Dear Reader, it is my pleasure to give you my interview with Linwood Barclay. He is one of my favourite writers. He is quite humourous and tells it the way it is, with a little bit of spunk added. I thought he would be a good interviewee because I love his humour, quite frequently it has me in tears! I would like to say a personal shout out to Linwood Barclay> Thank you so much for the opportunity to do the interview with you. I know that you have a hectic schedule and the fact that you wanted to fit me in is fabulous. I also really appreciate how candid you were with your answers, because myself and the readers get to know you that much more. The question of who you would spend an evening with and your response of your dad, I found really touching. Thank you so much!
If you would like to read more about Linwood Barclay, you can go to his website :
http://www.linwoodbarclay.com/
Linwood Barclay’s Bio
After spending his formative years helping run a cottage resort and trailer park after his father died when Linwood was 16, he got his first newspaper job at the Peterborough Examiner, a small Ontario daily. After spending two years in Peterborough, Linwood went to a small suburban paper outside Toronto for another couple of years, and then joined the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, in 1981.
He held such positions as assistant city editor, chief copy editor, news editor, and Life section editor, before becoming a columnist in 1993. It’s a humour column, although Linwood’s hesitant to call it that. If you write a column about baseball, and it stinks, it’s still a sports column. But if you write a humour column and no one finds it funny, what is it, really?
Since 1993, Linwood’s been writing three pieces a week, and become one of the paper’s most popular writers. His most recent columns are available online at thestar.com, and many of them are also offered as podcasts.
His first book, Father Knows Zilch: A Guide for Dumbfounded Dads, was published in 1996, and was followed a year later by a collection of family columns, This House Is Nuts! In 1998, he published his satirical attack on the Ontario premier of the day, Mike Harris Made Me Eat My Dog.
In 2000, his memoir about growing up in cottage country, Last Resort, was published to critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
In 2004, he launched his mystery series about an anxiety-ridden, know-it-all, pain-in-the-butt father by the name of Zack Walker. Bad Move, the first book, was followed a year later by Bad Guys. And in 2006, the third Zack Walker book, Lone Wolf, will be published.
He’s also very busy on the speaking circuit, using his keen insights to spot what’s funny in our everyday lives, and making sport of the shenanigans of our elected officials.
Linwood was born in the United States but moved to Canada just before turning four years old when his father, a commercial artist whose illustrations of cars appeared in Life, Look and Saturday Evening Post before photography took over, accepted a position with an advertising agency north of the border.
Linwood first became interested in writing around the time he was in Grade 3, and can recall, in Grade 6, when the principal took him aside and suggested that if he spent a little less time dreaming up stories, he might do a little bit better in arithmetic.
He attended Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, where he obtained an Honours B.A. in English by reading the Coles Notes (Cliffs Notes for U.S. readers) on some of the greatest literary works ever written.
He was fortunate to have some very fine mentors; in particular, the celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence, whom Linwood first met when she served as writer-in-residence at Trent, and Kenneth Millar, who, under the name Ross Macdonald, wrote the acclaimed series of mystery novels featuring detective Lew Archer.
It was at Trent that he met the woman who would become his wife. He and Neetha, who teaches kindergarten, have been married for more than 25 years. They have two children, Spencer and Paige.
If you would like to read more about Linwood Barclay, you can go to his website :
http://www.linwoodbarclay.com/
Linwood Barclay’s Bio
After spending his formative years helping run a cottage resort and trailer park after his father died when Linwood was 16, he got his first newspaper job at the Peterborough Examiner, a small Ontario daily. After spending two years in Peterborough, Linwood went to a small suburban paper outside Toronto for another couple of years, and then joined the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, in 1981.
He held such positions as assistant city editor, chief copy editor, news editor, and Life section editor, before becoming a columnist in 1993. It’s a humour column, although Linwood’s hesitant to call it that. If you write a column about baseball, and it stinks, it’s still a sports column. But if you write a humour column and no one finds it funny, what is it, really?
Since 1993, Linwood’s been writing three pieces a week, and become one of the paper’s most popular writers. His most recent columns are available online at thestar.com, and many of them are also offered as podcasts.
His first book, Father Knows Zilch: A Guide for Dumbfounded Dads, was published in 1996, and was followed a year later by a collection of family columns, This House Is Nuts! In 1998, he published his satirical attack on the Ontario premier of the day, Mike Harris Made Me Eat My Dog.
In 2000, his memoir about growing up in cottage country, Last Resort, was published to critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
In 2004, he launched his mystery series about an anxiety-ridden, know-it-all, pain-in-the-butt father by the name of Zack Walker. Bad Move, the first book, was followed a year later by Bad Guys. And in 2006, the third Zack Walker book, Lone Wolf, will be published.
He’s also very busy on the speaking circuit, using his keen insights to spot what’s funny in our everyday lives, and making sport of the shenanigans of our elected officials.
Linwood was born in the United States but moved to Canada just before turning four years old when his father, a commercial artist whose illustrations of cars appeared in Life, Look and Saturday Evening Post before photography took over, accepted a position with an advertising agency north of the border.
Linwood first became interested in writing around the time he was in Grade 3, and can recall, in Grade 6, when the principal took him aside and suggested that if he spent a little less time dreaming up stories, he might do a little bit better in arithmetic.
He attended Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, where he obtained an Honours B.A. in English by reading the Coles Notes (Cliffs Notes for U.S. readers) on some of the greatest literary works ever written.
He was fortunate to have some very fine mentors; in particular, the celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence, whom Linwood first met when she served as writer-in-residence at Trent, and Kenneth Millar, who, under the name Ross Macdonald, wrote the acclaimed series of mystery novels featuring detective Lew Archer.
It was at Trent that he met the woman who would become his wife. He and Neetha, who teaches kindergarten, have been married for more than 25 years. They have two children, Spencer and Paige.
Meet the REAL… Linwood Barclay
QUESTIONS
Where do you get your ideas from when you are starting the process of writing a novel?
-- A novel usually grows out of some small, sometimes insignificant, incident. Or a "what if" question. Bad Move, for example, came about after watching my wife leave her purse unattended in the grocery store cart. I thought, what if I took that, to teach her a lesson? Well, I'd never do that. But I created a character who would.
How can you relate to the main character of "Zack Walker" from you books Bad Move and Bad Guys?
-- Zack is basically me unchecked. I've funnelled all my anxieties and obsessions into him, and cranked them up a notch.
What started you on your path to being a writer for the Toronto Star and then being an author of novels?
-- I'd always wanted to write novels. I'd written three of four of them by the time in was in my early twenties, a couple of them in my teens. Thankfully, they were never published. So, since I couldn't get a job at age 20 as a bestselling novelist, I decided to get a job where I could at least get paid to write. That led me to newspapers, first the Peterborough Examiner, then the Oakville Journal Record, and then in 1981, the Toronto Star. Although I was hired not as a reporter, but as a copy editor. My first book came out in 1996, but the first novel was 2004. So really, I was just getting back to what I'd wanted to do in my teens.
Which was your most favourite book to write and why?
-- Probably Last Resort, my memoir published in 2000. The kind of story you can only tell once. It allowed me to tell the story of my family, and I think it explains why I turned out the way I am.
Do you have any new books you are working on, or any projects you would like to tell us about?
-- The fourth Zack Walker book, Stone Rain, comes out very soon, May 1. But I'm particularly looking forward to the end of September, when my first non-Zack, non-funny, standalone thriller comes out in hardcover. It's called No Time For Goodbye, and it's already been sold, in addition to North America, in the U.K., Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Holland and Israel.
At the moment I'm working on a second standalone thriller, to come out in the fall of 2008.
You son and daughter, Spencer and Paige, are both away at school, do you and your wife, Neetha, find the house lonely and that things are really different?
-- They still get home every second or third weekend. And no, we don't find it lonely. A bit more peaceful, perhaps. And there's no one to make fun of us if we decide to go to bed at 9:30.
If you could describe yourself with one word, what would it be and why?
-- Bland. The reasons seem obvious enough.
My mum recently had a colonoscopy and I made sure she read your column about your experience. My mum said the best part of the appointment was the drugs. Would you agree and why/why not?
-- I concur. The drugs almost made it worth having one every couple of weeks. Almost.
In your column you sound like you are a family man. Have you always been that way or did something happen to encourage that behaviour?
-- Well, having kids kind of did it. And not totally growing up myself probably helps. For example, I still love toys.
What is the most interesting aspect about being in the literary industry and why?
-- What's interesting is how totally unglamorous it is. You think, wow, I have a book out! And then, no one gives a rat's ass. Getting published
affords new ways to get humiliated you did not know existed. Like going to book signings where no one shows up. Or the bookstore owner is so thrilled you've come to sign books that he gets you a free coffee, but you still have to pay for the cookie.
Do you suggest any movie(s) or book(s) we read/watch?
-- See the movie "In America." One of the most wonderful movies I have ever seen. And the best book I've read in the last year is Philip Roth's "American Pastoral," followed closely by a non-fiction work by Thomas E. Ricks called "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq."
Do you have a mentor or inspirational writer that if you are having a hard time writing, you can talk to that person or read their work and it motivates you to get back on track? Who might this person be and why do you find what they say or why their writing is helpful?
-- I had a couple of mentors who are no longer with us. Canadian writer Margaret Laurence was a good friend, and very encouraging. And I was fortunate to know the American mystery writer Ross Macdonald (whose real name was Kenneth Millar), who remains one of my favourite authors. I don't typically turn to specific writers when I'm having a hard time with my own work, but there are many out there I find inspiring.
If you were to spend an evening with any 3 people, who would you choose and why? (You could choose any person from past or present)
-- My father, who passed away when I was 16. The other two don't matter.
Do you have any words of encouragement for those wanting to get into journalism or another area within the literary field?
-- Write. And read. And get a job any place that will print your stuff. It doesn't have to be a big paper. Just start building your file of published material, from anywhere. When it gets thick enough, move on to the next place.
Your columns in the Star, it's like a stand-up comedy routine. Have you ever performed or do you stick to journalism?
-- I perform, sort of. But I'll expand on that with the next question.
Have you ever done any motivational speaking or something within that genre, or do you just stick to talking about your novels and lecturing about writing?
-- I am a professional speaker and have been all over the country giving talks. I'm represented by the David Lavin Agency in Toronto. I'm not really a stand-up comic, but I tell what I think are amusing stories. And I also do events related specifically to my books. For example, I'm doing the Elora Writers Festival on June 3.
QUESTIONS
Where do you get your ideas from when you are starting the process of writing a novel?
-- A novel usually grows out of some small, sometimes insignificant, incident. Or a "what if" question. Bad Move, for example, came about after watching my wife leave her purse unattended in the grocery store cart. I thought, what if I took that, to teach her a lesson? Well, I'd never do that. But I created a character who would.
How can you relate to the main character of "Zack Walker" from you books Bad Move and Bad Guys?
-- Zack is basically me unchecked. I've funnelled all my anxieties and obsessions into him, and cranked them up a notch.
What started you on your path to being a writer for the Toronto Star and then being an author of novels?
-- I'd always wanted to write novels. I'd written three of four of them by the time in was in my early twenties, a couple of them in my teens. Thankfully, they were never published. So, since I couldn't get a job at age 20 as a bestselling novelist, I decided to get a job where I could at least get paid to write. That led me to newspapers, first the Peterborough Examiner, then the Oakville Journal Record, and then in 1981, the Toronto Star. Although I was hired not as a reporter, but as a copy editor. My first book came out in 1996, but the first novel was 2004. So really, I was just getting back to what I'd wanted to do in my teens.
Which was your most favourite book to write and why?
-- Probably Last Resort, my memoir published in 2000. The kind of story you can only tell once. It allowed me to tell the story of my family, and I think it explains why I turned out the way I am.
Do you have any new books you are working on, or any projects you would like to tell us about?
-- The fourth Zack Walker book, Stone Rain, comes out very soon, May 1. But I'm particularly looking forward to the end of September, when my first non-Zack, non-funny, standalone thriller comes out in hardcover. It's called No Time For Goodbye, and it's already been sold, in addition to North America, in the U.K., Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Holland and Israel.
At the moment I'm working on a second standalone thriller, to come out in the fall of 2008.
You son and daughter, Spencer and Paige, are both away at school, do you and your wife, Neetha, find the house lonely and that things are really different?
-- They still get home every second or third weekend. And no, we don't find it lonely. A bit more peaceful, perhaps. And there's no one to make fun of us if we decide to go to bed at 9:30.
If you could describe yourself with one word, what would it be and why?
-- Bland. The reasons seem obvious enough.
My mum recently had a colonoscopy and I made sure she read your column about your experience. My mum said the best part of the appointment was the drugs. Would you agree and why/why not?
-- I concur. The drugs almost made it worth having one every couple of weeks. Almost.
In your column you sound like you are a family man. Have you always been that way or did something happen to encourage that behaviour?
-- Well, having kids kind of did it. And not totally growing up myself probably helps. For example, I still love toys.
What is the most interesting aspect about being in the literary industry and why?
-- What's interesting is how totally unglamorous it is. You think, wow, I have a book out! And then, no one gives a rat's ass. Getting published
affords new ways to get humiliated you did not know existed. Like going to book signings where no one shows up. Or the bookstore owner is so thrilled you've come to sign books that he gets you a free coffee, but you still have to pay for the cookie.
Do you suggest any movie(s) or book(s) we read/watch?
-- See the movie "In America." One of the most wonderful movies I have ever seen. And the best book I've read in the last year is Philip Roth's "American Pastoral," followed closely by a non-fiction work by Thomas E. Ricks called "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq."
Do you have a mentor or inspirational writer that if you are having a hard time writing, you can talk to that person or read their work and it motivates you to get back on track? Who might this person be and why do you find what they say or why their writing is helpful?
-- I had a couple of mentors who are no longer with us. Canadian writer Margaret Laurence was a good friend, and very encouraging. And I was fortunate to know the American mystery writer Ross Macdonald (whose real name was Kenneth Millar), who remains one of my favourite authors. I don't typically turn to specific writers when I'm having a hard time with my own work, but there are many out there I find inspiring.
If you were to spend an evening with any 3 people, who would you choose and why? (You could choose any person from past or present)
-- My father, who passed away when I was 16. The other two don't matter.
Do you have any words of encouragement for those wanting to get into journalism or another area within the literary field?
-- Write. And read. And get a job any place that will print your stuff. It doesn't have to be a big paper. Just start building your file of published material, from anywhere. When it gets thick enough, move on to the next place.
Your columns in the Star, it's like a stand-up comedy routine. Have you ever performed or do you stick to journalism?
-- I perform, sort of. But I'll expand on that with the next question.
Have you ever done any motivational speaking or something within that genre, or do you just stick to talking about your novels and lecturing about writing?
-- I am a professional speaker and have been all over the country giving talks. I'm represented by the David Lavin Agency in Toronto. I'm not really a stand-up comic, but I tell what I think are amusing stories. And I also do events related specifically to my books. For example, I'm doing the Elora Writers Festival on June 3.
2 comments:
Your interview was well done Sarah. You have a nack at this, any thoughts about a future career for you ...?
Dear Mystery ? Person,
In response to your comment, I would have to say that I am not sure whether or not I want to pursure this as a career. I am doing this as a personal quest so I am not sure whether I would be able to write something that a person told me to write about. I do love to write though, and as you can see I put a lot into to my blog. It's almost like a diary for me and I love that it's MINE....ALL MINE! It could be something though that I might do in the future, I'm just not sure, not ready to commit to something as a job yet.
Thanks for the comment though, I really appreciate it.
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