About “The Bale”

1. What was your motivation for writing “The Bale”?

It’s based on family history. My maternal great-grandfather was injured in a very similar industrial accident and died on the day he was to be released from hospital. It had a devastating effect on my grandmother and her family, as you might imagine.

2. What challenges—if any—did you have writing your short story?

Adjusting the setting was a trick; I moved the story from Birmingham, England, to the fictional city of Durrand in Canada. But the biggest challenge was finding the right POV and voice. I often find that’s the case; a story you heard from one POV actually works better told by someone else.

3. What is your favourite line—if any—in “The Bale”? 

I suppose it’s Selena’s reaction when the policeman informs her her husband has died: “Don’t you call me a widow! Don’t you dare!” I can’t actually claim credit for that line though; it’s what my great-grandmother actually said. I still hear it in my Grandmother’s voice when she told me the story. Of the lines I wrote, I suppose my favourite is “Hard work means clean money, Bill.” I think it sums up an attitude that has largely disappeared from society, but one we probably should remember.

4. What do you want people to walk away with after reading “The Bale”?

That life changes in an instant and that, often enough, the event that changes your life happens not to you, but to someone around you. It always amazes me the number of people who walk around as if what they are and what they have at this moment wasn’t transitory and fleeting. It’s our greatest delusion.

5. Is there anything else you would like to talk about regarding “The Bale” that hasn’t been asked?

Nothing in it is “made up” out of whole cloth. My great uncle really did go to work on a milk-route; my grandmother and one sister were sent to live in an orphanage (a Bernardo home) temporarily.  The company really did throw the family out on the street with nothing.

Reading

1. What are you currently reading?

John Le Carré’s final novel: Agent Running in the Field (2019). 

2. Do you have a favourite book? If so, what is it?

My favourite would have to be The Lord of the Rings, which I first read in 1974, and have read more times than I can count since then.

3. What is your favourite poet or author, if any?

Omar Khayyam. I have most of the Fitzgerald translation memorized, since it was the first one I read, but I’ve also read it in more literal and (some would say) faithful translations, too. His work stands up to multiple readings, and people who think it’s mere sensuality miss a lot.

4. Do you gravitate towards reading genres outside the ones you write?

I write in a wide variety of genres, and read a wide variety, too. I’m most at home in historical fiction. 

Writing

1. Why do you write?

I’m dyslexic and struggled to learn to read; once I did, I couldn’t stop reading, and the desire to write grew out of that. 

2. What do you love about being a writer?

Taking just the vaguest glimmer of a story and fleshing it out into something that didn’t exist before.  The whole “Secondary Creation” thing that Tolkien talked about is so amazing to me. Even when it’s a lot of work, it’s rewarding.

3. What time of the day do you write, and do you have a writing routine?

Early morning, usually starting around 5:00 a.m. I’ve always been a morning person and that is when things flow most easily.  I try to write at least 1,000 words, but I don’t beat myself up about it. 

4. Where do you get your ideas from?

Everywhere. Things I’ve heard (or overheard), things I’ve seen or read. Often I’ll see a picture and feel the need to write a story about it. Sometimes a line of dialogue just springs into my head and demands to be turned into a story. 

5. How long does it take you to write your projects?

Oh, it’s very variable. I’ve written novels in a month, and agonized over short stories for weeks, through dozens of revisions.

6. What advice would you give to other authors/writers/poets?

Ignore 90 per cent of the writing advice you’re given, but always be open to suggestions from editors.

7. What project(s) are you currently working on?

I just finished a short story that I need to revise. I have a dystopian speculative novel that’s almost ready to query. I’m going to start revising a historical fantasy novel that I wrote in 2023 and set aside this year.