How About This presents Sal Sawler

A great Q&A with NS based author Sal Sawler

An Atlantic Canada Mondays interview published on a Thursday?!? It’s true!

As per their Twitter bio, Sal Sawler works for @ConundrumCanada by day as a marketer and EMANATA editor. By night they are a kidlit author who has worked with some interesting people from the Maritimes. Here’s Sal!

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1. What's your history with writing and creative work?  Is it something you've always been passionate about?

Writing and creative work have always been a part of my life. I was raised by a librarian, so I've always had easy access to just about any book I wanted to read, and my mom didn't put too many limits on what I chose to read. When I was a kid, I also loved to draw (I still do, it's just harder to find the time).

Between making up stories and drawing pictures, creative work was a big part of my childhood, and it became a common thread throughout my life. In fact, when I was diagnosed with ADHD last year, I learned that my love of words and books was one of the reasons I'd done well in a school environment. I tend to hyperfocus when I'm reading or drawing, and that played in my favour. 

2. Why kid lit?

Good question! I think there are a couple of factors in play here. First, I love the interplay of words and pictures, and until I was in my late twenties, most of the word-and-picture books I'd read were for children. I didn't realize how rich and complex graphic novels could be until I read Persepolis, which was published in the early 2000s. Working at Woozles Children's Bookstore in my 20s gave me a chance to get familiar with another generation of children's books, and I discovered I still loved them just as much as I did when I was a kid.

Now that I have my own children, I find it easier to write for children than adults--when I'm working on a project, I generally pretend I'm writing to whichever kid is closest to the age group I'm writing for. Plus I'd rather speak to a roomful of kids over a bunch of adults any day, and writing professionally requires a surprising amount of public speaking.

3. How did it feel when you handed in the manuscript for your first book?

Amazing! Terrifying! Both? That doesn't change as you publish more books, either. It's always amazing and terrifying.

4. When writing, do you prefer the keyboard or the pen?  Or does it depend on the situation?

Usually, I prefer the keyboard. I've gotten so fast at typing that the computer basically feels like an extension of my brain. I think, and it appears, (which is probably why I get into so much trouble on Twitter, haha).

Sometimes though, I just need to get away from the screen--I'm a freelance writer, marketer, and editor for my day job--and when that happens, I usually have a pen and notebook handy.

5. You're in the process of changing your first name to Sal.  Can you tell us about the journey from Sarah to Sal?  And can I correctly assume that it's related to your feelings and choices about your gender?

That's exactly it. I was late to figure out my true sexuality and gender identity for a number of reasons that I won't get into, but I didn't realize I was bisexual until I was around 34. A couple of years later, I realized that there was something more to it--that I was probably non-binary. It took me another couple of years before I was ready to come out, but the time and space provided (enforced?) by the pandemic helped.

My first step was to begin using she/they pronouns, then they/them, and recently, I decided I was ready to switch to a gender-neutral name. I decided to go with Sal because it can be short for Sally--which is, inexplicably, a nickname for Sarah.

6. What was it like to work with Frankie MacDonald on his book?

It was such a great experience! Frankie was wonderful to work with--always enthusiastic! He also has a remarkable memory for names and dates, and that was critically important to piecing together this book. The trickiest part was figuring out the best way to collaborate--in the end, we did most of that through Twitter DM! I was really honoured to work on that book. 

EDITOR’S Note: Frankie MacDonald is from Nova Scotia and become famous for his weather report videos, uniquely delivered. Frankie has branched out into other areas, he’s quite a character!

7. What's the 101st thing that kids should know about Atlantic Canada?

You'll have to stay tuned on that one--I'm actually working on an updated version of 100 Things You Don't Know About Atlantic Canada for Kids. Unlike the Nova Scotia book, that one includes an activity or place to visit with each "thing" and so much has changed over the last couple of years that it needs updating already. As part of that process, I plan to replace a few of the "things" from the last version.

8. Are you a lifelong resident of Nova Scotia?  In any event would you recommend NS and the HRM in particular as good places to live?

I actually spent a lot of my childhood in New Brunswick! We moved back and forth between Halifax and Moncton a few times when I was growing up, and moved back here permanently in my last year of high school. I've been here ever since. 

I would recommend NS and HRM as good places to live for anyone who has a community here—especially if they're outdoorsy. We're big enough to have good restaurants and cute boutiques and arts events, and small enough that we run into people we know almost everywhere we go. People also tend to be really generous on the whole here, too.

This is speaking as a white person though--I think people of colour often have a different experience of this place than I do, especially when it comes to the police. There are also major problems that need to be addressed--we need a real investment in healthcare and education, for example, and we need provincial and municipal governments to take issues related to homelessness and poverty seriously, instead of simply trying to push it all under the rug or point fingers at each other.

But I think these problems exist pretty much everywhere in Canada to some extent. And we have a lot of really wonderful, community-minded people who are working hard to change things for the better.

9. How do you feel about social media these days, Twitter in particular?

It's a bit of a love/hate relationship. I've made some wonderful friendships on Twitter, and found a lot of support and common ground there that I wouldn't have necessarily had access to in my day-to-day, in-person life.

I do think, however, that it's becoming more toxic. It's been a downhill slide ever since GamerGate happened a few years ago--that's when the current trolls and alt-right types rewrote their playbook, and we're still dealing with the impact of that shift. Trump also caused a shift--people are bolder now, and they seem to feel like they can say whatever they want, even hate speech, in the name of "freedom." I won't even get into the rise of "alternative facts"--that's a whole essay.

10. Pretend you wake up one morning and you learn that the Internet has been destroyed.  What's the first thing that you do?

Yikes. I don't even know! I rely on the internet for my work, so I guess the first thing I'd have to do is figure that out. But maybe it wouldn't even matter--we rely so heavily on the internet now that I think society would collapse. It would basically be Y2K, but real. So maybe I'd just gather my favourite people together and figure out that intentional community I've been dreaming about.

Thanks so much to Sal Sawler for their time and do check out their work!