Cover Reveal!
There's nothing more exciting than the
first gimpse of the cover for an upcoming book.
I had to keep this under my hat for quite a
while, but here it is - now that the book is
included on the publisher's website and elsewhere, and available
for pre-order.
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I am very proud of this book, due out October 2021, and grateful to be published by Orca Book Publishers, whose editor Kirstie Hudson was so instrumental in helping me move this project from idea to realization.
I am also grateful to Toronto illustrator Taryn Gee who did the front cover, and whose many illustrations are incoorporated into the book.
I do have a Facebook page dedicated to this book, where I also post links to articles and information about services supporting people without homes, and talk about the many ways kids step forward to make change in their communities.
It has been a long haul, almost three years between the time I first pitched the idea to when the book will find its way onto bookellers' stores and websites. Written for midgrade readers, it reflects my concerns about poverty and homelessness in our communities, and encourages children to learn about the causes and realitiies of homelessness through facts rather than just the opinions of others.
Information about the book launch (in-person or virtual) will be included in an upcoming issue of this newsletter.
25% of my royalties from this book are donated to the Nanaimo Unitarian Shelter which has beeen providing overight respite from the street for twelve years.
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Winners in the last issue' draw:
- Mahada Thomas - Two-hour Zoom workshop for her Penticton BC writers' group.
- Terry Hartley - Critique of up to ten pages of fiction or memoir.
- Lynne Wilson - Handful of writing-related books, with a few of mine thrown in.
Names were drawn from the full list of everyone who received the first issue.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!
This month's draw. One prize only:
A writer's group set of up to eight copies of my book 101 Writing Exercises to Get You Started and Keep You Going.
To qualify, email me with your name, the name and location of your writer's group, a little about the genre your members are working on and a bit of history about the group.
Winner will be informed late-March and name announced in the next issue.
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And I quote:
"Lois is a great instructor, knowledgeble, encouraging and kind. Her course materials are very helpful and the various subjects were useful and topical."
"...extremely organized - the course content was relevant and very current. Class participation, through reading of their stories, was so interesting. And, Ms. Peterson was able to engage all students during the course of the program."
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I'm confined to barracks like most people right now - both teaching and learning virtually.
I will be participating in the Children's Writers and Illustrator's of BC (CWILL BC) / VPL panel Writing and Illustrating Kids' Books - The Inside Story by Zoom on Tuesday, March 23 at 6:30pm.
It's now confirmed that I will be teaching the following six-session courses through Vancouver Island University's Elder College in late-fall/early winter 2021-2022, all via Zoom. Anyone from anywhere can sign up as long as they take out an EC membership.
Writer's Toolbox: November 2021
Writing From Life: January 2022
Down the Rabbit Hole: Writing for Children May 2022
I am have run across a few online workshops recently that have helped me in my own work, and which I happily recommend to others.
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I work with many writers who are mining their own lives for material to write about, or to develop incidents for memoir or personal essays.
This structure focusses on creating scenes and stories that engage the reader, whether it's a family member or general reader.
1. Name the incident
E.g. 'When Jerry burned down the garage.' 'Learning that my brother was lost in action.' 'First time travelling alone.'
2. List five to seven actions associated with this event - connected with anyone involved in the incident. Randomly or chronologically - 'And then..., and then..., and then...'
This keeps you focussed on the dramatic details rather than internal ones, and makes for an animated account.
3. Brainstorm six to twelve specific, concrete details of the event - including sensory details.
Grounding a piece of work early in specifics helps you engage the reader and goes a long way to avoiding the pitfall of 'telling' instead of 'showing'.
4. Identify the primary emotion that connects you with the event/drove your involvement with it, as you think about it now.
The best writing is driven by emotion rather than intellect. And will determine how you acted/reacted and how you approach the incident in this recent retelling.
5. Set all this prework aside, and start a piece of timed freewriting (seven, 12 or 25 minutes...), during which your work will intuitively reflect much of this earlier work without the need to necessarily include everything you have just been thinking about. Go where the writing takes you to create a first draft account of the incident.
6. When you're done, re-read the piece once from beginning to end. Then with curiosity rather than judgement mark up the 'best bit/s' - a phrase, sentence, image, metaphor, detail that strikes you as being the strongest, most compelling element in this piece.
If you review the same piece at another time - which I recommend - you will be struck by different things.
7. Use one of those highlighted elements as a prompt for another freewrite, and so on... Repeat for each incident identified and you'll soon have a significant amount of material accumulated.
This process can also be used if you're writing fiction, especially if you write in scenes built around a significant action or dramatic event. Consider these first drafts, and be prepared to revise and rework them as you learn more about the incidents and their significance to you and the bigger piece of work you're working on.
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Writing Personal Poetry by Sheila Bender
Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir by Beth Kephart
Sin and Syntax: How to Create Wickedly Effective Prose by Constance Hale
Contact your local bookstore which will be able to order these, or any other books, you are looking for. I am Amazon-averse for a number of reasons, so don't include links to that retail outlet...
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Thank you for reading this issue of the newsletter.
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...
This is the writing room of Vita Sackville-West, whose iconic home and gardens at Sissinghurst in Kent I visited a couple of years ago.
Send me a picture of where YOU write.
See you in early May when the next issue will be distributed.
Meanwhile write something, why don't you!
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