Month: March 2011

Teen Writing Workshops Come to an End

I’d just like to send out a big ‘thank you’ to Christy Giesler, Teen Services Librarian at the Kitchener Public Library and the librarians and staff at the Country Hills branch who were so helpful while I ran my teen writing workshops. Their support was wonderful. They gathered books written by teens for display in my workshop room and prepared a display in the library of how-to-write books and printed a handout of a list of resources for teen writers that are available at the library.

I had such a great time working with the young writers. We averaged between 12 and 15 participants over 4 weekly workshops. As always I was blown away by the creativity and imaginations of all the writers. They enthusiastically jumped into the exercises and activities and now have a cache of story ideas and writing tips to take them into the future.

Later this month, we are going to reconvene and the writers are going to share some of their creations. I can’t wait to hear what they’ve done with the story prompts we’ve used. I’m smiling already, just thinking about it. I got to do what I love for four weeks and now I get to hear where their imaginations have taken them. Priceless!

If you are looking for a way to jump start your own creative writing, check out my writing starters at http://wrightingwords.wordpress.com. Have fun!

Want to know more about POD publishing?

I’m wearing my Waterloo Region PWAC president hat for this post, in order to tell you about a workshop that we are hosting in April.

If you are thinking of entering the world of POD and e-book publishing, veteran freelance writer and author, Paul Lima, can give you the advice and information you need to make your venture successful. On April 9th at 9:30 a.m., he will be presenting his 3-hour workshop, Getting Your Book to Market Using Print on Demand at the Country Hills Branch of the Kitchener Public Library. To learn more about the workshop, drop by http://waterlooregionpwac.blogspot.com/. You can find out more about Paul and POD publishing at his site http://www.paullima.com/.  

The workshop is being presented by the Waterloo Region chapter of the Professional Writers’ Association of Canada (http://www.pwac.ca/). I’ve been the president of this chapter for over a year and a member for six, and I can’t say enough about the benefits of being a part of such a great organization and having the opportunity to meet monthly with such a fabulous group of supportive and professional freelancers. Because of them, I leave every meeting eager to get back to the keyboard and grow my freelancing skills and business. Do you belong to a writing group that inspires you? Have you grown your own group through Facebook or Twitter? I’d love to hear your story.

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