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Becoming a published author means that you enter the public arena knowingly and with intent. When I worked in publishing, the author was fêted at a book launch party, chatted with a few radio hosts and participated in book signings across the country. While this still happens to a lucky few, the vast majority of working writers jockey for valuable real estate in cyberspace: trying to ensure that one’s book gains a healthy number of Amazon pre-orders and generates a buzz on Facebook far in advance of its publication date.

Like me, most writers are solitary souls who’d rather spend hours in dusty archives or labour away on a difficult paragraph in one’s study rather than nurture one’s Instagram followers or try and boost the number of Facebook friends. I only joined social media two months ago and it’s been a bit like going from being a librarian to a stripper. Nothing is considered off-limits.  It’s easy to be beguiled by this new anonymous world of friends for the taking and harder to focus on what matters- the words and the writing of books. And yet, natural introvert that I am, I’ve made new friends and fascinating connections with enthusiastic fans throughout the world who now know about Louise Arner Boyd- and that was my goal all along.

It’s only weeks away from the publication of “The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame A Life of Louise Arner Boyd” by Dundurn Press in Toronto. It’s had a long gestation period – over ten years – and to say that I’m anticipating its arrival with delight doesn’t come close to capturing my feelings about its impending arrival. During that ten years, the two people who believed in me as a writer and who loved me unconditionally – my parents – died and will never know that I finally wrote and published a book. As experienced by all writers, there were obstacles that occurred that interrupted the creative process and several times it was nearly derailed. Perhaps because this is the first comprehensive life of Louise Arner Boyd, I felt my responsibility as a biographer keenly. But now it seems that all my hard work, patience and perseverance and the support of those who love me is going to pay off. I’m counting the days!