Updates

I am teaching a course at the Alexandra Centre called The First Three Chapters, and had my first class this week. Awesome group of students–7 out of 8 of them have a very clear idea about the novel they want to write. And a new student enrolled this week, so I will have 9. This should be tons of fun!

I had a ton of fun today, working for the Alexandra Centre, doing a drop-in query workshop. Actually, I had two clients booked, but saw five in 3 hours. Each brought a query letter and I did a “blue pencil” style critique and talked to them about various strategies for getting an agent, writing a synopsis, and other elements of the business of writing. An awesome day!

A weekend in Ottawa for Can*con was time well spent. Caught up with old friends (breakfast with Sheila Williams, coffee with Sam Morgan, partying with Mark Leslie), met new people, sat on some panels, launched Strangers Among Us (and sold out every copy there, thanks to Bundoran Press, who allowed us to put our books on their table), saw a light show at the Parliament Buildings, toured the National Gallery, saw a boat make its way through the locks on the Rideau canal…and more! Thanks to Derek Kunsken and Marie Bilodeau for organizing!

Four writers, six days, no responsibilities: this is the third year I have been invited by good friend and writer, Mike Gillett, to his Whitefish cabin for a Labour Day long weekend of silence and keyboard tapping. This year, I managed to write an entire novelette (okay, I had written 3 scenes before coming) AND plan book 2 of the Prayer Stones Saga. Other than type, sleep and eat a couple of meals, we had many writerly conversations over dinner, and we did a bit of reading aloud of our weekend work on the last night there.

It was AWESOME!!

I plotted this one a while back, but have been so busy this is the first time I’ve had to sit down and write it. It’s laid out in 10 scenes (using Daniel Abraham’s method) and I wrote a long scene 1 (2000 words) today. Oh, well. First draft, right?