A couple of weeks ago, Dad, Steve and I spent the day in the West end of town tackling the ravages of IKEA and Bayshore shopping centre. I don't really know what the logic was behind doing this on a Saturday afternoon but, we mentally prepared ourselves for border line holidays shoppers and braved the elements!! We ended up having a really good time and surprisingly enough, we didn't spend a cent on anything other than food (how does that happen?!?!).
Anyways, in between visits to IKEA and Bayshore, we stopped at this fancy furniture store across the Queensway to check out how the better half lives. As we were all roaming around the beautifully set up room displays, Steve suddenly yelled out to me "Hey Gen, come here...this is the kind of desk that we have to get you when you become a writer". Sure enough, Steve had found this amazing solid wood desk that I couldn't have picked out better myself. Then he said "when you start writing your first novel, we should get this and stick it in front a window so you can write!". I was astonished. My husband believed, with complete confidence, that I was going to become a writer.
I have always loved to write. I've been writing ever since I was a very little girl and even in the age of technology, I've still always prefered the long lost art of letter writing. I've been told on more than one occasion that I should write a book and as romantic as it sounds, I've never really taken it very seriously. What would I write about?!?!?
However, one of the people that first suggested to me the idea of writing was a professor of mine in fourth year. He was one of my communications professors and his class was one of the funnest that I had taken throughout university. He thought that I should write a novel about my life and my experiences. I took it as a beautiful compliment and, for the first time, considered my writing abilities as something unique that I had earned the right to be proud of.
Anyways, as it turns out, that professor has become a finalist for the 2006 Governor General's Literary Awards for his non-fiction book The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement. He's up against four other non-fiction books and even if, ultimately, he doesn't win the big prize...he's still going to be the man that helped me to appreciate my writing as a gift to be pursued.
With that being said...I guess maybe I should take his comments to heart and start working on this novel of mine (and saving for the fancy desk!)!!!
Congratulations Professor Strangelove...I'm rooting for you!!!
2 comments:
WOW! You went through IKEA and didn't buy anything? I'm impressed. I hope that someday I can show the same restraint!!
I was incredibly impressed too!! I think that was a first for me! The funniest part though was when we saw a couple get in a big fight over furniture and the husband stormed out of the store stating that he had had enough of "this place"!!
Where's the marriage counselling when you need it?!?!
Post a Comment