Before taking the course, I’d finished a novel draft and was working on a second project. I was excited about my ideas. What I didn’t know was whether I could write. Close friends and family had read for me, but blindly trusting their opinions struck me as foolhardy.

What I wanted, of course, was feedback from people who weren’t invested in me.

I was working on U of T’s campus in Media Relations at the time. As a staff member, I only had to pay the tax to take a course through Continuing Studies. To this day, I deeply appreciate that benefit.

Hopkinson is an award-winning speculative fiction author. She happened to be teaching creative writing at U of T the semester I signed up in 2005.

Through that course, I met my writing group. Hopkinson’s feedback sessions set the rules for our meetings over the next seven years. It was a transformational period in my life.

Diana continues to read my drafts. I named Anna and Malcolm’s son Tim to remember T. J. O’Neill, our late colleague.

Taking my School of Continuing Studies journey full circle

When I published Chaos Calling earlier this spring, I reached out to the school to thank them for the opportunity all those years ago. I told them about our writing group’s success. They were kind enough to post this piece about my experience and downstream success.

Thank you to the School of Continuing Studies’ Marketing team for featuring my work.

You can read the article on their website.

Curious about taking a course? You’ll find more information on their website.

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The ebook edition of my first novel launches one week from today.

I started this project in September 2014. I remember standing in my living room, on fire with excitement about my idea and eager to share it with others.

Publishing early was extremely tempting. Since I wrote three substantial drafts on Wattpad with my phone, I had a direct pathway to readers literally at my fingertips. At times, the temptation to see what people thought was acute.

So, I resisted the impulse. Two of my advisors cautioned that nothing worth doing happens overnight, however much we wish it otherwise.

Good launches run on strong plans

I’ve worked in the tech sector for over 10 years. In that time, I’ve launched a lot of products. Good launches run on strong plans, and writing and launching a book is no different.

My work back plan for this launch has over 300 lines. I’ve currently completed about 188 of them.

From the beginning, focusing on Toronto has been central to my messaging strategy. Fantasy’s a competitive genre. I wrote Chaos Calling primarily because it was the story I wanted to read. It just makes sense to emphasize the aspects that make it somewhat unique in the contemporary/urban fantasy landscape.

As a young reader, I remember my surprise when I opened The Summer Tree, the first volume in The Fionavar Tapestry. It begins inside Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto. I’d never read a fantasy novel set in my city, though Fionavar is more of a portal story (people from here travel to the magical world where they encounter fantastical elements).

The Xenthian Cycle flips the portal dynamic around. Instead of going elsewhere, the fantastical comes to us in all our 2014 glory. The juxtaposition, combined with irrevocable changes for my characters, puts their experience alongside the Marvel or DC films.

I’m fascinated with how extraordinary circumstances can transform ordinary people. I hope you will be, too.

My goals for the final trailer for Chaos Calling

My working theory is that the seed audience for this story will come from people who live in Toronto (or Sudbury or Vancouver or elsewhere in Canada). I’m betting they’ll feel a similar delight in seeing their world enter the fantastic. My second theory is that urban audiences the world over will find echoes to their stories in the specificities of mine.

With that in mind, I hope you enjoy the final trailer for Chaos Calling. Next week can’t come fast enough.

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