Monique Polak

I love it when I turn on the radio and they just happen to be talking about the subject I am writing about! It feels like serendipity (ahh what a lovely-sounding word, don't you agree?) ... it feels like it was meant to be ....  Best of all, it feels like someone somewhere is telling me I've been spending the last three months working on the right project!

This happened yesterday afternoon when I turned on the radio in the car and CBC radio book maven Eleanor Wachtel was interviewing American author André Dubus III. Dubus is best known for his novel House of Sand and Fog, but Wachtel was interviewing him about his memoir, Townie, in which he talks a lot about his troubled relationship with his dad and about... get ready, insert drum roll here ... BOXING!!

Did you know my latest project is a YA novel about a girl boxer? Did you know I have been taking once-a-week private boxing lessons with a trainer named Big Ron? Did you know that the trainer in my book is going to be named... Big Ron?

Anyway, back to Andre Dubus III. During the interview, he said so many interesting things about boxing I had to rush out of the car and write them all down. He talked about the feeling he used to have after a street fight, describing it like a hangover. Later, he elaborated, saying the feeling was a kind of "spiritual remorse."

But here's one more treat for you for today. Wachtel asked Dubus whether there are similarities between writing and boxing. How yummy, I thought to myself when I heard this question. Dubus's answer did not disappoint me. He said, "You step into the unknown. You hope everything will turn out okay."

Ahhh, that makes me happy -- both as a boxer (okay, not a very good one, but still) and as a writer. Good luck to you, dear blog reader, as you step into the unknown, too!