Persistence paid off for this author, who was able to overcome numerous obstacles in her life and publish an award-winning trilogy.

by Tong Ge

Born and raised in China, I came to Canada in my late twenties as an international student. While I had developed the language skills for academic study, they were far from sufficient for writing fiction. My first obstacle was navigating the many complexities of the English language. In 2004, I decided to turn my family story into a novel and began writing it in Chinese.

However, I soon realized that if the book were in Chinese, I wouldn’t have access to resources like beta readers, critique groups, manuscript evaluators, or freelance editors. And how would I get it published in North America? Despite this, I didn’t believe I could write the book in English, so I started looking online for a ghostwriter.

I received several responses. One gentleman in particular requested to live in my home for a year with room and board, plus a large fee for his services. When I spotted grammatical mistakes in his e-mail, I realized I couldn’t entrust my story to someone else. I had to write it myself.

I restarted my book from scratch in English, enrolled in writing courses, and joined a critique group. Because of my limited command of grammar at the time, my fellow writers not only provided feedback on my storytelling but also went so far as to correct my grammatical mistakes. I was so embarrassed that I decided to hire a copy editor on an installment basis. For every two chapters I produced, she would copy-edit them, and I would then present the polished work to my critique group.

Midway through, I had to change editors because few of them were happy with this arrangement. When I finally completed the book, which totaled 240,000 words, I hired beta readers, manuscript evaluators, and developmental editors. After countless revisions, I engaged all of them again for a second round. It was a significant commitment of both time and money.

My second challenge was my long-term disability. In 2002, I injured both arms at work due to extensive computer work. The injury turned out to be permanent, and I had to leave my previous job. I couldn’t take any salaried positions because I couldn’t handle eight hours of computer work daily.

In 2005, I became a commission-based financial advisor. This gave me a flexible work schedule and allowed me to hire assistants to help with computer tasks. However, this also meant that if I didn’t work, I didn’t get paid. Even when I did work, payment was not guaranteed. It all depended on whether I could bring in business. In addition, I was the only person in my household and didn’t have a second income to rely on. There were times when, after paying my assistant, I ended up with a negative paycheck (meaning I owed money to my broker).

This led to my third and fourth challenges: time and money. I worked twelve hours a day just to make ends meet. When was I supposed to write?

My other challenges were time and money. I worked twelve hours a day just to make ends meet. When was I supposed to write?

Despite this, I managed to carve out time for my passion. After working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., I would write for another 2–4 hours. I called this time my “happy hours.” I also listened to countless audiobooks to make the most of every spare moment and keep myself motivated.

As with many writers, my next challenge was finding a publisher. I initially tried to secure an agent, but when that didn’t work, I started querying publishers directly. Unfortunately, I received no interest and had no idea why.

In 2019, I was paired with a mentor through the Borderlines Writers Circle Calgary program, offered by the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society and the Writers Guild of Alberta. My mentor pointed out that my book was too long and suggested dividing it into two or three books.

I spent a year restructuring my manuscript, and even after that, it took another two years before I finally found a publisher for my first book, The House Filler.

Even after the publication of my debut, I’m still facing the challenge of marketing and promotion. While The House Filler is the winner of the 2024 Independent Press Award for new fiction, a finalist for the 2023 Eyelands Book Award, and currently a finalist for the 2024 Canadian Book Club Awards, these accolades don’t necessarily translate into sales.

After spending nearly twenty years in the financial services industry, I’ve been fortunate to accumulate enough resources to hire a professional publicist, Mickey Mikkelson, for expert assistance.

If I have learned anything from this long journey, it’s the following:

1. To be a successful writer, you must have a genuine passion for writing.

2. Hard work is just as important as passion.

3. Becoming a skilled writer requires dedication to continuous learning. For the last two decades, I have taken numerous writing courses, attended writers’ conferences, read dozens of books on the craft of writing, and consumed thousands of books—both through reading and listening—to learn from other authors.

4. Perseverance is essential. My China China trilogy took nearly twenty years to complete, and it took four years to sell my first book. Writing is a long-term commitment, so my advice is simple: never give up.

5. Promoting your work is just as critical as creating it. If you lack the time or skills, consider hiring a professional to help.

If someone like me—writing in English as a second language, managing a long-term disability that limits my ability to type, and coming from an educational background unrelated to creative writing—can achieve this level of success, so can you.

Born and raised in China, Tong Ge came to Canada in the late eighties as an international student. She obtained a Master of Science degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1992. Since 2012, she has written under both her real name and the pen name Tong Ge, publishing poems, prose, and short stories in both English and Chinese across North America, England, and Taiwan. With four literary prizes already received, she is also a finalist for five others. Her debut novel, The House Filler, was published in Canada in 2023 and is a finalist worldwide for the 2023 Eyelands Book Awards and the winner of the 2024 Independent Press Award for new fiction. It is also a finalist for the 2024 Canadian Book Club Awards for fiction.