About Deborah L Nicholson
Who am I?
Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, then to Calgary, Alberta, Victoria, Duncan, and Nanaimo, BC, and back to Calgary I am proudly Western Canadian. My grandparents were homesteaders in LaFleche, SK in a sod shack.
What else is there to know?
I‘ve always loved dance and music. I took tap, ballet, and acrobats from Miss Lillian. I took music lessons (piano and organ) and played clarinet in the school band (boring - I was not meant to hold whole notes throughout an entire piece) and switched to melodic percussion (I was made to pound musical instruments that made amazing sounds). And as for writing - I have always written. I’ve always had a notebook of some kind. Ms Busse in Grade 2 was the first outsider to read one of my stories. I entered contests and shared some stories but I never thought anything would ever come of it so I got a real job - teaching organ - which I did full time for about eight years. I worked some boring jobs to pay the bills, and then some fun jobs to pay the bills, and then I found the theatre. In 1988 when the Calgary Centre for Performing Arts opened I got a job as an usher with the hopes of seeing plays and concerts for free. It was amazing! I became a supervisor, worked with the Calgary International Children’s Festival in the off season, and finally was house manager at Theatre Calgary. Unfortunately, I had to leave and get another boring job to pay the bills, working in medical and dental offices, and finally becoming a medical transcriptionist. Are you still awake out there? LOL
The Kate Carpenter Mysteries
I loved being house manager at Theatre Calgary, and missed it when I left. So I started writing about it. When I was at 96 pages I realized it might be more than just some meandering memories. So I started structuring it a bit, arranged a murder, and Kate Carpenter was born. She was published by Severn House in England and told her stories through five novels - House Report, Evening the Score, Sins of the Mother, Flirting With Disaster, and Liar, Liar. It was so much fun and I was so proud. The novels made it to libraries in 4 countries!
Mind Games and
i was driving to work on day and I saw an entire section of fence ripped out along a main road, and I thought, “I wonder what happened?” From there came this psychological thriller. I love all my books but I think this one is special as I could start to see my growth as a writer. I ended up self-publishing and it’s still on Amazon.
And then came A Very Bad Day (a very sexy short story). Fun, R-rated, very different but there it is!
Stop Lying
This is a very personal story. I’ve struggled with my weight my entire life and topped out just over 300 pounds. I realized I had the change things or die young. This book started out as a journal of my struggles and progress and discoveries. I teamed up with dietitian Kelly Sullivan and psychologist Arlene Cox and we turned it into a book. I’m still a work in progress, up and down, but at least I now try and deal with it honestly, no more excuses, truth only.
The Pain Diaries
I was a medical trascriptionist at the Calgary Chronic Pain Centre. All day I typed letters about people whose lives had been devadtated by this condition, and yet I saw so many of the patients celebrating the lives they had and learning how to live, and find happiness, through all this. I had to tell this story. I got permission from the ethics board, and I spent months interviewing patients, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, kinesiologlists, psychologist, and anyone else who would sit still for long enough to chat with me. The Pain Diaries (a love story) came out of all that. It won an award from The Canadian Pain Society. We then raised $100,000, did a couple of workshops, and then played at the Grand Theatre in Calgary for a week.
Charlie the Cello
Now this was fun! My friend Phil, first cello with the Calgary Philharmonic, had a borrowed cello - a very old and very expensive one loaned to him by a benefactor, and a very young cello made by a luthier in the Pacific Northwest. I loved the idea of a baby cello and his first performance, and relished the chance to introduce the orchestra to some young people. We played two sold-out performances with the CPO and did some amazing school visits. And who knows, maybe there are more Charlie stories to come!
Traffic Trouble
And then along came Leslie Horton and The Newsroom Series. Traffic Trouble is the first in the series. We’re going to make a video to tell you all about this amazing project. Stay Tuned!