A few year ago, I was curious about self-publishing on Amazon KDP. So I published two novels I had just finished writing—The Hat and Something True—on that platform.

One of those books is still there, that’s Something True. It presents a fictionalized version of a true coming of age story. It follows Katharine McLennan, a young woman growing up in a wealthy family on Cape Breton Island who eventually finds herself by serving as a nursing assistant in France during World War 1. It’s a story that I wrote about in a couple of academic articles, but felt the need to delve deeper after those pieces came out. That’s why I wrote the novel.

The other novel I published on Amazon is no longer there. What was The Hat became Into the Wind, and it is available in printed form and as a digital version from Acorn Press (which is based on Prince Edward Island, and is distributed by Nimbus Publishing in Halifax.) Into the Wind is a revised and improved version of my original story. That story is a YA novel about what happened at Grand-Pré in 1755, as seen through the eyes of two siblings, 14-year old Marie and 10-year old Charles.

The evolution of The Hat into the revised and improved Into the Wind came to my attention this week when a teacher contacted me about having her students read the book. The version she knew was the original novel, The Hat. She wanted to obtain multiple copies. And she asked if I could come and speak to the class after they finished reading the book. I’m looking forward to doing just that.