Guide gives technophobes, charity a boost

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

Louise Latremouille came up empty in her quests for a simple book to teach her technophobe parents computer basics.

The problem was she couldn’t find anything simple enough.

So she jotted notes to show her folks how to surf, search and send.

The Nova Scotia resident told friends about the scrawled guide and its demand grew rapidly until it morphed into a self-published book.

“There is a huge gap in computer literacy that I didn’t know about,” said Latremouille, who thought it was just her parents who got lost in the wilds of the World Wide Web. “It’s nice to have a simple, easy book to follow along.”

First published in 2004, My Parents’ First Computer and Internet Guide sold 7,500 copies. It features one lesson per page and large font for older readers.

She left her job as a letter carrier to write the book, which became a self-made endeavour after “every publisher in the world turned it down.”

So far, the book has sold mostly by word of mouth.

“It wouldn’t have been something I would have bet on,” she said of her new career.

Latremouille is hitting the road this week on a nine-city book tour that she hopes will raise $100,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Her first stop is the Chapters bookstore in Pointe Claire on Friday between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.

For Latremouille, the fundraiser is a way to give back.

Her parents’ drive to learn how to use a computer came when her father was battling cancer. They wanted to know more about his treatments and keep in touch with family via e-mail.

The notes helped them do that, she said.

A follow-up book, Beyond the Basics: My Parents’ Second Computer and Internet Guide, is due in June.

“It’s just got that little bit more that everyone was asking for,” she said.