A Burnaby-based writer and dog-lover has gotten her work published in a new installment of the acclaimed American book series, Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Very Good, Very Bad Cat.
Despite having never owned a cat herself, Kelly L. McKenzie’s story, Bootsie’s Pick-Me-Up – detailing her experience picking up her boss’ crazy cat from the vet – was submitted to Chicken Soup on the advice of one of McKenzie’s followers, familiar with her writing style through her blog, Just Typikel. McKenzie also submitted stories to the canine offshoot of Chicken Soup, but those submissions were not accepted.
“There’s all these dog people that I see at the dog parks [in Burnaby], and they think it’s hilarious that I’m in a cat book!”
Now that she’s been published in an anthology, the blogger is taking her life’s commentary and setting her sights on completing a memoir, based on her experiences working alongside her mother in their family-owned Asian antiques store.
“My book is going to be about my relationship with her – she’s type A and I’m not. People would come into the store and probably think I was going to get fired any minute, and we’d go, ‘oh no, we’re a mother-daughter team!'” McKenzie said.
Widowed when her two children were both under the age of four, the single mother has only recently had time to devote herself to writing. With her kids now in university, the self-described ‘quirk-magnet’ is hoping to touch readers with her stories.
Although her family is Caucasian, their Asian antiques store, Frankie Robinson Oriental Gallery, drew many diverse customers of various cultural backgrounds.
“It wasn’t just a store – you’d sell them a Japanese chest and you got to know so much more about them,” she said.
McKenzie says one memory that will be included in the book tells of her experience with a client who came in looking for an urn for ashes – her own ashes. McKenzie and her mother had known the woman for 12 years.
It was the most heart-wrenching thing – I was on my own and I sobbed my way through the store,” she said. “This was the last thing she had to do, she had given away her jewelry and she only had about two months left, and she wanted a beautiful antique urn to put her ashes in.”
At the funeral, the woman made sure there was a single orchid left behind for McKenzie and her mother.
McKenzie hopes her personal stories will resonate with local readers, whether they’re picking up a copy of Chicken Soup, perusing her blog, or, hopefully, reading her memoir someday.
“[Writing is] all about the relationships. It’s all about becoming a part of a larger family.”
