Huron Expositor, 2007-11-07, Page 15Poge 14 The Huron Expositor • November 7, 2007
News
Author tells St. James students to follow dreams
Susan Hundertniark
While she was just a "skinny,
awkward, normal nobody" from
Goderich, children's author Barbara
Haworth-Attard's 13 novels have
won awards and become known
throughout the U.S.
And, she encouraged students,
while speaking at St. James last
week, to follow their dreams the
way she did.
"There comes a time in your life
when you have to take a chance. I
took a chance on myself while I was
still working in a law firm in
Goderich when I wrote my first
short story in 1992," she said last
Wednesday in Seaforth.
Since then, she began writing
novels and never had a book idea
refused by a publisher.
Winner of the Stellar Book Award
from B.C. and the Snow Willow
Award in Saskatchewan and nomi-
nated for several other awards,
Haworth-Attard says she got every
related book out of the London
Public Library when she decided to
teach herself how to write a novel.
"I knew I was a writer inside but I
had to educate myself about the
business," she said.
She encouraged students to create
Barbara Haworth-Attard shows one of her quilts to students at St. James School.
MUNICIPALITY OF HURON EAST
CLASS ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSESSMENT
PHASE I - SEPTIC SYSTEM
INVESTIGATION
COMMUNITY OF EGMONDVILLE
NOTICE OF STUDY COMMENCEMENT
The Municipality of Huron East is undertaking a Municipal Class
Environmental Assessment (Class EA) to investigate the need to extend
municipal sanitary sewers to the community of E$mondville. Phase I of
the study will assess the condition of existing private sewage disposal sys-
tems servicing the community and to determine potential impacts associ-
ated with the operation of these on the surrounding environment. The
study will involve on-site interviews, as well as bacterial sampling of
storm sewers, drainage ditches and natural watercourses.
A survey will be mailed to all residents of the community within the next
several weeks asking for general property and septic system information.
The survey will also request contact information so that a date and time
can be established to conduct a detailed on-site interview. For more
information on the Class EA process or components of the study, please
contact
Kelly Vader, Environmental Planner
B. M. Ross and Associates
62 North Street, Goderich, Ontario, N7A 2T4
Telephone (519) 524-2641 Fax (519) 524-4403
(e-mail: kvader@bmross.net)
It is anticipated that the Phase 1 Study will be completed by spring of 2008.
Upon completion. the results will be presented to Huron East Council for
consideration. Public input and comments on the study investigations are
invited and will be received until December 14, 2007.
This Notice Issued October 31st, 2007
Jack McLachlan, Clerk -Administrator
Municipality of Huron East
folders filled
with story ideas
and to look at
their own lives
and the lives of
others for ideas.
"I am an
extraordinarily
nosy person. 1
like driving by
houses and night
and wondering
what the family
is like inside. You
find out lots of things being nosy,"
she said.
Haworth-Attard recommended
starting to write a story with a
character.
"A character is an onion and you
peel off the layers. If you look inside
your character, that's where you
find your plot," she said.
But, she warned that the middle
of a story is the hardest part to
write.
"The middle is the part where you
quit. For every single book I've writ-
atti henciriks we comes you to...
IV
Christmas
house
Thur.. Nov. $
to Sun. Nov. 11
Thurs. and Fri. 10 to 9pm;
Sat. and Sun. 10 to 6pm
Christmas decorating ideas for the early
Canadian & primitive home as well as gift
giving ideas are what you will find this
4'1 1 Mill Rd., Brucefield
14 y 8 se.$ore,
A
1111
,
it
1118 Rd
lik reltr
•
prinithw
" "e
Check out a sample of new items online
www.pmbears.com
year at Primitive Creek.
519-522-0454
ten, in the middle is
where I'vebeen
despairing that this is
the worst book ever
and why am I writing
it," she said.
"I'm a terrible pro-
crastinator and I will
do anything not to
write because it's so
.hard. But eventually,
you have to put your
butt in the chair and
work," said Haworth-
Attard.
She said deciding
what the character
really wants is a good
way to get the plot
going again.
Other writing advice
she gave included
showing the action
inside of telling it,
writing from the sens-
es and not being afraid
to rewrite.
"Watch the words
you use. Make sure
you're not boring your-
self and your readers
to death," she said.
Haworth-Attard said
she generally rewrites
her novels four or five
times before they're published but
has friends who have rewritten 27
times.
She held up a copy of a story from
her publisher that was covered in
1,000 sticky notes of changes she
had to make.
"The editing process is the most
important. It's the most tedious
too," she said.
She also warned the students not
to expect to get rich writing books.
"In Canada, the arts are not well
paid professions unless you are a
phenomenon like Robert Munsch,
Margaret Atwood or J.K. Rowling,"
she said.
"Most Canadian writers earn
$11,000 to $16,000 a year - it's way
below the poverty line. The majority
of us are living off our husbands or
wives," said Haworth-Attard,
adding that going to book festivals
and making school visits helps to
supplement writers' incomes.
Haworth-Attard, who began to
quilt at the same time she began to
write novels, also showed off her
collection of handmade quilts, relat-
ing her passion for quilts to her pas-
sion for writing.
"The language of writing is the
same as the language of quilting.
There are threads in quilting and
threads to stories. You take words
and put them together and see if
they work - it's the same with fab-
ric," she said.