Resident Writer
An
interesting
chat with UPEI’s resi- dent writer Janire Ku-
lyk Keefer. By Candi Mackey
For the last 3 months Janice Kulyk Keefer has been at UPEI, serving as a writer in residence to help students and teachers im- prove their writing. Recently I had a chance to interview Janice.
Q: When did you first begin writing?
A: As soon as I could.
Q: Why did you begin writ- ing?
A: I needed to. Writing is an art and artists are a special group of people. There is an inner drive sort of like runners have to run, writers also have to write.
Q: Where do you get your ideas? :
A: Sometimes I see an inter- esting person and I wonder what they are like. Other times there is something inside and I need to get it out.
Q: Did you keep a journal when you were small?
A: I kept a journal, yes. But it wasn’t just things that happened to me. sometimes I’d write about an incident in the supermarket or someone I saw out walking.
Q: Do you write about things that are familar to you?
A: You take something out- side you which is different and you make if familar. You al-
ways have to be observing, always —
looking.
Q: Did you do much writing
in school?
A: In high school I wrote for our yearbook. I wrote while at the university of Toronto and won a creative writing contest. At the University in England I was al- way writing, usually to keep my sanity.
Q: Did you ever work on a newspaper?
A: I never worked on a news- paper, but I contributed articles part of it was because I had to get all A’s to keep my scholarship and there was not much time for other things. I regret this now because I could have been a lot more fun.
Q: Did you ever enter any writing contests?
A: I submitted to contests like the CBC Radio literary compe- tition in 1985. Here I made contacts Publishers became inter- ested in my work. I had to banish the people looking over my shoul- der, I couldn’t think of what my mother or my father would think if they read my work.
Q: How long did it take before your first book was published?
A: I think it’s more how long it took to get my shortstories published. There were many re- jections. First you have to make contacts. I did this through the Radio Competition.
Q: Do you travel a lot to get ideas?
A: You don’t always have to travel. I have traveled across Canada with my family and I won a schloarship and studied in France for one year. I love travel- ling and feeding my imaginaiton. I was lucky enough to give lec-
tures on Canada in Sweden, Den-
mark, and a few other places.
Q: Do you feel that university and a degree in English played an important part? ;
A: When I think of all the years I spent in School — there were so many. I do not think you can be a good writer unless you are a good reader. You have to
- read and to talk about your read-
ing. You have to be a sophisti- cated and critical reader and you have to be a critical revisor of your own writing.
Q: Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night and thing you had a great idea but be un- able to remember it the next day?
A: Dreams are a wonderful source of ideas for shortstories and poems. I work late at night and I can’t turn off my imagina- tion when I got to bed. Some- times I solve my problems in my dreams. I used to wake up and turn on the light to write down my thoughts but my husband didn’t like this so now I go out to a table in the hall. The worst is when you don’t wake up until it is too late. You have shodows and wish you could remember it, but you can’t and it crumbles away.
Q: How long do you feel it takes to write a book?
A: My first book was a book of shortstories, it came out in 1986. I had my doctoral degree in 83. If you are independently wealthy and have a word processor or if you can shut yourself away with your ideas it may only take a few months but if you have kids or a husband, wife, or lover, or if you have a job and a house to run, it can take years and years. Some-
‘times the problem with being a
fast writer is that you don’t al- ways do your best, but if you are too slow you will never get it writ- ten. I tend to write quickly.
Q: Did you have a lot of sup- port from you family when you first decided to be a writer?
A: My parents aren’t read-
ers. My mother is a designer,
Ss
my father is more mathemati- cally inclined and my sister is ‘a painter. Both of my parents were supportive. My father was very, very good. My mother still thought I should be a dental hy- genist. She was thinking of prac- tically, that I might meet a den- tist. My father said, “No.” He said that if I wanted to write then I should. I had to do what I wanted to. After that they both became tremendously sup- portive. I went to Banff for 6 weeks while my mother took care of my youngest child who was 3 at the time. I couldn’t have done it without them.
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Chairperson N eeded
Are you looking for a fun, challenging, and educational oppor- tunity? Here is your chance to get invoived at UPEI. The Student Union needs volunteers for the following 1992 cositions:
Winter Carnival Chairperson — in coordination with the VP Operations plan the 1990 Student Union Winter Carnival.
Winter Carnival Assistant Chairperson ~ assist the Win- ter Carnival Chairperson.
Frosh Week Chairperson — will become a ricmber of the UPEI Orientation Committee starting January 1990.
—organize the Frosh Week Committee and cali meetings during the summer.
-in coordination with the VP Operations and the “tudent Ser- vices Department, organize Frosh Week 1990 acitv.iics. To ful- fill these duties you must be in the Charlottetown area during the summer of 1990.
Frosh Week Assistant Chairperson — to assisi: the Frosh Week Chairperson.
To apply please fill out a Volunteer Bank file card and drop it off at the Student Union Office, or call Betty Johnston, Student Union Administrative Assistant, 566-0530.
Health Centre Hours
Open Monday-Friday 8:30-4:30
Doctors: Monday 9:30-12:00 Dr. Tweel
Tuesday 1:00-4:00 Dr. MacKenzie
Thursday 9:30-12:00 Dr. Ciihs
Please phone for appointment
566-0616 or drop by during office hours.
Appointments are not necessary but would be appreciated. The health centre is located in the basement of Marion Hall.
CGA
Be on the cutting edge of Accounting. Study to be a CGA.
Program University of P.E.1.
Equivalent courses
201 & 202 Accounting
102 Macroeconomics
101 Microeconomics &
221 Statistics
221 Statistics &
252 Quantitative Methods
301 & 302 Accounting
300 Accounting
411 Cost Accounting I &
412 Cost Accounting II
331 Financial Management I & 332 Financial Management II 101 Introduction to Computers 202 Information Systems
400 Auditing
_FA1 Accounting EC2 Economics ME1 Managerial Math & Econ QM2 Quantitative Methods FA2 Accounting FA3 Accounting MAI Cost Accounting FN1 Financial Mgmt MS1 Mgmt Info Systems
AU1 Auditing I