Some ten years and ten-thousand hours were spent writing a novel that would mimic the experience we all know as: Life.
Ian Glasgow, a Cape Brenton native, strives to indulge readers with good, relatable literature that will move you. The novel Guardian at the Gate will make you laugh, make you cry, make you visit a place you will feel as though, you've been before.
On December 5, author Ian Glasgow alongside publisher and owner of Melting Tundra Publishing, David Millar will make an appearance at the Cochrane Library from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to discuss the novel as well as the pros and cons of self-publishing.
Ian Glasgow has been a Cochrane resident for six years. He has been married to his better half Carol for 22 years. Together the blended family have five children and eight grandchildren. Glasgow spent most of his career working as a senior manager for various governments in Canada, which allowed his writing to flourish.
The book predominantly focuses on three characters: Glasgow's mother and Glasgow's great aunt Sadie and great uncle Big Dan. The latter raised his mother. His story telling showcases life lessons and experiences they grew to learn as well as the teachings they would bestow on those around them, not knowing they were doing so at the time.
Glasgow explains the reason he started to write the book was to share the stories that were experienced by himself and his two brothers on the 30 some acre farm.
"We learned a lot because of who they were, how they were, their values, and once I finished writing those stories (for) the book - and it was probably 20 about the farm - I then realized 'you know what, folks might want to hear a little bit about what happens to these kids when they left the farm' and so I started to continue those stories and what I discovered in the process of doing that was that we looked at life through the lens that we developed on that farm and we valued everything based on the values those folks taught us," said Glasgow.
"They helped us make sense of the ups and they helped us make sense of the downs. That's the spirit of the book, really, is that everything I learned of any importance in life, I first learned on the farm."
The book was a long lost passion for Glasgow that he felt compelled to tell. He added that he needed to satisfy himself in telling it right and this could be why he took such precious time and effort in interviewing family members.
Guardian at the Gate touches on many subjects that are important to individuals in every day life including, death, dementia and divorce. It is told in such a way that the reader can correlate with because no matter the situation, in some shape or form, we have all been through it.
"There's a story in there about Big Dan's sister, Sadie getting dementia. A lot of people you talk to have had that experience where they knew somebody that they loved dearly, who loved them dearly and now when they look in their eyes they don't see that reflected back and so learning to cope with that," explains Glasgow. "There's folks that will read that story and they'll understand the emotion that's behind it."
Glasgow also discovered that simple every day things his aunt (Sadie) and uncle (Big Dan) would do, whether it be fixing a fence post, planting potatoes, cooking a meal or mowing a field, there was always a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. It was about staying true to your art and bringing values to those simple things that would ultimately carry forward to successes in life.
"The things that are of real value and that define us are the things that happen every single day and how we deal with that, and those aren't big things those are the small things," shares Glasgow.
The book goes about in a moving timeline manner from the stories on the farm on to later years in life. It depicts how the principles that were learned in younger years are reflected upon presently.
The novel was published by David Millar who is the author of two non-fiction books and more than 80 magazine articles on travel and archeology. After meeting Millar's wife at a motorcycle course at the age of 65, Glasgow soon found out the Millar was on the condo board where he resided. After meeting and hearing each others concerns, Glasgow decided to join the condo board. The pair eventually got to talking one day and, small world Millar mentioned that he ran a publishing company and offered to read Glasgow's book. Long story short, Millar self-published Glasgow's book, which holds many benefits as opposed to traditional publishing.
"It was a great match and as it turned out it's been a great friendship and I have a lot of respect for him," said Glasgow.
You can purchase Guardian at the Gate at ianglasgow.weebly.com and don't miss the pair at the Cochrane Library next Thursday (Dec.5).
