CAA-NCR meetings are free for members of Canadian Authors Association.
We ask non-members to pay a $10.00 fee using the PayPal link below, or by e-transfer to NCRadmin@canadianauthors.org
Getting Your Writing into the Hands of Readers, with Scott Overton
Wednesday, January 25, 2023 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. via Zoom Free to members of Canadian Authors. Non-members $10.00
As writers we want the same thing: to get our stories or poems into the hands (or e-readers, or phones, or tablets) of readers. How can we do that? These days there are more options and opportunities than ever. Scott Overton will share his experience with getting his novels, short stories and audiobooks out there.
As the host of a radio morning show for most of his 30+ years in broadcasting, Scott Overton entertained and informed thousands of groggy people as they faced each new day. He brings those same skills and perspectives to his writing, which includes science fiction and fantasy, mainstream and thriller fiction, and even a children’s book. Scott’s debut novel Dead Air was first published by Scrivener Press. His short stories have been published in On Spec, Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine, AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review, the anthologies Tesseracts Sixteen: Parnassus Unbound, Doomology: The Dawning Of Disasters, Canadian Tales of the Fantastic and elsewhere. Scott’s a member of the Canadian Authors Association, SFCanada, and a past President of the Sudbury Writers Guild.
Find a Poem, with JC Sulzenko
Tuesday April 11, 2023 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. via Zoom Free to members of Canadian Authors. Non-members $10.00
Found poems take snippets from existing texts and use them in a different way to create poetry. Creators can choose from newspaper articles, essays, speeches, letters, other poems, or even street art. JC Sulzenko will lead us in an interactive workshop so we all can find a poem in the words around us.
JC Sulzenko writes in a number of genres and creates poetry and stories for young and adult readers alike. Her poems appear in a number of chapbooks and anthologies and have been broadcast on radio and television. She also creates found poetry as A. Garnett Weiss.
Facing the Page Together
Drop-in sessions
We meet via Zoom to discuss an aspect of writing to focus on for that session. Perhaps it’s adding specific detail, or improving dialogue, or working with voice or point of view. We then write “together” (with our without cameras on). We can respond to a prompt or apply the concept to our works in progress. It could be fiction, non-fiction or poetry. We then gather again as a group to discuss the experience.
Mondays from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. via Zoom
October 17: Adding specific, concrete details
November 21: Working with dialogue
January 23: Serving the story
February 20: Filtering and adverbs
March 20: Summary and scene
April 17: Point of view
May 15: A microfiction challenge
PAST EVENTS
Writing Effective Query Letters, with Carly Watters
Monday, November 14, 2022 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. via Zoom Registration is limited to 10 participants. First come, first served. Free to members of Canadian Authors. Non-members $55.00
In this action-packed and entertaining 90-minute webinar, you’ll get answers to the following questions:
- What is the true purpose of the query letter?
- What should query structure look like?
- What do query letters look like from successful authors and bestselling books?
- How do I make my query letter stand out?
- What are the dos and don’ts?
- What are comp titles?
- How do I personalize a query letter?
- How do I find the right agent for me?
Carly Watters is a SVP and Senior Literary Agent at P.S. Literary and the sitting VP of PACLA, the Professional Association of Canadian Literary Agents. She began her publishing career in London as an assistant at the Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency. Carly joined Toronto-based P.S. Literary Agency in 2010 and has sold over 100 books during her career. She represents award-winning and bestselling authors in the adult fiction and non-fiction categories, and select children’s books.
Poets of Beechwood Cemetery Tour
Sunday, October 16, 2022 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Beechwood Cemetery, 280 Beechwood Avenue, Vanier, ON Plenty of public parking available This event is free for everyone.
Following up on the Byline article about the Poets of Beechwood by LD Cross, we have planned a guided tour of this beautiful and historic cemetery, one that has been designated a National Historic Site. Join us to learn about the poets of Beechwood and more.
Writing with Humour, with Melissa Yi
Tuesday, October 25, 2022 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. via Zoom
Whatever your genre—fiction, non-fiction, memoir, blog posts, or children’s books—your work will benefit from some smiles or laughter. Even if you are writing about the most serious of topics, you can enrich the experience for your readers by injecting some humour. Join Melissa Yi to learn how to give your work a boost.
BIO: Melissa Yi is an emergency physician and award-winning writer. In her latest crime novel, WHITE LIGHTNING, Dr. Hope Sze’s romantic getaway at a Windsor Prohibition hotel’s Comic-Con morphs into a ghost-ridden historical crime scene with potential links to Al Capone. Previous Hope Sze thrillers were recommended by The Globe and Mail, CBC Books, and The Next Chapter as one of the best Canadian suspense novels. CBC called Melissa’s Best of Fest-winning Fringe theatre show, I Am The Most Unfeeling Doctor in the World (And Other True Tales from the Emergency Room), “hilarious” and “poignant.” Melissa also uses humour in real life in the emergency department, in Hope Rises theatre workshops, and with her own children. http://www.melissayuaninnes.com/