MB: When did you start writing? MC: I think, as a kid, I always enjoyed it. Whenever I had teachers that would give fun assignments, I’d always get into that. And I had an aunt who would always encourage me. She had this little journal, and we would work on it together. [It was] kinda fun. -- MB: Have you always wanted to be an author? MC: I think I always pictured myself writing a book at some point. I don’t think I’ll ever be a full-time author, you know, so it’s like a part-time thing, but I think I always did picture myself writing a book. -- MB: How did the idea for Salt Of The Turfcome to you? MC: Two things I like — I like writing and I like football. I played football and I watch a lot of football. And there’s a coach in our city who’s pretty exceptional. He’s won 21 championships, and the next closest of any Canadian high school coach would be 10. He’s also really charismatic, which makes him fun to follow.
-- MB: How long did you play football? MC: I played just two years of high school. Grade eleven and grade twelve.I started, I caught touchdowns, I played with guys who went on to be professional — some of their stories are in [the book] — and some really interesting characters. And I enjoyed that a lot. The friendships that I made were the biggest part. They’re still my friends today. -- MB: Did you coach football? MC: I did. I was the head coach at Dartmouth High for four years. And I bring that in [Salt of the Turf]. Occasionally I jump in [the book] in first person. One of the times is when I coached at Dartmouth High School. It was a rewarding but frustrating experience. The two last years I coached we met Citadel twice and lost to them in the semi-finals. Yeah, I coached here for four years. I really liked it. -- MB: Why did you decide to write about a real team instead of a fictional one? MC: Because I knew the coach and I knew that [Citadel High] wasn’t too far way — it’s just over the bridge, so every day I would leave school and go follow [the team]. I went to every single practice and every game. And I think that non-fiction appeals to me more, right now. I haven’t read a lot of fiction. I feel like I would need to cut my teeth more in a non-creative world. Fiction, I think, is hard to write, I think it’s harder to write than non-fiction. [And] it just suited. I wanted to tell the story of [this coach] and his team. -- MB: How long did it take to write this book? MC: Well, this is the 2013 season, right, so, I’d say 3 1/2 years. It takes many different forms. -- MB: What was your favourite part of the writing process? MC: I think the editing. Once you have something, you have like a form, right? And then you can sculpt it a little bit and craft it. Some days you can sit down and you could work on one sentence for like an hour. It’s kind of fun, if you have the time. -- MB: What was the most difficult part? MC: I think the research, going to every practice and taking notes, and going home and scribing interviews. I probably did [a] couple dozen interviews. You can take [a] half hour interview, and it might take you three, four hours to scribe it. You’ve got to be selective. You get better at it. But it’s tedious at times. -- MB: If you could go back and do anything differently in your book, would you change anything? MC: I could probably tighten things up here and there, but I’m overall pretty proud of it. I try to make you want to find out what happens to the main character, Shawn. He’s the driving force. If there’s nothing that makes you want to find out what happens next, it’s going to be more difficult to turn the page. But you can always improve it. -- MB: Where did the name Salt of the Turfcome from? MC: I had the name. It made sense based on the fact that the coach was from Lunenburg, so he’s like a salt of the earth type guy. And his grandfather was a really famous sea captain — he still has the record for like the most cod ever caught in a single trip or something. You just kind of play with words and make it catchy. Part 2 of Meghan's interview with Mr. Cosgrove coming next month!
Interested in reviewing Salt of the Turf for Book Talk? Contact The Dart. Comments are closed.
|