Meeting Updates

I know I haven't posted meeting notes for the past few meetings so I am going to try and summarize what has been discussed at the last few meetings.

We have created a coffee mug of The Headwaters Writers' Guild for promotional purposes. If you are interested in purchasing a mug, we need to order at least 10 of them to keep the price down to $10. We will not order unless we have 10 orders. Pictures of both sides are below:

Please contact Patricia at hwg5.writers@gmail.com to add your name to the list.

The CBC Short Story Contest deadline is drawing near. The deadline is October 31st. Here is the link: https://www.contestshub.com/cbc-short-story-contest-2019.html

The Caledon Public Library will be accepting submissions from October 1st to October 31st. The link is here: http://caledon.library.on.ca/adult/short/story

THIS SATURDAY, September 28th, 1:00pm to 3:00pm, The Orangeville Public Library as part of their WOW program is holding a Crime Writers Panel. Please come out and support if you can.

The Orangeville Public Library has 3 writing workshops this fall. Marilyn Kleiber will be the instructor for the Saturday, October 5th workshop (10am-2pm). This workshop is called "Building Words: Make your stories possess life and entertain your readers". Please register at the library at www.orangevillelibrary.ca.

Two more workshops take place on Saturday, November 9th, 10am-2pm, "Self-publishing: Difficult to find a publisher to accept your manuscript? Learn how to do it yourself - professionally." And the third on Sunday, November 24th, 1:30pm to 3:30pm, "Writing is a Contact Sport: Good writing doesn't happen in isolation. A writer needs to get out and explore and connect with themselves, the world and the things we can't always see."

As we continue to work on producing our new anthology, discussion was brought up about possibly creating a writing prompt book with space for writing, and possibly producing a new one every year. It was decided that we would focus on our current project and reconsider another book next year.

Prompts from the past 3 meetings will be in a separate post.

Our Next Meeting is

Sunday, October 6, 2019, 1:30-3:30pm

July 15, 2018, Headwaters Writers' Guild Meeting

As part of our commitment to our partnership with the Orangeville Public Library, Marilyn Kleiber will be holding three full day creative writing workshops free to the public. These workshops take place from 10am-3pm on 3 Saturdays. They are September 22nd - Creating Great Characters; October 27th - Save $ By Editing Like a Pro; and November 24th - How to Self Publish. We hope and expect group members will attend one or more of these workshops.

Upon reviewing the workshop dates Patricia realized that the third workshop is scheduled on the date we were to have our Christmas Luncheon. Alternative ideas were brought up at the last meeting. Patricia followed up with Nancy and the library. A decision has been made that as a finale to the workshop series, a Christmas Social will be held following the November 24th workshop. Members of the Headwaters Writers' Guild will bring refreshments (cookies, cupcakes, fruit tray, etc.). Attendees of the workshop are invited to join the social. As members of the Headwaters Writers' Guild are expected to attend these workshops, if they are UNABLE to attend but can attend the after-social, they can do so. Any member of HWG must bring some sort of food or non-alcoholic beverage item to share. Coffee and tea will be available throughout the course of the day during the workshops. The workshops end at 3pm, the library closes at 5pm. This Christmas Social will be included in the library's advertising of the workshops. Please note that this is replacing our previous Christmas Luncheon format.

Writing Prompts

1. We are all strangers, somewhere...

2. The tavern was a place she would never have gone into, but she needed to use the washroom...

3. She awakened to the sound of a child crying, and remembering the day she lost Tommy, she hastily dressed, grabbed a flashlight and headed into the woods...

4. She tried to subdue the panic she was feeling as she stepped on to the ___________

5. The world of the cancer patient was going to be a new journey for her.

6. Her dreams of teaching hadn't included Bobby Fairchild and his brat pack.

7. When the doorbell rang at 2am that morning she was confronted by two officers who wanted to know the whereabouts of her son....

8. The package that had been stuffed in her mailbox contained an antique locket, and a note saying "If you are Ellen Jamison, meet me in the tea room at the Shelton Arms hotel at three this afternoon".

9. They just wanted to scare the kid a bit, they hadn't meant to hurt him.

10. "Mr. Cranford", said the social worker, "this young woman claims to be your daughter."

11. Diving into the psychological life and motivations of the characters in the play proved to be just the challenge she dreamed of.

12. At the age of three, their son Carter began to speak of another life he had lived in the country of __________ during a time of some war, and he said his name was ___________.

13. She fainted during the heat wave and when she awoke she was in a strange building...

14. Write of a time in your life when you found yourself in a very unfamiliar situation or place, and how it shaped your life at the time.

Next Meeting:

Sunday, August 12th, 1:30pm

Clare is scheduled to lead.

Creative Writing Workshop for Adults: Session 1

Join Canadian award-winning author, teacher and entertainer Richard Scarsbrook for the first in a four part series of creative writing workshops for adults (18 years and older). This two hour workshop focuses on Writing, Revising & Editing and Words: The Writer's Tools.

Richard Scarsbrook has published a number of works of poetry and fiction, including Cheeseburger Subversive, Featherless Bipeds, Destiny's Telescope, and The Monkeyface Chronicles - winner of the 2011 Ontario Library Association's White Pine Award. He teaches creative writing workshops at Humber and George Brown Colleges. His latest novel, Indifference League, is due to be released in 2014. 

Light refreshments provided. No registration required.

For more information about Richard Scarsbrook:

Website: http://www.richardscarsbrook.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/richscarsbrook

Blog: http://www.richardscarsbrook.blogspot.ca/

• Date: Monday, March 25, 2013
• Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
• Location: Mill Street Branch - Meeting Room (lower level)

Follow up sessions scheduled for Monday, March 25th; Monday, April 22nd;, Monday, May 13th; Monday, June 10th.

Brian Henry Workshop in Orangeville

About 30 people attended Brian's Nov 1st workshop . Aside from a couple of technical difficulties - the room was freezing and tea was accidentally dumped all over our table - it was a fun afternoon.

We did an exercise on creating prompts which led to a discussion about writing short stories and why entering the Toronto Star Short Story contest is a waste of time. We used some of our new prompts in our first exercise which was to actually write a short story. Brian's definition of a short story was: a prose narrative between several hundred and several thousand words that aims to achieve a single, concentrated effect.

After our break, we discussed plotting novels. His basic 3 step approach to writing a novel is:
1) Brainstorm
2) Organize
3) Write
Few writers will go these steps only once. For some of us, it's an ongoing process until we get to The End.

One of the most helpful things to do as you brainstorm is to create character sketches. The more important the character's role, the more detailed you want to be. This is also the stage to develop a 500-1000 word synopsis that highlights all the major and minor crises as well as the climax. Tracking your scenes using a flow chart or cue cards is helpful in keeping your novel moving smoothly.

Keep your eyes open for the next workshop!

Brian Henry "Real Characters" How to find them, how to create them

Saturday December 6, 2008
1:00 pm - 4:45 pm (registration 12:45)
Oakville Central Library, 120 Navy St, Oakville
Fee: $36 in advance, $40 at the door
cheque payable to Brian Henry, 110 Reiner Road, Toronto, ON M3H 2L6

Seminar excerpts:
"Whatever you're writing--fiction or non-fiction--readers only care about your story if they care about your people"
"learn techniques for creating fictional or real people"
"breathe life into the page so that your people start telling you how the story should go"

Brian Henry's"Dialogue" The Writer's Most Important Tool

Saturday November 8, 2008
10 am - 4:00 pm
Appleby United Church 4407 Spruce Avenue, Burlington
Fee: $40 in advance $44 at the door
cheque to :Brian Henry 110 Reiner Road, Toronto, M3H 2L6

Seminar excerpts:
"meaty enough for experienced writers, how to use dialogue for more dynamic, dramatic stories"
"whether for fiction or memoir, bring characters alive by mixing dialogue & narrative"
"learn the best tricks of the trade so you'll never write a lifeless scene again"

Writing the Sacred Workshop

Writing the Sacred: A Psalm-writing, journaling and poetry Workshop

When: Saturday, November 8, 2008
2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Location: Dublin Street United Church
68 Suffolk Street W, Guelph, 519-821-0610
Cost: By donation

To reserve a spot, contact Sheryl Spencer at sspencer (at) sentex (dot) net

At a Writing the Sacred workshop you'll be invited to a fresh encounter with the Hebrew Psalms. Ray McGinnis will show you some of the ageless poetic elements present in the Psalms alongside other examples of sacred poetry across the centuries. You'll hear read cries of the spirit inviting you to express your own longings for God on paper. Whether you are a seasoned writer or have never put pen to paper, you'll be expertly guided, step-by-step, to a place where you'll emerge
with your own new psalm/sacred poem. You'll leave with tools for how to use poem-making as a tool to write your own new Psalms, and as a companion on your own spiritual, prayer life and devotional journey.

Signed copies of Writing the Sacred will also be available for purchase at this workshop for $26.50, cash or cheque.

Ray McGinnis is a poet and has written in journals all his life. He has taught over 7,000 people how to write prayers, poetry, and autobiographies, all the while guiding them to bring their whole heart, mind, and spirit to the process. Writing the Sacred is in its second printing.

For more information about his workshop and book visit www.writetotheheart.com
Published by Northstone, an imprint of Wood Lake Publishing
Writing the Sacred ISBN: 978-1-896836-73-7

"Ray McGinnis has a finely tuned ear for the deep meaning of the Psalms... as a veteran workshop leader he has a knack for drawing out bursts of imagination out of people that may not know they had it in them..." - Douglas Todd, Spirituality and Ethics writer, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver, British Columbia

"Writing the Sacred is rich with insight, power and meaning. Ray McGinnis gives us a great gift by showing the Psalms to be a living language, a poetic language vital for today. These pages are permeated with our human story - our raw and beautiful longing for God...(and) acts as a healing balm and creative catalyst to help you reclaim your soul's voice." - John Fox, author of Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making