Every writer has stories to share. Here’s one of mine:
Years ago, a neighbourhood theatre went out of business. Soon after, I attended a condo developer’s information meeting about the plans for the theatre. I turned that meeting into a spoof and sold the “story” to a local newspaper.
That spoof recently found new life in the pages of Prose To Go: Tales From A Private List, a collection of stories serious, silly, and everything in between.
Peek into the private lives of 18 professional writers from the North West Territories to Prince Edward Island in this anthology described by the New York Journal of Books as an “eclectic mix of memories of shared love, laughter, and hope (that) should appeal to a wide readership”.
- Drive through the Northwest Territories with Helena Katz as she drives a herd of alpacas to their new home in her backyard
- Join Trudy Kelly Forsythe at the Rolling Stones Big Bang Tour
- Watch award-winning humorist Steve Pitt deal with cherry-stealing kids, and award-winning cookbook author Julie Watson wrestle with a lobster on TV.
- Climb inside a Santa suit with broadcaster/humorist Gordon Gibb, and see a Christmas tree from Helen Lammers-Helps’ vantage point.
- Experience birth from an infant’s point of view, in a mesmerizing piece by Elle Andra-Warner.
- Share household hilarity with Lanny Boutin and Joanne Carnegie, while Debbie Gamble deals with body issues and Lorri Benedik with unwanted compliments.
- Discover Canadian trivia book author Mark Kearney’s secret to winning prizes at fall fairs, while Irene Davis deals with a vanished voice and Fred Desjardins with growing older.
- Listen to Barbara Florio-Graham tell about her encounter with actor Peter Falk (aka Columbo).
- Cry with Barbara Bunce Desmeules Massobrio as she describes My Life Now and with Hilda Young as she comes to terms with her son’s suicide
- And, of course, there’s my little story of a condo development community meeting gone awry…
The New York Journal of Books stated this volume “deserves to find a place in every public library collection………The tone is personal and intimate in a way that effectively bonds author and reader together, so that reading this book becomes a life-enhancing experience.”
Prose To Go is published by BridgeRoss Communications.
Check out the Prose To Go page from PTG managing editor Barbara Florio Graham.
Follow Prose To Go on Twitter!
Prose to Go is available:
- from Amazon in paperback
- from Barnes & Noble
- from Canadian Bookshelf
- from Indigo
Prose To Go has been making the rounds! Read what different media outlets have been saying.
From The Gazette (University of Western Ontario)
Even when at its heaviest, all the stories are still identifiable. It’s never hard for a reader to imagine themselves in the writer’s position and acting similarly. The tone is always approachable and the way such brisk stories are told almost in response to one another feels almost like the reader is witness to all the writers sharing stories over drinks. Prose to Go is at its best when it matches this pace, and becomes most difficult to put down.
From Carole Giangrande’s Words To Go podcast
Carole reads Steve Pitt’s hilarious essay August Anxiety.
From The Londoner
What started as a group of friends sharing their personal experiences has turned into a book that is part silly, part serious and everything in between.
One of the writers, Mark Kearney, lives in London. He has three stories included in the book, that detail a road trip through the heartland of the U.S. south, his pie-baking skills and his annoyance with how people pronounce 21st century dates.
From Bookpleasures.com
(Barbara) Florio-Graham’s spirited introduction to Prose to Go: Tales from a Private List introduces the reader to a literary-minded coterie of friends that are bound together by their addiction to writing. Coming from all walks of life, including broadcasting, technology and education, they have contributed to this collection of short non-fiction pieces with accounts and revelations gleaned from their past. Their intimate portrayals of both the ups and downs of everyday existence are heartwarming in their sincerity and stimulating in their humorous portrayal of family and friends.
From the New York Journal of Books
The impact that reading this collection had was twofold. In several places, it lead the reader into paralleling life experiences with those recounted here. It also strengthens awareness that, no matter our path in life, a common humanity speaks through us all.
From The Buzz in PEI
Julie Watson and Debbie Gamble commented on this piece, also published in The Guardian:
“We are a group of writers who keep in touch via a private list serve which we have dubbed Bobbi’s Private List. Over the years we have shared stories which seemed to constantly get the reaction, ‘you have to get that published so that everyone can read it,”‘ says Watson. “One day someone said we should put them into a collection, so we did.”
From the King’s County Record
(Trudy) Kelly Forsythe said the online group that led to the book has been an amazing resource, rich with stories and friendships.
“We live all across Canada and people on the list would write in and there would be a lot of personal stories. And we’ve gone through a lot of personal experiences together. People having babies, people losing loved ones. And there would be some very emotional essays,” she said.
Trudy’s Rolling Stone concert experience gets even more coverage here:
“It was prior to the Rolling Stones coming to Moncton in 2005 and I was in my mid-30s and I realized going to an outdoor concert my concerns had changed,” (Trudy) Kelly Forsythe said. “I was extremely worried about the bathroom facilities.”
Irene Davis tells the story of how Prose To Go was born
The power of the internet! This was a project that could never have existed without it. Emailed submissions began descending on me from every area of Canada, from the Northwest Territories to Prince Edward Island. We three editors exchanged what seemed like gazillions of emails, as every story was seen, edited and approved by all of us.
Barbara Florio-Graham’s interview with Mitchell Caplan for his weekly show on University of Ottawa radio station CFUO
Barbara Florio-Graham on Ottawa radio station News Talk Radio 580 CFRA
Contributors
Elle Andra-Warner is the best-selling author of non-fiction books (including David Thompson and Edmund Fitzgerald: The Legendary Great Lakes Shipwreck) as well as a freelance journalist and photographer based in Thunder Bay. She specializes in travel, history, and business writing; her feature articles have appeared in publications around the world.
A freelancer for ten years, Lorri Benedik enjoys writing prose as well as light verse. Her byline has appeared in a wide variety of publications. Lorri recently shifted her focus from magazine and newspaper work to biography and memorial-writing. She lives in Montreal with her husband, son and mini-schnauzer.
Luigi Benetton (that’s me) focuses on demystifying the technology industry and the benefits it affords us.. He has also written on topics as diverse as the business of law, fascinating large-scale construction projects and professional squash.
A freelance writer, Lanny Boutin has been published in numerous magazines, including Canadian Living, Canadian Geographic, Homemakers, Your Health and Chatelaine. Her books include Titanic: The Canadian Connections, John Diefenbaker: The outsider who refused to quit, Mummies: All Wrapped Up and Building Faces.
Joanne Carnegie describes herself as a keen observer of the quirky little corners of the human soul, a celebrant of absurdity and desire. She has published essays, humor pieces, and creative non-fiction, and is working on her first novel, a mystery set in Montreal. Find her profile at www.writers.ca.
Irene Davis has written on a wide variety of topics, from the anatomy of a convention to life as a grandparent. In 2006 she was awarded the Peter Gzowski Literacy Award of Merit for an article in The Globe and Mail on her experiences as a volunteer tutor in Adult Literacy. Irene also teaches a grammar course online, focusing on common problems. Despite a couple of lengthy sojourns in Timmins, Ontario, Toronto is and always has been home. Check Irene’s profile at www.writers.ca.
Fred Desjardins has been a humorist for thirty years and continues to get paid for it. He has lived in Sidney Crosby’s neighborhood for twenty of those years but has yet to meet the hockey hero. He suspects that the young superstar is too intimidated to ring his bell.
Barbara Florio-Graham has won awards for fiction, non-fiction, humor, and poetry, and has written for magazines and newspapers across North America. The author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings, Barbara also teaches writing online.
Trudy Kelly Forsythe is an award-winning journalist whose first major assignment was a feature article about moose for a hunting-and-fishing magazine. Since then, she has written for periodicals, radio, the World Wide Web, government and corporate clients. She lives, writes and listens to the Rolling Stones in Hampton, NB.
Debbie Gamble’s work has appeared in many different horse and motorcycle magazines: the Evening Patriot, Northern Aquaculture, TV Guide, Atlantic Books Today and more. Her book about famous Canadian jumping horses, Legendary Showjumpers, was published in 2004; she has two more horse books in the works. Debbie lives in Prince Edward Island and writes about whatever piques her interest.
Gordon Gibb’s work has appeared in Chatelaine, Canadian Living, Maclean’s, Cottage Life, Reader’s Digest, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Peterborough Examiner. His book on Lester B. Pearson was published in 2006. Gordon does contract writing for www.LawyersandSettlements.com, Los Angeles. He is also a broadcaster and voice artist.
Helen Lammers-Helps is a freelance writer who lives near Kitchener, Ontario, with her husband and kids. She writes mostly about agriculture, food, gardening and the environment but will tackle just about any topic. To find out more, check out her profile at the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) website at www.writers.ca.
From being romanced on an ice road to running an alpaca farm in the Northwest Territories, Hélèna Katz has stories to share. She lives in Canada’s North and has written for such magazines as Canadian Geographic, Homemakers and Up Here. She is the author of The Mad Trapper, Gang Wars, Cold Cases, and Justice Miscarried: Inside Wrongful Convictions in Canada.
Mark Kearney is an award-winning journalist who has co-authored 10 books, including The Great Canadian Trivia Book. His work has appeared in some 80 magazines and newspapers in North America. Mark teaches writing and journalism at the University of Western Ontario and has won five University Student Council Teaching Awards of Excellence.
Barbara Bunce Desmeules Massobrio, a native of Montreal, is a high school librarian who doubles as a freelance writer. She has written about topics as varied as: living in a Korean monastery, mixing drinks, and cuisine at the CIA. When not reading, writing or working, she travels.
Steve Pitt has been a freelance writer for more than three decades. He is the author of seven books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. In 1980, he won a Periodical Distributors Authors’ Award for humor for a Harrowsmith magazine article featuring gourmet groundhog recipes. His cooking has improved.
A professional photographer for 30 years, John C. Watson is based in Vancouver BC. His images have graced magazine and book covers, editorial pages, and creative advertisements around the world. John often works with his mother, freelance writer and author Julie V. Watson. The duo specialize in travel, food and nature, and also present workshops across Canada. For samples of John’s work visit imps.ca.
Julie V. Watson is a prolific writer based in Prince Edward Island, or where their RV takes them, with 27 books and numerous articles to her credit. Her writing focuses on travel, food, lifestyles, seniors and entrepreneurship. She shares her passion for writing, POD publishing, photography and scrapbooking through workshops across Canada.
Hilda Young (Hon. B. A. History) has appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press, The Cottager, Smart Connections, Faith Today, United Church Observer, Presbyterian Record, Christian Week, Cross Talk, Petawawa Post, Pembroke Observer and Ottawa Valley Business. She is a member of The Word Guild and “New to here” columnist for ovbusiness.com.
Misadventures
- Driving Alpacas, by Hélèna Katz
- Well Seated, by Lanny Boutin
- Just Desserts, by Joanne Carnegie
- August Anxiety, by Steve Pitt
- My Magnificent Impression, by Gordon Gibb
- Silence Is Not Golden, by Irene Davis
- Lobster, by Julie V. Watson
Rear-View Mirror
- Places Of The Heart, by Irene Davis
- The North Becomes Her, by Hélèna Katz
- Inside The Santa Suit, by Gordon Gibb
- Now Should Come The Laughter…., by Elle Andra-Warner
- Traveling In America, by Mark Kearney
- Josefina, by Barbara Bunce Desmeules Massobrio
- Before Columbo, by Barbara Florio-Graham
What In The World
- Rolling Stones: A Bang For All Generations, by Trudy Kelly Forsythe
- Rocks, by Barbara Florio Graham
- Pies And Fall Fairs, by Mark Kearney
- Today I Let Go Of The Wall, by Julie V. Watson
- Neighborhood Shakeup, by Luigi Benetton
- Back In My Future, by Fred Desjardins
- Vegetable Grace, by Joanne Carnegie
Love And Loss
- Funny Man Blues, by Fred Desjardins
- My Life Now, by Barbara Bunce Desmeules Massobrio
- Paul, by Hilda Young
- A Tree Of Memories, by Helen Lammers-Helps
- About Joanna, by Lorri Benedik
- Remembering My Father, by Irene Davis
Exit Laughing
- Borrowed Hot Tub, by Gordon Gibb
- Crickets, by Barbara Florio Graham
- Yours Without Compliments, by Lorri Benedik
- New Year, New Date, by Mark Kearney
- Canada, Eh? by Fred Desjardins
- Cherry Season Again, by Steve Pitt
- Double-Breasted Danger, by Debbie Gamble
Are you a book reviewer? Bookstore buyer? Get more information about Prose To Go here.