After three and a half years of drafts, edits, and doubts, the result of these frustrations has been printed, bound, and shipped to book stores.
And Cliff Burns, a North Battleford resident, couldn't be happier about the completion of his first novel.
"Finally, it's all come together," said Burns. "After 25 years of writing, this is it, this is the coalescence of it all."
The novel, So Dark the Night, centres around two detectives, Cassandra Zinnea and Evgeny Nightstalk, who have a complicated relationship. Working only from dusk until dawn, they've seen their share of odd characters and crimes, but are now up against their most formidable opponent to date.
"These are the most endearing characters you could imagine," said Burns. "You fall in love with them right from the first ten pages."
In fact, Burns enjoyed the fictional characters so much, he said it was difficult to finish the book, as he was unwilling to let them go.
"When I did let them go, when I finished the book, I grieved. I grieved like I'd lost two friends," he said.
Burns was tempted to write a sequel, but is instead working on a novel set in the same fictional world as So Dark the Night, using some of the secondary characters from the novel. Being a workaholic, Burns started writing his current project the minute So Dark the Night was finished.
"I'm just a writing machine," said Burns, "I'm like a shark; if I stop, I drown."
Although this is Burns' first full-length novel, he has already published several compilations of poetry and short stories, two of which were opted for movies. When Burns says he is a full-time writer, he means it literally - he writes seven days a week.
"I don't take breaks. I hate holidays, I hate time off," he said.
The seasoned author first realized he was destined to be a writer in high school, in his hometown of Regina. At first, he was writing "extremely bad, that's me in the corner, poetry." But a Grade 12 short story assignment changed his life.
"I wrote it the night before because I procrastinated before the assignment was due, but it got an A++ and won a short story award," said Burns.
"Once I figured out I could move people with words, I knew I was on the right track."
There have been moments of doubt though. While working on So Dark the Night, Burns went through a six-month spell where he wasn't able to work on the novel, thinking it was too much work, and wondering if the effort was worth it. Burns took his uncompleted novel to Yann Martel, winner of the Booker Prize and writer-in-residence in Saskatoon, who gave Burns some suggestions and restored his confidence.
That wouldn't be the only bump in Burns' path to success, however. Burns offered the book to several Canadian publishers, and was rejected. In some cases his queries received no replies. But Burns decided to self-publish with his own imprint, Black Dog Press (not to be confused with the British publisher by the same name), which he's had for about 20 years.
"The sales have been great, the reviews have been great, so I feel vindicated," said Burns.
Although Burns' novel was released earlier this year, he held an official book launch at the North Battleford Library June 17. The launch featured music by Laird Britton, a local musician and friend of Burns. Britton and Burns have co-written several songs together, two of which were performed at the book launch. Britton also performed a song he'd written himself, which will be featured on the musician's upcoming CD.
Also at the book launch was a short film excerpt of the novel.
So Dark the Night is available at Crandleberry's, Amazon and Indigo, as well as from Burns, who can be reached at [email protected].
