“Sandra McIntyre edited two of my published books. Both were firsts for me–first baby board book and first adult novel. On the board book, Sandra understood it took me six months to perfect the cadence and get the text down to sixty-nine words. She respected that. She trusted me. On the novel, I wanted something irreverent, funny and quirky. And satire that skewered, poking fun at just about everything and everyone. It was my first attempt at literary humour for adults. I’d done a serious adult poetry book and a young adult novel. I trusted her with my absurdity. Utterly. I told her all I wanted for this book was for it to be shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Award. And it was. “Next time,” she said, “SAY YOU WANT TO WIN.”  I still have beautiful correspondence from her that I take out and read when my faith in my latest project falters.

Both the books we worked on together have the word ‘kiss’ in the title. Mushy me. I think writing is an act of love. And see, that's the magic. Words. Sandra is a person I trust my words to. She has a generous heart and sound intuition. Sandra also has an intellect that is scary--she asks excellent questions. I can disagree with her–and do–but my work always ends up better for her questions. This is what happens when trust exists. Sandra McIntyre is still a reader,  editor and friend I send my words to. It is a FORTUNATE writer who gets to work with Sandra.  I'd say ‘blessed’ but she'd probably edit that out.”