OLDS — A dream has turned into an entire book series for local author Mary Margaret.
Margaret, 36, has lived in Olds since age 3 after having been born in Tisdale, Saskatchewan.
The single mother of two daughters has published two books in a historical fiction series; Time After Time: Backward and Time After Time: Forward.
The third, called Time After Time: Frozen, will be released on Saturday, Aug. 28 via a book launch and reading from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Olds Municipal Library.
She did an advance book promotion and sales event at Pandora’s Boox and Tea on Aug. 19.
During an interview, Margaret said the inspiration for the series came in a dream when she was 16.
“I was a medieval princess in my bedroom and I saw this pink mist floating outside,” she recalled.
"I knew in this dream that it was my dead lover, so the only way for us to be together was for me to throw myself off this balcony.
“When I woke up, I kind of went, ‘what was that?’
“It was a weird dream, like dreams are. But then after a while, it sort of started to develop and I kind of wanted to know more about it in my own subconscious, so it grew from there for the past 20 years or so,” she added.
When the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions began, Margaret suddenly had time to turn that vision into book form after being laid off from her job as an educational assistant at Holy Trinity Catholic School.
The first two books – one set in the 1700s and the second one in the early 20th century – were published via Amazon last July.
“I had them written and ready to go; I just didn’t know what to do with them. So finally, I was bored during COVID at home, like everybody else and just self-published them on Amazon and yeah, they’ve been big, very well received,” Margaret said.
The third book is set in the 1970s.
She said she spent about three months writing it, then the last year “sort of editing and tweaking and working on it.”
Margaret said there’ll be a fourth – and maybe a fifth book in the series as well.
“It depends on how long the fourth one is,” she said. “If it’s not long enough, then I’ll just keep it all as one. But there’s a spot in there where I can, if I need to, turn it into a fifth one.”
Margaret was asked if she believes she too has led a past life.
"That is a good question,” she said with a laugh. “I would say I think I have, yes. I don’t think it’s as complicated or as – anything like the fiction that I’ve written, but you know, I do believe in that kind of thing, yes.”
Margaret enjoys the process of writing and publishing books.
But not book promotion.
“It’s hard for me. I’m an introvert, so it’s hard for me to, like, promote myself and put myself out there. But I do really enjoy writing and the whole process, except for the promotion,” she said with a laugh.
