BRITISH COLUMBIA’S MAGAZINE FOR WRITERS
2022 Volume I
Free in Selected Markets
beginnings
2022 Volume I | wordworks
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Writing into a New Future
featuring Keynote Speaker Helen Humphreys PHOTO: AYELET TSABARI
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wordworks | 2022 Volume I
2022 VOLUME I
Letter from the editor . . A letter from Meaghan Hackinen . . .
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The act of beginning . . . 7 The page and the stage: In conversation with up-and-coming spoken word artist Tawahum Bige . . . . . 8
The best laid plans are those best laid to rest . . . . . . . 17 Beginner’s luck . . . . . 18 Writing poetry: How to get started . . . 20 Just press submit: Contests are a cinch . . 22
My first book . . . . . . 10
The blank page . . . . . 23
Re-entry: Transitioning from TV to print . . . . 11
The queen of procrastination . . . . . 24
Emerging writers hone their skills . . . . 12
When the end of the road takes you back to the beginning . . . . . 26
Publishing: A work in progress . . . . 14 Make the most of your beginning: A writer’s road trip . . . 16
New titles from FBCW members . . . . 28
Cover image: stock photo. A spruce bud is a great visual metaphor for the beginning of a writer’s idea, particularly here in BC and the Yukon. Ideas that start as a tiny bud can grow into something fantastic. A more distant simile can be found in the fungi of tree roots that connect to other tree roots creating a network, much like our network of FBCW members. See: https://tinyurl.com/bdznaydb
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WordWorks is published by THE FEDERATION OF BC WRITERS PO Box 3503, Courtenay, BC V9N 6Z8 970 View Avenue, Courtenay, BC V9N 5R2 www.bcwriters.ca hello@bcwriters.ca | wordworks@bcwriters.ca Copyrights remain with the copyright holders. All other work © 2022 The Federation of BC Writers. All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 0843-1329 WordWorks is provided three times per year to FBCW members and to selected markets. It is available on our website at bcwriters.ca and in libraries and schools across BC and Yukon. FBCW Annual Membership Rates: Regular: $80 | Senior: $45 | Youth: $25 FBCW BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Greg Blanchette, Cameron Roe, Barb Drozdowich, Peggi Peacock, Kamal Parmar, Megan Cole, Katherine Wagner, Suzanne Venuta, Wiley Ho. FBCW AMBASSADOR: Betsy Warland. FBCW STAFF: Bryan Mortensen, Executive Director; Angela Douglas, Director of Communications; Jessica Cole, WordWorks Managing Editor; Diana Skrepnyk, Design Director; Tara Borin, Membership Associate; Meaghan Hackinen, Fund Development & Outreach Associate.
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EDITORIAL STAFF: Jessica Cole, Managing Editor; Dana J. Keller, Copy Editor; Sheila Cameron, Copy Editor. WRITE FOR WORDWORKS: Visit our submissions page at www.bcwriters.ca/submit. ADVERTISING: WordWorks advertises services and products of interest to writers. Contact meaghan@bcwriters.ca. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: As an organization that spans BC and Yukon, the Federation of BC Writers operates on the unceded, ancestral territories of many Indigenous peoples. As champions of language, we respect the oral and written traditions of the Indigenous peoples on whose land we work. We acknowledge the roles of colonization and racism in the exclusion of Indigenous storytellers from literary culture. WordWorks commits to publishing Indigenous writers. We celebrate submissions from underrepresented communities and are actively seeking contributions from writers of all races, genders, sexualities, abilities, neurodiversities, religions, socioeconomic statuses, or immigration statuses. We encourage submissions from both published and emerging writers. We believe our strength as a community is in the breadth of our stories. If you have questions about our policies on inclusion, please contact wordworks@bcwriters.ca. The FBCW gratefully acknowledges the support of the Province of BC, the BC Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Magazine Association of BC.
Letter from the editor
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t’s tempting to start this letter with a “dictionary open.” You know the one—that common television and movie trope that opens on a dark screen, the definition of a noun emblazoned in serif font, giving the viewer a hint of what’s to come, or perhaps a voiceover that goes something like this: “Webster’s dictionary defines beginning as…”
See, I like beginnings. I like the wonder, the waiting, the scheming. I also hate beginnings (see above, re: worries). As many of this magazine’s contributors will tell you in the following pages, I am not alone in my ambivalence, and I suspect you may join us in feeling the same way. Beginnings are hard, but they are also marvellous.
After all, we all start somewhere. Whether you’re coming to WordWorks as a brand-new writer or a seasoned veteran of the craft, I hope you will find something in this volume: advice, support, humour, commiseration, and not a little wonder. I am immensely proud of this magazine and Will I the writers in it.
I’ll spare you Webster’s definition, since I think we all have our own ideas about what constitutes a beginning, but I will say a few things about what beginnings are like for me. In short, they’re a mixed bag, both an exquisite joy and total pain. Starting a new project is nice, but it’s also fraught with worries. Will I write well? Will I learn something new? Will I embarrass myself?
write well? Will I learn something new? Will I embarrass myself?
The answer is, of course, yes—and also maybe. I will do a good job, but it won’t be perfect. I will learn, but perhaps only after a few hiccups. And I may embarrass myself, sure, but I’ll eventually laugh about it.
In closing, I would like to celebrate a beginning of my own. I was fortunate to receive a professional development grant from Access Copyright last year. This grant allowed me to take classes in Simon Fraser University’s editing program. I left feeling bright-eyed, ambitious, and with a healthy respect for copyeditors. (You’re the real MVPs.) May these pages inspire you to begin. Jessica Cole, Managing Editor
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Gail Anderson-Dargatz offers FBCW members a 15% discount on online blue pencil sessions and fiction mentorships. To purchase on Gail’s site, use the discount code: BCWRITERS For details, visit Gail’s website: gailanderson-dargatz.ca Gail Anderson-Dargatz is the internationally bestselling author of The Cure for Death by Lighting and The Spawning Grounds and has twice been a finalist for the Giller Prize. Her new thriller, The Almost Wife, is published by HarperCollins.
Half Brothers and Other Stories
HALF BROTHERS a novella and four fictions
and Other Stories
Bill Stenson
MT MOTHER TONGUE P PUBLISHING LIMITED
A letter from Meaghan Hackinen
F
or those of you who don’t know me, I am the new Fund Development & Outreach Associate at the Federation of BC Writers. I have been involved with the Federation since 2019 when I moved back to BC after completing an MFA in Writing at the University of Saskatchewan. Like many of you, I was eager to meet other writers. I took on a volunteer position as Kelowna-area representative, then stepped into the role of Fund Development & Outreach Associate in September 2021. With a background in writing and working at community-based non-profits, I am excited to apply my expertise to this new role— and I look forward to meeting more members along the way! The other thing you should know about me is that I’m obsessed with cycling. And I mean obsessed. But we’ll save that conversation for another day.
to further your craft, get involved in your community, and take the next step toward publication. As usual, we have plenty going on at the Federation. This spring, we’re launching our Digital Writing Circles support groups and re-launching (after a short hiatus) our Regional Spotlight Series. Our Sunday Webinars are up and running, and we have many great presenters facilitating other workshops on topics such as revisions, mental health, and career development. Finally, the 2022 BC Writers’ Summit is just around the corner! Mark your calendars for May 14–20. With this year’s theme of “Writing into a New Future,” featuring Helen Humphreys as our keynote speaker, this will be an event you won’t want to miss.
Connection is the overarching theme that guides many of our initiatives at the Federation. That’s where I come in. In my As we role as Fund navigate the Development pandemic, & Outreach the Associate, I Federation wear many Federation. is in a unique hats (including position to Contest Bank support writers Coordinator), who are penning but my primary goal the next chapter of their is to build and maintain careers. With online programming long-term connections that and digital media, as well as the meaningfully serve both our much-anticipated return of faceorganization and our partners, to-face events at some point in such as sponsors, advertisers, the future, we offer many ways and other arts or literary groups. Together, we are stronger.
Connection is the overarching theme that guides many of our initiatives at the
I can speak firsthand about how my involvement with the Federation has helped me connect with writers in my new hometown of Kelowna and afield. It is my hope that we can do the same for you, whether it’s through attending programming, signing up for a Digital Writing Circle, or joining a monthly meetup hosted by an area representative. To close, I’d like to put out a call: If you have any leads or suggestions regarding potential partnership opportunities for the Federation, we’d love to hear from you. We know that our membership is diverse, insightful, and active in various communities. Additionally, if you are interested in becoming a volunteer, we invite you to contact us to learn more about getting involved. Sincerely, Meaghan Hackinen, Fund Development & Outreach Associate
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Member milestones C.B. Clark signed her eighth book contract with The Wild Rose Press. She writes awardwinning romantic suspense novels.
Patti Shales Lefkos recently received an award of excellence for the best travel article of the year in Postscript Magazine.
Bill Engleson recently completed his first 3-day Novel Contest.
Meaghan Hackinen received a Canada Council for the Arts Professional Development grant to participate in a one-on-one fiction mentorship with author and editor Gail Anderson-Dargatz.
Margaret Growcott has just had her historical fiction novel Bales & Spires published. Based on child labour in a 19th century Lancashire cotton mill, it required a huge amount of research and took Margaret five years to complete. Writer and editor Christina Myers is now represented by Emmy Nordstrom Higdon at Westwood Creative Artists. The former journalist is the author of The List of Last Chances, which came out in spring 2021 from Caitlin Press. Cristy Watson’s novel On Cue is being reprinted with a new, ultra-readable format coming out in February.
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Tolu Oloruntoba won the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry in English for his debut collection, The Junta of Happenstance. First-time author Bruno Cocorocchio published Mea Culpa: A Plea of Innocence, a poignant memoir that dives deep into his psyche to chronicle a lifelong struggle to gain approval. Anna Byrne collaborated with LA-based awardwinning actor and film director Jacqueline Kim to produce an audiobook version of her cancer memoir, Seven Year Summer. It was a finalist for the 2020 Whistler Independent Book Awards.
The act of beginning BY ZIGGY SCHUTZ
There is something so humbling about an empty page. Hands run over the surface, as though a simple touch will reveal the story this paper was always meant to tell. Sculptures whisper through marble lips that their creators reached through stone to carve out their waiting forms. Music trills its stanzas about being born on the wind, from the beaks of birds to notes peppered across waiting bars and beats. There is no such relief in an empty page. It is simply blank, brimming with potential, and terrifying because of it. Every piece of writing has been born like this. Spilled onto the paper like so much spent ink, some with crosses and corrections, some simple, with clear curves.
As soon as the pen touches it, the page changes. It takes on the fingerprints of its author, shows them in every letter’s shape, every word used in place of another. As soon as the pen touches it, it becomes something. But before that, it is nothing. Just a piece of paper. Just a door to a world no one knows but you. Just the first lines of characters who will reach into the hearts of readers and gain pulses of their own.
Ziggy Schutz (she/him/he/ her) is a queer, disabled writer who is at all times looking for ways to make his favourite fairy tales reflect people who look a little more like her. You can find more about her writing on Twitter at @ziggytschutz.
Just a piece of paper, and everything it can be. So, take a deep breath. Pick a favourite pen. Forgo all that planning. Create something from nothing, all with a line of ink. All you have to do is begin.
That shared origin, the blank page, holds power in it, hand in hand with intimidation. It could be just words, ramblings that no amount of editing can correct. It could be the birth of a whole world, one that will fill thousands of pages just like this. It could be anything, anything at all. There are few places as neutral as an unused sheet of paper. It holds no special weight, no hidden depths. It is the rest before the concert begins, the bare stage before the set goes up. 2022 Volume I | wordworks
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The page and the stage: In conversation with up-and-coming spoken word artist Tawahum Bige BY MEAGHAN HACKINEN
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awahum Bige (he/they) is a Łutselk’e Dene, Plains Cree poet, spoken word artist, land protector, musician, and mentor. In 2016, Tawahum’s academic aspirations changed course when he pivoted from information technology toward a degree in creative writing. They landed their first paid gig in 2017 and have since performed at over fifty different venues across the country. Spring 2022 marks the release of Tawahum’s first collection of poetry, Cut to Fortress, from Nightwood Editions. FBCW staff member Meaghan Hackinen spoke to Tawahum over Zoom to learn more about their creative journey, artistic practice, and forthcoming poetry debut. Meaghan Hackinen: How did you get involved in spoken word poetry? Tawahum Bige: In 2014, my friend Simon took me to my very first slam event at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. It was called Slamming the Binary and they had three different non-binary slam poets there—spoken word artists—and they were just sharing their poems about gender, their poems about their experiences. And I specifically remember this poet named Hannah Johnson who just took me
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down into their world, describing everything using the extended metaphor of underwater, mermaids. I remember listening to these words but feeling like I was underwater—beneath the waves—swimming around with the fishes while this person was telling me a beautiful, beautiful story about gender centring around mermaids. […] The first thought that came to me wasn’t just That was amazing, but How do I do this? Then in 2015 my second-eldest brother passed away and it was an intense time for me. I had been majoring in information technology, and something needed to shift. […] Creative writing gripped me, held me. [We’re told] writing about or from those places of pain can be really healing […] I went right to writing about my grief. It opened up so many worlds of pain that I had been pushing down that I ended up in the psych ward, but at the same time writing is what got me out of the psych ward. Writing is also what allowed me to continue doing my life and healing. MH: What was a pivotal moment in your artistic career? TB: Urban Native Youth Association was a part of Talking Stick Festival that I got involved in, from Full Circle. They had this whole mentorship set up for Indigenous youth to come in […] and create a
spoken word theatre piece. […] Not only was it my first memorized performance thanks to mentors and an acting coach, but it was also the moment I got scouted. […] By the end of the year, I had performed over twenty different times, and it really slingshot me into being a working professional, right while I was still in my university studies.
out; I’ve been published in over two dozen literary mags. I really pushed my work out there so that I could have a collection out with a publisher. […] It’s been a complex journey, and I really believe it’s the start of many more books coming out.
MH: Can you describe your creative process?
TB: You can do anything with a short deadline. […] I also learned that it’s good to just keep writing. You don’t need to write a collection of poetry front to back. If you just keep writing poems, you’ll probably have enough for a collection at some point.
TB: It’s so wild to talk about it in pandemic days because it’s very different than it used to be. It used to be that an idea just needed to flow for me, and I would just write on it for days. […] Once I’ve written an idea into a draft, I perform it as soon as possible, […] I need to go up on stage and hear all the places that I’ve mucked up on to know where it needs to change. From there, it’s about going back and editing, and crafting a poem that works for all the things I want it to do. […] Lately, I’ve been going back to old work and refurbishing old, old pieces that I’ve never used and turning them into music, spoken word, or page poems. MH: Who inspires you? TB: Zack de la Rocha, as in Rage Against the Machine’s lead singer, is the first point, right there, point blank. Then I think of other poets in the community whether they’re huge, like Saul Williams, or Kae Tempest from the UK, or more local like Jillian Christmas, or Zaccheus Jackson, who I never got to meet but his poetry lives on beautifully. MH: Can you describe how your poetry and activism are connected? TB: It ties right back to that first name I gave you, Zack de la Rocha, and understanding poetry and art from a place of resistance. My land protection work, and all the beautiful work that has been done over millennia, has always been guided by the beautiful, mythical, artistic works of great artists and prophets, and that always motivates me to write from a place of trying to speak truth to power, no matter how difficult that is. MH: Your debut collection of poetry, Cut to Fortress, is set to be released by Nightwood Editions this year. Do feel like this marks a new beginning for you? TB: Yes, it’s the culmination of everything I’ve been trying to start for years. I have a couple chapbooks
MH: What did you learn while putting together this upcoming collection?
MH: What advice would you give to a new writer, someone just starting out? TB: My biggest advice for folks is to develop a writing practice where they are writing as frequently as possible. Maybe it’s not every single day, but as often as they can. More than once a week. Even journaling—stream of consciousness— just write. Just keep writing. Because if you’re ever frustrated or feel like you’re hitting a block, the more that you write, the more you will purge any kind of frustrating cliché that keeps bouncing around in your head. It just has to come out on to the page. Anything that is in the backlog of stupid things that you’ve ever thought up needs to hit the page, so that you can get to the juicy stuff that’s underneath it. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Tawahum Bige is a Łutselkʼe Dene, Plains Cree poet, and spoken word artist from unceded Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Territory (Vancouver). Their Scorpiomoon-ass poems expose growth, resistance, and persistence as a hopeless Two Spirit Non-binary sadboy on occupied Turtle Island. With a BA in creative writing from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Tawahum has performed at countless festivals with poems featured in numerous publications. His land protection work versus the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion had him face incarceration in 2020. Tawahum’s debut collection of poetry, Cut to Fortress, will be released by Nightwood Editions in spring 2022. Find him online at tawahum.com and @Tawahum on Instagram, Twitter, and more. 2022 Volume I | wordworks
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My first book BY LILY QUAN
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p on my computer screen is the cover of my me. She lived in Toronto. She talked about her life, first book. It comes out in February 2022. I her friends, and above all, her family. I immediately can’t stop looking at it. The title is in big bright wrote everything down and began my second novel, letters. The main character strikes an attitudinal set in her world. This meant I had to leave behind my pose. The drawings and sketches will surely beloved first novel and historical Chicago. catch people’s attention. But to me, It was tough to let go but necessary. the most important feature is right What I didn’t know then was that at the bottom. In small letters Disney and Pixar were working are the words By Lily Quan. on Turning Red, a feature-length Then I actually wrote my first book when I was in the first grade. I was both author and illustrator. The plot featured three sisters who had a Big Mac Attack. Each sister had long hair in a different colour. I was so proud of my story. I stapled the pages together in book form and showed it to my mother, who told me she liked it.
one evening, the voice of a snarky, precocious thirteen-yearold Chinese-Canadian girl came to me.
Then one afternoon I was home with a bad cold and needed to blow my nose. There weren’t any tissues nearby, so I reached for my book because it was handy. Scads of clear snot dripped down the sisters’ bodies. It didn’t bother me to use my book this way. This meant my book was special; it was multifunctional. The journey to publication as an adult has taken a lot longer with plenty of snot-worthy moments. It’s tough to get published. Over the years, I wondered if it was worth it to pursue writing. For several years, I worked on an ambitious historical fiction manuscript. The book was my passion. I got an arts grant for it and did a research trip to Chicago. Despite hundreds of queries, it was never published. Meanwhile Twitter and Facebook became the media of choice and readers lost interest in writing with more than 140 characters. The thought occurred to me that by the time I wrote a second novel, people might not be interested in books at all. Then one evening, the voice of a snarky, precocious thirteen-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl came to 10
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animated film about a thirteenyear-old Chinese-Canadian girl, directed by Oscarwinner Domee Shi. When they found out I had written something in a similar vein, they thought I might be a good fit to write an adaptation of the movie in book form. That’s the book I am looking at now.
It took a lot of luck and perseverance to reach this point, and I needed both to get here. I can’t say that I would recommend a writing career. It’s an uncertain field where you make a lot of sacrifices for your work. An old friend congratulated me on the book and said I had obviously chosen the right career. I thought about it and replied, “Actually it chooses you, and then you make it work.” Afterward, I realized just how true that is. Lily Quan lives in Nanaimo. She wrote the middle grade book adaptation of the upcoming Pixar movie, Turning Red, directed by Domee Shi. The movie comes out March 2022.
Re-entry: Transitioning from TV to print BY JOHN THOMSON
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ears ago, fed up with shifting priorities, budget cuts and cancellations, I transitioned from writing and producing documentaries and news programs (CBC, CTV, and Discovery Canada) to writing non-fiction copy for magazines. I was ready for a change and besides, I was already familiar with the basics. Researching and interviewing? No problem. Writing to deadline? Of course. Working with an editor or supervisor? Check. I was ready for my Walrus byline. Or so I thought. It’s all storytelling, right? Well, sort of. My first commission was working on a forestry industry newsletter. I approached it as I would a television piece, visualizing the elements and how they would flow together. I thought about pacing, playing with long and short sentences to create a rhythm that would lead the reader to the punchline. But it wasn’t enough. My stories were factually correct but flat and uninspiring. What was wrong? I consulted Professor Google and poured through the self-help magazines Writing and Writer’s Digest for guidance. The Oxford comma, what’s that? Finally, I took night school courses in creative writing and writing for the web. That broadened my journalistic background, but learning the lingo was only the first step. The television mantra is, show, don’t tell. As a television writer I found the act of condensing hours of information into a coherent thirty-minute nugget of digestible content to be the most satisfying part of the process. And rewarding too for having wrestled the beast to the ground in a short period of time. But in the world of factual television, words are often secondary, used as paste to link images and sound bites together. Without video and audio at my command, I had to relearn structure and context and express myself completely through my words. I had to drop TV-speak. My television voice was objective and impartial. It had to be. It was a condition of the job, but it didn’t reflect my personality. Since I like the cheeky observations of Bill Bryson, I started to inject some humour into my new, non-television pieces. As time progressed, I learned to speak in other voices, too—breezy or academic—depending upon the publication.
To be honest, I found the transition from one medium to another not as simple as I thought it would be. Television, however, did strengthen my persistence and resolve—necessary attributes when meeting a daily or weekly deadline—and it was sheer perseverance that helped me overcome the vagaries of the publishing world and build a freelance clientele. Recently, a novelist friend suggested I branch out from reportage into memoir. “Yikes,” I said. “An endof-life thing?” He replied, “No, a creative non-fiction thing.” It’s an intriguing thought; writing creative non-fiction would force me to dig deeper creatively and stylistically. Poised on the edge of yet another beginning in non-fiction, I must ask myself, do I have the chops to take my writing to the next level? I’m reminded of an early CBC interview with Mordecai Richler. When asked about his writing process, he said he retreated to his office eight hours a day, five days a week whether he felt like it or not. If the muse didn’t strike him, he would re-read his books, or someone else’s books, and immerse himself in the world of words. What discipline. What commitment. Thanks to my television background, I have the stamina and the discipline. And I have newfound writing skills. And if the muse doesn’t strike me? Will I follow Mordecai’s lead and re-read my earlier pieces for inspiration? I’m more likely to play Sudoku than pore through old works for half the day, but I like his attitude. What the hell, sign me up. Full steam ahead. Originally trained as a reporter, John Thomson spent his early years as a network news and current affairs producer. His writing career began as a spin-off from his TV work and today he writes profiles, features, and op-ed pieces for a host of print and online publications. Find John at woodfall.journoportfolio.com.
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Emerging writers hone their skills BY JESSICA COLE
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onica Wang and Libby McKeever both write novels and short fiction. Currently, Monica lives in England, where she has just embarked on a Master of Arts in creative writing from the University of Exeter. Libby, a retired youth librarian, lives in Whistler, BC, and is a graduate of The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University. WordWorks caught up with each of them via email to discuss their experiences as emerging writers. “I was born in Taichung, Taiwan, back when it was still pretty rural,” says Monica about her beginnings. “The first house I lived in faced a pile of construction rubble, and the second was a three-storey brick mansion with electronic gates adjacent to nothing but rice paddies.” She grew up around Vancouver and Taipei, starting a new school every year from kindergarten to high school. Meanwhile, Libby was in Australia, growing up “on a quiet bay surrounded by bush on one of the many
reaches of Sydney Harbour.” Being raised on an island continent fuelled a curiosity about the world for many of her peers, who travelled widely. “I was no different,” says Libby, “and met a Canadian, who became my husband on one of these sojourns.” After many trips across the Pacific, Libby and her husband settled in Whistler to raise their daughters. Libby and Monica were each influenced by teachers. “My high school writing teacher […] was brilliant and odd and terrifying. He was also the first person who ever encouraged me to write, and when I write, I still think of some of the things he told us,” Monica says when asked about her influences. Libby, however, had a different experience. “I was asked by my Grade 9 English teacher […] if my parents had helped me with a writing assignment. Instead of being fuelled by this challenge to prove to her that I was capable, I was discouraged and didn’t write for years.” Both writers found support along the way by seeking out community. “The writer friends I’ve made on Twitter have […] given me serious help, advice, and encouragement,” says Monica, while Libby found mentorship through her involvement with the Whistler Writers’ Festival. “Writing is a solitary pursuit,” says Libby, “and as such, I firmly believe we need to have a community. It is necessary but also so very difficult to write in isolation, so reaching out to join others, either through a festival or a group of classmates at a course or workshop, is a fantastic way to create community.” Although writers generally work alone, publication requires them to put their work out to an audience, risking both rejection and acceptance. Monica remembers her first acceptance letter, for a piece of short fiction, “Glass Tank,” from Green Hills Literary Lantern. The piece was subsequently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. “I’d been quietly panicking about the rejection process and publication ‘tiers’ for months, so GHLL being a university literary journal, and its editor Adam Davis
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being an English professor, meant a lot to me […],” says Monica. “It made me feel more secure branching out toward different genres and indie lit mags after. That Adam nominated ‘Glass Tank’ for a Pushcart gave me confidence to last at least another year.” Libby’s route to publication was equally unique. “I performed a short story, ‘Travels and Trails: The Burrard Cattle Trail’ at the 2010 Olympics as part of the street entertainment.” Engaging the public with her work was an inspiring achievement for Libby. “People stopped and listened to my words […]. I could see their immediate reaction. The trust that someone put in my words, to be a source of entertainment or interest to people, was extremally gratifying.” These acceptances were galvanizing and powerful experiences. Still, as for all writers—emerging or established—there were rejections, too. When asked about how they handled their first rejections, Libby and Monica blend their experiences with advice. “I let out a great bellow and didn’t write again for three months,” says Monica. However, she persevered. “If you believe in a piece, don’t stop submitting. If you love a piece but feel it’s not as good as what you had in your head, or have other doubts about it, don’t stop revising. Eventually a publication you like will like the piece, too.” When reflecting on her first rejection, Libby muses, “I think I was so naive. After getting positive feedback from my writers’ group, I had a small feeling that someone might want to publish my words. Being told it was interesting but not what they were looking [for or] had space for just left me questioning both the story and my ability.” Despite the setback, she didn’t stop writing. “I handled it by writing something new.” As each writer continues to hone their craft, themes have emerged. Libby writes about grief, failure and success, and coming of age in her historical fiction and time-travel fantasy novels. Recently, however, she switched genres to work on a novelization of her grandfather’s life. “I have realized [this novel] is about discovering the Australian in myself,” she says. Meanwhile, Monica deadpans that her work “used to be predominantly stories about bad parents and sad women, but I’ve gotten that out of my system.” Today, she writes literary fiction about subtly unlikable outsiders, sometimes with speculative elements. “Now that I’m no longer writing for catharsis [or] to shame my parents, I’m hoping to entertain while striving toward [...] greater meaning and artistry.”
Both Libby and Monica have serious aspirations; they have each pursued or are pursuing post-secondary studies in creative writing. Monica received a scholarship to the Master of Arts program at the University of Exeter while Libby returned to Simon Fraser University after graduating from The Writer’s Studio to be a teaching assistant in the program and take graduate workshops. Both writers give a nod to the power of workshopping to stimulate a writer’s growth. Though life surely tugs them both in many directions, both Libby and Monica are determined to continue honing their grasp of the craft. “Carve out time for yourself,” says Libby when asked about her practice. “Put writing in your day alongside appointments, family needs, work, and other commitments. You deserve equal billing.” Jessica Cole is the managing editor of WordWorks. She enjoys supporting writers and developing their work for publication and writes fiction under the pen name Jess Wesley. 2022 2022 Volume Volume II | word wordworks works
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Publishing: A work in progress BY ISABELLA RANALLO
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check my inbox and see a new email from The Malahat Review. They’ve decided not to accept the short story I’d sent for their consideration. They say one of the characters was unrealized. I had cut a significant section building his character at the suggestion of one of my professors. Getting my writing published seems impossible. There are currently eleven “Declined” submissions in my Submittable account, three “Received,” and two “In-Progress.” Zero “Accepted.” I made it my goal to have my writing published this year. I methodically sent my work off to well-known Canadian literary magazines: PRISM International, Room, Contemporary Verse 2, Arc Poetry, filling Station, The Malahat Review, and CAROUSEL. It is still a work in progress. It’s hard not to get disheartened as the politely worded rejection emails pile up. Is my writing not good enough? Or is it good, but not the kind of writing literary magazines are looking for? I should send out a new batch of submissions tonight. I should self-publish and become the next Rupi Kaur. I should give up. This is a frustration likely familiar to hopeful writers. Fortunately, it is also a conundrum Vancouver Island University’s Creative Writing (CREW) professors have experience with. Professor Robert Hilles has published hundreds of poems in literary magazines since 1977. While the first
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magazines to showcase his writing are now “defunct,” he has been published in established magazines such as Event from his early career through to today. “I always tell students when they connect with an editor at a magazine to keep submitting their work there,” he said. Hilles doesn’t want writers to be dejected by negative responses. “Expect to be rejected by ten magazines for every one you get accepted by,” he said. “I also tell students to keep submitting. I recommend starting with magazines in your immediate community.” Sonnet L’Abbé, Chair of VIU’s Creative Writing and Journalism Department, first had their poems published when they were a student at York University, in the school’s magazine. After their undergraduate degree, they received many rejections until their work was accepted in Fireweed, a feminist magazine. But even then, L’Abbé worried they were being pigeon-holed as a woman writer, not just a writer. Their mentor, an established writer at Guelph University, sent L’Abbé’s writing to The Malahat Review. L’Abbé was shocked when the magazine accepted it. “Who you know [is] just as important,” they reflected. In 1999, L’Abbé won the Long Poem Prize at The Malahat Review. Without that, they think their first poetry book would not have been possible. L’Abbé is now on the poetry editorial board of The Malahat Review. When reading submissions, they are looking for memorable, “compelling thinking”
that stays with them. “That’s what’s delightful.” An immediate red flag would be writing that spreads hate. L’Abbé encourages student writers to create work “that’s on par with [the writing] you love most.” Don’t change how you write to fit a particular magazine. Find presses that publish writing similar to yours. Having the right person that will connect with your work is key. CREW, English, and Film Studies professor Jay Ruzesky has been on The Malahat Review’s editorial board since 1989 and has seen the changeover from paper to electronic submissions. Before the switch, the magazine used to accept only about 3 percent of submissions. While it’s quicker and more efficient for everyone, Ruzesky guesstimated The Malahat Review receives two to three times more submissions since moving online, especially from writers outside of Canada. As a result, he said, “a lot of good material gets rejected.” Ruzesky doesn’t want the numbers to dissuade hopeful writers. Rejections will happen, “not necessarily because [the writing’s] not good, just that there’s not room for it,” he said. “Someone will accept [your writing] eventually if you keep submitting.” He recalls how he submitted some thirty poems to literary magazines before he got his first acceptance from Event. He says that those rejections made finally being accepted feel even better. Ruzesky stresses that momentary recognition shouldn’t be the end goal. How a writer will look back on their writing—published or not—and how they feel about it is more important. At the same time, he believes it’s vital to keep submitting to literary magazines. It sustains the entire writing community. Presses need writers as much as writers need them. Publishing professor and former editor at Room and Arc Poetry Joy Gugeler said that reading the magazines you submit to is “essential.” She said Room, The Fiddlehead, and subTerrain receive more submissions, making them harder to get into. On the flip side, there is less competition in genre-specific magazines such as On Spec (sci-fi), the “untested territory” of up-andcoming presses, and magazines that publish emerging writers, such as CAROUSEL and The Capilano Review. “Always [keep] things in rotation,” she advised. The long reading period is one reason for that. On top of that, the acceptance stats can be scary; sometimes only twenty to fifty are accepted out of 1,000 submissions. “Be aware of the odds,” Gugeler said. “Be a gentle audience to yourself. Don’t count yourself
out of the game when initially rejected.” The key may be simply “[outlasting] your competition […] Lots of people give up,” she said. “I don’t think there’s a magical formula. Just sweat equity.” There are general guidelines to keep in mind when submitting your work. Send a variety of writing: one to two short stories, or up to five poems, depending on individual magazines’ submission guidelines. Simultaneous submissions (sending the same piece to multiple magazines) are okay; just remember to alert the other presses you’ve submitted to if it gets accepted elsewhere. Stay organized: remember what you sent where, and when. Submittable, the platform most literary magazines use, does this work for you automatically. Responses can take up to, or sometimes over, six months. Be patient: submissions are usually read by a volunteer team with their own jobs and responsibilities. If a rejection email is accompanied by feedback, take it seriously, but consideration doesn’t necessitate another round of edits. There isn’t an expectation to reply to rejection emails. Even though it was still a “no,” there was something new about my latest rejection email from The Malahat Review. It was the first time I had received personalized feedback from any of the presses. Seeing the editor use my characters’ names reignited something within me. I’ve received another rejection email in the time since I started writing this article, but I’ve also sent out five more submissions. In other words, one more rejection and five more submissions closer to being accepted. An extended version of this article was originally published in The Navigator Student Press at thenav.ca/2021/10/13/publishing/. Isabella Ranallo has loved writing ever since age four when she stole a sheet of her mother’s office paper to write the first page of a story about ten kids stranded on a desert island. She is a third-year creative writing student at Vancouver Island University and Arts Editor at The Navigator Student Press. 2022 2022 Volume Volume II | word wordworks works
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Make the most of your beginning: A writer’s road trip BY CHRISTINA MYERS
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tarting a new writing project is like setting out on a road trip: you’ve got a destination in mind and a route planned out, the weather is great, and you’re excited. It should be smooth sailing on the road ahead, right? Except for the flat tire. Or the construction on the highway. Or the rain. You start to consider just turning around and going back home. But a seasoned traveller knows there’s no such thing as a road trip without roadblocks— be they traffic jams or car problems—just as a good writer learns there’s no such thing as writing without challenges. And the solution is the same on both counts: recognize that a problem does not mean the journey is over.
Pace yourself: You wouldn’t drive across the country in a single day (nor could you even if you tried). That enthusiasm you have on day one will last a lot longer if you don’t use up all your energy. Establish a routine: Don’t get distracted from the road ahead. If it’s time to write, turn off your cell phone and write. If you can organize your schedule so that your writing time is the same each day, even better; if not, find the windows that work for you (and protect them by not overscheduling yourself). Let go of perfection: Don’t the novels on your bookshelf look perfect? All polished and edited, with gorgeous covers—not unlike the shiny photos of a road trip shared on Instagram. But behind the scenes, neither the road trip nor the wordworks | 2022 Volume I
Keep your eye on the prize: You’ve got the map, and the destination is marked with an X. There are many miles between here and there, but you know where you’re going. When the writing feels tough, take a break and remember the goal: visualize that final manuscript in your hand (or on your laptop screen) all done.
Like any trip, you need a plan, a map, and plenty of determination and optimism.
So, how do you set yourself up for a successful journey and ensure that the beginning is not also the end? Like any trip, you need a plan, a map, and plenty of determination and optimism. Here are some tips to get off on the right foot:
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creation of a novel is picturesque all the time. Give yourself permission to write a bad first draft. You can fix anything later with revision, but you can’t fix a blank page that you gave up on.
Break it down: A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step—and then lots of steps after that. Estimate how long your book might be once complete, then divide that number by 365. That’s how many words you’d need to write each day to finish your book in one year, which feels a lot more manageable when it’s broken down into small chunks.
Enjoy the journey: A road trip is the slowest way to travel these days, but you get to experience a lot of unique scenery along the way. In writing, there are no shortcuts at all, and it can be easy to feel discouraged. Just remember, this trip is supposed to be fun. Find joy and humour where you can. Christina Myers is a writer, editor, and former journalist. She’s the editor of the IPPYaward-winning anthology BIG: Stories about Life in PlusSized Bodies (2020) and the author of the novel The List of Last Chances (2021), both published by Caitlin Press. She lives in Surrey and is currently at work on her next novel and a collection of essays.
The best laid plans
are those best laid to rest BY PAT BUCKNA
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n 2001, I decided to write a memoir. I had a structure, a plan, and over twenty years of experience in project management. I’d worked as a journalist and believed all successful projects began with a solid plan. My manuscript would outline how I created my first album in the 1980s. Each chapter would centre around one of the original songs on the recording, with lyrics, and recount how events in my life had shaped each song. I enrolled in the The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University (SFU) to complete my manuscript, strengthen my writing skills, and get feedback on my writing. I wanted to focus on the challenges of a book-length manuscript; my mentor wanted instead to discuss writing good sentences. Early submissions were met with confusion, criticism, and general lack of interest from my mentor and cohort. I began to doubt my writing skills. I also ran into problems fitting my narrative into the rigid structure I had defined when I set out. As I recalled the circumstances that led to creating each song, I felt a need to provide more and more context to make the material understandable. Soon I found myself deep in earliest childhood memories and situations that had nothing to do with my songs.
An unexpected thing happened. The anecdotes from childhood began to resonate with readers so well that they supplanted the dull, analytical chapters built around my songs. My SFU cohort at The Writer’s Studio responded favourably to the new writing, and I began to question my original outline. After a little over a year, I completed a first draft, but my manuscript bore little resemblance to the one I had planned to write. As one of my writing instructors said, writers need to complete a first draft to know what they are writing about. Once you know how your book should end, you can begin to tell the story in the most appropriate way. My personal memoir had become a family memoir, and even though music and songwriting were part of the story, the focus had shifted. Over the next fifteen years, I rewrote and revised the manuscript several times. I struggled with point of view, what to include and exclude, tense, voice, and even whether I was writing fiction or non-fiction. With the help of some excellent editors, I was able to complete my manuscript. In summer 2019, I self-published my memoir, Only Children. I had not only gained valuable insights into my relationship to family but had also learned a lot about my writing process. Unlike a project with a specific predetermined result, creative writing
is iterative and must be allowed to proceed at its own pace and in whatever direction it chooses. Writers must get out of the way of what they are writing. In other words, exploration and spontaneity often lead to the best writing. Some writers create outlines, then fill in the details as they write, but my approach has become the opposite. I now write without intention. This results in unexpected and sometimes uncomfortable revelations, but ultimately more satisfying results. First drafts become roadmaps into the territory my writing chooses to occupy. Instead of revision, I rewrite to eliminate unimportant sections, drill down into the heart of my narrative, and expose new insights. No longer constrained by unachievable plans and predetermined structure, I let my writing decide where we must go and where we end up. I trust that my writing knows where it needs to take me, and I’m happy to set my plans aside and enjoy the ride. Pat Buckna selfpublished Only Children: A Family Memoir in 2019. He lives in Powell River where he composes music and performs locally. Prior to the pandemic, he organized and promoted music events and house concerts for many years. 2022 Volume I | wordworks
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Beginner’s luck BY MICHELLE BARKER
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othing strikes fear into a writer’s heart like facing down the blank page or screen. Every time you start a new project, there’s that feeling that maybe this time it won’t work. The great idea won’t show up, or the idea you have won’t go anywhere. The fear of failure can be debilitating. Everyone hopes for a bit of luck at the beginning of a new draft. But luck is something you make. So, the question becomes: how can you make some luck for yourself when you start something new? Give yourself permission to write crap “Write crap” was the motto of Gail Anderson-Dargatz, my novel-writing professor in the UBC MFA program, and it worked. By giving ourselves permission to write poorly, we all met our deadlines with new work. Sometimes, yes, it was crap—but often it wasn’t. Two things happen when you face the blank page: 1) You have a strong desire to be brilliant. You’re certain there must be an Atwoodian gene in there somewhere, and this time by God it’s going to come out. Except, when you sit down to write with the pressure of wanting to be brilliant, guess how many words you actually write? None. 2) You want to get it right the first time. Who wants to grind through all those months (and possibly years) of revision? But the desire for perfection creates the same pressure as the desire for brilliance, and perfectionism is the enemy of creativity. On that note, forget about the hook You know. That killer first sentence that your entire career hangs on. The one that will either have agents and publishers clamouring at your door or make them press delete on your submission. Yes, the opening sentence must be stellar. So must the whole book. But that’s not going to happen in a first draft. My novel-writing professor had another motto: writing is rewriting. First drafts aren’t meant to be shiny. They’re meant to be finished. The shine—maybe even the brilliance—happens later. You won’t get it right the first time. Just let that expectation go.
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There’s a good chance you don’t know yet where your novel should start. Often, you don’t realize that until you’ve finished the first draft and have a better sense of the story you’re trying to tell. So, what’s the point of spending hours agonizing over your novel’s entry or obsessively revising the opening chapter before you’ve finished writing the book? None. Zero. Waste of time. Instead, choose a place to start, and start. Move forward. Don’t go back and revise those first pages, focusing on them until they’re shinier than your kitchen floor. You’ll have a chance to do that later. When you allow yourself to write crap, you destroy all those misconceptions about first drafts that become so incapacitating. You don’t have to be brilliant. You just have to write something. Set a daily goal, sit down, and get it done. Chances are it will turn out better than you expect. Try outlining I know. Right now, all you pantsers are reaching for your garlic and hoping for some daylight so that I’ll go away. Outlining isn’t for everyone. However, I’ve been a pantser and I’ve been a plotter, and yes, I’m going to mention Gail Anderson-Dargatz again because in our novel-writing class, she wouldn’t let us begin a novel without an outline. It was torturous for me. I’d never written an outline before, and I never wanted to. But now? I wouldn’t dream of starting a novel without one. For me, an outline is a time-saver. I’d much rather discover a story isn’t working at the synopsis stage and toss out three pages of outline instead of three hundred pages of a flawed draft. I’ve done both. Throwing out three hundred pages hurts more. But an outline is also a security blanket. When I arrive at my desk to work on my new novel and am unsure what to do, I turn to my outline and think, right, that’s what I’d planned. And then I do it. Sometimes I read through the notes and think, no, that’s not what these characters would do. So, I change it and have them do something else. Either way, I’m filling the blank page rather than cleaning my kitchen floor…again.
Give yourself permission to have fun Presumably that’s why you’re here. I hope you’re not here for the money. If you are, well, the joke’s on you. The journey is the thing. If writing doesn’t bring you joy, then why do it? Sometimes if I’m stuck, I turn to writing prompts to get myself back on track. Not everyone loves them, but I’ve surprised myself countless times by following Natalie Goldberg’s rules of keeping the hand moving and not worrying about grammar. Take risks. Experiment with point of view or allow your story to go off in a new direction. I recommend writing longhand for this exercise, because it provides a freedom you can’t get on a laptop. Copy great work Find a book you admire and copy it out by hand word for word. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting you pass this work off as your own. What I am suggesting is a form of learning that comes by absorption. When you take a great work one word at a time, you’ll notice things that I guarantee you missed when you were merely reading it. You’ll understand what the author is doing and how they’re doing it. Every time I try this, I come away inspired—and it becomes a stepping-stone into my own work. Be patient One idea isn’t enough for a good story. You need
that second idea, the one that turns everything on its head. Often it doesn’t come right away—and when it does, it’s usually when you’re not looking for it. On a long bike ride, in the shower, or my favorite: when you wake up in the morning and there it is. Sometimes you must walk away and allow beginner’s luck to do its thing. But…pay attention. That second idea could come from anywhere—a passing conversation, a movie, a walk in the park. Take yourself out to new places—an art exhibit, a different neighbourhood. You never know what will suggest itself to you. As with most writing tools, what works for me might not work for you. But I hope something here will resonate and you’ll rush to your desk energized and inspired, ready to fill some pages with new words. Michelle Barker lives in Vancouver, BC. She is the author of the award-winning novels, The House of One Thousand Eyes and My Long List of Impossible Things. She holds an MFA in creative writing from UBC and works as a senior editor at The Darling Axe. Learn more at michellebarker.ca. 2022 Volume I | wordworks
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Writing poetry: How to get started BY FERN G. Z. CARR
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oetry is often described as a solitary art, conjuring up images of recluses immersed in reverie and literary inspiration. Reality is not so romantic. Many poets are self-taught and have no access to mentorship. Conversely, workshops and writing groups may not necessarily appeal to poets who are intimidated by baring their creative souls. I would therefore like to share some of the benefits of my experience and by so doing, hopefully brighten your poetic journey. After twenty-three years of writing poetry and being published approximately seven hundred times, I am still learning the tips and tricks of the trade. We are all lifelong learners. My key piece of advice is simple. Write because you want to. Do not do it for fame or fortune, because that is just not realistic. If you have a sincere compulsion to write, do it with gusto but be disciplined. Persist, persist, and then persist. Practice may not make perfect, but it definitely goes a long way. While creativity does not appear on demand, it is nevertheless important to respect two rules of thumb: 1) Read copious amounts of poetry spanning all eras, not to imitate others but to hone your own craft. 2) Dedicate a daily block of uninterrupted time for your writing. Even though no one can be inspired twenty-four hours a day, by following a routine, you will continue to flex your literary muscles.
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An exception to adhering to a set schedule is the incidence of writer’s block. This is a common occurrence, so do not fret if you happen to experience it. Instead, grant yourself permission to take a break. Only you can determine how much of a hiatus you will need. Be sure to rejuvenate yourself with a change of pace and activity; your creative juices will start to flow once again. As to the mechanics of writing poetry, I believe there is one overriding notion—poetry is compact storytelling. It is more concise than prose. A poem is different from an essay, short story, or novel. Lines are shorter and fewer pages are used to convey a message. One of my editors told me she thought poetry was more impactful than prose. She described my poems as capturing emotion into little bombs, and then unleashing them. Because poetry is so concise, word choice and nuance are critical. For example, if I were to write a poem about a funeral, instead of using the word endeavour, I would use undertake in order to be consistent with the theme. Of course, this word play should not be overdone since it could unintentionally detract from the flow of the piece. Another challenge is to strike a balance such that imagery and symbolism are subtle but not cryptic. It never fails to surprise me when readers share their interpretations of my poems. They point out themes
or images I had not considered. When I reflect upon their analyses, I often agree. Perhaps there were subconscious influences in operation on my part. The bottom line is that all readers approach a poem based on their unique backgrounds and personalities. Such is the beauty of poetic appreciation.
the first and third lines of the following stanza. On a related note, when submitting work to publishers who specialize in specific forms, familiarize yourself with their requirements. That said though, how you approach each individual poem and where you decide to submit it is always your artistic decision as a creator.
Accuracy is also important for readers and writers When inspiration strikes, run with it. Experimental alike. Poetry can be fictitious, but when topics are and visual poetry, in particular, provide an infinite rooted in the real world, please do your research. I have number of avenues to explore and afford more written many poems using medical, scientific, creative freedom. Personally, I do not historical, and other fact-based themes. restrict myself to any set form or style, Despite how well crafted they might be, but I do have my favourites. I would be mortified if they contained As someone who composes and incorrect facts. Avoidable mistakes If you translates poetry in six languages, do a disservice to knowledgeable I would offer a suggestion to readers and can tarnish a poet’s have a sincere those who aspire to write in reputation. Similarly, when compulsion to write, other languages. Although it writing about personal situations, may be tempting to draft a poem be genuine. Your passion and do it with gusto but in English and then translate sincerity will shine through. it into your language of choice, be disciplined. I have addressed some of the that is not the best approach. It technicalities of composition but has been my experience that poetry what about the sources of the ideas comes across as most natural when themselves? It is my practice to keep a it is composed in its original language. journal in which I jot down random ideas That is why I generally write my non-English for poems. Just because an idea comes to mind does version first and then translate it once I am done. not mean a poem must be composed immediately. No matter the language or style, my goal has always Sometimes I find it best to diarize my thoughts and been to have my poetry resonate with readers such then write the poem when the mood is just right. that it lingers in their consciousness. I cherish my In my earlier days, I used to keep a notepad and pen collection of poems by other poets whose writing on my bedside table. When an idea came to me in the has affected me deeply. It is my wish that your middle of the night, I would scrawl it down and try to poetry will have this effect on others as well. Reach decipher my chicken scratches in the morning. I do for the stars and enjoy your literary journey! not do that anymore. If an idea is compelling, I will Fern G. Z. Carr is a remember it the next day. Besides, a good night’s sleep lawyer, teacher, and poet. is refreshing and helps the brain to be more productive. She composes poetry in Poems have persnickety minds of their own. You may six languages, including intend to address a particular topic and suddenly Mandarin, and has been the poem will decide to veer off in a completely published extensively different direction. I have learned to respect these worldwide. One of her shifts and often find the final result to be much poems is orbiting the improved. Even so, I do not believe any poem is planet Mars on NASA’s ever truly finished. While I recommend multiple MAVEN spacecraft. Her drafts, it is invariably best to allow some time to book, Shards of Crystal elapse so you may view your work with fresh eyes. (Silver Bow Publishing As important as it is to ensure the correctness of 2018), is available on facts, it is also necessary to ensure the correctness Amazon. Find Fern at of form. For example, when I write a pantoum, I ferngzcarr.com. review the rules for its construction and verify that the second and fourth lines of each stanza become 2022 Volume I | wordworks
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Just press submit: Contests are a cinch BY MEAGHAN HACKINEN
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re you looking to publish your first piece, experiment in a new genre, or motivate yourself with a deadline? If so, writing contests may be for you! Beyond the chance that a prestigious win might launch your literary career, every contest entry actively builds your body of work. The skills you develop in writing, editing, and polishing your submission will endure far beyond the contest deadline. Plus—and as FBCW Contest Bank Coordinator, I might be slightly biased—entering contests is simply fun! First, there are some things to consider, from sourcing credible contests to understanding fees and guidelines. Credible contests If you enter “writing contest” in a search engine, you’ll discover there are a lot of contests out there. So how do you get started? I recommend beginning with the familiar: check in with your favourite magazines and literary organizations or ask writer friends. As you broaden your scope, you’ll encounter contests hosted by unfamiliar entities—research before you submit. Contests associated with recognized literary magazines and post-secondary institutions are typically a safe bet, and affiliation with the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) is also a good sign. Contests that promise results such as guaranteed publication for all entries are unlikely to be credible. They may take advantage of an author’s desire to see their work in print. Without a sound adjudication process designed to recognize and award only the best submissions, a contest cannot maintain its integrity. Know the rules Every contest has its own guidelines. Don’t make the mistake of skimming over the rules because you’re in a hurry to get writing—contest organizers won’t appreciate it. Worse, your entry might be disqualified because you submitted the wrong genre, ignored the word limit, or live outside the geographic catchment area. Ensure you understand the guidelines beforehand, and double-check once again when you are ready to submit. If the guidelines appear vague, use an easy-to-read font, double space your work (except for poetry), and use DOC, DOCX, or PDF
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file formats. Often, you will be asked to remove your name from the text to enable anonymous judging. Fees explained While no-fee contests do exist, most charge fees. Submission fees go toward establishing the prize pot, paying honorariums to guest judges, and covering other costs. Sometimes, a contest is a fundraiser, such as Tourette Canada’s annual Do Wha(TS) Write creative writing competition. In other cases, a fee supports the organization’s work. Many contests hosted by literary magazines include a one-year subscription in their entry fee. This practice of bundling subscriptions with contest entries allows small literary magazines to boost distribution and gain new audiences. The question to ask yourself is, is it worth it? Perhaps you love reading and supporting independent publishers—in that case, a $40 submission fee that includes an annual subscription is excellent value. Put your best work forward Whether it’s a 250-word piece of microfiction or a 3,000-word personal essay, take time to revise your work. Remember, your work will be judged anonymously. This puts emerging writers on the same playing field as established, award-winning authors. Make your story shine, and you’ll have a better chance of catching the judge’s eye. Now that you’ve read our quick-start guide, we hope you’ll be able to select credible contests, make sense of rules and fees, and appreciate the importance of putting your best work forward. To make things even easier, FBCW has launched an online Contest Bank as a new member benefit. Visit bcwriters.ca/literarycontests for contest listings. Meaghan Hackinen is a writer and endurance cyclist. Her debut memoir South Away (NeWest Press, 2019) was shortlisted for two awards.
The blank page BY NAOMI BETH WAKAN In the beginning is a blank page… then the first line of a poem appears, the first rough brushstrokes, the first few notes hung on a staff, a couple of footprints, first steps in a new dance. Where have they come from? There was nothing on the page and now there is something— a miracle in a way, yet one in which we seem to have taken part— our pen stroke, our brush on the paper. Yet, if we’re asked to do it on demand, often the pen stumbles, the brush hesitates as though we’re waiting on our Muse to inspire. Yet other times, we mark the page boldly as if to arrogantly declare, “Look at me! I’ve scaled Mount Olympus and stolen, for a moment, the creative power of the gods.” I’m told creative energy jumps from neuron to neuron via the synapses, but how does all that bouncing energy manifest as— “I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vale and hill.” How does all that speeding energy become the Mona Lisa? And how does that almost faster than light energy wind up as “Your Cheatin Heart?” They’re the same questions I’ve been asking since I was a small child. If you have a reasonable answer as to what the creative process is, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me immediately so that I can sort out what I’ve been doing these last twenty years, and whether my life adds up to more than just a small sigh.
This poem first appeared at Cultural Awards’ Night at the Port Theatre on April 9, 2015. Naomi Beth Wakan is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Nanaimo (20142016) and the Federation of BC Writers’ Inaugural Honorary Ambassador. She has published over fifty books. Naomi is a member of The League of Canadian Poets, Haiku Canada, and Tanka Canada. She lives on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, with her husband, the sculptor, Elias Wakan. Find Naomi at naomiwakan.com.
2022 2022 Volume Volume II | word wordworks works
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The queen of procrastination BY SHIRLEY MARTIN
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consider myself royalty; I am the Queen of Procrastination!
I know I should be writing, but suddenly there are muffins to bake, the neighbour’s dog to walk, old clothes to sort, toilets to clean…. That’s how bad it can get—when one avoids writing by cleaning toilets! It is not always thus. At times, I am abuzz with ideas, and it is easy to make the leap and get them down on paper. I achieve a flow state while writing, and this propels me to the finish line. It’s exhilarating! This flow has led me to publish five children’s books as well as eleven articles and a smattering of poems. However, more often, I am the Queen of Procrastination. Why do we procrastinate? I can only speak for myself. Sometimes, I procrastinate because I don’t know how to begin. Or I procrastinate because I am tired. More often, I procrastinate because I am afraid. I am afraid of failing, afraid that I am an impostor purporting to be a writer and that if I put my writing out there, the truth will be out. I have succumbed to procrastination again and again. However, recently I examined my writing life, and have now—at age seventy—made a fresh beginning. This entailed coming up with a plan.
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I used to write on the couch, in the living room, or at the dining room table. When exhausted, I wrote while lying in bed. I’d get easily sidelined, gazing out the window at the harbour, chatting with my husband when he walked by, or picking up a novel from my bedside table. I am what you might call distractable. I have friends who prefer writing in the cacophony of a coffee shop brimming with chatter and music and the clatter of cutlery. I realize that many great works have been penned in coffee shops, on public transit, on park benches, or in laundromats. I am in awe of those writers. Their method does not work for me. I need solitude and silence. Since I do best without distractions of any kind, I feel fortunate to have set up a quiet writing space. I established my writing space in the far reaches of our basement. My desk faces a windowless wall. My computer is set up, ready and waiting. Relevant books (i.e., The Concise Oxford English Dictionary and Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style) line a nearby bookcase. Pens and lined paper sit next to the computer, along with fluorescent highlighters. And since my writing space is at the end of the downstairs “rumpus room,” I purchased a divider—because when writing, one does not want to be enticed into “rumpusing” instead!
When I am ready to write, I set up my folding screen as a proclamation to myself and the greater world (which during this pandemic meant my husband) that I am writing. I am not to be disturbed! (Although I did not refuse the steaming cup of tea in my favourite porcelain cup, which my husband passed to me around the edge of the screen. The tea continues to arrive daily. As well as being blessed with my ideal writing space, I am lucky in love.) After I created my writing space, being the Queen of Procrastination, I still found myself frittering my time away by snacking, reading “just one more chapter,” cleaning out the junk drawer, checking social media, and so on. I needed to improve on my plan. That meant a commitment. And that meant a schedule. I promised myself I would devote a minimum of three hours a day, five days a week, to writing. Now fully retired, I have the freedom to write every afternoon, Monday to Friday, so I am striving to treat writing like a job. A part-time job, but still a job.
during one of my frequent forays into out-of-town antique shops. Due to the pandemic, however, we had to stay close to home, so I did a little online shopping. I found a bargain screen (free delivery!) with a silk-screened design that speaks to me—two red birds, one perched on a branch, one in flight. One of my favourite books on writing is Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. In it, she recounts a story about her then ten-year-old brother. Having procrastinated for months on the writing of a school report on birds, the night before its due date he was hunched over the kitchen table, fighting back tears. Anne Lamott describes her father putting his arm around her brother’s shoulder and saying, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
“Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
A schedule is one means of making a commitment; another can be a writing group. I am fortunate to belong to a group comprised of skilled and supportive writers. They encourage me in my writing and teach me valuable lessons through their feedback. Earlier this year, we all stated our writing goals. We are not on each other’s cases about reaching those goals, but still, we are accountable to each other. It is one more nudge to quit procrastinating and focus on writing. Of course, “free” time is not necessarily procrastination. We all have things we need to do—work, chores, social interactions, exercise, the stuff of life. And to optimize our writing potential, we require time to fill our creative wells, feed our muses, open ourselves to inspiration and flow. This looks different for everybody. For me, it means walks in the forest, kayaking, and reading. (A lot of reading!) These activities are not procrastination. They create states of being that welcome creativity. When the schedule says it’s time to write (and the creativity is, hopefully, ready to flow), it’s time to get to it! Some writers find it helpful to have a ritual, something that signals, “I am getting down to business. I am switching into writer mode.” For me, that is the setting up of my privacy screen. In non-pandemic times, I would have found a screen
“Bird by bird” is my new mantra. Progress on my latest project—an intimidating nonfiction manuscript— was plagued by my penchant for procrastination. I am now on a roll with research, interviews, outlines, and written work. Bird by bird, I am moving toward the day of completion for this project. Someday this book will fly!
I am beyond happy to abdicate my throne, to throw off the cumbrous cloak worn by the Queen of Procrastination. I will leave the final word on the topic of beginning to a King—Stephen King that is—who wrote in his memoir On Writing, “The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.” Shirley Martin lives harbourside in Ucluelet where the rugged surroundings inspire her writing. She has published five children’s books. Several of her poems were included in the VIRL anthology Alone but Not Alone. Her articles can be found in Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News and WordWorks Magazine. Shirley enjoys kayaking, beachcombing, and researching local history.
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When the end of the road takes you
back to the beginning BY MICHELLE PLOTKIN Makena Road, Maui, Hawaii
M
akena Road, on the southwestern side of Maui, ends at a lava field. The remnants from the last time a volcano erupted on Maui, over 200 years ago. Dark, jagged volcanic rock, as far as you can see. When you pick up a piece, it is porous, light yet sharp, cutting into your hand if you hold too tightly. Scattered vegetation has struggled to poke through the harsh terrain in places, but it is otherwise barren. Warm trade winds gently roll in from the Pacific Ocean to the west as waves break close to the shore. To the east, green hills roll across the landscape. We had driven Makena Road many times before, usually stopping at beaches or a coconut stand, but we’d never gone all the way to the end.
middle of the ocean. This remote, bountiful, inspiring land—a land rich with diverse micro-climates that create abundant ecosystems to feed the souls, appetites, and livelihoods of the people who live and play here, and majestic sunsets that gently end each glorious day. You should wear rigid shoes to the lava field, the guidebooks all tell me. And sunscreen. Bring lots of water. Maybe a snack. The guidebooks all sound like my mother.
The guidebooks. My mother. Both are partially responsible for where I have ended up today. But getting to the lava field at the end of the road, like getting these words to the page with commas neatly inserted—hopefully in the appropriate places—to submitting articles and pitching story ideas, starting my first book, My considering myself a writer and not an impostor…this has been my journey. mind split
I’m standing in a parking lot with my husband and our nine-year-old daughter, staring at the vastness of the lava field in the scorching, The desire to write percolated inside open, and the blinding sunlight. It takes a moment me for years. Like the magma under to sink in. This exact point—where words, like lava, the ocean, I felt the pressure. It was the dirt road transitions to rock— fear, creating a physical force, that held came rushing is a portal, echoing back to the the words inside. I was afraid to write, beginning of Maui. This primordial out. fearing I would not be good at it, that I panorama beckons to the time before might embarrass myself. Fearing I wouldn’t there was a road, before there was an island, have anything interesting to say, that no one before there was anything here but water. would listen. And, psychologically, fearing what The end of the road has taken us to the beginning. might come out once I started. Fearing I might not Deep within the earth, a million years ago, magma burst through the ocean floor, became lava as it hit the surface, and created an island in the sea. A million years ago, this is all that Maui was—a volcanic mountain tapering to a field of molten rock. In Hawaiian, Makena means abundance, a gift, a reward. The lava emerged in great abundance; it was a gift. A gift that put this magnificent place here in the 26
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be able to stop. Fearing it would consume me. For a long time, the feeling was there, and I ignored it. Like the volcanoes under the Pacific, whose immense power built the massive Hawaiian archipelago, the pressure inside me could hardly be contained. Until it couldn’t. My mind split open, and the words, like lava, came rushing out. Flowing across the landscape of my life, past my family, my friends, my work, my
social commitments. And with it the fear. Would it be beautiful, lighting up the night sky? Would it be destructive, swallowing everything in its path? Or would it be just a big, flowing, hot mess? In the lava field, there is a path. The signage urges visitors to keep on it. The lava rock is fragile and unstable, dangerous and alluring, sacred and otherworldly. The path through it is fairly well-worn, safe and sensible. I listen closely to the sound of my footsteps. Each step sounds like something underfoot is being crushed, destroyed, as if we were shrunk to miniatures, walking across a bowl of corn flakes. Beneath the fall of our footsteps, we hear the crunching sounds of other creatures on the rocks. Their steps do not have the same cadence as our own. Dark as the rocks from which they emerge, we see goats, nimbly but confidently navigating the terrain, bleating quietly to themselves as they move. My daughter insists they are talking to each other. “What are they saying?” I ask. She answers, “I hope the people stay on the path; they might not know how to walk on the rocks.” My husband wants to go off the path. He always does. He has the confidence it takes to forge his own way. He came from a hard-scrabble town as he describes it. To get out, to move on, he had to abandon fear. It was his best option; there was no roadmap for where he wanted to go. As adults, we can reflect on which moments of our childhood have affected us, determined our path, molded us into the people we have become. My childhood was privileged. Sheltered. Safe. Secure. I don’t remember being taught to take risks or even needing to take risks. Can I be like the goats, wandering about on the sharp rocks? I want to think that I, too, can be a confident navigator. My upbringing led me to be self-assured, optimistic. But also to be calculated.
We can stay on the path. Safe, with our kid. We can venture off. Be reckless. We consider the options. Will my daughter remember this day and internalize the decision that was made? Will she know the choices we make are not the same ones she can make? Will she free herself from fears, take risks, try with wild abandon, not concern herself with failure? I came to writing later in life. I was always unnerved by a blank piece of paper. Tabula Rasa, I remember my English teacher saying as if that phrase would magically give me literary inspiration and license. But the blank slate did not inspire me. The emptiness intimidated me. And this feeling never went away. I’m thinking about the lava. The lava that erupted from the undersea volcano. Lava does not care about intimidation. It goes where it goes. With reckless abandon. As an island in the sea, Maui began as a blank slate. From the thoughtless rolling destruction of something inhospitable, unrelenting, unreasoning, and unapologetic. Over time it grew. Solidified. Became majestic. Like the lava, with my words, I am unrestrained. Fearless. Free. I don’t have to start at the beginning, staring at a blank page. I don’t have to stay on the path. I never know where my writing will take me. But I do know that sometimes, at the end of the road, I might find a beginning. Perhaps a beginning I had not yet imagined, but one that had been there all along. Michelle Plotkin is grateful to live, work, and play in beautiful Vancouver, BC, on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and TsleilWaututh Nations. Michelle is a wife, mother, activist, environmentalist, explorer, and adventureseeker and likes to think of herself as a curator of positive thoughts and a cultivator of balance. 2022 Volume I | wordworks
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Launched! New titles from FBCW members Murder in the Mayan World
JIGSAW
Gregory J. Corcoran / 2021 / $5
Neil Garvie / Pod Creative, 2021 / 9781006549649 / $12
This debut novella by Gregory J. Corcoran is about international tourists trapped in a United Nations World Heritage site in sunny southern Mexico. Pelanque is in Chiapas, and a foul murder has been committed at a posh hotel. The deceased tour guide is a retired and corrupt officer Major Balam. Military Intelligence arrives on the scene and suspects everyone! Follow this intriguing plot in the who-done-it which will keep you on the edge of your seat. Murder in the Mayan World is the first in a series of archeological mysteries featuring Franz Gothberg, a renowned UN anthropologist.
What Does the Wind Say? Kamal Parmar / 2021 / 9780986719929 / $20 The slender book of poems is about the progression. The poems have beautifully rendered lines that remind the reader about the fact that life is a fleeting shadow and that past, present and future are mere milestones in the long and winding journey of Life. The poems speak passionately with a clear, resounding voice and at times, agonizingly, about the limitations of mortal life and the longing to transcend its true meaning.
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JIGSAW by Neil Garvie is a journey of the mind—from gentle beginnings to struggle, descent into breakdown, and eventual emergence into the light. JIGSAW is about psychology—written in the language of poetry. It’s for men; it’s for women. It’s new age; it’s old school. It’s about victory of the human spirit. Soft cover, 77 pages. Book and ongoing virtual launch both available through garvie.ca.
Bales & Spires Margaret Growcott / FriesenPress, 2021 / 978-1-5255-8434-3 / $22.50 In 19th Century England, Jane Kershaw, at ten years old, works every morning in a Lancashire cotton mill, and then goes to school in the afternoons. She is the youngest of eight sisters who all work in the cotton industry. Each sister has a tale of their own, with blazing ambition, disillusionment, and thwarted love. Can they, and Jane, in particular, escape their humdrum existence and realize their dreams in this strict and harsh Victorian era?
The One-Eyed Chevrolet Kathryn Hartley / 2021 / 9781-7778725-0-2 / $13.95
The Cine Star Salon Leah Ranada / Newest Press, 2021 / 9781774390320 / $21.95 Leah Ranada’s debut novel is a graphic and engaging depiction of the importance of women’s work and the loyalties that connect friends across oceans. The Cine Star Salon marks the entry of a vital new voice in Canadian literature.
Temptation and Surrender: A Secret Love Child Romance Marlene F Cheng / 2021 / 979-8-4758927-8-7 / $0.99 USD This secret love child romance exposes illicit temptations—a doctorpatient romantic encounter. The charismatic hockey player is married with children. The young doctor schemes to conceal her prize. Indecision brings the athletic lover to his knees. Despair tears him to his wit’s end. He must choose: to abandon his loving family or to forsake his heart’s fathomless desire.
Seeds Of Ascension: Spirits Awakening Frank Talaber / 2021 / 978-17775269-4-8 / $18.95 In a normal relationship a man has the time of his life on his honeymoon. A small dilemma begins for Roger Harrison when normality ceases existing with the discovery of alien metal planted in his body. Roger is thrust onto a path he never dreamed his life would ever take as one of the chosen few that spiritualists have discussed for centuries: the Ascension of humanity. Only this isn’t how the human race’s next level of evolution was supposed to happen, and nor did Roger think he was the guy that would pull it off. Especially when he doesn’t even know how to spell chakra.
Nestled in the rolling foothills, where the prairie climbs to meet the Rocky Mountains, lies the small town of Cougar Lake. Each inhabitant’s life and story intersects with others like overlapping ripples in the water. Each story stands alone but each story reaches tendrils into others. The residents form a cast of beguiling, sometimes eccentric, characters. We gradually discover their loves and longings, their histories and their dreams. We learn what brought them to Cougar Lake and, more importantly, what keeps them here. In the end the town stands together to survive.
Our Bodies’ Unanswered Questions Wendy Donawa / Frontenac House, 2021 / 9781989466322 / $20 Peopled with casualties of colonizing desires, Our Bodies’ Unanswered Questions revises mythical, historical, and personal narratives. Penelope regrets her career choice; a Syrian child washes ashore; the greeting card industry peddles innocence. Time’s implacable flow charts the body’s mortality, its capricious heart. Tough and lyrical, these poems resonate with authentic feeling, cultural urgency, and a quirky sense of humour.
The Sequence Lucien Telford / FriesenPress, 2021 / 978-1-03-9104501 / $21.99 USD The Sequence weaves together the stories of a genetic editor, a contraband-hauling pilot, and a pair of Hong Kong Police detectives who are investigating a string of genetically modified murder victims that only appear during typhoons.
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Adventures of Chris & Raymond: The Zombie Sleepover Shelter: Homelessness in Our Community Lois Peterson / Orca Book Publishers, 2021 / 9781459825536 / $24.95 Homelessness is not a choice, yet it exists in almost every community. Readers—kids and the adults they share the book with—will learn about the root causes of homelessness and its effects, and what people and organizations around the world are doing to address the problem. As a former homeless-shelter worker, Lois Peterson encourages young people to approach the issue with knowledge and compassion. She dispels some of the myths about homelessness and makes the case for why everyone deserves a safe, permanent place to call home.
Scent and Soul: The Extraordinary Power of the Sense of Smell Rohanna Goodwin Smith / 2021 / 978-1-988925-80-6 / $24.95 For millennia, aromas have intoxicated, uplifted, warned, healed, and seduced. From caveman to chemist and beyond, Scent and Soul explores the history of humanity’s enduring connection with the fragrances of the natural world prior to their displacement with synthetic scents in the modern era. Our innate and invaluable sense of smell is becoming compromised, and it’s time to reclaim it, celebrate its revival, and thrive.
Meldy Wilton / 2021 / 978-1-03-912930-6;978-103-912931-3 / $22.99 Chris and Raymond are two children that live next door to each other and are best friends. Their wonderful imaginations take them on a journey of self discovery as they go through a series of adventures, furthering their friendship. Always ready for the next adventure, never knowing that an ordinary day may end up not so ordinary, they use their imaginations for everyday fun. After being drawn into the dancing zombie realm, Chris and Raymond want to return home. What is real, and what is imagination? They must use their decision making skills to go home. Read on and find out what happens.
Lou and the Carnival Cold Case Inga Kruse / 2021 / 978-1-7773001-2-8 Who could have guessed the travelling carnival was hiding a secret this big? Lou’s life hasn’t gotten any quieter since last year. Just in time too, because another mystery is about to roll into town. The fall carnival is coming, but all anybody can talk about is the freak accident on the rollercoaster last year. The tale of a carnie’s death catches Lou’s curiosity. What really happened on that cold Halloween night? Was it just an accident? Lou’s convinced there’s more to the story. Together with her friends, she can’t help piecing together the clues on the cold case to find out the truth.
Murder on Belcut Mountain Blood Mark JP McLean / 2021 / 978-1988125-56-5 / $19.99 What if your lifelong curse is the only thing keeping you alive? Jane Walker survives the back alleys of Vancouver, marked by a chain of blood-red birthmarks that snake around her body. During her tortured nights, she is gripped by agonizing nightmares when she sees into the past. It isn’t until, one-by-one, the marks begin to disappear that she learns the deadly truth: her marks are the only things keeping her alive.
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Lyn E. Ayre / Timbercrest Publishers, 2021 / 978-1-989630-15-0 / $21 Romantic Suspense. What if a woman is murdered in a desperate attempt to shut her up, but then is stabbed eight times with her own knife by a different perp, who takes a hank of her blonde hair as a trophy? Dozens of cold case files match this ritual activity, but the details are hidden in boxes in warehouses all over the US and Canada. This killer is insidious and prolific. Can detectives McClintock & Miller capture this person before another victim meets a gruesome end? Miller finds someone who makes her heart beat faster. Romance is woven through the mystery.
Big Sky Falling Grammie’s Suitcase Beverley A Elliott, MD / FriesenPress, 2021 / 978-1-03-911598-9 / $14.50 Rhyming picture book for under 7 yrs of age. Grey is a shy, little autistic boy who desperately wants a special “friend” who will love, understand, and accept him for who he is. He asks his Grammie to bring him a bear, and when she arrives with a gigantic overstuffed suitcase, he is so excited. As all sorts of things come flying out, he becomes anxious because she may have forgotten the bear, and this would be devastating as he has so many things planned. As she gets to the bottom, out he pops and flies into Grey’s arms. It is the best day ever!
In the Footsteps of a Roman Legion: Walking the Via Egnatia Kim Letson / West Moon, 2021 / 978-1-7772711-1-4 / $26.99 On a blistering September morning in 2016, intrepid friends in their sixties—Kim and Pat—set off on foot from Durrës, Albania towards Istanbul, Turkey. Tracing the route of a Roman road, the Via Egnatia, they dedicate their endeavour to raising funds for refugee relief. Owing to a guidebook that overstates amenities, the trek becomes more challenging than expected. As they negotiate hurdles, test their endurance, and encounter human smugglers and feral dogs, an indomitable sense of humour, a personified GPS, and an imagined Roman legionnaire see them through daily adventures.
Mute Swan: Poems for Maria Queen of the World Lesley-Anne Evans / The St. Thomas Poetry Series (Toronto), 2021 / 9781928095071 / $20 Mute Swan explores the landscape of the voiceless—voices misnamed, silenced, discounted, or subverted— and a spiritual journey of “unmuting.” Through a willingness to look directly at injustice, impermanence, longing, beauty and love, Lesley-Anne Evans writes a way toward spiritual freedom. Mute Swan is a love letter calling us home.
Kelsey Andrews / Ronsdale Press, 2021 / 9781553806592 / $17.95 When Kelsey moves from rural Alberta, where nothing breaks the sky but the curve of the earth, to Vancouver with its metal-scarred skyline, depression nests within her, along with loneliness and past secrets. In Big Sky Falling she lessens her burdens by writing poems that are not without gristle and little violences, but draw on the earthy whimsy of the natural world and ultimately speak to the light that persists.
A Soft Place to Fall Tanya Christenson / Red Deer Press, 2021 / 9780889956384 / $14.95 At Creighton’s new school, he sees the sign: “Lane Oslo School of Educational Reform”—and he gets it. He’s a L.O.S.E.R. In the classroom, he meets other teens who, like him, are leftovers, misfits, several without family or skills or confidence. Creighton and his classmates have one advantage: support from a teacher who encourages them to feel good about themselves. When they learn that she is leaving to have a baby, they know what they will lose. They will have to fend for themselves and learn to survive by caring for each other, something their teacher has taught them how to do.
The Secret of Bell Island Mike Phelan / 2021 / 9781039127296 When Matt McCarty travels five thousand miles to Newfoundland, his only intention is to put the ghosts of his past to rest along with his estranged, recently deceased father. Instead, he will be drawn into danger and the adventure of a lifetime, unknowingly continuing the taciturn mystery man’s unfinished, clandestine wartime mission from 1942. U-boats have already torpedoed shipping within sight of Bell Island’s shore, but now, seventy-five years later, something terrible left behind by the enemy threatens a cataclysm that could destroy the peaceful existence of everyone in Conception Bay.
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A Theory of Expanded Love (Audiobook)
The Third Road: Winterly Poems from a Cuban in Nanaimo
Caitlin Hicks / Findaway Voices, 2021 / 9781777870805 / $2.99
Lidice Megla / Editorial Dos Islas. Miami. Fl. 2021 / 9798764754000 / $16.30
A middle child in a strict Catholic family of 13 kids, 12-year-old Annie Shea is often a substitute parent for her younger siblings. Author/performer Caitlin Hicks, raised in a huge family herself, distills the sweetness of childhood in A Theory of Expanded Love, even as her coming-of-age character learns about grown-up loyalty & betrayal. When her father sends her older sister Clara to a shelter for unwed mothers, Annie advocates for the unborn baby against her parents’ wishes and decides for herself the difference between Right and Religion. Hicks narrates.
Half Brothers Bill Stenson / Mother Tongue Publishing, 2021 / 9781896949864 / $19.95 These stories shimmer in summer heat under the gaze of a twohumped mountain and belong to the Cowichan Valley. Children born to ex-cons, lawyers, longshoremen, boxers, wood carvers, investors and gamblers write their own new generation stories, at times melodic, often discordant, always determined to carry a tune. “‘Super Reader’ is by turns funny, infuriating and profound because here we are, all ‘Children of the Book,’ reading this story at the end of this excellent collection, smiling and grimacing, in recognition of ourselves.” —Caroline Woodward, B.C. Bookworld
Heroes of Afflatus: Book 2 The Blue Butterfly C.R. Endacott / 2021 / 979-8581101438 / $7.99 A deadly virus has entered Faerie World, and it dissolves a fairy’s wings. It is highly contagious and creates political friction. What’s worse, the Dark Lord Depravity is responsible, because his sole purpose is to destroy a blue butterfly, protected by the fairies. If he succeeds, all of his power will be restored, and he will be free to walk the earth and all dimensions. Avery Noble, a wizard, with the help of her boyfriend and protector, Jared Swagger, must stop Depravity by finding a way to the Faerie World.
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“Only a rara avis with the sensibility of Lidice Megla (Villa Clara, Cuba, 1968) would have been able to push out the beast that she carries inside to echo the word towards the feminine gender. There, where its voices could be lost in stories of emigration, forgetfulness, and courage were Lidice’s verses. Her poetry emerges from a diachrony that does not respond to specific temporal spaces; in it the limits of time are blurred by using the memory as a living, current image, detonating the emotions that make up her personal story.” - Yaysis Ojeda Becerra, Researcher & Art Critic. Madrid, 2020.
Now and Here Naomi Beth Wakan and Christine Cote / Shanti Arts Publishing, 2021 / 978-1-956056-09-9 / $25 In this beautifully presented book, poet Naomi Beth Wakan joins founder of Shanti Arts and photographer Christine Brooks Cote to offer glimpses into their “now and here.” Wakan wrote tanka—a format of five-line poems originating in Japan—in response to photographs by Cote. Cote’s photographs are the perfect inspiration for a poet—“you’re looking at my life and what I love; you’re seeing bits and pieces of places I have been; and you’re catching glimpses of the best moments of my life.”
JOIN US
April 29th - May 1st, 2022
on the
Lake
Writers’ Festival
The Sorrento Centre Sorrento, BC
Sessions include both skill development workshops and open forums with presenters based on questions and answers in a relaxed and intimate setting. Presenters: Kelley Armstrong
Anne Fleming
Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Kat Montagu
Anna Comfort
Ed Peekeekoot
O’Keeffe
Jacqueline Turner
Norma Dunning
Ian Weir
Scott Fitzgerald Gray
and more
Check website for updates
Expect to be encouraged, informed and thoroughly entertained. Find out what these published authors and industry professionals can do for you. Register at: www.wordonthelakewritersfestival.com
2022 Volume I | wordworks
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