Jay Lang, a UFV student currently pursuing her degree in the English Honours program, is a traditionally published author with 11 books under her belt since the start of the pandemic; winning BWL Best Seller for 2021 and 2022, Lang has been quite busy. Her novel, “Snake Oil,” is her newest release yet.
“Snake Oil” takes place at the University, and centers on a young woman who is committed to her studies. The main character is “young and naive [and] her parents have retired to Scotland, so she’s here by herself and she’s a hermit,” said Lang. “She meets this guy, who’s really good looking … he beguiles her; he brings her into a web. [He] sweeps her away, and more and more he takes away from her studies, and then it turns out that he’s into drug dealing.”
From the beginning, Lang always held confidence in herself and others; she remembered telling her group in a writing workshop she was in, “we’re gonna get published. All of us are gonna get published within a year.” When they told her it was impossible, Lang replied, “No way. It’s gonna rock. It’s gonna be great. Everyone’s gonna get published, we’re all gonna be there.”
Lang maintained this positive attitude, despite it taking longer than anticipated. “I started this journey thinking … they’re gonna love my submissions, and this is gonna be great. … It took almost a year.” As many aspiring authors understand, rejection was an imminent factor, and it became part of Lang’s learning process as she exercised her voice in the creative field. The rejection letters were followed by a work that, once submitted, felt like an unyielding force of fiction that could surpass any opposing opinion.
“The biggest thing that I want people to get from this is ***please be resilient, and don’t take [rejection] personally, because it honestly has nothing to do with you,” said Lang. “You just keep on going. Keep on submitting … if you just sit there, you’re going to be like everybody else — in that great big cattle call.”
If you’re interested in seeing Lang and her work up close and physical, her next book signing is at Clearbrook Library in Abbotsford on April 1st, from 12 to 2:00 p.m.
