121 good reasons to write

On April 11, Mrs. Polak visited the Junior Campus of LaurenHill Academy to conduct a creative writing workshop and a discussion session with the school’s 400 secondary two students. But the thing that was really special about the author’s visit to LaurenHill was that it was her first time back since the few days she spent last year with some students who ended being the inspiration for the main characters of her latest book entitled 121 Express.

“The Blue Metropolis Foundation has a program called Québec Roots where they send teams of writers and photographers to schools to work with the students,” she said. “Last year, I went to LaurenHill and one of the teachers was telling me that the students were good kids except on the bus. I found that interesting and I thought it could be a good idea for a story.” She made several other visits to the school to complete the Québec Roots project and then she returned to get some more inspiration for her book. Of course, she went on the bus to see if the children were as bad as she was told. “The level of noise was unbelievable,” said Mrs. Polak with a smile in her voice. “I guess the bus is their outlet, I mean if you’re good all the time, you need to take a break. I was happy to see that, because trouble makes better story.”

“Sometimes people, even the ones who love you, are going to tell you to give up, but whatever you want, stick with it,” she told her quiet and attentive audience, which was literally hanging on her every word and taking plenty of notes. “The most important thing is perseverance, so if you like to write, then write, write, write.” The novelist who’s also an English and Humanities teacher at Marianopolis College continued with other useful information for any potential writer who was present.

“Pay attention to the world around you because you need details to write a story. Try to know your family stories, the ones they don’t want you to know. That’s where I got the idea for my next book,” she told.

This next novel will be out this fall and is entitled What World Is Left. This will be Mrs. Polak’s ninth book and it’s based on her mother's experience in a Nazi concentration camp. But for now, it’s all about 121 Express and after seeing the LaurenHill Academy students’ reaction when Monique Polak read from it, this latest novel is guaranteed to be another great success.