Ten years ago I found myself living in a non-winterized cabin in the woods during the winter. I had just moved back to the coast from Toronto, where I’d met setbacks to my career and to my love life.
So I wrote, starting in February, moving through spring, and into June. If you’ve ever read The Rite of James Biddle you might have noticed that it takes place from winter to summer of 2011. This is because I set the novel in the exact same time period that I wrote it in. For example, the novel briefly mentions the Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver, which I accidentally walked through and then helped clean up after the next day (during a brief time away from the cabin). The riot delayed the writing of the chapter that mentions the riot.
Now, ten years later, I have a wife, a child, a second child on the way, and am in the process of moving into the same neighbourhood my novel’s protagonist lived in, or would have lived in were he real. The house is on the same street that my grandfather lived on when he was young. My grandfather who built the cabin in which I wrote the novel.
I love my family and home. I have a new career. I don’t have much time to write. But I did make time to create a podcast which features some of my writing, including a novel I completed just before baby and career arrived. I started the podcast season in winter. I’ve pushed through till June and now conclude both season and novel with the final chapter of A Dragon for George. I plan to release a few smaller vignettes in the summer — including some promised sonnets — but Season 1 of The Literary Comedy Podcast is complete.
Some of you have been with me the whole way: thank you, bless you, and keep you. Some of you may have listened to an episode or two or none at all. If you liked what you heard or are curious to hear something, you can now listen to them all in a row. Not all the stories of season 1 are family friendly, but A Dragon for George is, as long as your family doesn’t involve children quite so young as mine.
Regardless, if and when you finish A Dragon for George, you might enjoy listening to the first couple of chapters again. Things end up back where they started for the main character, but also in a completely new place.
Narrative comedy, for lovers of laugh-out-loud literature (or “lololl’s” for short). A mix of novels (chapter by chapter), short stories, and theatrical shows to help you laugh along with the human condition.
Sonnet for Spring Sonnet Contest Winner Tara Travis. Listen closely. The first letter of each line spells Tara's chosen phrase: ”Y O U 'R E S O A W E S O M E”.