Jayne Self speaks at Orangeville Library

150th Series: Author Jayne E. Self

150^th Series: Authors and Artists @ the Library presents Canadian award-winning author Jayne E. Self at the Mill Street branch of the Orangeville Public Library on Wednesday, March 20 at 1 p.m. in the Meeting Room.

Local author, speaker and musician, Ms. Self will discuss what's involved in writing a mystery, where her ideas come from, and how she picks her victims.

Having published two novels in her Seaglass Mystery series: Murder in Hum Harbour (2011) and Death of a Highland Heavyweight (2012), Self is the proud recipient of the 2012 Christian Writing Award for Best Mystery for Murder in Hum Harbour.

Admission is free. No registration required. Light refreshments provided.

• Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2013
• Time: 1:00pm
• Location: Mill Street branch - Meeting Room (lower level)

Writing & Critiquing

In the last Brian Henry workshop (The Next Step), we critiqued each other’s work. For longer pieces up to 3,000 words, the members of that group (usually five other people) critiqued it first. Then the rest of the group offered their suggestions. And we followed the same format as you did last week, except we emailed the pieces the week before, which would allow us to read it and spend more time to critique it.

We also critiqued smaller pieces up to 1,000 words that we brought that night, but in the smaller groups of five to six people. (One piece per group.)  It was basically just a quick verbal input.

I believe that most times too many cooks (writers) spoil the broth/writing. Too many different ideas so I think that it’s a good idea to critique in smaller groups of possibly three people when the group becomes larger. Although if you only have five people I think that Brian‘s way would work too.

The reason why we didn’t incorporate this into the Headwaters Writers Guild is that we didn’t want to discourage beginning writers. It’s not easy to accept criticism of your “baby” (writing). Brian sent out an email suggesting that writers have to develop confidence. Now in HWG, most of us are seasoned writers.

Attending Brian’s workshop has been an eye opener. I can’t stress enough that as writers we should go with our instincts. Finding your Voice (how to put personality in your writing) by Les Edgerton is a great reference book.

I am presently attending another writing group (Georgetown Wordsmiths –members who took the Brian Henry workshop created this group) to see how critiquing in both groups works. On my return to HWG, I’d hoped to incorporate it into the group, but you’ve already done this. I think that it’s time for us to take The Next Step. I have enjoyed meeting other writers from the Georgetown Wordsmiths and getting their perspective on writing. It’s been an eye opener and refreshing at the same time. There is a lot of writing talent in the Georgetown Wordsmiths group. I enjoy it immensely and will continue to attend both groups. 

http://georgetownwordsmiths.wordpress.com/ 

As a writer, I believe that it’s beneficial to read our work to a large group. When our books are published, the experience will become a valuable asset. Without this reading practice, I wouldn’t have been able to read my work to other people nor would I have been confidant enough to give four eulogies.  A former member credited our writing group with her ability to give sermons. And Jayne Self mentioned that without the reading practice she couldn’t have imagined reading her award- winning book Murder in Hum Harbour at her book launch.

Congratulations to Jayne:

Self, an Orangeville resident, won the mystery category for her novel Murder in Hum Harbour: A Seaglass Mystery.  She also earned runner up for the Grace Irwin Award, which recognizes the best book published in 2011.

Orangeville Banner  - June 20, 2012

http://www.orangeville.com/what's%20on/article/1378210--local-authors-win-christian-writing-awards

I’ve used my hiatus from the HWG group well. I have written over 88,000 words on my non-fiction book which I believe will be broken into two books. I seized every moment. Instead of thinking I only have half an hour, I’d think how many words can I write in half an hour?  I’d always believed I could only write in the morning. I’ve discovered that I can write any time. My writing buddy and I emailed each other with our word count most days. This helped to keep me focused and committed.  

“You can only fail at writing if you quit.” Ed Wildman, writer, author, mentor, and friend.

Nancy Rorke
Founding Member

Meeting Minutes October 16, 2011

Congratulations to Jayne on the release of her novel "Murder in Hum Harbour." We had a wonderful time at BookLore Oct 15. It was a fabulous afternoon with her reading and answering questions. Missed out on winning the seaglass earrings, but I'm loving the book which had sold out by Sunday! Watch for the review in In The Hills this winter as well as a follow up in the Citizen.

Jayne was also our leader for the day. And gave Nancy a thank you note for the group: To the members of the Headwaters Writers Guild, Words can't express how much I appreciate your presence and support at yesterday's book launch. Thank you so much, Jayne Self.

Ashley was back for a visit with us and is planning to participate in NaNoWriMo again this year. NaNoWriMo is the National Novel Writers Month held every year in November for more information, check out http://www.nanowrimo.org/. This is Ashley's forth or fifth year trying to meet the goal of 50,000 words. She also told us about a new version of NaNo called Script Frenzy. And that she is hoping to start a writing group of her own in Toronto geared for University students who are looking for a little moral support.

Pat told us all that our favourite bookstore lady, Nancy Frater of BookLore, received a lifetime achievement award at Authors & Armchairs a couple weeks ago. The group gave her a bottle of wine and handpainted wine glasses as an appreciation gift for all of her support of our writers.

Nancy has been in contact with Brian Henry regarding an upcoming workshop. The workshop will take place February 25, 2012. Our choices of courses are:
1) How to Make Yourself Write
2) Eighteen Secrets to Writing a page-turner
3) Writing with Style (which we needed more information on)
4) You  Can Write Great Dialogue
We were deadlocked between #1 and #2 so Nancy will touchbase with other members who normally attend the workshops and we will decide.

Nancy is interested in doing a series of workshops based on the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. We have talked to someone who offers the course through Continuing Education, but feel we could do the same thing for free as our own small group. If anyone is interested, please let us know.

Marilyn told us she has checked out The Next Big Writer.com and is impressed with what she's seen. For $50 per year, you can post work, enter contests and get feedback from impartial people. Both the contest submissions and the work you can post are between 1000-2000 words. Check it out at http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/

Readings:
Marilyn announced that she is "getting all poetic or something ridiculous" and read a poem she'd written.
Diane read a short story written for a Wynterblue Publishing contest called "She Needs to Lose Weight" which caters to the if-only world of if cake and soda were diet foods.
Danielle read part of her fantasy novel that was written as a journal entry.
Ashley had a wonderful poem written in french that she translated for us. It was called "The Drama Queen" and was about her former drama teacher from Westside who passed away this past September. A lovely tribute to her mentor.
Trina (our newest member! Welcome!) read about Trinity Church, the one in New York City that was a central meeting place during the days after 9/11. We loved hearing how being their moved her and put things into perspective.
Nancy read a poem called "Uninvited." Very moving.

On Gaining Confidence....
Jayne thanked us all for helping her become more confident and able to speak in public thanks to reading aloud in the group.
Trina said she'd put off coming to join us on a regular basis, but after reading such a personal poem and getting so much support and feedback, she feels stronger.
Danielle loves how we are all supportive and encouraging to each other.
Marilyn said that "It is amazing how we credit people with the judgements we don't have."

Prompts
Jayne had a bag full of slips of paper on which were written the names of emotions. We chose two slips. The first time, we wrote about the emotion without naming the emotion. Some words that were used were: Sympathy, Excitement, Shame, Fondness, Suspicious, Contentment, Worry, Happiness, Grief.
The second session, we had to start with the sentence: "Sam opened the door..." and use the second emotion without naming it. More emotions to describe: Love, Despair, Desire, Curiosity, Revenge, Sadness, Jealousy, Hope, Passion, Longing.

Some noteworthy dates:
Next meeting is October 30th. Clare (who was notably absent this week) will be leading.
Our Christmas luncheon is Dec 11, details TBA.

Keep Writing!!!

Last meeting of 2009

Yup, you read it right. November 29 marked our last official meeting of 2009. We had a bit of discussion about where our group will meet next year. The Orangeville Library insists we should pay $2o per session if we want to meet there on Sundays. We are thankful we've had this space at no charge for 5 years now. In order to continue meeting at the Library, we would have to institute a Membership fee in 2010. This is something we've never done before.

BUT...enter Jayne Self who is looking into getting us a room at the Tweedsmuir Church up the street at no cost. Jayne is the minister's wife and a long time member of the group.

Another bit of business is the reminder of our Christmas Luncheon on Saturday, Dec 5 at 1 p.m. Hope to see you all there! Please let Nancy know if you are coming.

Last night was Clare's book launch for The Hurleyville Taxi. It was nice to see such a great turnout by our group to support him. I, for one, did my Christmas shopping while waiting in line! Book Lore was bursting at the seams with fans and well wishers. Congratulations again, Clare. It was a long time coming and we're all very proud to see it in print! Check out www.northwordbound.ca for more dirt on the Hurleyville Taxi.

The prompt Clare gave us at the meeting was a clustering activity. We each got a word and brainstormed words related to it on a large sheet of paper. Clare mixed up the sheets later and we used the words we got to do our prompt. Lots of poems flying around after that one! Great idea, Clare.

We'll update everyone once January's schedule is sorted out!
Happy Writing!