Monique Polak

Today's blog entry is inspired by a comment I got from John Abbott College English teacher Lesley Checkland-Orr. Lesley wrote to say that on her drive home this week, she thought about somethingI'd said about stories that stick with us. And that it occurred to her that she had one of those stories, too.

Here's what I mean by stories that stick. Most of us hear lots of stories every day. Sad ones, funny ones, stuff about the present, memories of the past. But there are some stories that we just can't shake. They stick with us; they grow in our minds. We return to them, sometimes asking, "What if?" 

That, for me, is where most of my books have begun. With a story or an incident or even a feeling that sticks. The mystery of my mum's experience during the Holocaust stuck with me my whole life, waiting to be explored in What World Is Left. One of my two new books, Junkyard Dog, grew out of the feeling that stuck with me after I first laid eyes on a guard dog who "works" at a convenience store in my neighbourhood.

What story sticks with you -- and just as importantly, when are you going to tell it?