Welcome

Welcome to the September 2014 edition of FineTuned. If you write professionally or for pleasure, you're in the right place. This month I interviewed Rose McCormick Brandon, author of Promises of Home: Stories of Canada’s British Home Children.

Carolyn R Wilker (CRW): Welcome, Rose. When did you discover that you were a writer?
Rose McCormick Brandon (RMB): Thanks, Carolyn, for your invitation. I always enjoy talking about writing. I first wrote when I attended Eastern Pentecostal Bible College. One of my pieces was chosen for the year book. But, I trace my desire to write back to a hospital stay when I was ten years old. There, in the hospital children’s library, I discovered The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I always loved books but when I read Mark Twain’s words, they created a humming in my chest. I not only read the words, I felt them. After that, I wanted to write words that caused other chests to hum.
 
CRW: What genres do you typically write in?
RMB: I submitted all of my early writing to faith/denominational magazines. I wrote for many evangelical publications in Canada and the US, including Sunday School papers, women’s magazines and periodicals for adults. I wrote about the Bible, my personal experiences with God, prayer, devotions and scripture-based articles. I also write personal experience pieces that aren’t faith-based. One of these, "Manitoulin Connection," was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, O Canada. I still do faith writing, including my blog, Listening to my Hair Grow, but lately I’ve had to focus on the book, Promises of Home – Stories of Canada’s British Home Children.
 
CRW: Do you have a preferred time and place for writing?
RMB: I always wanted a den for my books, my desk and all my files. I’ve had one now for a few years. But, about a year ago, I found myself plopped in my living room on my favourite chair, laptop on my knee. Once I sit down to write, I lose track of time. I sometimes become so focused that I’m cranky if someone interrupts. (I’m working on that.) I also write at my cottage in the summers. My preferred time for writing is from about 9 am to 3 pm. After that, I’m hungry and tired.

CRW: Your book, Promises of Home, came out in July. In it you write that curiosity about the Home Children began within your family. How old were you when you learned about your grandmother’s childhood, and how did you feel when you heard that news?
RMB: I don’t recall a time when I didn’t know that my grandmother, Grace Griffin Galbraith, was a Home Child. My mother and her sisters talked often about this. My dear grandma was a little strange. We were taught to accept her strangeness because she’d come to Canada as an eight-year-old orphan and was sent to live with strangers. For that reason, I always viewed her as a child who needed our compassion and support.

CRW: For readers who may be interested in writing and reading historical works, how did the interest evolve into your blog and then this book? And to what lengths have you gone to confirm those stories and find more?
RMB: I first wrote a novel about three Home Children, two sisters and a brother, loosely based on my grandmother’s life. (It’s finished but unpolished.) In 2012 I got sidelined from the novel because I decided to start a blog where I write, edit and publish the stories of British Home Children. I did this to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of my grandmother’s coming to Canada. A friend suggested that I publish a book of the stories. I trust her judgement, so I began to research more fully the stories that had been sent to me. It was important to verify information. The stories also needed drama – facts alone drain the pleasure out of reading.

CRW: When you began collecting stories and posting them to your blog, I was pleased to share a story too. Overall, how has the research and collection of stories affected you as an individual?
RMB: I become attached to each subject of these stories. When I’m writing about a particular child, it’s as if they are my relative. I always try to include a photo, and where possible, a quote from the individual with each story. This enables the reader, and me, to connect more fully with the person. It is so important that the more than 100,000 child immigrants gain their rightful place in Canadian history. Because they were scattered across the country, they weren’t recognized as the important demographic that they are. It’s estimated that four million Canadians are descendants of a Home Child. Most don’t know it.
Finally, this past year, the Ontario Grade Six curriculum included a segment on the Home Children.

CRW: Best wishes on your book promotion. This is an important work for Canada’s history and particularly in tune with assent of the 2011 Private Member’s Bill The British Home Child Day Act.
RMB: Thanks Carolyn. I’m grateful that my book is being so well received. I’m really just learning the whole promotional thing. One thing is needful. That’s for Canadians to know about the British Home Children. Millions have come to Canada as adults, with families and in groups. But these children were scattered from one end of the country to the other. It’s time for their experiences and contributions to Canada to be recognized.
 
Notes: My book includes the story of Walter Goulding, the oldest British Home Child in Canada. Several readers expressed how they were particularly touched by his story. On August 1, Walter died at 106. When I told one of my readers this, he said, “Oh, no—not Walter.” His words let me know that he felt connected to Walter after reading his story. That’s my aim – to cause Canadians to care about the Home Children.

For those who would like to find Rose online and purchase her book or attend an upcoming promotion/signing event:
September 25: Formal book launch for Promises of Home in the Blair Room at People’s Church, 510 Mohawk Road, West, Hamilton, Ontario. All are invited to attend.
September 27: Peterborough for a British Home Child Day Celebration. Speaking and signing at Northminster United Church, 300 Sunset Boulevard, Peterborough, Ontario
September 28: Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto for a British Home Child Day gathering. I’ll be conducting an open mic session of sharing stories.
In October: Cottonwood Mansion in Selkirk for a talk and book signing.
Read more about Rose at her blog, Promises of Home, at her faith blog, Listening to my Hair Grow. Order the book through her website, Writing from the Heart. The cost of the book is $21.00 plus $6.25 shipping.

--Carolyn Wilker, editor, writing instructor and author of Once Upon a Sandbox.
Articles on writing will continue in the next edition of FineTuned.


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