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I am thrilled to announce that I’ve recently signed with Cecilia Lyra from The Rights Factory! She is an amazing person and a fantastic agent, coach, and cheerleader and I couldn’t be happier working with her.

Our first project together is a book proposal for a memoir of chronic illness and disability. It’s my story of growing up with autoimmune arthritis in what I call the Dark Ages of rheumatology, becoming a wheelchair user at 16 just a short time after the deinstitutionalization of people with disabilities, and travelling to the present were so much has changed. It’s exciting, nerve-racking, and feels very much like a daring new adventure.

Cecilia and I found each other in a moment of sheer serendipity (or maybe it was the universe giving us a shove). Last year, a fellow writer friend and I went to the Toronto Writing Workshop. When I pitched the idea of going to my friend, I framed it as a day to hang out with our peeps. Writing is a solitary endeavour and the opportunity to meet others in the same situation, to chat, and share our experiences was a welcome one.

Our very first session was on the topic of staying inspired, taught by Cecilia Lyra. Through the discussion in the session, I shared a project I was working on, she was intrigued, and I got her card.

After a number of obstacles got in the way — messed up servers, lost emails, pandemics, and the like – we finally decided to work together on my memoir. Aside from the working relationship, we also happened to click in a major way and there’s no better way to find your perfect teammate.

But what about my independent publishing journey, you might ask? It’s still going strong. One of the beautiful things about the changing publishing landscape is that you have options. Initially, I chose the independent author path, writing and publishing my own books. But I’ve never closed the door to being traditionally published and have in fact nurtured a wish to becoming what’s called a hybrid author. Some of my projects will publish through my own company Two North Books. With Cecilia’s help, other projects will (hopefully) be published by a traditional publishing company.

It’s going to be a wonderful ride. And that’s why you should always say yes to new adventures.

See my bio on The Rights Factory website.