A Cariboo author’s biggest inspirations come from his family.
Paul Bayne who writes under both his own name as well as the pseudonym Aloysius MacKay has currently published 29 short stories on Amazon Kindle and a book featuring the compilation of many others.
He says his children give him the inspiration for the majority of his stories that include everything and anything from garage sales, leprechauns, truckers and cursed typewriters.
“My kids a lot of times they’ll give me ideas, they’ll come up with an idea, ” Bayne says.
“Daddy write about a garbage can and I’ll come up with a story about a garbage can. I couldn’t have done it without them because they’re the ones that give me the ideas, and my wife gave me the support and the idea to start writing.”
Bayne who was raised in Chilliwack had moved to Surrey where he met his wife, Zabeth.
Bayne says he began putting his words on to paper after having answered an ad on Craigslist to illustrate a book for a woman who paid him in food with exotic hot meals.
“The rest is history after 15 years of telling stories almost every day. Three quarters of them are course forgotten but they slowly come back over time,” Bayne says. “It’s been fun.”
Paul and Zabeth would move to the Cariboo in 2012 to Sheridan Lake before settling in Williams Lake. They have four children: Kent (15), Baden (14), Bethany (12) and Josiah (8).
When Paul is not utilizing his fruitful imagination he is busy assisting with the family’s janitorial business and enjoys woodworking, painting and illustrating.
He has currently sold around eight copies of his short stories with “The Death of a Salesman” being his most popular piece of work with six copies having sold in the United Kingdom.
“My main goal really as you get older, you can’t do the hard jobs that you used to in your youth like I worked in the steel industry and the foundry, I would really like to have a successful career as a writer,” Bayne says.
“I’d really enjoy to be able to do that on a daily basis, full time basis because a lot of other things get in the way and by the time I’m done that hard work I’m exhausted and I don’t feel like writing. I would really like to be able to focus on the writing and pour my entire potential and imagination into it.”