Paul Quarrington died yesterday. He was a writer, of novels, movies, and non-fiction and a musician with the Porkbelly Futures. He was diagnosed with lung cancer last year. I was shocked by his diagnosis, moved by the way he spoke (here in part 1, part 2, and part 3) and wrote about his illness (here in part 1 and part 2), and saddened by his death. I didn’t know him but, as with many Can Lit figures, I have watched him interviewed on various shows and videos, back when I obsessively hung on the word of any writer on writing because I didn’t know any in real life, but wrote all the time, back when listening to people like him made me feel like I belonged. So I feel like I knew him and I thought he was a pretty cool guy and a great writer.

When he was diagnosed, he talked about projects he had in progress and how he hoped he could get them finished. That hit me hard. Leaving projects unfinished is something I hate to think about. I know it happens, know it has to happen. If it doesn’t, then you leave your life having finished all your projects and I wouldn’t want that to happen. Another writer, Robert B Parker of the Spenser series, passed away this week at his desk, leaving behind an unfinished project. If you’re a writer, or an artist, or anyone who does anything as a passion rather than a pastime, you will leave things unfinished. I work on numerous things at once, and leave things and come back to them. So I will leave things in progress. I don’t see the day coming when I will put down my pen and say “well, I’m done. I’ve written everything I had to say.” But still the idea bothers me. Not as much as the idea of  leaving the earth before the boys are grown and living independent lives, but it does bother me.

He did continue to work on his projects, right up to the end, practically. The Globe and Mail says that he finished final revisions on his memoir, Cigar Box Banjo, this past weekend. Cigar Box Banjo is set to be released by Greystone Books in May.

Paul Quarrington talked in his part 3 interview above, about squeezing all the juice out of things before you go. I think he squeezed a lot out of life. He’s left me with some lessons about not taking things for granted, for working on what you love and getting things done and, basically not wasting time. But I will waste time, I know. That’s part of life too. I love Snood too much and am too nosy about what’s going on in facebook. Right now, though, there’s an old manuscript on my desk, waiting to be revised and a 22-month-old in the corner stacking blocks so I’m going to go now and squeeze some juice out of this. You can see Paul Quarrington, doing  the same, doing some of what he loved, in the video below. RIP