A once-local author celebrated the release of her first novel with a special event held in her hometown of Emo, Ontario.
Mary Grace van der Kroef is a poet and author who hails from the Rainy River District, and currently resides in the Niagara region. As part of a trip home with her family, she found the time to hold a special book reading and signing event at the Emo Public Library on Friday, August 23, 2024, to read from her most recently published book, “Our Road to Trust.” The book marks her first published novel and was originally published in January 2024.
Van der Kroef spoke to the dozen-plus visitors who turned out to hear her read, sharing that she is an author who writes from a Christian perspective, something that was used to full effect in her novel. Her first novel is a collection of short stories centred around a moment in the life of ten different woman, who are each members of the same church. While “Our Road to Trust” is her first published novel, she has three previously published collections of poetry, and indeed started her writing as a poet, something she said has helped her along the path of writing her novel.
“My journey with writing started with poetry and then moved into short story, which taught me how to finish a story, because I’ve always wanted to write, ever since I was eight years old, but every time I started something, I never finished it,” she said.
“So learning how to finish has been very important to me, and I think that’s something that a lot of new writers struggle with, because having the stamina to create a whole manuscript, you wouldn’t think it’s as hard as it is, but it is really difficult. Once you get 30 or 40% into the story, you often stall, and that’s where we get stuck. So learning to persevere and push through that, I did that through learning how to write short stories and learning how to finish and it has taken me far.”
Van der Kroef also shared that her affinity for poetry has also helped to strengthen her writing. She noted that each poem requires reflective and specific uses of words, which is a mindset she brought with her into writing her novel, ensuring each word used was the correct one for maximum impact, or description.
While the world of publishing can be fraught with confusion and setbacks, van der Kroef shared that she is an “indie,” or independent author who has self-published her books so far, helping her retain creative control over her work while still working with early readers and editors who help her finesse and hone each poem or story into its best form.
“I will tell you it’s a blessing, because I actually don’t have to sell thousands of books to make the same amount of money that traditionally published authors do, but I do have to do all this work myself, which is, you know, the downside,” she said.
“There’s upsides and downsides to both of them, but I am so grateful to my mom… she’s not my editor, but she is my alpha reader. I do my rough draft and then I quickly go through it with a short edit… and then her and some of my other sisters read my manuscripts.”
Van der Kroef said that each book she has written presents its own challenges, which can be difficult for writers to overcome. However, she did say that as each book presents its own opportunity to learn more as a writer, she has developed a certain mindset when it comes to her work.
“You always have the thought when you’re a writer, ‘Am I good enough to write this book?’” she said.
“But I try to teach myself to say, you are never good enough to write your next book, but you become good enough when it’s finished. And you learn so much with each manuscript that you write… I found it’s just a matter of showing up, and if you can prime the pump with a sentence, it will start to flow, if you are persistent. I think that is really the key difference from a beginner, and it’s something that you have to learn. The people who are super serious about writing, they plant their butt in the chair, and even if you only write 250 words, you have written, and it adds up.”
Van der Kroef told the crowd that she is hard at work on the writing and publication of her next novels, which will be continuations of a few of the the stories she has told in “Our Road to Trust,” choosing to focus in on one or two characters introduced in that novel to further explore their worlds. She also has another collection of poetry that she said is expected to release before Christmas this year.
For more information about Mary Grace Van der Kroef, to purchase any of her published works or to join her newsletter to follow along with her, visit her website at marygracewriting.ca.
