Author: Jonathan Chevreau
ISBN: 978-0-981104-0-0
Publisher: Power Publishers Inc


Click Here To Purchase Findependence Day


Today, Norm Goldman Publisher & Editor of bookpleasures.com is honored to
have as our guest, Jonathan Chevreau -- author of Findependence Day. He has
been the personal finance columnist for the Financial Post since 1996 and
for the National Post since its debut in 1998. Previously, he has authored
or co-authored seven non-fiction financial books, including The Wealthy
Boomer. Findependence Day is his second work of fiction.



Good day Jonathan and thanks for participating in our interview

Norm:

How did you get started in writing? What keeps you going?

Jonathan: I've always been a writer. I attempted a mystery novel at age 8,
titled The Mystery at Tamarac, handwritten in a lined notebook. I stopped
when I got to the end of the notebook, much to the annoyance of my now
17-year old daughter. But I got waylaid by journalism and except for some
youthful poems and short stories, didn't again attempt a novel till 2001. I
hope to do more once I reach my own Findependence Day!

Norm:

What motivated you to write Findependence Day as a work of fiction?


Jonathan:

A year before I started it, I came up with the title, which was just a play
on the American Independence Day [it's a trans-border romance set in the
United States and Canada] and a contraction of Financial Independence. I
later found out there was a Fargate film of the same name but didn't know it
at the time. Originally I planned it to be non-fiction but doing it nights,
weekends and vacation time would have been too much like my day job, so I
reluctantly and finally went down a road I had long avoided because it had
been done so much before the Wealthy Barber financial fiction approach.


Norm:

What do you want your book to do? Entertain? Provoke thinking? As a follow
up, is there a message that you want your readers to grasp?

Jonathan:

My employer, Canwest, has a mission statement that involves both informing
and entertaining, so I'd say I tried to do that here. It¹s really a
financial Harlequin's romance aimed at younger adults just starting
marriage, home ownership and parenting; secondarily it's aimed at the
children of the boomers, some of whom may still be in grade school. The
message is simply that if the goal is financial independence, the way to
achieve it is guerrilla frugality: saving the difference between income and
expenditures and investing it wisely and tax efficiently.

Norm:

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating all of
your books?


Jonathan:

I was never surprised they are a lot of work. After Krash! in 1999 (a
misadventure about Y2K and the stock market that some might view as my
fictional debut!) I decided to take a moratorium on book-writing on top of a
full-time job. I turned down a bunch of proposals but ultimately it's always
my own ideas that get me moving. The Wealthy Boomer was like that: I
initially contemplated making it fiction (this was in 1998) but I chickened
out and made it non-fiction.

Norm:

It is said that writers should write what they know. You clearly know
financial planning and money management. Were there any elements of the
book that forced you to step out of your comfort zone, and if so, how did
you approach this part of the writing?

Jonathan:

Sure. First, the deadline was ridiculous but I didn't need to do any
research on financial matters. That part was already in my head and I had
five certified financial planners who vetted the manuscript for accuracy. So
the challenge was the fiction part: plot, setting, characterization,
dialogue and especially description. I wanted a real story -- not just a
thin plot which plays second fiddle to the financial content. It's a
balancing act: too much story and you lose those who just want the financial
info; too many financial dumps and you lose the people that want a story.

Norm:

Do you feel that writers, regardless of genre owe something to readers, if
not, why not, if so, why and what would that be?


Jonathan:

Sure, writers and readers are like yin and yang; you can't have one without
the other. So the writer owes the reader his (or her) best whether it's a
creative work or a work of research, or anything between. The reader is
going to devote some time and often money to absorbing this work, which
amounts to the life energy I mention in the book. If they expend it and
are disappointed they did, it doesn't speak well to their ongoing
relationship. Someone once said a good beginning helps sell today's book,
but a good ending helps sell the next one. I think those that get to the end
of Findependence Day are glad they stuck around for what one called a
Hollywood ending.

Norm:

What do you think of the new Internet market for writers?
Jonathan:

It's probably a golden age for new writers, not unlike the vast market for
television and film that opened up with the 500-channel universe. The
problem on the Internet is of course monetizing the writing: so many are
giving it away for next to nothing on blogs or Twitter, including myself!

Norm:

Are you working on any other books/projects that you would like to share
with us? (We would love to hear all about them!)

Jonathan:

I have some ideas for a sequel to Findependence Day but frankly, there's
little point in me doing that until the first instalment has established
itself. It's a crowded competitive landscape and things don't always happen
instantly. But I'm encouraged by the words of David Chilton, who tells me
his The Wealthy Barber didn't happen instantly after he wrote it in 1989: it
took him two long years of promotion, publicity and public speaking
throughout North America. So we're about half way through year one to make
it known in Canada and hopefully in 2010 we'll make some headway in the
United States. After all, it does begin in Chicago and ends in New York
City!


Norm:

How can our readers find out more about you and your endeavors?

Jonathan:

I'm still a working journalist, employed by the National Post. Everything I
do is on the web at www.financialpost.com <http://www.financialpost.com>
and my Wealthy Boomer blog at www.wealthyboomer.ca
<http://www.wealthyboomer.ca>, which is housed at the Post. Twice a week I
also post the Wealthy Boomer video interview there. As you know, I'm also on
Twitter as JonChevreau.

Norm:

Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered.

Jonathan:

Maybe the topic of financial literacy. You see various governments doing
web-based financial literarcy projects like Investored.ca that strive to
educate financial consumers; however, I think pop culture is a better medium
for getting to young people that are so busy with their Facebooking and
electronic messaging with their peers. Hopefully this little financial novel
will find an audience with young people and the schools. An introductory
personal finance course could use this novel to hook them, then add a
proper personal finance textbook to drill down further on the core concepts.
I do include a two-page bibliography at the end of the novel, which is a
good start, since it covers the many financial books I've bought, read and
reviewed in the last two decades or so.

Norm:

Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.

Jonathan:

Thank you, Norm, for the chance to spread the word.

Click Here To Read Norm's Review of Findependence Day

Click Here To Purchase Findependence Day