It's been a busy month or so since my latest book - Shelter - Homelessness in our Community - came out.
I have been thrilled with responses and reviews, including a starred review from School Library Journal (my first star!), a full-page review in Quill and Quire, and a number of kind comments from homelessness/anti-poverty organizations, such as this one. 'This is an absolutely wonderful book. Homelessness discussed with gentleness, remarkable compassion and a deep understanding of the issues. Thank you Lois Peterson!' from No Place to Go Nanaimo.
You can check the book page on my publisher's site for excerpts of other reviews as they come in, and I will also be posting them on the main page of my website. Also, do check my YouTube Channel here, where video content related to this book is posted.
I was fortunate to be able to host a by-invitation in-person book launch on October 12, and was so pleased that members on one of my writer's groups were able to turn out for it.
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COVID has limited so much of our activities, which for me has meant a huge drop in the number of workshops and courses I have been teaching in person.
But I am gradually making my way back. Just last week I made a Zoom presentation to two schools simultaneously - in Surrey and North Vancovuer - as part of the Vancouver Writer's Fest Writers in the School program. And later this week I do my first in-class presentation in two years at my grandson's school.
When I am home writing, I often wish I were in the classroom. And when I am there, I often which I were home writing! But for the next while, most of my teaching will be online, such as my current Writer's Toolbox for Vancouver Island University's Elder College.
One piece of great news in November was that I have been slected as one of 50 touring authors for May's Canadian Children's Book Week tour. Information here about who is touring this year (all by Zoom), and the call will soon be out for schools and libraries wishing to host touring authors.
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WRITING IN COMPANY
The goal of writing groups or individual critque partners should be to help each other move work along to the next draft. Not to have the writer write it the way the critiquer would.
Like any collective effort, writing groups evolve over time. What suited everyone at the beginning might not be best for all as the group continues. You might want to change the protocols, take a break, or move on to a group that meets your developing craft skills better.
A good writing group - or a dependable critique partner - provides all kinds of benefits. Writers share their work with others who contribute their own expertise in helping the writer improve. Critiquers learn how to improve their own work in the process of reading others' writing closely. And everyone gets a chance to support each other when things get tough, and celebrate when the successes start rolling in.
I've participated in a number of critique groups over the years, and from time to time have benenefited from working one-on-one with a critique partner. The following tips might help you get the most out of working with other writers.
1. Take care in deciding who you want to work with. Most writers will probably be most comfortable with others who are facing the same struggles and perhaps whose skills are at the same level of theirs. Think tennis. How good of a game do you get if you play with soeone who's never been on the court before and does not know the rules? Vs. someone who knows the expectations of a good game and has already developed some skill?
2. Decide if you want a multi-genre group, or stick to writers working in the same genre as you.
3. Be open and non judgemental about what you are and are not willing to critique. Although your goal should be to critique craft rather than content, it can be uncomfortable to read and respond to subjects that are difficult - such as violence and sexual content.
4. Early on, decide on a common set of procedures and critiquing guidelines:
- Will you distribute work in advance and come to the meeting prepared with feedback? Or have people read their work during the session, with everyone responding verbally and the writer taking notes? Or a combo of both?
- Will you impose a limit on wordlength or page limit for each submitted piece of work?
- Will you give verbal response at the session and/or written feedback after?
- Should each writer let others know what level of input they want, and inform them of specific elements of their work they are most concerned about in this draft?
- In the group, should the writer respond to each individual critique, once everyone has provided input, or not all all?
- Will your group, once it's worked together for a while, be 'closed' - accepting no new members? Or if if does, what process will you use for determining how well prospective members fit?
Addressing some of these issues before you form or join a group or select a writing buddy could help you get the most ouf of this verey valuable experience.
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Fewer writers depend on print books to help them develop and improve their skills these days, But there are a few that are worth their weight in gold on a writer's bookshelf as they continue to work on their craft.
- One creative writing instructor whose work I find invaluable is Oregon editor Elizabeth Lyon. All her books are useful and accessible, but perhaps the best is Manuscript Makeover: Editing Techniques No Fiction Writer Should be Without.
- Another must-have for anyone who is serious about fiction is How Fiction Works by James Woods.
- A staple on my bookshelf for both reference and browsing is Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
- For craft and useage info - and just a bloody good read - is Constance Hale's Sin and Syntax - How to Craft Wicked Good Prose.
Next issue I will list some of my favourite online resources (check out the draw, below). Meanwhile, if there's a website or blog you would like to recommend, do drop me a note.
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END NOTES
I could hardly go this far, without announcing a
SPECIAL YEAR-END DRAW
Send an email with 'newsletter draw' in the subject line to loispeterson@hotmail.com to be entered to win
a one year subscription to author and writing instructor Alison Acheson's invaluable
DIY / MFA Unschool for Writers
(Value $60)
Deadline December 26.
Thank you for reading this issue of the newsletter.
Published about quarterly by Lois Peterson / LPwordsolutions
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If you got this far, I invite you to drop me a note to let me know what you have found most useful and/or what you might like to see in future issues.
And/or... send me a picture of where YOU write.
This is the workspace of Canadian Horse author
Edith Fishlock.
Next issue: February 2022
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