It's funny how some things turn out after a writer creates a story from scratch and then keeps learning about the thing he created and published years after the fact. When I first started writing my third book and magnum opus, Screw the Devil's Daiquiri, in 2012, I figured it could take place in either Canada or America and that it didn't matter which. But then, nearing the end of the project, I had my protagonist, John Hazel, tell the psychologist he's seeing that he wants his money back for the sessions he'd had with her (knowing full well that's not going to happen), which I figured meant the story would have to take place in America, since in Canada the sessions would be fully covered by our universal healthcare system. But then, well after the book was published by Melange Books in June of 2014, I realized something problematic: In a conversation between John and the dean of the university he teaches at part time, John says he dreads the idea of having to study for the GRE in order to apply for his PhD (due to his cognitive problems with math), which is one of the reasons he doesn't even want to bother. But since he'd already gotten his MA, he would have had to have done his GRE already if the story does in fact take place in the U.S. But, I found out recently that in Canada, at least in Ontario anyway, psychologists aren't paid by the government, since they can't prescribe medication, which means SDD could take place in Canada, which solves that contradiction. Then I noticed something by fluke a few days ago, over 8 years after writing the freakin' book: In the letter John writes to his father near the end of the novel, I (I think spelling it this way accidentally) had him write the words "Honours BA," and that "u" in the word Honours is British/Canadian style spelling (within a book that is all American spelling), something an American would never do. So voilà! Without even realizing it at the time, I made it so that the book has to take place in Canada, no two ways about it. It just means that, in John's mind, if he applies for his PhD, it would have to be at an American university, for the prestige, which is a common scenario.
Anyway . . . that's enough of that. I just felt compelled to write that explanation out due to a comment I made in a 2019 YouTube interview promoting my fifth book The Chaos Cafe, where I make the error of saying SDD has to take place in America. And, yes, I realize how trivial the entire matter probably is to 99% of readers anyway, but what can I tell you? I have OCD. If you wanna know why I have it, read the book, which is semiautobiographical. It's just funny how some things work out. And after this whole outbreak, pandemic debacle, it looks like psychology could very well start being fully covered by Canada's healthcare system in the not-so-distant future. It's about damn time too.
The link again to the book, available in both paperback and Kindle, as are all my books: Screw the Devil's Daiquiri
And a link to my author page, where you can find all seven of my publications: amazon.com/author/raymemichaels
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