Do you sometimes find yourself drifting off in thought to a time when life was simpler? Do you pine for days gone by when meeting up with friends for root beer floats or cruising the strip looking for fun were top of your agenda?
Growing up in Amherstburg at a time when CKLW was busy pumping out the latest Motown hits to the airwaves, author Mark MacMillan gained a trunkful of experiences to perfectly recreate this era in his new book “The Rankin Street Raiders.”
The Rankin Street Raiders cover
MacMillan’s description of life in small-town Southwestern Ontario, as seen through the eyes of a group of young boys and junior pirates, captures the essence of the fun that was so peculiar to that time and place. This book is full of youthful escapades showing how friendships were formed in the spirit of having fun together. It will resonate with many readers, while taking them back to their own youthful memories of days gone by.
As MacMillan says, “I wrote this novel as a tribute to a great era and area. But it also has many universal themes and connections that people can identify with and enjoy, no matter how old or young they are or where they live.”
The Kingsville Times recently spoke with Mark MacMillan about his writing journey, how art mimics life, and his own youthful escapades.
KT:
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
MM:
When I was very young, my public school principal David Goldman (who taught throughout Essex County during his career) got me interested in literature, and my father was an avid reader. They inspired me, for life.
KT:
What took you away from Amherstburg and what brought you back to write this book?
MM:
I was born in Mexico as my father was a mining engineer, but both of my parents were born and raised in Windsor. We moved back there and I went to Amherstburg Public School and Amherst High from grade 1-10 then our family moved to Northern Ontario. I live in Prince Edward County now but get back to the Burg quite often to visit family and good friends!
KT:
What is your work schedule when you are writing?
MM:
The schedule is very important I realized. I write in the winter months. I get up early and with the support of a coffee or two, write for four or five hours a day with time off on the weekends.
KT:
How long did it take you to write “The Rankin Street Raiders?”
MM:
From the original manuscript to editing, rewrites and more editing as well back and forth with the publisher including the text fonts, cover designs etc., it took a solid year.
KT:
Is the book a fictionalized account of your youth? Did you have a similar gang of friends and similar experiences growing up?
MM:
That’s the big question I get the most. Yes, we were a leaderless team full of imagination and adventure. But this is not a memoir, it is a novel and as such I breathed as much love and life into it as possible. I tried to make the sentences sing and have a presence of their own beyond some of the actual events.
KT:
Do you think there are more similarities or more differences between the youth growing up in the era of the Raiders and youth today?
MM:
I think there are more differences. Back then, without computers and instant access to information and activities, we had to invent our own excitement but it was a lot of fun resulting in memorable mischief and some misdeeds.
KT:
While writing the book, what was your most surprising recollection? Was there a memory locked away that the writing process uncovered?
MM:
That happened a lot during the course of writing and it was a constant reward for all my hard work but, there’s a chapter that appears near the end called “Brown-Eyed Girls and a Canoe Courtship” that stands out for me.
We were toying with the idea of riding ice flows on the Detroit River and my father caught us. The look in his eyes made me realize how much he loved me and how he would look if I was no longer with him. Struck us both to the heart and we never talked about it again. It still grips me.
KT:
What advice can you offer to aspiring writers?
MM:
I have a boatload of advice for aspiring writers, but I will limit it to these few. Take notes when you have ideas, one-liners, great phrases, etc., because if you don’t they tend to slip away into the lost but never-to-be-found department.
Give yourself a schedule when you finally settle into the project. And be original, don’t copy another author’s style or subject matter, etc.
KT:
If you had to do something differently as a child or a teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do?
MM:
I would have kept more notes. Great ideas have to be preserved and only you, as a writer, can keep and protect them.
KT:
What is your next writing project?
MM:
This is my second book. The first one, called “Thrashing and Cavorting,” is about salmon fishing in B.C. and it is with a number of publishers, waiting word. I am working on a third novel about Northern Ontario.
Readers looking for a great book that will carry them back to their own youthful escapades can find “The Rankin Street Raiders” online in E-Book, paperback and hardcover versions here:
Locally:
River Bookshop
67 Richmond Street
Amherstburg, Ontario
info@riverbookshop.com
(226) 906-8311
Village Shoppe
13 Sandwich Street South
Amherstburg, Ontario
lynn@thevillageshoppe.ca
(519) 736-7455
In Canada:
In the United States:
“The Rankin Street Raiders” is also available in Australia, the U.K., Europe, China and Japan.
More About the Author:
Mark MacMillan is a journalist, newspaper editor and freelance writer. He has also conducted province-wide advertising campaigns in print, radio, newspaper, digital, online and electronic billboards as well as the production of a dozen television commercials. He began his communications career as a youth delivering the Amherstburg Echo.
To Contact Mark W. MacMillan:
Email
markmacmil@gmail.com
Phone
(613) 955-8419