It’s hard to keep everything together in one cohesive piece, and I realize that the only way anyone would know I’m on Goodreads is by being on Goodreads and searching for me by name, which is not exactly intuitive. So, yeah, I’m on that thing now. If you like Goodreads as a portal for books and readers, feel free to leave a review of either The Society of Experience or my two standalone “singles”, Snowshoe, and Second World. Thanks!
A Sweet Deal For Book Clubs
So, it appears The Society of Experience is becoming popular with book clubs in Canada and parts of the United States – this is wonderful news. As a token of my appreciation for this interest, I’m offering the following to anyone part of or organizing a book club: if you decide to add The Society of Experience to your book club’s reading list I will gladly make myself personally available to answer any questions you may have about the book, or writing in general. If you are in the Toronto area, I’m willing to make a personal appearance (time limited of course – please book early), otherwise I’m happy to connect with your group via Skype/Facetime or just plain ol’ email. 
Get creative – throw me an idea! And remember, The Society of Experience is available in paperback and now eBook.
The Society of Experience: The eBook
I thought I would let everyone know that my debut novel, The Society of Experience, is now available as an ebook for Kobo readers. Please enjoy!
Short Fiction: “There Is This Thing Of You”
I am proud to put new works out into the world. My short fiction piece, There Is This Thing Of You, is something I’ve been polishing for a number of years and I’m happy that it found a home with the online literary journal The Rusty Toque.
While it’s free to read, please consider donating to The Rusty Toque if you like what you see (and please check out the other great authors – like poets Madhur Anand and Eva H.D.)
Author Q&A With Open Book: Word On The Street, and Ontario vs Toronto
In anticipation of Word On The Street (September 27th, Harbourfront) and the release of my book, The Society of Experience, I was asked todo a Q&A with Open Book. It was a refreshing exercise, seeing as they were just as interested in Ontario as where I lived, Toronto. The thing is I’m qualified to speak of both: I moved a lot as a kid, from town to town. I’ve only lived in Toronto since 1995 (20yrs this month). It got me thinking about my influences growing up, among other things.
Have a read here: http://www.openbooktoronto.com/news/word_street_interview_series_matt_cahill
Too Much Change
So much has happened…
– sold house (add to this: renovated house)
– bought condo (add to this: mourning house, moving)
– moved psychotherapy practice to newly-leased office (add to this: find office space, renovate, move)
– had my application to the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario accepted
– began intense revision process on novel (coming out in September)
So there you have it. I also hope to have a new short story published around the time my novel comes out, so yeah. All hands on deck at the moment.
I leave you with the cover for my novel, The Society of Experience:
Short Fiction: “Snowshoe”
I am extremely happy to announce that my short fiction piece, Snowshoe, is available for purchase and download through Found Press (and via Amazon).
I’m very proud of this story, as it is a concept I’ve been wishing to turn into a story for many years (“decades” is probably appropriate). I finally put pen to paper and out came, quite organically, the resulting story. Working with editor Bryan Jay Ibeas was a great experience in that he and I both seemed to be on the same wavelength, which is perhaps the best that any author can expect.
If you are interested, please (at the very least) check out Found Press’ Snowshoe page. Or, if you are feeling aggressive, go to Amazon and purchase it for the crazy-cheap price of $2 (click here).
SARS Essay in Torontoist
Torontoist just posted an essay I wrote about this being the 10th anniversary of the SARS breakout in Toronto (which went on to kill 44 people and cost the country $2 billion), and the fact that nothing is being done to commemorate it. That is to say that commemorations are not necessarily celebrations, but can be sober remembrances of mistakes made in our past.
Read it here.
New Author Site
Hello all. In order to promote my upcoming book and to (eventually) be a hub for promoting any published works I do between now and then, I thought it best to have a standalone author site created: mattcahill.ca. This task was handily undertaken by Ingrid Paulson, and it looks great.
Eventually I will start adding pages to the site, to flesh it out (so that it is more than just a page, but an actual “site”).
The question currently stands: what will happen to this here blog? I’m not sure. The more I focus on writing gigs, the less time I have for blogging, and yet – paradoxically – I have more things to blog about because potentially I have more gigs. In other words, there is still a need for the blog, so imagitude will stay where it is and perhaps be linked-to from the author site at some point.
Author Author
I am represented by a literary agency now and, without going into great detail, my novel has undergone some major changes. Mainly structural. The story hasn’t changed, most of the plotting is still intact, no new characters. But some major changes were made and these changes happened very quickly, and as a result I don’t think what I surrendered (because no experienced author would willingly call any work “done”) was the best effort I could have made. And so, when I realized the extent to which the book needed first-aid, I told my agent to hit the brakes – stop distributing the book and ask those publishers who have not yet read it to not, please and thank you.
I’m writing this from the perspective of someone who has just finished, if finished may be used about any art form, a necessary revision. I am relatively new to this – not writing, but revising. There is an art to revision which is as unique as the art of writing itself. This may sound alien to many, but to fellow writers – novelists especially because of the weight of material we are burdened with – this is a necessary conversion: the realization that you cannot know everything, do everything in your first, second, or even seventh revision. And that potentially great ideas not only require blending with the rest of the work, but the time and space to be seen again with fresh eyes and, if need be, changed once again.
When you don’t respect the process – of writing, of revision (because the two are intertwined like the snakes on a caduceus) – you risk damaging your gains. I ended up not happy with what went out under my name and I am not the first nor will I be the last reluctant person to go through this sometimes necessary experience. I have spent the past four months rejigging, reconsidering, reaching deeper, and sometimes just removing clutter. I worked on my laptop, and after that I had the manuscript printed so that I could look at it like a real book, so that I could see what you can’t easily see on a computer screen. I’ve switched and changed, shortened and lengthened, pared-down and elaborated for clarity.
I think it’s ready now. If not “done” then “done enough”. Or, at the very least, I’m done. And, corny and cliché though it may sound, lessons have been learned.