Saturday, December 24, 2016

Created Here publishes fab feature on Abigail

Created Here Article, beautifully laid out
The Abigail Massey stories, the McAdam Railway Station and author Mark Walma were all featured in the latest edition of Created Here, a wonderful new publication launched by Marie-Hélène Morell.

Walma wrote the story that accompanied the beautiful layout of photos and drawings in the print magazine.

"It was an interesting experience," Walma said, "being asked to write an article about your own work."

Walma said he tried to find a way to write the article in a way that wouldn't end up sounding vain or falsely modest. "I decided to tell a story," he said. "I think the story of how Lynn and I decided to embark on the Abigail journey in the first place is an interesting and fun one so I focused the Created Here article on that."

He said that Morell was an excellent editor, very easy to work with, very clear in her requirements. "I enjoyed working with Marie-Hélène," Walma said. "She was kind and supportive but always direct in what she needed from me."

Walma said he received the print copy of the magazine the Friday before Christmas, which made it something of a delightful Christmas gift.

"I was unfortunately unable to attend the launch party for the magazine in Saint John so I wasn't sure when I would get the chance to see it," he said. "I was pretty happy to find it in my mail box when I came home from my last day of work before the holidays!"

The best part about the published article, Walma said, was the prominence the magazine gave to the fabulous illustrations that his sister Lynn contributed to the Abigail books. "I think sometimes Lynn's artistic contribution to the Abigail project gets forgotten in the press -- I was delighted to see two of her best from the first volume of stories get such a prominent place in the article!"