Of all the books I reviewed in 2024, The List of Last Chances earned the most page views. Inspired by this popularity, I asked author Christina Myers to be a guest on this blog and she kindly agreed. I enjoyed learning more about her writing life and know you will too.
Photo by Wendy Lees
How/why did you start to write?
I started to write when I was a kid, just little stories here and there. I'm positive that arose out of being a really avid reader. I inhaled Nancy Drew books, Anne of Green Gables, and then before I was probably old enough to, I started reading Stephen King and my mom's romance novels. I think when you experience that magic of being transported by someone else's writing, you love the idea of being able to do the same thing yourself, of giving that gift of disappearing into a book. In high school and university, writing was pretty much limited to essays and reports and this will sound weird but I actually really loved doing those - it felt like stretching these great muscles to be creative in that way, and I felt like I was good at it. I didn't get really serious about my writing until my 30s though.
How did you become an author?
I had left my full-time job when my kids were little and I was doing a bit of freelance work but it felt flat and uncreative. Eventually I decided to make a real effort at it, and I knew I needed structure. After some research I decided to apply to the Writer's Studio at SFU. That year really changed my path - I met so many people and built a community of fellow writers, which helped so much with creativity and learning and just feeling like I had a "place" and people to look to for help and support. I started submitting non-fiction and fiction to various journals and competitions and had some early successes and that gave me the boost to just keep chipping away. A few years later, I published my first novel.
Reflect on your writing process:
I wish I had a single process, but it varies hugely depending on the time of year and the actual project. I seem to work differently in fall versus spring, for example, and with fiction versus non-fiction. But in general, even when I'm working with a daily routine, I find my work tends to come in big leaps - one day will be a huge amount or a big lightbulb goes off and then the next few weeks will be small incremental additions.
What did you do before embarking on your writing career?
Was it an asset to your writing? How?
My first degree at university was in psychology and I definitely think that has helped my writing! But I never worked in that field; after I finished my degree, I did a second degree in journalism and that was where I landed in my career. It was a way to write and get paid a wage to do it. And I got to learn about a lot of interesting people everyday. I did that for about 13 years before I left. And it has been an asset for sure but not in the way people think - there seems to be an assumption that the fields are so closely related that it's easier to get published in literary work but that's definitely not the case. I didn't know anyone in the publishing industry, didn't have any special connections. But it did help me a ton in other ways - I learned how to work fast and clean and meet a deadline. I learned how to edit my own work and how to work collaboratively. I am often told by the people I work with that they enjoy working with me because I am responsive, efficient ... I'm always thinking about the next person in the production line after me, knowing that an editor or a proofreader or a layout person will have to take my words and get them publication ready. So I want their job to be as easy as possible, and that means I try to cross my T's and dot my I's and deliver clean good copy that doesn't need a lot of work to prep.
What inspires you?
oh that's a good question - I think I'd say other writers because I'm always blown away by the ideas that people come up with, the tenacity and determination I see in other writers. It's the most exciting thing when I have a writer friend who gets that phone call from an agent or publisher and I know that behind the scenes there has been rejection, and that they had to keep picking themselves back up and trying again, to make it happen.
Please share one of your successful author platform-building techniques:
I have a really hard time asking people to "pay attention to me" - it's one of the things about social media in general that I find challenging. But sharing your books, your events, your updates is really critical when you're a writer. It's part of how you promote and publicize your work. On the other hand, I find it really easy and fun to promote other people, to be a cheerleader for other writers and so I do a lot of that, it feels much more authentic to be paying attention to other people and to be sharing their work out to other people. And that is across the board, from emerging writers placing in a contest to a multipublished author announcing a new book. I get excited for people and I like cheering them on. And though it wasn't intentional, I think that kind of outward-looking focus feels genuine to people who are watching, and so they're maybe more inclined to want to follow you as a result? I don't have heaps and heaps of followers but I think the people who do follow me are there partly because of that - because I'm not just there to talk about my own stuff.
Parting words:
Keep going. If the urge to write is in you, it won't go away. You have stories to tell! And if you don't feel like a writer, and you're waiting for that magical moment when you will, I can tell you that no outside approval or success will get you there - it's an inside job. So start telling yourself right now, every day: I am a writer, I belong here, I can do this.
Published in 2024
Halfway Home: Thoughts From Midlife (non-fiction, essays) - From first bra to first hot flashes, the essays in Halfway Home consider and re-consider the lessons we’ve learned through media and culture-–and often from each other—about our bodies, gender roles, aging, parenting, and our own futures in an uncertain world, as we reach and move through midlife. With warmth and wit, tears and laughter, Halfway Home is a reminder that none of us are walking home alone.
Published in 2021
The List of Last Chances (fiction) - Heartfelt and humorous, The List of Last Chances follows a pair of reluctant travel companions across the country into an unexpected friendship, new adventures, and the rare gift of second chances. From PEI to Vancouver, this road trip story takes readers along for a ride that reveals that our best life might be right around the corner - if we have the courage to keep going and see.
February on this blog
Sunday, February 9
Love Stories: a collection
I'm celebrating love in all its wonderous forms in this collection of prose and poetry--just in time for Valentine's Day.
Sunday, February 16
Two Paths (short story)
Inspiration for this story came from two sources--a quote by Ella Winter "Don't you know you can't go home again?" and Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken
Sunday, February 23
Grandma's Knitting Needles Sing (children's story)
This children's story celebrates the bond between grandparents and grandchildren, introduces the art of knitting, and explains how wool is produced.
