Finishing up my Blog Tour with Valerie Francis

I’m in Halifax now awaiting the Atlantic Book Award ceremony tomorrow night. Tonight, I’ll be joining the other two authors nominated for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award as well as three established authors for readings and a Q&A. The event takes place at the Keshen Goodman Library in Halifax starting at 7 pm. Should be a great evening.

Today, we come to the end of my five week blog tour. I’ve been honored to have been hosted by Kate Robbins, Paul Butler, Michelle Butler Hallett and Rati Mehrotra up to now and today we finish up the tour with Valerie Francis.

I first met Valerie at one of Paul Butler’s workshops where I was working on Braco and last year she interviewed me for her blog. It was my first taste of blogging and when she invited me to join her writer’s group, the first thing I wanted to know was how she put together such a great site.

A native of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Valerie began writing short stories and poems as a child and completed her first book (All About Me) at the age of seven.  She holds an undergraduate degree in English Literature from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and upon graduation became Assistant Editor with Atlantic Business Magazine.  There she published several of her own articles and edited the work of other writers.

In 1997, Valerie adapted The Monk (by Matthew Lewis – no, not the actor from Harry Potter) for screen and had the script reviewed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Pamela Wallace (Witness, starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis) and script consultant Kathie Fong Yoneda (former executive with Paramount, MGM, Disney and more).  Although the preliminary script received favourable feedback, the project was put on hold in 1998 when Valerie began a career in public relations with the federal government.There she continued to write for a living, drafting speeches for the House of Commons, media kits and other communications products.

In 2008, Valerie returned to fiction writing short-stories for children and in 2010 started a fantasy novel for young adults.

You can view the blog tour post on Valerie’s blog here. At the end of the blog, she gives details on how you can win a signed copy of Braco.

I’d like to thank all those that hosted me on this tour. It’s been a great learning experience and a fantastic way to celebrate the upcoming awards.

🙂