Mission accomplished as former SUNshine Girl becomes published author
· Toronto Sun
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Sometimes intention is just a throw-away statement not worth the paper it’s printed on and sometimes it’s a glimpse into the future.
“In my SUNshine (Girl) blurb, I said I wanted to be a teacher and freelance writer,” ex-SUNshine Girl Marie Hoy-Kenny told the Toronto Sun recently. “I am now a teacher and a published author.”
As it turns out, Hoy-Kenny’s venture into writing as a side career came not long after she was less than impressed with a movie she was watching with her husband in January 2021, a “stupid romantic comedy that was dumb and predictable.
“It wasn’t very good and when it was over, I said, ‘I am going to write books and I am going to write movies. Mark my words. I am going to do it,'” she said. “And then things just started coming together. The night I said, ‘I am going to do it,’ someone in publishing was following me on Twitter (now known as X) and then wanted to talk to me about developing a book.”
New book ‘pretty funny with some spicy parts’
Before that, she was a teacher and a writer with stories to her credit. Her first book mention was in a collection of short stories titled Shadow Lab.
Hoy-Kenny has now written three books. Her recent one, Something Like Desire, hit the shelves in the city last month with a release party at the Hopeless Romantic Bookshop on Queen St. W.
“I gave it my all and things started to come together,” the 44-year-old said. “It happened a lot later in life than I expected, but it is going well so far.”
The grade 4 and 5 teacher said it’s an adult romance that is “pretty funny with some spicy parts.” Tread lightly.
Looking back at her SUNshine Girl memories from more than 25 years ago, she recalls the experience gave her a boost of confidence and made her believe other things were possible.
“I thought it was pretty cool,” Hoy-Kenny said. “The person who shot my picture, I wanted to wear a particular shirt and he was like, ‘No, trust me. This one is going to look better.’ I liked it because I was recognized. I went to the gas station and some guy said, ‘Oh, you are the SUNshine Girl today.’ I was surprised how many people recognized me, who were complete strangers, from just being in the Sun.”
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Dad a bit bashful about SUNshine Girl shoot
However, her dad James was minor collateral damage when the picture made its debut in the early 2000s.
“I wanted to do it beforehand, but my dad kept saying, ‘No, the guys at work are going to make fun of me if you are in a bikini because they look at it every day,'” she said with a laugh. “I was wearing jeans and a tank top, but people at his work were like, ‘Oh, look at your daughter, she is in the paper.'”
Did her father’s worst fears come true?
“A little bit,” she said. “I think they put the newspaper clipping on the wall of the staff room.”
But there were positive reviews from the less bashful members of the Hoy family.
“The whole family was happy that it was a tasteful shot,” she said. “I was in my early 20s and they still saw me as a kid and they didn’t want me to do a bikini shot … At my wedding, they were showing pictures of me from previous years and that SUNshine Girl came up and (my family) didn’t expect it. With all these pictures of me looking so innocent and then all of a sudden there was this sultry picture and they were like, ‘What’s that?’ It was funny.”