Writers and aspiring writers, come to Canada’s largest Christian writers’ conference, Write! Canada, June 18-20, Guelph, Ont. Join us for the 25th annual conference as keynote speakers Brian Stiller, Audrey Dorsch and Ray Wiseman focus on “Celebrating God’s Blessings: Past, Present & Future.” Choose from classes for professional to beginner writers. Meet editors, publishers and agents from Canada and the U.S. Sponsored by The Word Guild, a national association that connects, develops and promotes Canadian writers and editors who are Christian.
Tags: Canadian Writing Conference, Christian Writers, Christian Writers' Conference, Write! Canada
Write! Canada - Canada’s Largest Christian Writers’ Conference, June 18 - 20, 2009, Guelph, Ontario
In addition to joining writers’ groups, entering contests and reading your work in public, consider going to writers’ conferences too. This year Write! Canada, Canada’s Largest Christian Writers’ Conference is celebrating their 25th Anniversary.
Most conferences offer workshops relating to writing and editing skills, and Write! Canada is no different. Usually writing conferences offer 3 days of great workshop information, networking seminars and banquet luncheons and dinners featuring keynote speakers. Organizers also bring in experts in the book publishing industry and offer manuscript critique services and appointments to pitch with an editor from a publishing company or literary agent. During breaks, you will also find mini trade fairs featuring books for sale and related services.
This year you can be a part of Canada’s Largest Christian Writers’ Conference, Write! Canada, taking place June 18 - 20, 2009 in Guelph, Ontario. Classes are offered from professional to beginner level, in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s, inspirational and secular material genres. Plenty of networking opportunities will be available. For more information visit www.writecanda2009.ca or call 519-886-4196 for information.
Tags: Christian Writers' Conference, Write Canda Christian Conference, writers workshops, Writers' Conferences
It’s all about confidence. Are your ready to share?
Not many of us enjoy public speaking. For some it’s very natural, for others, an absolute nightmare, especially for authors who are introverted, and face it, most of us are quite introverted. Otherwise how could we sit for hours on end with only our characters to keep us company. But authors need to share their work. If the fear of joining a writer’s group is holding you back, because you may have to read your work, don’t let it. Use writer’s groups as a way to grow and become comfortable while reading your work to an audience.
I find getting in front of an audience quite nerve wracking. Not only do you have to speak, but you have to keep your hands from trembling so hard while holding your story, that you can still read the words. It’s great if you have a lectern or table to hide behind, but standing and reading with nothing between you and the people in front of you is sheer terror.
If you have an authors event coming up, practice reading your story out loud over and over to yourself. Read it in front of the mirror. Read it to your dog, your children and your friends. This at least gets you comfortable with the story and hearing your own voice reading out loud.
If you get a chance to read first- do it! Which means you won’t have time to get nervous while several authors precede your scheduled time. Once you’ve been first to read, you can settle down and enjoy all the other authors to the podium.
When it’s your turn, take a deep breath. Smile at the crowd. Sometimes you can describe what you are about to read, a small synopsis of sorts, or, just delve in. Read slow. When we read out loud, we don’t realize how fast we are reading. It’s not a race. Take many pauses as the story demands and especially for effect.
Speak loud and with inflection. If you are familiar with your story, looking up now and then and making eye contact with your audience is a good thing to do. Try not to roll your shoulders into a ball, staring at your paper and speaking so monotone that your audience falls asleep or has to strain to hear you.
Finally, be proud of your work. It’s unique and it’s part of your creativity. People will be impressed that you authored such an interesting piece and will have nothing but praise that you shared it with them.
I have reading of my children’s picture books coming up with K - grade 2 students. 100 of them. They wish to be entertained. A tough audience indeed. But what fun!
reading of my children’s picture books coming up with K - grade 2 students. 100 of them. They wish to be entertained. A tough audience indeed. But what fun!
Just as I was talking about entering writing contests yesterday, the following came across my email today about the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Amazon is looking for new voices in fiction and are accepting entries. If you care to do the work to have your manuscript in proper format and send it in on time, this is an excellent opportunity for fiction writers to showcase their work, and compete for a chance to win a publishing contract with Penguin Group (USA) to market and distribute Grand Prize winner’s winning Manuscript as a published book, including promotion for such published book on Amazon.com and an advance of royalties.
From Amazon’s email: Submissions of unpublished novel-length fiction manuscripts will be accepted beginning this Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 a.m. (US Eastern Standard Time). For more information about the contest, including the rules and submission guidelines, please visit the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards web site at www.amazon.com/abna.
Tags: 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, Free Writing contest, Writing contest
Is entering a writing contest a good idea? Why should you have to pay to enter?
There are many writing contests being offered by various organizations. Most are free. Some have a charge. You have to determine if you want to pay to enter a contest. Some call it an administrative fee or depending on the source, it may be a subscription fee, where you’ll receive a subscription to a mainstream or literary magazine. You would have to determine if you really need a subscription to their product, which comes with the entering of the contest.
Look at why you should enter. Maybe by having a deadline, it will make you sit and do some writing work. The entry criteria might help you to write outside of your comfort zone, in a genre that you might not otherwise have tackled. Of course there are the rewards if you do win - cash, prestige, popularity, possibility of publication, which gives you clips for your portfolio, and it does look great on a submission or resume.
Try entering local contests, where the submissions may be a lower than at a national or international level. The local press is always interested in home town authors who win.
Try to look for free contests, but also look at those contests too where the organizations charge only a small fee. This might be needed for the financial support to offer a small honorarium to the judges, and to come up with the prize funds.
When you enter a contest where you get a free subscription to a product, is in my opinion, a way for magazines to increase their subscribers numbers. Your fee pays for the subscription. It’s ok if you don’t mind getting a subscription. They usually offer to print the winner’s entry, so this is a good way to get published.
Find writing contest information at your local library, writing groups and on the internet. Good Luck on your entries!
Tags: Writing Contests
Many authors wonder what an appropriate response time is to hear back from a publisher regarding their manuscript submission. A response time is the average length of time for the publishing house to determine whether they are going to accept (or reject) a submission. This can vary and can be a long wait indeed. You may or may not hear back from the house depending on whether you attached a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to request a reply.
When requesting Writer’s Guidelines from a publisher, these will most likely include information on the amount of time it takes to receive a response. They might write something like, “Responds in 6 - 8 weeks. Publication in a year.” Every publisher will have a different response times depending on their size. The average wait can be anywhere from 3 - 6 months.
I recently received a response back - a hand written letter, a scrawl mostly, begging forgiveness for keeping my manuscript for over 2 years. The editor suggested I send it elsewhere. I did not choose to wait to hear from them over the two year period. I assumed they just hadn’t chosen to respond back with a reply. During this time, I went ahead and sent it on to other publishing houses after about a 3 month period.
It is unnerving to have to wait, especially with a single submission. These are the type where the publisher wishes excusive right to review your submission, without worrying that you may have sent it elsewhere. These are not popular amongst submitters, as it holds up the manuscript and if the publisher takes many months to review it, you are not able to try and market it elsewhere. In these circumstances, to speed the process a bit, you could always explain in your query that you are sending a single submission, but that if you have not heard from the publisher within a set period of time (say 3 months), then you will seek alternative submissions.
Some publishers will accept simultaneous submissions (or multiple submissions - a manuscript submitted to more than one publisher at a time) if you state that in your query to them. This at least gives you the option of sending your manuscript to several publishers at a time. Electronic Submissions (sent via email) do not always guarantee a quick read either and can take just as long as posting a manuscript.
When you are researching markets for your manuscript, the choice is yours as to whether you wish to submit to multiple markets or wait it out with a publisher only accepting a single submission. In the meantime, while you patiently await exciting news, try working on another project.
Tags: Manuscript Submission, submitting manuscripts to publishers
More than 40,000 registered so far!
ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation has an exciting new reading event that kids will love – the Family Literacy Day (FLD) World Record Attempt. On Friday, January 23 and/or Saturday January 24, as a kick-off to Family Literacy Day, schools, libraries, community centres, Oxford Learning centres, YMCAs, literacy centres, shopping centres, and homes will be part of a Canada-wide attempt to break the Guinness World Record™ for Most Children Reading with an Adult, Multiple Locations http://www.abc-canada.org/fldworldrecord.
The current Guinness World Record™ of 78,791 was set in the US in 2006. Pre-registration for the FLD World Record Attempt has already exceeded 40,000 participants – and every day thousands more register. Tallies from all the events will be combined for the record-breaking grand total – Canada is well on our way to breaking the Guinness World Record!
Here’s how to organize an FLD World Record Attempt that qualifies for the Guinness World Record:
- All the readings must happen during the same 24-hour period across Canada – between Friday, January 23 at 2:00 p.m. EST and Saturday, January 24 at 2:00 p.m. EST.
- Readings must be 30 minutes long, with an adult reading aloud to kids.
- Everyone must read the same five stories from the Robert Munsch collection Munschworks 2, or the five individual books in this order: Pigs; Mortimer; Purple, Green and Yellow; Murmel, Murmel, Murmel; Something Good
- There must be at least one adult reader for every 35 children. If you have more than 35 kids, you need another adult reader.
- An independent witness must observe the reading for the full 30 minutes.
- Pre-register online by January 22 http://www.abc-canada.org/en/fld/2008/register.cgi.
- Print the registration form and fill it in after your event http://www.abc-canada.org/en/system/files/Registration_Form.pdf.
- Have your witness prepare a witness statement http://www.abc-canada.org/en/system/files/Witness.pdf.
- After the event, mail the registration form and witness statement to ABC CANADA.
ABC CANADA’s website has everything you need to register, organize, promote, and document your FLD World Record Attempt event http://www.abc-canada.org/en/fld/events.
ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation is Canada’s private-sector voice championing adult literacy. The national charity envisions a Canada where individuals, regardless of their circumstances, are provided the opportunities to increase the skills that prepare people for realizing their full potential at work, at home and in the community. Family Literacy Day, held annually on January 27, was developed by ABC CANADA and Honda Canada in 1999 to encourage families to read and learn together on a daily basis. To learn more, visit www.abc-canada.org.
Information provided from The Canadian Children’s Book Centre newsletter.
Tags: ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation, Family Literacy Day, Literacy, Reading
When I first started writing, I was under the impression that one shouldn’t read books in the same genre as one was writing, in case you were to ’subconsciously’ copy another writers work. This is is far from the truth and very naive. Writers have to read everything! Voraciously too. The more you read, the better you will be able to write.
This is especially the case if you are writing for a specific genre. You need to know what current trends are for plot and character development and how authors are presenting their work in today’s market. One market that comes to mind is the romance novel. Try reading a current romance, say a Harlequin novel, then go to a garage sale and pick up a Harlequin novel from the 1980’s. You’d be surprised how the genre has changed and how open the writing is today. I also notice that the level of writing has improved and the standards of writing are so much better today.
How can you write a mystery thriller if you’ve never read one. Science fiction and fantasy are other genres that are so different from mainstream, that you’d need to read those books as well.
If you are writing for the children’s market, prepare to read books for all separate ages. This is especially true for picture books. You can get an idea also of what is being published, and current trends in children’s book publishing.
I discovered there is no need to worry about your subconscious. Usually when I read a book in order to study elements of the book, I become so engrossed in the novel, that I forget my main purpose for picking it up and just enjoy it. I am sure though my subconscious must be learning something from the exercise that will help me with my future manuscripts.
Writing Exercises while away on vacation
Blogging here at aboutwritingandpublishing will be sparse over the next week, while I take a much needed vacation break. I wrote in another blog (journalsandpapers.com) about travel journals and writing and suggested a difficult exercise.
Writers have to think and be able to describe senses to set up a scene effectively. When I was on a recent vacation to Mexico, while at the beach I pulled out a notebook, closed my eyes and tried to come up with a list of words or phrases that matched what I was feeling with my senses. It was actually quite difficult to do. I wanted to grab a thesaurus. I had to take into account what I was hearing and all that I was hearing, like the waves coming in, the birds, beach play noises and sounds of the wind and trees. Then I had to listen to what I was feeling. The tickle of the breeze on my skin, the warmth of the sun, the taste of the salt in the air, the feel of the chair I was sitting in.
This is a great writing exercise and can be done anywhere. Try a restaurant sometime - that one really touches all of the senses. Or a playground. Try to describe pool noises and children squealing. What does riding on a bus sound like? Or sitting in a convertible waiting for a train to pass.
You never know when you will be writing about one of these scenes and all of a sudden you have to conjure up some words. If it’s the dead of winter and you are wring about a beach setting, you may find the words a little hard to come by. Now if you had a notebook of some beach experiences written down, you would be in a much better writing place.
Tags: researching scenes and setting, writing exercises, writing scenes
Twilight Movie Release
So what makes the Twilight Series so popular with teens? Tonight in movie theaters around the country, teens are already lining up for the opening of the Twilight movie. The books, Twilight, Eclipse, New Moon and Breaking Dawn, a series about a love/vampire story written by Stephenie Meyer are simply entertaining. They are ripe with well defined characters. I noticed with this series too, the setting is very pivotal to the characters and their needs.
It’s not often setting comes to play within a plot, but in the Twilight series, how can a family of vampires live anywhere else but in the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State in a town where it always rains - ergo, no sun. Meyers intertwines the setting amongst the characters like roots twisting in a pot. You can’t have one without the other.
Bella and Edward, two opposites that should not attract, do and the reader is drawn into an emotional mystery of will he, won’t he. Should she, will she. Edward is a respectable, virtuous vampire and what father wouldn’t like him, except for the weirdness factor. Bella is an ordinary teen who doesn’t need to be the queen of the prom to catch the best looking guy in the school.
It seems like the Bella/Edward saga should end with the 4th book, but my writer’s intution says that Meyer’s left one opening in the plot that could lead to a fifth novel. What do you think?
Tags: Plot, setting, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Series, Writing
