Myrna Dey has lived around the world, but it was in Kamsack she found the muse to write a novel which is now on bookstore shelves courtesy of NeWest Press.
Dey, who grew up in Calgary and has studied, taught, and/or lived in Edmonton, Vancouver, Berlin, Berkeley (California), Toronto, and Guyana, before moving with her family in 1976 to Kamsack, said Extensions is her first published novel.
"Three separate threads converged for its genesis: a dream of finding a familiar photo in an unfamiliar flea market, receiving the few existing letters in the handwriting of a grandmother I never knew, and a ride-along I took with my RCMP officer daughter in Surrey," she explained. "From there it grew limbs requiring exploration in several directions."
Dey explains the story is very much a mystery set against a Canadian backdrop."At a garage sale in a small Saskatchewan town Arabella Dryvynsydes, a Burnaby RCMP constable, makes a chance discovery of a sepia photograph of her grandmother and twin sister as little girls," she explained. "Her quest for answers as to how a picture taken in 1914 in Nanaimo ends up here almost 100 years later becomes the modern narrative of the book. As Arabella unearths more clues of her family origins, her great-grandmother Jane's story surfaces as an alternate historical narrative. In each, a murder is resolved."
Dey said writing for her is very much a case of capturing words when they are ready, rather than working at the craft each and every day.
"My writing habits are erratic," she said. "Extensions was nine years in the making with many starts and stops - often for months, and left turns, right turns, and U-turns.
"The flip side of a muse is discipline and I have learned that inspiration is kindled by the act of writing itself. I struggle to overcome the terror of the blank page. Rewriting is my favourite part of the process, for the first, tenth, or thirtieth time."
In some ways the decision to settle in Kamsack helped the process.
"Living in Kamsack has allowed me to write while participating in our daughters' activities and community projects such as restoring the Kamsack Playhouse," said Dey.
While small town Saskatchewan may have helped Dey focus on her book, she said writing is very much in her blood.
"I have been writing all my life: dictating to my father before I could print, staging plays I had written in the back yard growing up," she told Yorkton This Week. "I've had no formal training other than a summer course at the Banff School of Fine Arts at age 16 and some workshops in my adult years. (Dey answered a question regarding her age by answering "I am old enough to have 7 grandchildren"). I am very fortunate to have had a literary mother who read and wrote - and talked about it - constantly."
As for Extensions, Dey said getting it into print proved rather easy.
"I have felt the sting of rejections with my first novel years ago, but Extensions found a home with NeWest Press on its maiden voyage," she said, adding, "I chose NeWest mainly because of its fine reputation as a literary press; the fact that two of our daughters live in the Edmonton area also held an appeal."
Extensions was released in early October and the first printing of 1,000 sold out by mid-November. "Fortunately, NeWest did a small reprint to fulfill Christmas sales," said Dey. "The response in Kamsack has been more heartwarming than I could ever imagine. There's nothing like a small town to support a local endeavour.
"I've also had two successful book launches in Edmonton and Vancouver, each staged by my daughters, and I was part of the Fictionistas readings in Regina before the book came out. "I'm beyond grateful for the enthusiasm my book has received."
Dey said the success has her believing another novel is inside waiting to get out, although the details are still percolating in her mind.
