The Crazy Game...What might have been...

The Crazy Game is an autobiography written by the Canadian hockey goalie, Clint Malarchuk. He was a very successful player in the NHL for over ten years during the hay days of the eighties and nineties and a goalie coach for many years following. He is most noted for taking a slash across his neck from a skate that almost ended not only his career but his life. 

The book has enough in it about hockey to satisfied the avid sports fan but most fascinating is reading about the emotional and psychological turmoil with which Malarchuk dealt. His undiagnosed and untreated mental health problems coloured every aspect of his life.

He is now a professional speaker and an advocate for those with mental health issues.

I wrote him a fan letter:

Dear Clint Malarchuk,

Your book, The Crazy Game was our Book Club selection for February and I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your story. Reading about the game and players as they were in those glory years was fun.

As a former psychiatric nurse and a fellow sufferer of depression, I must commend you on your excellent portrayal of your emotional experiences. How brave of you to share those secrets in such a public forum.

You mentioned in your book that writing your story triggered your anxieties. Likewise, I often get depressed when reading depressing books. However, in The Crazy Game you so fiercely owned your problems that they remained yours and not mine. I found myself rooting for you, rather than wallowing with you, and that made it an uplifting and encouraging experience.

You are right that we must open up, accept, and treat mental and emotional illnesses more effectively. 

Just as you pondered near the conclusion of you autobiography what might have been had you not suffered from mental illness, I have pondered similarly. If I’d not been abused as a child, would I have suffered from depression? Would I have been a much better mother? Would I have been a great writer, rather than a good one?

Then by chance I watched an interview with Gord Thibodeau, the winningest coach in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, who four times has battled cancer. He says in the interview when asked if he could, would he change anything about his life,  “I wouldn’t change a thing, cancer and all.  It is who I am. It defines who I am. It’s the reason I’m able to impart certain things, because of that history.  It is part of what shapes your outlook and your culture as a coach.”

His words convinced me to adapt that philosophy when considering my past misfortunes. Rather than feeling burdened by them and cheated by them, I accept that the depression, the anxiety, the betrayal and abuse...it is who I am and has shaped me as a mother, wife, author. All is well with my world and I'd not change a thing.

I wish you the best.

ps Here is a link to that interview:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1052374

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I truly do believe we ought to quit thinking, 'What if...?' and 'If only..' and realizes how strong and courageous and wonderful we are to have made it past our challenges. We must focus on our superb accomplishments. We must feel exhilerated that we faced the devil and won! That despite it all we survived and went on to become an inspiration to others.

It's taken me many decades to get to this point of understanding. Perhaps that's what my characters in my BackTracker series are tying to tell me (I always get asked why the heck I wrote about biker gangs and drugs and such when my life is far-removed from all things criminal and I don't know the answer).

The BackTracker characters are haunted by their pasts. In book after book in the series we find them seeking resolution, seeking forgiveness, wishing to change the unchangeable past. Dreaming of reconciliation--all the while putting their lives on the limb to save the world from the worst criminals imaginable. Well, I haven't quite become that amazing, I have done not too bad.

 Malarchuk did reply to my fan mail, thanking me for my thoughts.

The Crazy Game, What might have been... is brought to you by THE TRAZ Second Edition. 

 Eileen Schuh, Author

OPERATION MAXTRACKER
SHADOW RIDERS
DISPASSIONATE LIES
FIREWALLS
FATAL ERROR
Schrӧdinger's Cat
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Rink rat to writer....

DEAD MAN'S HAND is now available on Amazon   FREE from 26 - 28 June 2013

Novelists often have past lives that both distract from and enrich their writing careers. While my alternate life shall remain shrouded in mystery because it involves either a top-secret position with Canada's spy agency or several decades of cleaning house and raising children, first-time novelist Luke Murphy willingly reveals his youthful and exhuberant chase after his dream to wear NHL colours.

Thanks, Luke, for sharing. Welcome to the world of writing.

Luke Murphy author of DEAD MAN'S HAND

  

This is my first guest blogging experience, so I’m a little nervous—“first day jitters”. Thanks Eileen.

My transition from professional hockey player to published author was surprisingly smooth. Hockey and writing have many things in common:

For both, it takes hard work and practice. There are many critics, and you need to be thick-skinned. Both the hockey and writing worlds are small communities, filled with people who want to help you succeed. In order to find success,  in both you need to be persistent and confident.

It’s all about taking a chance, putting yourself out there to be evaluated by your peers. That’s the scariest part.

I was born in a small rural community in Western Quebec, where you either worked in a mill or on a farm. But I aspired to be an NHL superstar (set the bar kind of high).

My mother’s death in 1992 (cancer), opened my eyes, and I realized that if I wanted to pursue my dreams, I was going to have to leave home. But in the mid ‘90s, the NHL had transferred from a fast-paced game of skill, to one of “bigger is better”. I was only 5’9’’, 160 pounds, so my goals shifted. I accepted a hockey scholarship to Rochester Institute of Technology.

After graduation, I received an invitation to the Florida Panthers Camp. I showed up in the best shape of my life, and scored the game winning goal against the Ottawa Senators (my claim to fame, as my friends say). Unfortunately, I broke my hand that ended my camp, but the Panthers offered me a Minor League contract, $500 a week to play the game I love. I spent six years in the minors, and retired in 2006.

I’m from a family of avid readers, so I’ve always had a passion for books. I just never knew this would become my future until the winter of 2000, while playing hockey in Oklahoma City.

After sustaining a season ending eye injury, I had a lot of free time on my hands. I remember walking by my roommate’s open computer one day and stopping. I sat down and stared at the screen. Then, without a plan, I began to type.

Some of my favorite authors are Greg Iles, Michael Connelly, and Harlan Coben, so it only made sense that I write in the suspense/thriller/mystery genres, write what I knew. I wrote a little everyday, around my rehabilitation schedule and before I knew it, I had completed my first manuscript.

           

I didn’t write with the intention of being published. I wrote for the enjoyment. I’ve been accused of being a perfectionist, and I didn’t see my novel at the level to compete with best selling authors. I continued to hobby write through the years, honing my craft, making time between work and family obligations.

I’ve never been one to take things lightly, or jump in halfway. So when I decided to get serious about writing, I took a full year off just to study the craft. I constantly read, from novels to books written by experts. I researched, reading up on the industry and process. I made friends (published and unpublished authors), learning what it took to become successful.

Feeling that I was finally prepared, in the winter of 2007, I started to write DEAD MAN’S HAND. It took me two years to complete the first draft of my novel. I then worked with editors and joined a critique group, doing anything I could to learn, to improve my writing and my novel.

Aces and Eights--"The dead man's hand". Legend says this was the hand held by
Wild Bill Hickok when he was murdered.

I hired the Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency and in May 2012, I signed my first publishing contract with Imajin Books. DEAD MAN’S HAND is scheduled for release this fall.

My goal was to please anyone who loves thrillers, sports, or a walk on the wilder side of Las Vegas in writing DEAD MAN'S HAND. 

___________________

Murphy's debut novel DEAD MAN'S HAND will be released this fall by Imajin Books.

For more information about Luke Murphy and his book visit him online at:

www.authorlukemurphy.com 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLukeMurphy 

Twitter www.twitter.com/#!/AuthorLMurphy

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Eileen Schuh
www.eileenschuh.com
THE TRAZ
SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT