Award-winning author Susan Juby wrote her first book, Alice, I Think, in the mornings before she went to work.
She first started it on the bus and then went every morning to a coffee shop to write. She did everything by hand back then, but now she’s switched to using her laptop.
Making the initial step to start writing her book was big. From about the age of 13 to 27, she didn’t write, said Juby. She would listen to authors on the radio for inspiration.
“I really hung onto everything. Writers can encourage someone. It can make a big difference to someone’s career,” said Juby.
Now, Juby is an multi-award-winning author. She also helps encourage and guide young writers in their craft as a faculty member of Vancouver Island University’s creative writing and journalism program.
Writing is the first thing she does every morning. She sets herself daily goals. When she is writing those pages, she doesn’t try to edit. The editing process is for later.
“If I started to edit it too heavily, I would never progress past page one. I would just work on it till I died,” said Juby.
Juby said “every project gets into the weeds” sometimes. There have been occasions where she has had to throw out and re-write pages.
“It’s not uncommon to throw out 200 pages of a book,” she said.
Juby said she is a start-to-finish writer. She knows her main character or a scene, but over the writing process, it will change.
“Some books are waiting in my subconscious. Some, I discover them as I write,” said Juby.
She will receive the Excellence in Culture Award during the City of Nanaimo’s Culture and Heritage Awards Ceremony on April 13 at 7 p.m. at the Port Theatre.
According to a city press release, Juby is being recognized for her “outstanding body of work and commitment to her craft” and for her “unflagging support and inspiration for the students of Vancouver Island University.”
Juby’s book The Truth Commission was recently shortlisted for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, awarded for the best non-illustrated children’s book, for the 32nd annual B.C. Book Prizes. Winners will be announced April 30 during the Lieutenant-Governor’s B.C. Book Prizes Gala in Victoria.
arts@nanaimobulletin.com
