The Miramichi Reader

Atlantic Canadian literary magazine "The Mirimachi Reader" has a regular segment called "Why I Wrote This Book", where authors can explain the story behind the story. I was lucky enough to be chosen for issue 51.

Check out the link above, or see what I told them here:

Whenever people ask me, “How do you find the time to write a book?” I always tell them the same thing: “let everything else in your life completely fall apart and you’ll have plenty of time!” My debut novel, The Great Lunenburglary, was written  in my childhood bedroom while living with my parents — conceived during COVID, finished in the wake of a breakup. I was desperate for a project to give my life direction and meaning, so I beat 100% of the shrines in The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, then wrote a novel.

I don’t have the education required to write a book that expands the discourse or sheds light on an important issue or any of that fancy stuff. So, I decided to write a goofy one about teens stealing the Bluenose. Plus, Nova Scotia has enough serious  books already. We’ve all had to process the tragic death of a loved one from alcoholism and/or drowning, after all.

The Great Lunenburglary’s setting was inspired by my youth in Lunenburg, but the voice and pacing were informed by my 15 years in Toronto, performing sketch comedy for drunk crowds and writing for children’s television — two audiences with very short attention spans. I tried to give this book a lot of broad appeal, but my primary goal was to give a smile to Maritime readers who have read less than half a dozen books since high school. By that metric, it’s been a great success!