1) Can you tell us how you became a writer?
The life of a writer is still very new to me. I never planned to be a writer and only started writing at the age of 40.
After studying and working in Toronto for five years, I moved to Orillia, a small town about 130 km north of Toronto. For months I couldn’t find a job. The notion that job-seekers must have previous experience was a tough reality for me to face. I worried that I might be unemployed for the rest of my life, even though back in China I had supported myself since I was 16.
One day in the spring of 1993, when Bill [William Bell] was on a book tour, I found myself sitting in front of a computer trying to turn an old saying my mother often used into a story. I just wanted to find something to do so that at the end of each day I could say to myself that I hadn’t sat around, doing nothing. As for why I chose writing instead of something else, looking back I realized it was Bill’s influence. Bill was a full-time high school English teacher but he’s also a young adult novelist with more than ten published books. He would write at night and on weekends, after marking was done. I found myself in a situation where he had too much work to do and I, too much time to kill.
After eight rejection letters in one year, my story was accepted by Annick Press. The acceptance of that story generated tremendous confidence in me and was the driving force behind my writing. At least in writing no one is fussy about whether I have previous experience or not.
2) What inspired you to write this particular book?
My memoir, A Leaf in the Bitter Wind,is my second book. The reason I wrote it was that I wanted to leave something behind for my daughter to read.
Shortly after I became a Canadian citizen in 1994, I went back to China to try to contact my daughter. By then I hadn’t seen her for nearly seven years because when I divorced her father he took his revenge by denying me access to her. I was unsuccessful. The grim possibility that I might not see her for the rest of my life made me decide to write something down for her to read, probably after I am gone. I wanted to tell her something about me and my parents, whom she never met, about my childhood and teenage years, about my six years living and working on a prison farm, and particularly about my decision to leave China. The project started as a sort of record. Yet as days turned into weeks and weeks rolled into months, I watched on the computer screen as my jotted notes became paragraphs, pages grew into chapters, and chapters called for more chapters. Bill convinced me that my life story would be interesting to others so I should keep writing and try to get it published.
3) Who is your favourite character in this book, and why?
The person who stands out as remarkable in this book is my great-aunt, Chen Feng-mei. After I examined my experience growing up in a society in which bloodline was all that mattered, and how that had affected me and every Chinese person’s daily life, I recalled that Great-aunt, who took care of me and my brothers and sisters after our parents passed away, was not a blood relative. It was my great-aunt, a woman without education, a woman who had a pair of bound feet which were smaller than her own hands, who had given me courage and strength during the darkest moments in my life.
4) Do you have a favourite story to tell about being interviewed about your book?
I can’t remember any. But I did learn something about make-up. When I saw myself on TV after a CTV interview I realized I looked like a panda due to heavy make-up and dark eye shadow. That pretty much summarizes my knowledge of make-up.
5) What question are you never asked in interviews but wish you were?
I wish all the interviewers would read my book or at least know something about it before they put me on the stand.
6) Has a review or profile ever changed your perspective on your work?
So far, not really. I write about things that interest me.
7) Which authors have been most influential to your own writing?
English literature and its writers are still relatively new to me even though I read a lot. My approach to reading is finish a book whether it’s good or not so good. I can’t identify any particular author or book that influenced me.
8) If you weren’t writing, what would you want to be doing for a living? What are some of your other passions in life?
I often think about the first question: Who would I be or what would I do if I had been born here in Canada? What kind of career would I like to pursue? I would like very much to be a doctor. I guess this may have a lot to do with the memories of how helpless my brothers, sisters and I were, watching our parents suffer and die from illness. But then again, I am terrified seeing blood! Being a teacher would be my next choice. But after living in Canada for over ten years, living with a teacher, I am not so sure now. Teachers are not as respected as they used to be.
When I am not writing, when housework is done and the garden is in good shape, I like sewing and knitting. I find they help me to relax; meanwhile, I still can keep thinking about my stories.
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