Luanne Armstrong: Doing a Little Bit of Everything at Berton House

by Dan Davidson
Appeared in: Klondike Sun - November 24, 2000

Luanne Armstrong started off wanting to write poetry, but got side-tracked into prose on the advice of teacher/poet Robin Skelton. Since that time she has written four novels and several young adult novels, or chapter books, as they are often called in the industry and many newspaper and magazine articles. You might think that would have been enough to convince her that Skelton was right, but you’d be wrong.

During her stint at Berton House she is hard at work on a novel, a book of essays and ... yup! ... a collection of poetry. During her first month as the Berton House writer-in-residence she has found time to work on all of these things, blessed time without the usual interruptions that inevitably occur when people can get hold of you easily.

She did have to take a short trip to Vancouver to attend the launching of Hodgepog Books fall lineup of four young adult novels. Yes, she is a fledgling publisher in partnership with one of her daughters as well as everything else that she is doing.

Luanne Armstrong and her trusty Powerbooks are ready for another day’s work at Berton House. Photo by Dan Davidson

Luanne has spent most of her life farming in south-eastern British Columbia. Creative Writing was her degree program at the University of Victoria and it was there that Skelton told her she should write prose. That seemed to mean novels, which were too daunting for her to start with - took too much time.

"I did a lot of journalism mostly after I got out of U. Vic. and some teaching. I was teaching at a Native college in Merit and had a summer off and I thought, ‘Oh well, I’ll just write a book.’"

She laughs now at the sheer audacity of this simple decision and continues.

"Also, my kids had all finally left home, so there was this incredible silence. You had to do something to fill it after they’d all packed and gone.

"I sat down and started telling myself a story. I actually wasn’t taking it very seriously, and then I finished it in about six months. The first publisher I sent it to grabbed it - in fact, two publishers wanted it, so that was good.

"I sat down and wrote another one - and that got published as well, so I thought, ‘Well, maybe I’m a novelist’."

A third novel followed a couple of years ago and the fourth one is still in the writing stage, slightly stalled but still moving.

Last year, however, she decided to polish off her Masters in Fine Arts.

"I’d always wanted to do that but having four kids and way too many jobs and a farm, well ...."

A new set of instructors set her off in a new direction. Suddenly well known poet George McWhirter was telling her she ought to be publishing her verse.

"I was going to fall on the floor. I was flabbergasted. But I thought that if George liked my poetry I should take it a bit more seriously. So he’s got me working on a poetry manuscript."

To top that off she won the Earle Birney Award, which is a scholarship for budding poets. The final confirmation of that award arrived by phone during the course her residency here.

Then Andreas Schroeder thought she did good essays. The fact that one of her class assignments won a national award didn’t hurt either.

"So Andreas asked me if he could work with me on a book of essays.

"That’s why I’m here. I have the novel which I am rewriting, but I’m also working on a book of essays with Andreas and a book of poetry with George. And next year, when things settle down, I’ll do another kid’s book."

With all this to do you might think she’d be hibernating at Berton House, but instead she’s offering two writing courses while here in Dawson, one for the local campus of Yukon College and another with the Klondike Institute of Arts and Crafts.

She has established a pretty strict regimen for her own personal work though.

"I work on the novel in the morning. I write poetry on weekends. I’m very organized about it actually. Then I work on the essays after I go for a walk at noon, pick up some groceries and have a cup of coffee."

The essays are of a type known as creative non-fiction - a kind of reflective memoir style which requires a bit of digging for material as well as a strong attempt to be literary. One of her early forays into this format, a personal essay called "With Enough Aspirin: Living for Now in Pain’s Company," was published in the on-line magazine Salon last year, and has been critiqued favourably in another on-line journal called Creative Non-Fiction, for which she has also done work. It deals with the adjustments that having rheumatoid arthritis has forced her to make in her formally physically active life.

She says this type of work, a blending of issues and personal reaction, has become very popular lately, and one of the courses she is teaching in Dawson deals with the production of such essays.

"I’ve been here a month, and I must say that I’m probably grateful every single day for this space in time. I think this is a wonderful idea.

"The people of Dawson are very good ... very careful about intruding on my time. but quite friendly and welcoming if I want to show up and have a coffee or whatever. It’s phenomenal and I really enjoy it."