New Family Author

Months ago, in a partnership between the Sudbury Writers Guild, of which I am a member and Reading Town, a National organization that advocates reading, there was a call for short stories. It was to deal with the town of Capreol, north of Sudbury which is celebrating their Centennial Anniversary this year. There was a story that I had heard about my own father getting lost in the bush while hunting and that he spent a night in the bush with his partner. I contact him and asked him to write down the facts so that I could use the material for a short story that I had planned to submit.

When he finally got around to writing the facts down, he did so in long hand rather than point form as I thought he would. With some minor editing, his story was good enough to submit as he had written it. And that is exactly what I did, but I submitted it under his name as the original author.

Snap forward a few months, I get invited to an event that originally says that my own story was accepted and then a second invite saying that my father’s story was accepted. After a few confused emails, I was able to confirm that my father’s story had indeed been accepted. The only thing was he had no idea I had submitted it under his name.

Next came a conspiracy that would make Watergate pale in comparison. I had to arrange to have my father brought from his home on Manitoulin Island to the town of Capreol (two and half hours away) for a presentation that he had no idea was, in part for him. Thankfully between my two co-conspirators, my sister and mother, they managed to convince him to make a road trip into the unknown.

When he arrived in the beautiful Railway Museum, he saw the banner his story had been transcribed to but was really confused to see his name rather than my own. The surprise was complete. He had become a published author dealing with an historical event. Oh did I mention? He’s a history nut.

For the next hour he was able to meet other authors who also celebrated their short stories. One further surprise was when the organizer of the event presented him with a cheque for his writing. He was a paid author.

I told him he should quickly buy a case of beer before mother found out.