By Dan White – Special to the Sydenham Current
In my next few columns, I will be introducing you to a few local writers. I have been fortunate to meet two writers through the band: Mark Aarssen and Marcy Kennedy-Saylor. Both are members of WCB who have published at least one novel. Of course, my friend John Gardiner is well known locally, but he has had a good deal of exposure recently with his short stories. So, while I urge you to read his work and support him, I will start with Mark and Marcy. As always, if you are (or know of) a writer or other artist locally who deserves recognition, drop me an email at danlwhite62@gmail.com, and I would be happy to chat.
One of my earliest memories of Mark is from shortly after I joined the concert band in 2017. I had chatted with Mark in passing during rehearsals, but it was at Walmart when I started to understand what a storyteller he is. I bumped into Mark, and he began telling me the story of The Baldoon Mystery, and he was passionate. Thirty minutes later, he realized how long he had been talking and apologized profusely. This is a theme that continued up until this interview with Mark. He is a born storyteller.
Mark started writing in May of 2022 for a couple of reasons. First, as noted above, Mark likes to tell stories, and he would share stories from his days as a police officer in Wallaceburg with family and friends. His sister-in-law, who happens to be a publisher, suggested many times that Mark write his stories down. He shrugged off the suggestion until 2020.
Second, Mark decided he needed to stay off social media during the early days of COVID as there were too many points of view, too many opinions, and too many ways for people to offend or be offended, intentionally or not. Mark had the wisdom to focus his energy into something positive.
He started writing three to four hours a day, four times a week for six months, and at the end of that process, he had completed 222 pages filled with around 17,500 words and a collection of stories from his career as an officer in The Burg in the ’80s. Thus, “An Onion Under Glass” was born.
I asked Mark if he ever thought he would become a writer, and he stated, “No. I was not very good at English, wasn’t very studious, but it [writing] was an alternative to COVID stupidity.” He chose to focus on the humor from his career and script that instead of getting mired in social media foolishness. Then, something happened—once he started writing, he felt he owed it to the “knuckleheads” he worked with to tell their stories. Some stories have universal appeal – small-town cop. They are all local stories, with a healthy dose of humor mixed with drama, while balancing honoring, respecting, and poking fun at himself and other EMS workers during Wallaceburg’s glass and brass age – the manufacturing boom of the ’80s. Mark wanted to recognize guys he worked with that he felt deserved recognition, and he was convinced that the shenanigans of a small-town cop would have universal appeal… well, at least a universal small-town appeal.
That was step one of Mark’s journey and a significant learning curve. His next step was finding an editor who would read through his draft and offer feedback. He was fortunate that COVID had many editors without a lot of work, and he found a young lady in Toronto who would look through his draft copy. Isabelle told Mark he had a story, but it needed revision. This part, he admits, was the worst. Segments of stories that meant a lot to him had to be cut as Isabelle identified what flowed, what was telling the story, and what was superfluous to his stories. Mark noted that he would get draft copies emailed to him using an editing program, and entire paragraphs would be crossed out, and there would be the proverbial “red ink” everywhere.
Mark also had a former colleague and bandmate, Doug Babbitt, his wife Fran, and other family members reading edits and offering feedback. To his credit, Mark did not let his ego get in the way, nor did he give up. He took the feedback and continued to craft his stories until it was ready to go to print. In April 2021, 11 months after sitting down at his computer to peck out the initial ideas, a printed copy was completed.
After two years of traveling to every mall, bookstore, and corner that would host him to promote his book, Mark stated that the promotion for that book is now done, and how his book does in the bookstores and beyond will be decided by readers. Having said that, he also noted that he was told the average writer in Canada will be considered successful if they sell 300 copies. He has surpassed that benchmark.
Mark noted that the entire process from start to print was not cheap. The expenses included hiring Isabelle, commissioning artwork for the book, and, of course, printing. When you consider that most bookstores take 50% for selling your books, you quickly deduce that this venture requires a great deal of planning and a willingness to get out and showcase your work.
I asked Mark if he now considers himself a writer, and he felt he has achieved that. But now, as he begins working on his second book – a modernized retelling of the Baldoon Mystery – he may one day achieve author status. The distinction? “An author is someone whose written work has been published. In addition to producing published work, people who write are considered authors when they originate the ideas and content of their written work. For this reason, most authors are writers, but not all writers are considered to be authors.” – Masterclass.com
“An Onion Under Glass” can be found at most bookstores and with a quick search on Google – $24.95. Or contact Mark Aarssen and cut out the middleman.
Happy reading – and let’s keep annoying our local politicians to get the walking bridge back!
