Author Spotlight - Robert McGregor

Robert W. McGregor is a 63-year-old Canadian writer of poetry who grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. The youngest of six children in a blue-collar home, the author shares the challenges he faced as a child living with undiagnosed ADHD. Like so many of his era, its discovery came much later in life.  It presented him both answers and more questions on how to deal with the aspects of the condition.

“Mending Broken Thoughts” is the first book in a series of three that looks at life through the author’s unique perspective. In this publishing debut, he opened up his heart and mind to the reader, sharing messages of hope, perseverance, faith, and forgiveness, as told through his writings and poetry.

His second book, “Mending A Broken Planet“,  is due to be published in the middle of  February . Robert continues to follow the same style format which consists of four chapters of what he self-describes as “kaleidoscopic musings”, separated by eight poem selections.  Each poem is meant to expound upon the thoughts captured in the chapter's title.  The influences on his style come from a very wide spectrum of tastes. From Rumi to Maya Angelou to romantics of Tennyson, Byron and Keats.  It also involves admiring emerging talented writers like his very gifted Moroccan-based friend Monsif Beroual.

Photography, pictures and paintings are some influences that sparked his verse. As practiced in the first Robert had many of the poems adorned with the very picture that helped him create them. "Imagery is a great motivator for me to express my thoughts and feelings.” As he also did in his first book, the second also incorporated a few of his own photographs to further enhance the personal aspects of the book. The accompanying images also act as bookmarks for his readers so that they can easily find their way back to the chosen quote.

As alluded to in Mending Broken Thoughts he likes to use music played over headphones to unlock his ideas and bring them to life for the reader. Robert believes his creativity knows no bounds and he continues to work on new material during the winter months at his desk in his beautiful home in Progreso.  Since he began his writing career late in life he feels he has only scratched the surface of what is possible for him.  He is just starting to outline and look for an illustrator for a book series for children as told through the antics of his adorable rescue dog, a Chihuahua named Bella.

He and his lovely wife Laurie have wintered in the Yucatan for the past eight years for months at a time before retiring in 2021 and living here for six months at a time.  Much of the editing  of the first book and most of the writing of his second were done while living here in Mexico, backdropped by the kaos of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a difficult time to be a human being, especially ones that also had to deal with ADHD.

There is little doubt that the pandemic had left its mark on everyone that was fortunate to survive it. During that period Robert sought to keep a realistic perspective on the difficulties he was facing in those moments. All the while still trying to create a message that wouldn't completely be swallowed up by the gloom and doom of what was going on around him.

The book reflects endurances that everyone had to face and deal with. Especially if you were  faced with the loss of loved ones, close friends and even opportunities to celebrate or commemorate life's special moments. 

As well as the genuine loss of direct physical connection with others that the restrictions in place to prevent the proliferation of the virus placed on us.  His new book describes how our way of life was profoundly interrupted as if the virus was like an ¨uninvited guest¨ that forced themselves into our homes and drastically overstayed for an unwanted visit.

Like many other creative people Robert took advantage of the isolation period to travel inward.  He used the alone time to build his portfolio of poems that would help him select ones to complement his second book and eventually for the third and others to follow.

"From the cocoon that was tightly wound over the world came a collective period of introspection and discovery. What emerges after this is gone is the essence of what humanity will carry into the future. From this point on the past can not be of much use to us in what we must do to create a better future.”

While the world’s scientists worked expediently trying to find solutions to the pandemic, many people like Robert came to realize that even amidst all the negative aspects we have been given a great chance to reset our path away from our current one that is leading us an enormous distress to all aspects of our planet health.

Mending A Broken Planet holds and reveals some valuable insights shared.  In those insights he tried to provide others encouragement to continue working on finding better solutions to the things the entire world struggles with. This included the pandemic, climate change, world poverty and addiction.

With such dark subjects Robert used the power of the pen to poke holes in the heart of our blatant stupidity in actions against our collective interests. He tried doing it with wit and charm and sarcasm, and humor, but it does not weaken the convictions of his word or the passion that keeps him moving forward. He looks to inspire the reader to look deeper within themselves and try to build a better world through better informed decisions and actions.

His writing style has been described as being creative, emotive and with a unique flavour of rhythm and cadence. Robert’s ambition is to bring into literature what he felt was not there for him as a young adult, and to be a beacon of hope for those who may feel the same. He believes that through his writing, he can encourage others to embrace their uniqueness and to know that they are not alone in their journey.

Through his writing, he continues to show us that there is beauty also in the darkness of our lives, and that we can all find something valuable in our struggles. He reminds us we are all connected, and that it’s our shared experiences that can help us heal and understand each other.

As his next book is published and he continues to leave an indelible imprint on the world of literature, Robert looks to the future with optimism and hope. 

The third and final book of the Mending series has a working title of "Mending A Broken Legacy", and will be published this summer.

He hopes the series collectively has the potential to bring about positive change to the world that his children and grandchildren will inherit. In that process he also doesn't want anyone to feel lost or overwhelmed or left behind by the world's ever shifting changes.