Race To The Cape, The NYAP News Chase @ Cape Race, Nfld

February 14/2025

Hello to my supporters and friends, An update on the progress to finish Race to the Cape, a book of creative nonfiction. I am working on the final revisions to the book and hope it will be out the fall of 2025. If anyone feels flush enough to assist me in doing the final leg of this endurance run which I began 9 years ago it would be a godsend! The backing of my gofundme supporters has made it possible for me to complete this labour of love and tell this incredible story and I remain ever-grateful to you all for that. Now to update you on my progress. I completed Draft 4 of the Manuscript a month ago-those revisions were the hardest I've had to work on since starting this book of creative nonfiction. I am working hard to get the book out this fall and I will keep you all informed as we move through the spring. I am sorry to have not been in touch in a long time. Life took over and my work on the book stalled, which was painful as the writer trying to finish it. Finally though in Dec/Jan a trip to Newfoundland triggered the creative juices and I was able to do those final revisions which were structural. The final- final editing will be more of a copyedit level of editing so should take a month to complete. Thank you all for your ongoing support and belief in me and the project. You will each receive a signed book from me and an opportunity to have me read for you and your community. In Gratitude, Theresa

August 2022

Three years later, my research is complete, thanks to my supporters here and a few private donors. I went to NYC and completed research at the New York Public Library.

Now I am in Newfoundland, making the final touches on the bibliography and awaiting a publishing offer from a house in Toronto.

Hopefully, I will spend the fall doing revisions for the publisher, and the book will come out next September. But until I sign the deal, I can't promise that.

The publisher has emailed to indicate an offer is being prepared.

As a new author, I will likely not receive an advance, which means I will only earn money once the book is published.

It is a small publishing house focussing on women and nonfiction books, so that could be a good fit for me.

The big publishers are not accessible to a newbie and a nobody like me. My 40 years of journalistic broadcast excellence do not count in the literary world. You need an agent to get through those gates, and there are so few agents in Canada that finding one is difficult.

So I am now ready to sign a publishing deal without any advance because I want to share the book with the world. It has taken six years; the pandemic has slowed things down for sure. I will update here as soon as I receive the deal and sign it!

I am very encouraged by comments from a retired journalism professor, suggesting the book may have an ongoing future as a resource for journalism schools, students, and professors.

"So much of the story is totally new to me (a prerequisite for academic recognition - the exposure of "new knowledge").

It brilliantly portrays and brings to life a fascinating pioneering character and uses him as the fulcrum for a much broader history of North American journalism and society.

You've written not just a captivating yarn but an authoritative documentary of an important era in journalism. It's a rollicking novel, a valuable history, and a useful academic textbook for journalists."

Thank you all for your ongoing support. As I continue to say, raising a new author takes a village, and you are my village! Sending the energy of gratitude to you all for valuing knowledge, books, and me.

Theresa M. O'Leary

July 2019(original date of the post below)

Hello dear friends and supporters,

I am sorry I have been out of touch. I have been head and eyes into working on the book and I am making progress. In May, I completed a 12 thousand word book proposal, basically a business plan for publishers to decide whether to publish Race to the Cape. I sent it out to a number of them in June and I have received encouraging news and am hoping to land a contract very soon. Meanwhile, I work on finishing the book. I am half way there and am excited to be entering the final stage of finishing the manuscript. It is a labour of love. I couldn't imagine doing anything else right now. But there are days and days when I do not write and the story stays in my head for a few more days. It reminds me a great deal of my days creating and mixing a radio documentary. The magic happened in the final weeks in the studio, putting together documentary, laying down the tracks and then mixing all the pieces together. I am getting ready to enter the studio in September and stay there for months. lol

I have decided in the end I do not need to travel to Liverpool, England to finish the book and I hope the publisher agrees. Meanwhile, I do need to go to New York City to do some final research there at the New York Public Library.

Thank you all who financed the trip to Newfoundland for research last year. Critical to writing the book!

I am now gathering resources to support the trip to NYC. I have my flight covered already by a private donor and am now asking whether anyone can recommend good places to stay that are free, or not too expensive,...maybe you know someone who would support a struggling Canadian writer.

Or if you feel inclined to contribute to the accommodation and food portion of my research trip please do so. You will be added to the names of supporters on my acknowledgements page. Thank you in advance to all who support my book Race to the Cape and me. In gratitude, I remain, Theresa M. O'Leary

P.S. I have decided to add my middle initial to my name as an author. It seems many have done so and I like it.

(From July 2018)

Hello dear friends and supporters, As many of you know I am writing a book called Race to the Cape:The Untold Story of How Cape Race, Newfoundland became the News Nexus of the world. The story comes out of my family history as my father told me many stories about the shipwrecks at Cape Race and the AP having a newsboat there in the 1850s and 1860s. A book of creative non-fiction about the early days of the news business in NYC and the telegraph operators at Cape Race and the shipwreck the Anglo Saxon, which killed 238 people. the worst ever shipwreck on Newfoundland's shores.

It requires research at the Rooms in St. John's and on site at Portugal Cove South and Cape Race. It also requires research in London and Liverpool England. I am seeking your help in financing that expensive research.

I have done as much research as I can from a distance and now must find means to travel to finish the research.

If any of you feel inclined to help a struggling writer get her first book done, I would be ever so grateful. And you will all get a mention in my acknowledgements section.

In gratitude,

Theresa O'Leary