Behind the Writer's Words - an Interview with Todd Diakow

When Tyndale Publishers showed interest in the first four chapters of Nicole Baart's novel, she turned to Todd Diakow, a former colleague, to help critique her work.

Todd says, "It’s a great honor for me. I feel incredibly privileged to be able to be trusted by someone to give them my thoughts and impressions on their very first words."

Todd & Nicole met when both of them were teaching senior high Language Arts at the same school in Abbotsford. They became writing partners - challenging each others literary skills. When Nicole moved to Iowa and was given the opportunity to pursue publication with Tyndale, she turned to Todd for critique comments.

This was the beginning of a unique collaboration that has spanned six novels and a roller coaster ride of hashing out plot progression, character development, and writing style.

Nicole says, "I would be hopelessly lost without Todd! He is my sounding board and confidante, and the only person who can tell me the unvarnished truth and not break my heart in the process. I’m secure in the knowledge that he genuinely loves my writing and that he wants to help me be a better writer. I value his opinion above all others. 


As for expectations, I only have one: I expect him to tell me the truth. Beyond that, I just hope that he wants to continue being my first draft editor and critique partner! And that he tempers his truth telling with the occasional ego boost. Everyone needs to hear what they’ve done well from time to time."

Todd agrees, "I’m always conscious to be completely open and honest with Nicole. As a writer you’re pouring your heart and soul into a piece of work and it really becomes an extension of you. It’s hard to hear criticism and yet, that’s the most effective thing you can hear.

My role is to give her a first response in relation to plot development, character development and story consistency. I don’t have to spend time with the grammatical sentence structure. Nicole is an incredibly gifted writer. It’s never those kind of things I have to concentrate on. I get to focus on the content, the literary elements, and the effectiveness of the story as it’s unfolding.

Because we work together during the first draft, chapter by chapter, for Nicole to open herself up to critique and criticism while the writing process is under way, is a testament to her as a writer. It’s a very vulnerable thing but extremely necessary. It makes you question, in a positive way, what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. It also builds confidence in what you’re doing.

Doris: What do you enjoy most about first draft editing?

Todd: It's an opportunity to see a work in progress, and be able to discuss literature with an author at a time when the creative juices are flowing and decisions are being made as to what the final page will look like.

Doris: This is a tough process because you are making comments chapter by chapter without seeing the end. What are the pros and cons of this?

Todd: I think one of the pros for Nicole is that she gets to keep me in the dark so I’m reading the novel as if I were a first reader. In most cases I don’t even know how the novel is going to unfold until I see it. The challenge is that because it takes about 4 -6 months for her to write a novel, I might have forgotten something that happened earlier or she may have changed part of her earlier draft that I wouldn’t be aware of. So it makes for some interesting conversations.

Doris: Do you withhold comments until you’ve read the whole book?

Todd: I let it all hang out. We’ve got such a trusting relationship at this point that if there’s something I’ve responded to that she doesn’t like, she can take it or leave it. We don’t have to dance around each other about what’s to come. I speak to it as I see it, and sometimes that influences where she’s going to go and sometimes that doesn’t. Ultimately Nicole makes the decisions, and I always trust her decisions.

Over the years we’ve become more and more comfortable with each other. Because I’m a writer myself I know that the ego can be easily wounded. With Nicole's first novels I might have been a bit more cautious about how I said things. Now, I’m very forthright. When I really believe something, I fight for it. What’s really interesting is when we have a full blown discussion about what her intention is and what my perception is. Getting her to defend her own choices also strengthens her own position and her own decisions in how the story develops and how character is revealed.

Doris: Define what you do as first draft editor.

Todd: My purpose is to comment on whether or not there is fluidity to the writing, consistency to the writing, and an authentic tone. I comment on the plausibility, the believeability of the characters and the stories.

Doris: Can you be objective in your observations of plot, character and overall theme if you get caught up in the story itself?

Todd: When that happens that’s always the best part because it’s a clear indication that Nicole’s being effective. One of the things I’ll comment on is when it’s not working for me…when the flow is not there. Every writer wants to create a scenario in which the reader is completely engrossed in the story and becomes a part of the story. Nicole has the ability to create that experience for the reader.

Doris: What are Nicole’s strengths as a writer? Have you seen her mature in the time you’ve been working together?

Todd: One of her early reviewers referred to her work as poetry and prose. I think that’s one of her greatest strengths. She’s able to make language come alive. It’s difficult to carry a story for 250 pages let alone a character that is vibrant and alive throughout a trilogy. I’ve seen that develop in her. The aspect of writing that I’ve seen her hone more than anything else, is its literary quality. She’s moving from escapist fiction towards interpretive fiction.

Doris: Can you explain that distinction?

Todd: Escapist fiction is a story purely for entertainment value. When you get into interpretive fiction, there’s something more to the story than just what’s on the surface. There’s a development of technique and symbolism. There might be multiple layers to a plot and conflict as well as characters.
The Moment Between is an example of that. In this novel, Nicole utilized point of view to develop a complexity of story that went beyond the basic plot.

Doris: What unique qualities does Nicole have as a writer?

Todd: I think particularly within Christian fiction, she’s able to bridge a gap between her Christian audience and her secular audience. She writes in a way that will attract a wide reader base for a multiplicity of reasons. Her characters have real life struggles and real life challenges. And they’re presented in a way that is not trite. She makes people feel that they can relate her characters and trust that her characters won’t do something unrealistic. They could walk off the page into your life and you would feel like you know them.

To do that in a way that presents values and morals and beliefs is a great challenge and I think that she is able to do that extremely effectively. I think that that is a unique quality and it takes a great deal of skill and ability to be able to bridge that gap.


Within the Christian readers community, it’s not very common to have someone as young as Nicole is, to be as successful and prolific as she is. She's balancing family and career and faith - it blows my mind with how much she is able to do in a given time frame. Her discipline is unbelievable.

Doris: Any weaknesses in her writing?

Todd: It’s easy for any writer to sometimes become so captivated by the character’s and stories that they loose touch with whether or not it’s real. Nicole has become far more confident with her characters and her stories, truly trusting her own insights and intuitions.

You have to understand, I’ve seen three other novels that have nothing to do with the Julia trilogy. And I've seen Nicole’s ability to diversify her characters and ability to capture people in so many different ways. There’s much more to come.

Doris: What do you see for Nicole's future as she moves to a new publishing house?

Todd: Simon & Schuster will expand her reader base. I think that’s great because it will push Nicole to continue developing some of the more literary and artistic skills that she’s incorporated in the last three or four novels. I’m excited that there will be more people who will be exposed to an outstanding writer.

Doris: Do you foresee any problems with your collaborative relationship?

Todd: The worst thing that could happen is that Nicole will actually start listening to me.


Are any of you still listening to Todd? 


Do you think critique partners are important? 




What is the most helpful advice you have been given about your writing?

To read more about Nicole Baart's books or check out her blog go to www.nicolebaart.com.

Author Interviews - Nicole Baart discusses her latest novel and writing career.

Nicole Baart loves to write: in bed, in the shower, as she's making supper and occasionally at her computer. For any writer (like me) who has water-stained notes about story revelations that ONLY become crystal clear in the tub, you will understand Nicole's passion. The good news is that her passion for penning poignant and poetic prose looks like it will continue for a long time. She has four published novels with another two awaiting publication.

This is all heady stuff and something Nicole herself says is a "dream come true." Every (unpublished) writer dreams of being 'discovered.' And that's exactly what happened to Nicole. She had a penchant for writing fiction from the time she was young, with a number of unfinished novels gathering dust. All that suddenly changed after she moved from Canada to Iowa, and four chapters of her current work-in-progress found their way to Tyndale House Publishers. They wanted more.

   Nicole says: "It’s humbling for me to admit this, but when I started writing novels I didn’t really know what I was doing. I loved to read, and I was an English major in college, but I hadn’t taken any courses in novel writing or really even stopped to analyze what I believed were the elements of a successful novel. I guess I had something of a knack for it, but I didn’t have a good grasp of the craft of writing a novel. I have since spent countless hours reading books on craft, studying other novels, and trying to improve my writing by creating stronger characters, more interesting plots, and realistic, atmospheric settings."

   Those atmospheric settings really came to the fore in her latest book, Beneath the Night Tree. Though it's the third book in a trilogy, it can easily be read as a stand alone. As the main character, Julia, wanders out to the night tree for the first time, Nicole writes: 

   "The night tree was a haven. 

   Sometimes I prayed. But only sometimes. Mostly I just stood there and watched the sky spill moon silver on dark, graceful limbs as if the stars saw fit to anoint our little tree with light. It was a holy experience, wordless and beyond explanation, but I felt as if God was indeed there with me. Making the tree sparkle. Interceding for me when my heart couldn't speak. And every once in awhile, I felt like He whispered to me."

   

   Her first book, After the Leaves Fall, was the beginning of this trilogy that includes Summer Snow and the recently released, Beneath the Night Tree.

Of these books, the latter is my favorite. Using a mix of lyrical prose, haunting images, and vibrant dialogue, Nicole writes real-life characters dealing with the complexities of a blended family.

Nicole says, "Writing a novel is a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. I usually begin with a strong character or two, and a vague idea of what I want to happen to that person. But the book takes on a life of its own after page one. The characters begin to develop their own personalities--and their exploits rarely coincide with my first, fledgling ideas of what the novel should be. As for going back into Julia’s world, it was a joy. I relished finishing her story."

 These books center around Julia DeSmit,  who was abandoned by her mother at age nine and mourning her father’s death at age 16. Julia makes some bad choices that find her pregnant with a child the father doesn’t want. All these circumstances challenge Julia’s view of herself and God. In Beneath the Night Tree, Julia is living with her grandmother while trying to raise her five-year-old son and her 10-year-old half-brother.

Baart carefully crafts the characters so that the conflicts in the DeSmit family become part of a beautiful tapestry that knits them closer together.

  

Nicole says: "This was a really fun book for me to write because I was able to draw from my everyday life. My boys are 7, 4, and 6 months old right now, and some of Julia’s interactions with her son and younger brother were taken directly from experiences that I had with my own children. It was really meaningful for me to lay some of those emotions bare, and to explore the relationship between mother and son from a bit of a distance.

I think I make myself more vulnerable than I am often willing to admit. It’s easy to hide behind the characters, to assure others (and yourself) that the character feels this way or that--not me. But those emotions came from somewhere, and I usually don’t have to look far to discover where they took root."

  

 To me this trilogy was not only a journey of self-discovery for Julia but also a look at how God can redeem broken relationships and families and make them whole. Nicole did all this, with a touch of romance thrown in too. 

Nicole comments: "If Julia’s story is a romance, it’s a love story between her and God. She is definitely keeping her eyes open for earthly love, but I believe that she longs for it in many forms from parental to platonic and beyond. A bit of romance is the icing on the cake, not the main ingredient."

This trilogy is published by Tyndale, a Christian publishing house. It's a delight to see the way Nicole weaves God into the fabric of her fiction, all the while avoiding a common pitfall in this genre where unbelieving characters become dramatically saved. 

I asked Nicole, "How do you see God reflected in the lives of your characters? Do you think a Christian author can represent a false view of Christianity in fiction?"

"This is such a tough question to answer because everyone has different expectations. Some reviews have claimed that my Julia books are a “breath of fresh air,” and a beautifully subtle expression of the Christian journey. Others think the Julia stories lack Christian content and “water down” God. As far as I’m concerned, God’s fingerprints are all over this trilogy. From divine revelation through the changing of the seasons and Julia’s deep love for creation and her family, to outright references, I believe God is not only present but powerful in these books. I wanted so desperately to realistically portray the faith-life of a young woman who’s not going to be found on the short-list for sainthood, but who still wrestles with what it means to love the Lord. It’s a journey, and Julia may not be as far along that road as some may like her to be, but I do think that she’s a pretty honest representation of where many people (including myself) have found themselves in their faith walk. Her grandmother, Nellie, represents another stage in the journey--one that I think Julia is steadily approaching."

 There is a clear message of God's love that shines throughout Beneath the Night Tree and a strong analogy between God adopting us and Julia's adoption of her brother Simon.

I asked Nicole, who has an adopted son, "Why did you make adoption and belonging an integral part of this work?"

"I have such a heart for adoption. I love it. I can hardly think of the mystery of God weaving a family together through adoption without tearing up. So it was very natural for me to make adoption a huge part of this book. I believe we all want to belong--it speaks to our most basic human desire--and I let myself explore that deeply in this book. As for the psychology of belonging and adoption, I don’t know if a legal paper would make a child feel more loved. But I do believe that it communicates a certain commitment that is only possible when you make that sort of bold, permanent statement that only legality can provide. It’s like getting married versus living common-law. Marriage is serious business. It’s daring and public and countercultural. So is adoption. It says: I choose you. In front of God and all the world. Forever."

Beneath the Night Tree is a beautiful, moving piece of fiction that I highly recommend. To read more about Nicole's novels and check out her blog, go to www.nicolebaart.com

Get ready for another great interview on Friday as Nicole's first draft editor, Todd Diakow, discusses his role in working with Nicole on her novels.

The Writer Behind The King's Speech

I've been a bad blogger this past week as writing deadlines and a new lap top threw me into a vortex I have just spun out of. I'm catching my breath and will be coming back with a vengance as I treat you to a series of reviews and interviews.

By the way, just wanted to mention that I have fallen in love - hard (or hard drive). It's with my smokin' hot new lap top. It was love at first gigabite (or 500th) and though Apollo and I are still in the early stages of our relationship - discovering the 7 Windows into our new world - I believe we are destined to be inseparable...

This week you won't be able to escape the Oscar buzz as the Academy Awards will be feting the best films of the year on February 27th. My husband and I just saw The King's Speech this past weekend and have been talking about it ever since.

This intriguing film rules the Oscar race with 12 nominations. The most interesting aspect of this movie for me was it's exploration into the relationship between Bertie (King George VI played by Colin Firth) and his unorthodox speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush).

As Bertie admits, members of the Royal Family don't have friends. But this relationship provides the King with a window into the life of a commoner, a man he has to trust with the private details of his past in order to be freed from his frustrating stutter.

Don't worry, I won't be giving away too much of the film here, but want to focus instead on David Seidler, the Oscar-nominated writer of the screenplay, and his amazing story.

Seidler had a stutter himself after he and his family faced death from a German U-boat attack during WWII. Seidler was not even three years old when his family was evacuated from Britain to the USA. It was as they were crossing the treacherous North Atlantic in a convoy of three ships, that the German U-boats closed in. One vessel sank, but the other two survived this terrifying attack. Seidler remembers the trauma and was left with a stutter until he was 16.

Seidler, now 73, grew up listening to King George VI's radio addresses. He was very aware of the King's speech impediment and remembers tensing up when the King would struggle to get a word out. In fact, he felt so much kinship with the King, that he only refers to him as Bertie, an affectionate family name the King was given as a young boy.

When Seidler was in university, he began researching Bertie's life. He entered a film career that started quite unceremoniously with the dubbing of Godzilla movies. But he moved on to some impressive film writing credits and great accolades. Throughout his career he continued his research on Bertie, only to stumble across a shadowy presence barely mentioned - Bertie's eccentric Australian speech therapist.

Very little was written about Lionel Logue, but Seidler found Logue's son, a retired brain surgeon living in London. Once contacted, the son was willing to give Seidler all his father's notes, detailing the work he did with Bertie. His one stipulation was that the Queen Mother had to approve.

Her response was, "Not during my lifetime...the memories are too painful."
Seidler didn't expect the Queen Mother to live to 101. He waited 28 years before he was able to see those notes.

Then, when he finally was ready to write the screenplay, he became ill with a serious form of cancer. He realized that if he didn't write Bertie's story now, he might never have the chance.

David Seidler beat his brush with cancer and has given us a courageous example of  'writer's mettle' - a lifetime of research, overcoming almost insurmountable obstructions, and finally creating a masterpiece that is nominated for an Oscar. One I believe, he deserves to win.

Have you seen The King's Speech? What did you think of the film? Do you have David Seidler's 'writer's mettle?'

I will be back on Wednesday with a review of Nicole Baart's latest novel and an interview with her. Then on Friday I will feature a behind-the-scenes interview with Baart's first draft editor, Methodius (Todd) Diakow.

Sunsets and Moonlit Madness

There is no more wonderous place for photos than when you're in the middle of an ocean, vast expanses of water stretching to the horizon. While Peter and I were cruising around Uruguay, Argentina, Cape Horn and Chili, the sun, moon, clouds and stars beckoning to us across the waves, enticing us to capture their splendour.

"Follow your inner moonlight; Don't hide the madness." ~ Allen Ginsberg

"The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears." ~ John Vance Cheney

“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” ~  Teilhard de Chardin

"Moonlight is sculpture." ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

"When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator." ~ Gandhi

"I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets."
~ John Glenn

"God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.
He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm."
~ William Cowper

"Every cloud engenders not a storm." ~ Shakespeare

"It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, The holy time is quiet as a nun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity; The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the sea: Listen! the mighty being is awake, And doth with his eternal motion make A sound like thunderöeverlastingly."  ~ William Wordsworth

Famous First Paragraphs

Some are just one sentence. Others take over a page. They can be provocative, compelling or a stumbling block. They're supposed to set the tone for the rest of the story. First paragraphs should flow freely and immediately connect the reader to the book. But captivating first paragraphs are tough to write.

In a recent series of blogs, Nathan Bransford, a former literary agent, held The 4th Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge. He received over 1500 entries. Of these, six were chosen, and the writers were able to submit portions of their manuscripts to a well-known agent. High stakes for unknown writers!

Reading through these paragraphs made me dig through my favorite books and look at how they started. So, which of these books can you name by their first paragraph alone?

     1. It was a dark and stormy night.

I kid you not! This isn't Snoopy typing away here. Someone actually used that line and this book became an award-winner (and rightfully so, after it was rejected over 50 times). It was required reading for Grade Six students in the Fraser Valley for decades, and maybe still is. Just to be 'nice' (which is a word that totally describes my personality), I will give you the second paragraph.

     1. In her attic bedroom Margaret Murry, wrapped in an old patchwork quilt, sat on the foot of her bed and watched the trees tossing in the frenzied lashing of the wind. Behind the trees clouds scudded frantically across the sky. Every few moments the moon ripped through them, creating wraith-like shadows that raced along the ground.



I was always a pyromaniac and loved playing with matches, but I had nothing on the main character of this classic novel.

     2. It was a pleasure to burn.
         It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this giant python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and the lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind dark with burning.

I'm Canadian and love home-grown literature. This was my favorite novel from my first year at university.

     3. Here was the least common denominator of nature, the skeleton requirements simply, of land and sky - Saskatchewan prairie. It lay wide around the town, stretching tan to the far line of the sky, shimmering under the June sun and waiting for the unfailing visitation of wind, gentle at first, barely stroking the long grasses and giving them life; later, a long hot gusting that would lift the black topsoil and pile it in barrow pits along the roads, or in deep banks against the fences.

This is a novel I only discovered recently. I have since read it again and find it haunting in a beautiful way. The opening paragraph gives it away...

     4. My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. In newspaper photos of missing girls from the seventies, most looked like me: white girls with mousy brown hair. This was before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons or in the daily mail. It was back when people believed things like that didn't happen.




I'm still astounded that this classic was written 10 years before I was born.

     5. If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told you anything pretty personal about them. They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all - I'm not saying that - but they're also touchy as hell...



It's amazing how even the first sentence of some classics, prepare you for what lies ahead...

     6. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

In this novel about predestination and fatalism, my favorite line is "Listen, Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time."

     7. All this happened, more or less. The war parts anyway, are pretty much true. One guy I knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn't his. Another guy I knew really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war. And so on. I've changed all the names.

And now for somthing complitly difernt:

•  progris riport 1 martch 3

      Dr Strauss says I shoud rite down what I think and remembir and evrey thing that happins to me from now on. I dont no why but he says its importint so they will see if they can use me. I hope they use me becaus Miss Kinnian says mabye they can make me smart. I want to be smart. My name is Charlie Gordon I werk in Donners bakery where Mr Donner gives me 11 dollers a week and bred or cake if I want. I am 32 yeres old and next munth is my brithday. I tolld dr Strauss and perfesser Nemur I cant rite good but he says it dont matter he says I shud  rite just like I talk and like I rite compushishens in Miss Kinnians class at the beekmin collidge center for retarted adults where I go to lern 3 times a week on my time off. Dr Strauss says to rite a lot evrything I think and evrything that happins to me but I cant think anymor because I have nothing to rite so I wll close for today...yrs truly Charlie Gordon.

Remember Life Before The Internet?

Fifty years ago, when I was born, there were no mandatory car seats to take me home from the hospital. We didn't even have seat belts - my Mom simply held me in her arms.

There were no computers, no email or Facebook to tell all our friends and relatives (and people we didn't even know) the good news.

We had a Brownie box camera so it was impossible to post photos of me when I was just minutes old.

The cell phone was merely a dream (Maxwell Smart was ahead of his time with the shoe phone in 1965). Since the hospital only had a pay phone and we were poor, my parents waited until I came home to call people up. As for the relatives that lived a long distance away, my Mom mailed them a note. Yes snail mail!

I grew up with a rotary-dail phone and a party line. I would spend hours listening in to conversations other people had in our neighbourhood, until my Mom caught me in the act.








We had a whole whack of 8-tracks and I would become totally frustrated when they cut out in the middle of a song, with a big click, to switch to another track before the music continued. There simply had to be better technology than this.

When me and my 12-year-old best friend both got transistor radios for Christmas, we would tune them in to the same station and set them up at opposite ends of the room, cranking up the volume - ahhhh, stereo...

Vinyl was all the rage and I had my share of 45s and 78s, some of which are worth a lot of coin in today's market. 

Different artists used "backmasking" to put messages on their albums that could be heard only when played backwards.

This became a marketing tool used most notably by The Beatles on their White Album, where the phrase "turn me on, dead man," fueled rumors that Paul McCartney was dead. Other artists like Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa also used backmasking to sell millions of records.


Our world seems like the Dinosaur Age compared to the children today, growing up with lap-tops, iPhones and digital cameras.

Yet this is not unlike the stories my grandparents and even my parents told me when I was young.

• My grandparents and my father were persecuted for their faith in Russia. I heard tales of forged passports, gunshots in the night, brothers and sisters forceably separated, having to leave the country with the clothes on their back, long train rides and then ten days at sea before reaching Canada.
• My Dad told me what it was like to feel hunger, every day. He and his brothers would shoot deer, rabbits, gophers, anything – just to try to feed a family of 12.
• My Mom talked about rising at 4 am to milk the cows. One of her younger brothers would always follow her, squeezing one of the cow’s teats to send a jet of warm milk on his oatmeal.

• During the Depression, my grandfather was one of the first people to drive a "Bennett Buggy." Unable to afford gasoline, he took out the engine of his Model T and hooked the emasculated vehicle to their two horses driving it proudly into downtown Winnepeg. My Mom and the rest of the family were ecstatic when they found out the Winnipeg Free Press published a photo of him and his horse-drawn carriage on the front page. 

• My Mom yearned to read, write and draw but only got through Grade 6 before she was “needed” at home. I tried to imagine how she must have felt when her whole family gathered around the radio after WWII to listen with horror and disbelief to the atrocities that killed millions of Jews. My grandfather proclaimed Hitler as the anti-Christ and Armageddon near.

Both my parents encouraged my brother and I to go as far as we could with our education. They wanted us to live out the dreams they had to forgo.
My parents sacrificed so much so that we could have all the things they did not.

I feel a debt of gratitude I can never repay, except with a life well-lived. It was what they wanted most.

I now have all the photos from my grandparents and parents, some of them dating back to the late 1800′s, when photography was just beginning.

It is a treasure to have this family history and look back on the time before the computer and Internet; a time of countless family gatherings, fruit-filled perisky and other Mennonite foods cooked by my aunts, simple games we would make up on the spot and stories told over and over again.

What are some of your memories before the computer age?

Check out Lisa's inspiring blog on the same topic but from a different point of view.