about it?” All of a sudden, I grinned at her and told her that just while we were sitting there talking, an outline for a comical play had popped into my head. She wanted to know what we were going to do about it, thinking no one will be interested. The next day, before school started, we found each other in the school yard and I showed her a 2 person, 20 – 25, minute play, including dialogue, stage directions, costumes etc. she read and was laughing very often and she had envisioned who I needed to play and who she was to play, since I wrote them to suit us, since I didn’t have to
do. Despite being told that she would never walk, Lorri-Ann says she one day grew tired of waiting for her mother to fetch a toy for her, so she simply stood up, walked over to get it, and returned to her previous spot on the floor. This same determination compelled her to return to college as a mature student and become an author. “My life has been one miracle after another, and so I can honestly say that I’m just inspired by life itself,” says Lorri-Ann. The Common Threads trilogy was featured in the New York Times, and Lorri-Ann says she will continue to write as her health allows, much to the delight of her many readers. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer and what inspired you? I was an A, B and the occasional C kid through elementary school. At around grade six, my best friend and I were finished our lessons early in class and the teacher said we could talk together quietly in the back corner, as long as we were discussing what our class was, which was English. I said to her, “I’m bored of just reading the novel and filling in questions. I hate that we only have plays, at Christmas time and they are always what the teachers want.” She said to me, “I feel that way too, but what can we do
go and get characters. So, we showed it to our teacher and as her laughter was finished, she asked, if we could have 45 minutes off of class each day, could we be ready to show it to our class in a week. Looking at each other, we both said, “Yes!” After discussing using the auditorium and props, etc., my friend and I worked on it at school and as long as our parents would let us use the phone at night, to rehearse. 2 days before we were to perform. The principal gave us auditorium time to rehearse, as well. The day before we presented it to our class, our teacher ad principal both sat and watched.
THIS PAGE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Taken in 1996. Her advertising business Champagne & Advertisements with a penguin logo. She was pitching an ad campaign at a prestigious Toronto hotel. She even held her own against a heckler; also taken in 1996 at their home studio, working on a radio ad for a nationwide non-profit organization; Her partner and one of their many kittens. He was named Garfield for his love of lasagna.
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EC Magazines | Fall Edition 2021
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