Maritime writer delights in Christmas miracle
by Marcia Lee Laycock

When Elaine Ingalls Hogg was six years old she decided she would be a missionary. But life intervened and for many years it seemed as though her dream would never come true. But Hogg found ways to serve at home. While working as a palliative care volunteer she was asked to write a love letter to a patient’s grandchild. Then someone suggested she write a book to help children deal with the death of a loved one.

The result was Remembering Honey for which Hogg won The Marianna Dempster Award. That opened the floodgates. She began writing devotionals and other inspirational pieces and went on to historical books.

One day a letter arrived from Indonesia asking for permission to translate one of her devotionals. Since then people all around the world have responded to her writing. Hogg is delighted to refer to herself as a "paper missionary."

Elaine Hogg sends books to troops in Afghanistan.

A Maritimer born and bred, much of her published work has dealt with local color. When Canada Joined Cape Breton and a pictorial history of the Bay of Fundy Island, Historic Grand Manan, put her on the map as a writer of non-fiction.

Writing an inspirational column for her local paper and contributing to several magazines, websites, newsletters and anthologies, including the Chicken Soup books, keeps Hogg at the keyboard.

She also is committed to helping others tell their stories and has just completed a project that involved writing a manuscript and helping the author lay out a marketing plan.

But it was last November, while signing a copy of her book, Christmas in the Maritimes, that she latched onto a project that was to prove most rewarding. She overheard a woman say, "I’m sending this to my nephew in Afghanistan, and I know he’ll love it."

Knowing the need to boost morale among those serving so far away, Hogg got the idea to send a copy of the same book to all the troops from Atlantic Canada currently serving in Afghanistan. "The news was full of stories about the conditions our troops are serving under," she said, "and I thought that if this little book would mean something to the members serving our country, then I would at least try to find a way to send some to them."

A major stumbling block was the fact that she was unfamiliar with all the rules and considerations involved in sending something to the troops. But she persevered and eventually received a positive response from the Coordinator of Deployment Services telling her the book could reach the troops – but the Christmas packages were going out in six days.

She emailed the woman – "I’m believing this Christmas miracle will happen!" A generous donation made it possible and the books arrived at the base in time to be sent.

Elaine Ingalls Hogg is part of a long standing Maritime tradition. "Our ancestors used stories to teach and to entertain."
 She strives to do both and says the best part about writing is "when someone responds or stops me on the street to tell me my words have made a difference." Hogg’s readers agree that she does all of that and more.

Elaine Ingalls Hogg can be contacted through her website – http://elainehogg.tripod.com. Her books are available through most bookstores across Canada.