet staff and sign copies. Some of the highlights of the day were…

Talking to Chapters and Indigo staff - lots of them had read The Eyes of a King, so it was exciting to hear their impressions of the book. I also got to find out about what their side of the book trade involved - everything from advising a fan of fantasy, drama or graphic novels on what to read next to organising young adult book clubs. Seeing the teen fiction sections in the bookstores; in the UK they tend to be much smaller. It was also a big moment to see my own books on the shelves, as I don’t usually go and look at them when I’m in a bookstore back at home.

Talking to library staff over lunch about our favourite books - we’d read a lot of the same ones.

Finding out how much the staff have to read, in order to choose the books for the independent stores. I had tea with staff at the Flying Dragon Bookshop and they told me that most of the books there have been read and selected personally. I study English at university and sometimes have to read two 400-page novels in a week, but in comparison that looked quite simple.

After visiting the last bookstore, I said goodbye to Taylor and headed back to the hotel. There was just time to walk around Toronto the next morning before going back to the airport. On the plane journey home I tried to remember everything that had happened on the trip. During the two days I had travelled over six thousand miles, signed hundreds of books and met more than fifty new people. That was what remained most clearly - they were all interesting, friendly and very passionate about books and stories. And I liked the thought of the copies that I’d signed remaining with readers in Canada, as a kind of link between the two.