I finally got around to interviewing Leah. It was great fun, since she is, like me, an English teacher who likes to travel. I think my favorite response was to the question about her creativity in the classroom. I always love to hear creative ideas for classroom activities.
(Editorial apology: I have checked and rechecked the html - somehow it is messing up the links. Sorry! Wish I were better at this whole gig!)
1) I noticed the "editor-for-hire" bit on the side. I secretly hope that someone will read my book reviews and offer to pay me money to write book reviews. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet. Has your link netted you any extra jobs or income?
Not that particular link. I do have another ad on a self-publisher's website which brings me 1-2 jobs per year, which is just the right amount for me. I really enjoy the work. I've done a couple of novels, a few memoirs, a book on real estate, one on whisky and the last, the most interesting, about a woman's encounters with aliens.
2) O.K., I have to ask how you acquired the nickname "Gizzy?" I have had many nicknames over the years (perhaps because we moved quite a bit and many different people gave me alternate names). In my teen years, several older girls in our youth band started calling me "Gidget" (which I only recently learned is a contraction of the words "girl midget" - groan!). They told me it was because I reminded them of the girl in the Gidget movies. Have you had any other nicknames you'd be willing to share?
My mom used to call me "Missy" which I hated. I got it most times when I was in trouble. I think my dad started making fun of the "Missy" and somehow it got transformed into "Gizzy" and became an affectionate term from him. Often he would refer to me as "The Giz."
I don't think I've had any other nicknames!
3) You mentioned that you would like to travel. Where are the destinations you would most like to visit and why? Where have you been and what took you there?
Great question! Obviously I am ecstatic about visiting New York city - we leave on Tuesday! As for why I want to go...New York seems to be the center of the universe right now. Every TV show and movie seems to be set there, and a lot of blogs I read are written by men and women who live there. I've been up and down the west coast of this continent many times. I've taken shorter trips to more eastern Canadian cities-- Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa--where something is different. It's the pace, the cosmopolitan feel, the music... the people are different out there, in a good way. I miss it, that difference, and am sure New York will put a whole new spin on things.
As for other places in the world I'd like to see...I'd love to go to Japan, Italy, Spain, Scotland, Russia. Perhaps in another post I'll elaborate on why...
Where have I been? I'll pick one place: St. John's, Newfoundland. I went there for the accent, the screech and the kippers roasted on the beach. I need to go again.
4) You also mentioned that you hope to experience motherhood one day. Since I have only boys, and had begun to long for a girl, do you have any preferences? How many do you hope to have? Does your husband want the same number?
I'm not sure, I'm not sure! It's hard to imagine my future children and I don't know what kind I'd like! I do know one thing for sure, however, I'd like my children to have siblings. I think the relationship with a sibling is one of the most precious relationships in life. Your brother/sister is the one person that is with you through your entire childhood and, hopefully, is with you into old age. When/If I become pregnant, I might have some more answers for you.
5) You have a link to The Modern Letter Project. Are you a participant in that? Do you write many snail mail letters? Do you have (or have you had) a foreign pen pal?
I am a participant in The Modern Letter Project, however I think I'm going to drop out. Although I've been faithfully writing letters to my assigned people, I haven't received a letter nor a reply since last summer. Sad. I continued to write because it was fun in any case, but I also like to get these surprise letters. Also, since I don't get a letter, I keep forgetting to write mine and end up sending off my letters quite late, which is unfair to other participants. Perhaps I'll rejoin again at another time.
My good friend, Sherrey, and I write snail mail letters to one another. It's the only good thing about her move away from me. I wrote a real letter to another good friend of mine, Katie, in January and she wrote back after an altercation with her fountain pen. I plan on writing back...
No foreign pen pals! You?
6) You seem like a very creative teacher. What are some of the memorable things you have done to bring literature alive in the classroom (I love that you ran to get a conch shell during a recent class - I bet the students admired your spunk and spontaneity)?
Thanks, Wendy! I've been beating myself up over the past couple of weeks for the boring activities I've been thinking up. Sometimes I think the kids really like the good ol' worksheet. I always hated it, but I also hated group work. So I know there needs to be a balance. Last year when I read "The Tell-Tale Heart" with my grade 8s I did something called a "tea party." (I'm not sure why it's called that). I typed up random phrases from the story and then handed those out prior to reading. From their phrases, the students were to try and figure out what the story was about. Then they compared with another student, and elaborated. Then they enlarged their group and finally made their way around the room, comparing phrases. The stories they thought up were sometimes almost right on, but always crazy with imagination! Then when I read the story aloud, they were listening for their phrase. It was great.
Another thing I liked that I tried this year was oral story-telling. After a stint of daily silent reading, I suddenly began to tell my story of the biggish earthquake of 2001 (when my students were in grade 4). They listened, a little perplexed with why I was telling them, but responded with wide eyes and "I remember!" Then I asked them to think up a story that they would like to tell. Just short and sweet, didn't have to be momentous or revealing. I put them into pairs and gave them 2 minutes each to tell their stories. Then I shuffled the pairs and they told their stories again. And again. The class was alive with animated chatter, all telling stories. It was great. I need to do it again.
7) If you weren't teaching, what would be a second profession (besides writing) that you would like to pursue?
Tricky, you are. I think I'd like to work in radio - specifically, the CBC. I love that bloody station. I don't know what my role would be, because I don't know that much about how it works, but somehow involved in creating radio, without getting into the journalism side.
Nursing. I did work as a nurse's aide for awhile which, as I've said, was really difficult and really rewarding. I think if I hadn't gotten this teacher thing on the brain, I would have continued my schooling and completed my RN.
8) I admire the freedoms you must have as a DINK. What are some of your favorite things that you enjoy right now, which you know you will probably have to forfeit when you start a family?
- Slipping into a pub with friends to have a drink or two after work.
- Dinners out with Ryan. We go out a lot because 1) we are lazy around the dinner hour and 2) we can basically afford it right now. I know when I have kids I will need to think more about nutrition, money and routines.
- Long, lazy days with nothing to do unless I want to.
- Hours spent planning for my classes.
- Reading a book for hours at a time.
- Getting into the car and going--anywhere--at a moment's inspiration.
9) Being a book lover, I have to throw this one back at ya! What are some of your favorite books?
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman
The Way the Crow Flies, Ann-Marie MacDonald
The Time-Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
Cat's Eye, Margaret Atwood
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
Harry Potter and the..., J.K. Rowling
The Bean Trees & Pigs in Heaven, Barbara Kingsolver
10) If you could interview any author, who would you choose and why?
Hmmm... Good question. I think Ann-Marie MacDonald. Her books are amazing. I've read both Fall on Your Knees and The Way the Crow Flies. Both are long and completely engrossing stories in which she creates real human beings with real human details. The stories are dark and funny and heartbreaking. And completely satisfying. How? That's what I want to know. How does she do it? How long does it take? If you haven't read any of her works, I highly, highly, highly recommend them.
11) I recently read an article by Robin Hobb, encouraging aspiring writers to resist the temptations to join the blogosphere. It had some interesting points (you can read my post from yesterday about it - I'm hoping for lots of feedback from other writers). She basically says that blogging is easy and makes you feel like you are a writer, when really you have not produced the art that will last for years to come - the novel. She mentions the blog will "siphon the creativity from your fingertips." What is your opinion on this issue? Do you think of your blog as good writing practice? Do you think that it keeps you from writing a novel? Do you think it limits your readership or enhances it? Do you enjoy it more than working on a novel (this is my take at the moment, when time for serious work is at a minimum)? I'd love to hear your ideas on this issue (wish I could have presented this question as eloquently as your NPR quote question did!).
Hmm, again! I read your post and see what Robin is saying. Yes, I get my writing fix by posting on my blog. However I do think this blog, this twice-weekly writing exercise, has helped keep my writing fluent. Yes, it is easy and messy sometimes and awkward at others. But I get it out, similar to The Artist's Way. I think it enhances my creativity, stimulates it. "How do I know what I think until I see what I say?" said W. H. Auden. When I get it out, manipulate it a bit, I do discover unknown things that were hiding in my brain.
As for taking time away from "my novel"*-- well, it probably does. If I needed to write and there were no blog for me to go to, I would probably go to "the novel" inevitably. I thank you for this question, because now I will try to be conscious of my procrastination, and perhaps, sometime in the next twenty years, actually sit down to write something more permanent.
Yet! (there's more to say) I take some offence in Robin's argument here. Why is novel-writing the only valid type of writing? Must we all conform to the form? I try to teach my students that it doesn't have to be perfect: just get it out! Be heard! Say it! So many people stay away from writing because the grammar and the rules scare them to death. I say write! Write in whichever way you choose! Write as much as you can! Just do it already!
* in quotations because it doesn't actually exist.
Thanks again, Wendy. Your questions were great and I enjoyed spending my Sunday morning answering them...
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