Looking for something on my computer I found the following article, obviously written by me. It is undated so I have no idea where or when, or how. Piecing things together it had to be London, probably 2013. I was enrolled in a Master’s Program in Creative Non Fiction writing. A biography of my Uncle Dave Dryburgh was to be claim to fame, the requisite book project for graduation. For many reasons the book was never finished – many fragments exist on my computer. Now is the time, and this shall be the place.
This is the moment, my timing is excellent. Now I I have the means, the method and the opportunity, usually the three criteria a suspect must fulfill to be convicted of a crime. This, hopefully not a crime. I have the motive, it is high time I completed this task. I have the means. The means were not available in 2013 – my world famous blog and Artificial Intelligence. I now have the opportunity. My Dream Team’s assistance, dedication and encouragement will allow the time and the motivation to both continue with my daily blog writing AND allow the completion of the book. You shall soon see – this will not l be not only possible, but probable.
Yesterday, a remembrance of practices in the late 19th century came to mind What does one do in this day and age? Ask Artificial Intelligence, of course.
This was my query. During the late nineteenth century newspapers would publish novels or long stories in serialized form, one installment at a time. This helped the publication by increasing circulation, as I understand and the author who was often paid by installment.
Artificial Intelligence was most helpful.
You got it right!! It was one of the main ways writers could consume fiction. Books not affordable but anyone could afford a penny paper. Famous writers like Charles Dickens, Henry James gained much of their popularity through serialization. After serialization publishers often released the story as a book. The model spread widely in Europe and North America. Magazines made it a staple. Serialization began to decline with the rise of cheaper books.
Artificial Intelligence always tries to be helpful, too helpful. I declined offers saying:
Me: Not necessarily. I am joyous you confirmed my learning from many years ago. I am thinking o going the same thing with my blog and my unfinished biography of my Uncle Dave Dryburgh. This would also me to work on both idea.
AI: That is a brilliant idea – and much in the spirit of the old serialized model. You’d be stepping into a long gradation of authors who balanced public engagement and private writing by releasing their work in installments.
AI again had a myriad of ideas on how a chapter might look. Again I politely declined.
Me: I have found many chapters already written on my computer. I can start with them. Your suggestions and encouragement has been helpful to me. I am inspired.
More suggestions made but politely declined as I have title page.
AI The beauty is that your blog can mirror a ‘rolling release’ of the book. Uncle Dave would have probably loved the irony of his life story running in newspaper-like format before becoming a book.
Me: I loved you said he would have loved the irony. He apparently had a great sense of humor.
AI: Ah – that makes it even more fitting. A sports writer with wit and humor would absolutely appreciate the irony: his life once bound up in the daily press, now revived in serial form on a digital “newspaper” (your blog). It’s almost as though history loops back with a wink. It is as if you and he are co-authors across time;
He left the words, the wit, and the sports columns
You bring the research, the structure and the voice that reintroduces him to the world.
That is a partnership worthy of serialization.
Me: You forgot this. Eight, almost nine years of writing a blog, building an enormous readership. Long before the invention of Artificial Intelligence.
Here is the beginning Author’s Note.
Some people live once. My Uncle Dave lived twice.
The first time was in the pages of the Regina Leader Post where his sports writing made readers laugh, think and cheer. The second time begins here—on a blog, of all places. That’s irony. A man who made his name in print now finds himself serialized once more in pixels rather than ink.
Here goes. All Aboard for Adventure.
THE SEARCH FOR UNCLE DAVE
OR HOW I CAME TO SPEND 294.94 USD FOR A VERY OLD MAGAZINE THAT COST $0.05 NEW
My Uncle Dave was man of legend. He drowned in 1948 leaving a widow, a father, and six brothers. All are dead, save my demented Dad. Legends live on only in the telling. Preserving his legend is a role that I have come to by happenstance and late in my life.
I have assistance. Google Dave Dryburgh and you get 14 pages and 259 hits. Of course, not all of them are him, at least three other Dave Dryburghs inhabit this earth. The hits are augmented by the decision in 1981 to establish the Dave Dryburgh Memorial Trophy. It is awarded on an annual basis to the highest scorer in the Western Division. So my uncle’s name is sprinkled in football player’s obituaries and curriculum vitae. His photograph is first and primary in the Images section of Dave Dryburgh. There he is and here he is. The wonders of modern technology..
He always was my unsung hero. He was a total anomaly. His six brothers were a rough and tumble lot, certainly literate, and probably intelligent, but not men of letters. The women they married were like-minded. I do not profess to know all of my 18 odd cousins but none that I know are writers, teachers or intellectuals.
I had not thought a lot about him in decades but when I began writing more thoughts of him surfaced. I did a google search about a year ago which unearthed a trove of material including a sample of his writing. A vivid description of a contest for the Dominion1930 junior hockey championship. His language was alive, bursting with energy and enthusiasm. He invents words decades before it became fashionable.
This first Google search persuaded me to purchase a book, Saskatchewan Sports: Lives, Past and Present. This autobiography taught me many things I had not known before. Uncle Dave apprenticed as a cabinet maker but he contracted pneumonia and was told to look for another form of employment. He did, he began work for the Regina Leader post as a sportswriter and was promoted to sports editor in four years. I would not have thought that cabinet making skills and writing were transferable skills. There may be a whole new career out there for me.
I wrote of my discoveries, sent the story to cousin Gail, who sent it to our cousin Pat in Australia. It was through this connection i learned that new of the tragedy was widely reported in the Canadian press of the time. So there might be something out there in the land of secondary sources..
Uncle Dave’s drowning seemed rather unbelievable to me. Saskatchewan is land- locked province not known for its lakes, its beaches, or any water resources.Drowning in Saskatchewan is somewhat akin to drowning in the Gobi Desert.
Uncle Dave did drown in a lake, sixty miles from Regina. This was confirmed by identical stories. The Ottawa Journal and Montreal Gazette bore identical stories. Not too much information, the boat captsized other people in boat including wife, all saved but him.
This from the Winnipeg Tribune (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) Jul 12, 1948 page 2
“The man was meatier red-haired, short but with his broad shoulders and gait he appeared than in real life. personality traits which I could imagine because of the similarity of family traits.
Dave was quick-tempered, hard hitting. His broad shoulders, his assertive gait gave others the impression of greater height than he actually posses. He called, the shots as he saw them, championed the west – but his friends were legion.
A quirk of fate by which a boat capsized only 50 feet from shore has ended the career of one of Wester Canada’s bed-known, most aggressive sports writers- chunky, two fisted Dave Dryburgh.Dryburgh, about 40 years old and sport editor of the Regina Leader-Post for the last 18 years was drowned at B-Say-Tah Sask Sunday when a boat he was in capsized as he snatched at his wife’s purse in attempt to prevent it from falling into the water. B-Say-Tah is a summer resort 60 miles northeast of Regina
A sports editor of the Regina Leader-Post for 16 years, this Scottish-born son of the prairies was a master of the written word. Interest in all lines of sport was his hobby as much as it was his job. From his perch in the press box at Taylor Field in Regina, he judged, appraised, and cast a critical but friendly eye on his beloved Roughriders and their opponents.
One item on the Google list was out of the ordinary. It referenced a magazine published in 1938, the MacLeans magazine still published in Canada. In a site called nonfiction treasures. It gave this account of a story by Dave Dryburgh. I am often asked if he wrote anything other than newspaper articles. “How do I know?” I reply grumpily. This might be it! That is the sort of story my uncle would love to tell. Story of two guys in a man made lake. I wonder if I can get the movie rights? I went on line. gave hem my Visa number and soon this last chapter will be told.
That is the end of this, shall we say chapter. I read in amazement and astonishment but then thought of a brilliant idea. From my many years of schooling I did recall in the late 19th century that newspapers would carry stories, serialize them for their readers. It increased their ciruculation number.
Still in Play The Next Chapter Awaits
