Kathleen trained as a professional dancer at The Quinte Ballet School and The School of the Toronto Dance Theatre before embarking on a journalism career.
At Memorial University, from which she graduated with a BA (English) in 1998, she worked on the student newspaper, the muse. Following graduation, she worked at a number of Canadian newspapers including The Express (St. John’s) where she won a Canadian Community Newspaper Association award for arts reporting, The Hanover Post (Ontario), a number of newspapers under the corporate umbrella of the Northern News Services, 24 Hours (Toronto), and the Calgary Sun.
For Northern News Services, after a short stint in Yellowknife, Kathleen served as Bureau Chief in Iqaluit, Nunavut.
Her experience includes writing, editing, page layout and design, and photography. Her Northern experience was in a cross-cultural setting primarily reporting news from Inuit communities.
After spending many years in Iqaluit, Kathleen now lives with her husband in Ottawa and St. John’s.
1 - How did your first book change your life?
Arctic Predator (AP) is my first book, and it changed my life considerably, first and foremost by making me an author - not just a newspaper journalist writing “the Ed Horne story.” The writing was very different than newspaper writing. It took time. There were dozens of very difficult interviews with victims of childhood sexual abuse. I had never taken on such a major story before. And when Ed Horne agreed to be interviewed, I knew my life had really changed. I had never interviewed such a devious criminal before. I had to be stronger. My writing had to be clearer and bolder than it had ever been. And I’ve had to give interviews to journalists - something I’m not used to at all, I’m serious! - about AP. So yes, my world changed with Arctic Predator.
2 - How did you come to journalism first, as opposed to, say, fiction or poetry?
I was always much more interested in writing non-fiction as opposed to fiction or poetry. I read widely and secretively as a child, because the books I liked were mostly adult, non-fiction books – the ones I’d get from my family’s bookshelves in my home which were, much to my parent’s credit, at child-eye level, close to the floor. My mom had a particularly good collection of books on the Kennedy presidency, his assassination, and I was absolutely drawn to those at a young age. She also had books like Go Boy! by Roger Caron and books by humourist Erma Bombeck, and the fabulous The Tomb of Tutankhamen by Howard Carter and Arthur Cruttender Mace. I was in heaven with those. As soon as I could start working for a newspaper I did because I wanted to be close to non-fiction stories every day. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love fiction and poetry. I studied great works when I did my English degree at Memorial University. But my heart is in reading and writing non-fiction work.
3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
Normally I write quickly then go back and edit a lot. I am not so afraid to “kill my darlings” or that sort of phrase I hear fiction writers use sometimes. I write in notebooks with a pen. I use yellow legal pads too to get out big ideas and write long passages that may or may not make it into a book. I record many interviews as well, and then painstakingly transcribe them. Then everything goes into WORD on my computer. Shaping and re-writing and editing – that all took years for Arctic Predator. When I was a newspaper journalist I could write stories quickly and I was good at it, I believe. For this book, I had collected information from many different sources over the course of several years. Then I had to hear the story in my head and then write it. The final version of Arctic Predator took four years of solid work before I was ready to send it to a publisher. And I’d first started thinking about the story 20 years ago.
4 - Where does a project usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?
With Arctic Predator I was working on a book, and only a book, from the beginning. People would say “You should do a podcast! People love True Crime podcasts!” I was like, No. AP is going to come out as a book first. That was my focus.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I’m not sure I enjoy doing readings. But I will do readings if I am asked to. This story, Arctic Predator, is true crime, so it’s not easy to read aloud. It’s emotional. It can be very upsetting for people to hear a reading from this book.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?
I had one big question that guided me for 20 years : WHAT HAPPENED? In the case of Arctic Predator, it took a long time to answer that question. And it took a long time to answer simple questions, like, WHO HIRED ED HORNE? WHERE DID HE WORK IN THE NORTH, and WHEN? HOW DID HE GET CAUGHT? IS HE STILL ALIVE? These questions are just some examples of simple things that took me years to sort out and get AP to a place where I felt OKAY, I have a book here that is of interest to the Canadian public.
7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
A writer digs inside of themselves, knows what they can do, has a real feel for that, and then gets it onto the page somehow. That’s my view of a real writer.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
I love working with an editor. I guess it would be terrible if your editor didn’t have a feel for you and your work and its value. I had editors on AP that got me: They were very astute, very hard working, and really believed that AP should get out into the world. I am very thankful for them.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Don’t let the bastards get you down! I saw this written across the Whitehorse Star’s building in Whitehorse, Yukon, and thought YES. Thank you!
10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?
The earlier in the morning the better. When I wrote AP I was up at 4 a.m. every morning writing the book until I had the bulk of it done. I left the last chapter until the bitter end and agonized over every word. I mean, I agonize over every word anyways, but for AP the last chapter was tough to write.
11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
I’ll pick up Joan Didion’s The White Album and read some of that. Or George Orwell’s essays. These people just strike a match for me and my writing. Then I’ll do some stretches (I have a yoga mat stretched out on the floor in my home office) and drink some green tea and go back to work.
12 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
Lavender and pine.
13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
I agree with McFadden. I also listen to a lot of classical music when I’m deep into writing – Mozart, and big Hollywood movie score-like stuff. And the Icelandic group Sigur Ros.
14 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
I’ll get into the authors of a place I’m in – like if I’m in Newfoundland for a longer stretch than usual, I’ll make sure to refresh my knowledge of Newfoundland writers and what’s going on, like – read some Lisa Moore I haven’t read, some more Michael Crummey, some more Wayne Johnston.
15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Travel to Japan and soak in the hot springs there and explore their amazing cuisine.
16 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
I could have been a dance choreographer. That would have been fun I think. But the writing completely took over my life, and I’m fine with that.
17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
Well, the writing always won out because I’d do it whether I was getting paid or not. If you do something no matter what; if you do something all the time that’s actually really hard and painful at times, and no one is watching and patting you on the back, and there is no guarantee of money? You know that’s real. That’s love! That’s what you’re about. Arctic Predator, the book, reveals the real me out in the world, doing my thing.
18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
The last great book I read was Childhood, Youth and Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen. The last great film was Conclave.
19 - What are you currently working on?
Writing Arctic Predator was very emotionally draining for me, so I’m taking a break from all writing projects at the moment, and focusing on my health by taking pilates and yoga classes.
12 or 20 (second series) questions;
No comments:
Post a Comment