Paperback Writer

When you meet someone new, and you've gotten to talk to them for a while, the conversation often turns to the subject of (for young adults) the rest of the family, including your parents and what they do. So to set the record straight for the curious, my parents are fairly normal. Mom had an arts-related career since she was an elementary school teacher, and she was also interested in writing. Dad, on the other hand, was more of the scientific type. His careers intertwined with several individual disciplines. He started out as a land surveyor with some engineering background, then went on to work for Lafarge Canada as a quarry manager and also a shipping terminal manager.

One day, a year or so ago, my mother called me on the phone. Luckily, my parents have both wholely embraced the use of email (after I initially accused at least one of them as being a Luddite). So phone calls are fairly irregular now, and I wasn't sure what merited this one. Anyway, mom got right to the point: "So, guess what? Your dad has a new career. Can you guess what it is?"

I couldn't.

Her reply, "He's writing romance novels."

I suspect that there was a long pause at this point, before I finally replied, "Pardon me, but can you repeat that?"

I had heard her clearly. He had decided to become a writer. And no, I could have guessed for months about his alleged new career, but I would never have guessed that.



His first novel, Tatamagouche Inheritance, is already out in print. Dad grew up in Tatamagouche (and I spent many summers playing on the farm there while I was growing up), so it seems like a fitting setting for his first novel. I have a backlog of about 200 books at my house, sitting by the bed, which I really wish I had time to read, so I haven't actually read his yet. However, some of my female friends have read excerpts from his book to me aloud, much to their own amusement. Maybe I'll have to keep several copies on hand just to give out. However, I somehow inwardly cringe at the thought of bringing someone home to "meet the parents" someday, and have her get all excited to meet this wonderful romance writer in person, and it's my own father.

Anyway, this book is now available from the Wild Rose Press, for anyone looking to pick up some summer reading material. It promises to be full of conflict and sexual tension, and he has more books on the way. You can also check out www.davidclark.ca for more background about him.