What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Being a Writer #6: George Murray
By Zoe Whittall
George Murray’s seven books of poetry include Diversion (ECW, 2015), Whiteout (2012), Glimpse: Selected Aphorisms (2010), The Rush to Here (Nightwood, 2007), The Hunter (McClelland & Stewart, 2003). His first book for children, Wow Wow and Haw Haw (Breakwater) was published in the spring of 2014. His new book of aphorisms is called Quick and from the previews I've seen online, it's very clever. I can't wait to read it.
What do you wish someone had told you before publishing your first book?
"Don't be in a rush to publish. You can't take back what you put out and future you, the one who has more wisdom and better taste, will thank you for waiting." That advice was given to me by the man who is now my editor, Michael Holmes, at ECW Press. I was putting out a chapbook of these awful little post-punk poems and he was kind and said I should give it some serious thought. I said, Pffft, and now I regret.
What advice do you give emerging writers?
The advice I give to students and emerging writers is the same. Slow down. There's no rush. They never really listen.
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The views expressed in the Writer-in-Residence blogs are those held by the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Open Book.
Zoe Whittall’s next novel, The Best Kind of People, will be published in fall of 2016 with House of Anansi Press. Her novel Holding Still for as Long as Possible, won a Lambda Literary award, was shortlisted for the Relit award, and was an American Library Association’s Stonewall Honor Book. She’s published three books of poetry, and works as a freelance TV writer and journalist in Toronto.
Her books have been translated into French, Swedish, and Korean.