Darlene Foster's Blog

Through the wonders of blogging, I have met some amazing people. One of them is Susan Toy, a Canadian author who divides her time between the Island of Beguia and Newfoundland. She has recently released her latest novel, Wake Up, Maggie, which I loved. I was delighted when she agreed to be interviewed by me.

TheBlurb:

In 1958, two girls, both named Karen, meet on the first day of school and believe they will become forever friends. Growing up in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood during the 60s and early 70s, they don’t realize how much their friendship, and lives, will be affected, not only by their familes, friends, and the place where they live, but also because of the turbulent decade that forged their entire generation. Susan Toy paints a vivid picture of a young woman’s journey dealing with the complications of friendships, dating, that unique relationship between mother and daughter … and the consequences of naively believing anything can last forever.
Susan M. Toy grew up in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood. She left in 1972 to attend university and has since been a bookseller, an award-winning sales rep for publishers, an author impresario, and now is a writer and publisher, sharing her time between a traditional Saltbox house in Newfoundland, Canada, and a house, with four cats in the yard, on the Caribbean island of Bequia.

My 5-star review:

This was a great read. I enjoyed the story, the characters and the setting. The times are very well depicted and brought back wonderful memories of growing up in Canada in the sixties. The assassination of JFK, Expo 67, the Beatles, and songs from the era all made it feel like a walk down memory lane. The story centres around Margaret and Marie, two friends from primary school who seem inseparable. (I think we all had a friend like that.) Invariably, something happens to drive them apart. It is told from the POV of Marie, who goes on to have a successful life, although a lonely one. Can she ever forgive Margaret?

Susan Toy is a superb writer. I have read some of her other books and have enjoyed them all. Her characters come to life on the page and could easily be people who live next door. I like that she writes from a Canadian perspective, which makes the story more realistic. I highly recommend this book if you like character-driven stories, stories about friendships and family relations.

My interview with Susan:

1. When did the idea for Wake Up Maggie come to you? What inspired the story?

It’s a funny thing, this book … and I’m not trying to avoid answering your question here, Darlene, but when I first opened the file this past Jan. 2026 and read through the manuscript with an eye to self-publishing it, I honestly couldn’t remember writing the book in the first place! I kept asking myself, “When and how did I write this? I don’t remember having it edited, yet it seems to be ready-to-publish … What the heck! It’s like a gift from the Writing Gods!” The date on the file was 2009, which was around the time I was taking a number of online writing and editing courses. It also could have been an entry for either the 3-Day Novel Contest (held on the long weekend in Sept.) or NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month held in Nov.) I honestly can’t say any longer. It was definitely written after my high school’s 100^th Anniversary in 2003, which was also a reunion for so many of us who had graduated and gone on to other things in our lives. We were able to meet up and reconnect with old classmates, and then the advent of Facebook just made it that much easier to keep in contact with those classmates from then on into the present.

2. How much of your own life inspired Wake Up Maggie?

As for inspiration, the main character’s “story” is based on parts of my own life, growing up in Toronto, living in the house where she lives in the novel, going to the same schools, having “a few” of the same experiences, as well as moving on to Queen’s and then Calgary. But the rest is imagined on my part, and this is definitely NOT autobiographical. I tried to capture the feeling of each place and the time I was writing about, and that is all based on my own experience of the time. (One detail that is true … my high school boyfriend’s mother owned a green ’65 Mustang, and the waterworks was a favourite parking spot for couples … or so I was told.)

3. Do you have a writing routine? If so, can you share it with us?

With this book, my writing routine seemed to be, Write it and file it away for a decade and a half … With my other books, I have never had any routine at all. I write when the notion grabs me. I have many, many other manuscripts filed away – finished and in progress – poetry, short stories, two novellas, and two more novels in the Bequia Perspectives series that I really need to dust off, rewrite and edit, and think about publishing. Many of these manuscripts were written as entries for contests and for writing courses I was taking.

4. You live part-time on the island of Bequia in the Caribbean and part-time in Newfoundland, Canada. These are two very different locations. How does that work for you? 

Not as different as you may think! Both locations have a view of the ocean, and both provide me with the solitude I crave – as well as subject matter for my writing! I have large personal libraries in both houses, and I can write, read, listen to music, and watch videos and DVDs to my heart’s content. Plus I am always in contact with the outside world through the internet so, other than flying back and forth between the two homes, they are like the same place to me … other than the weather. And the cats that live with us at our Bequia home.

5. Do you think being Canadian affects your writing? 

Yes, definitely. I always worked in the book biz in Canada, as a bookseller, publishers’ sales rep, and author promoter (working specifically with Alberta Authors). The authors and publishers I knew in person were all Canadian. That’s one of the reasons why the main characters in my Bequia Perspectives Series novels are Canadian ex-pats. And I draw heavily from my own life as a Canadian for the novellas and short stories I’ve written.

6. You have had such an interesting career. What was your favourite job?

Hands-down, my favourite job was being a publishers’ sales rep! I met so-so many of my author heroes – authors whose books I’d studied and admired in high school and university, as well as famous people who had written their own books. I even got to drive them around in my car when they came to Calgary to do promotion. Plus I loved working with most of the publishers and their staff. I became friends with many of the authors I represented, and I sold books to booksellers and librarians who also became lifelong friends and with whom I’m still in contact. And I learned how the entire book business worked, which stood me in good stead when it came time to publish my own books and those by other authors. (It would take quite a bit of space here to give you details on all my experiences and to name names. Suffice it to say that I was blessed in taking on this job when it was offered to me!)

7. Besides writing and travelling back and forth, do you have any other hobbies or interests?  

First and foremost – Reading! Although this is more like a mission for me than a hobby. I have always liked cooking and eating good food. One of the perks of having been a sales rep is that we received sample copies of most of the published books we sold, and many of those I kept were signed by the authors. When we moved to the Caribbean, I packed up 19 boxes of books, many of which were cookbooks. Both Dennis and I love to cook, bake bread, and enjoy eating. We prefer that to going out to eat in a restaurant.

8. Fun facts lightning round:

cats or dogs   Cats

coffee or tea   Coffee

hot or cold temps   Hot (and why we moved from Calgary to the Caribbean!)

chocolate or vanilla   Chocolate

9. Anything else you would like to share?

Thanks for interviewing me, Darlene, and for giving me this promotion space! “Authors Helping and Promoting Authors” has always been my motto, so I truly appreciate it when another author wants to promote me!

Susan’s blog: https://islandeditions.wordpress.com/

Information on her books:

Amazon Canada https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0GX2TV316/

Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Up-Maggie-Susan-Toy/dp/192795021X/

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wake-Up-Maggie-Susan-Toy/dp/192795021X

Wake Up, Maggie

Bequia Perspectives Novels

About Susan Toy

I have been a bookseller, an award-winning publishing sales representative, a literacy teacher, and a promoter of fellow authors and their books through my company, Alberta Books Canada. I am also an author and publisher, under my imprints, IslandCatEditions and IslandShorts. Through Alberta Books Canada, I represented authors directly, helping them find promotion for themselves and their books, seeking out new readers, and assisting them in making wise career decisions.

I championed Alberta authors in particular, singing their praises throughout the province and online to the rest of the world, and displayed books for authors and publishers at Alberta library conferences. I continue to promote authors and good books in general, throughout the world and online, with my blog, Reading Recommendations. I created the writing contest, Coffee Shop Author, have sat on the Board of Directors of the Fernie Writers’ Conference, served as a member of the Calgary Distinguished Writers Program steering committee, and was a member of the board of directors for the Writers’ Guild of Alberta. I now concentrate on my own writing and publishing, dividing my time between Canada and my home in the Caribbean.