HIBERNATION by Bryan Norford

Hmmm. If salting oneself away at a computer is hibernation, then I guess I hibernate all year! Mind you, I’m glad just to look at the weather this winter.

My desk faces a picture window looking over university lands, and I relish the thought that weather doesn’t interfere with the delightful task of writing. My sympathies to Glynis and others who have not been so fortunate.

But hibernation is selfish, isn’t it? Although against my isolationist tendency, we continue our writer’s group, Write Clique through the winter. So much for hibernation!

So below is my New Year letter to our group for others of you that participate in writing groups. Obviously, our schedule and practice will not suit everyone, but I trust there are some ideas that will encourage and spark interest.

Happy New Year to all you Write Cliquers:

Reviewing the past, I note that Write Clique has been going for just over two years, our first meeting on Thursday September 22, 2011.

All those who joined us during the following months are still with us, if not always able to attend—all except Chloe Collin who absconded with a man of her choice to Medicine Hat. Congratulations Chloe: keep on writing!

We are now about fourteen, and we expect our attendance to vary between eight and a dozen, depending on other commitments and priorities. This is particularly true as we will now meet twice a month to allow extra opportunities for those who cannot attend regularly.

We measure our success, not by numbers, but by the enjoyment and encouragement many of you have expressed. Not only that, books have been written by our members during that time, while others of you have issued other writings as the Lord has directed you.

Our main aim is to encourage new writers—as most of us are—against the discouragement of other priorities, people’s attitudes, and setbacks we all experience. As we are gifted and led by the Lord into writing, it’s essential we receive the fellowship and support of other writers like ourselves.

As we discussed at our 2013 wind up last November, we will meet on the second and fourth Thursdays each month. Winter dates are as follows: January 9 and 23, February and March 13 and 27. Please make a note of the dates, even if you can’t attend.

Our time will be 7.00 to 9.00 p.m. sharp!! We want to make the most of the time we have. Our schedule will be as follows, timing somewhat flexible:

7.00 Opening prayer, two minute devotional, and sharing. Sharing is not compulsory, but gives opportunity for discussing plans, dreams, progress, setbacks or difficulties for prayer and assistance if needed.

7.45 Instruction. This will be fairly basic, aimed at our general level of writing. I will give some and have others more experienced to share their knowledge in this slot also.

8.30 Fellowship. A time for one on one conversation and encouragement over coffee—decaf, tea, or other sleepy beverage.

For our first meeting, January 9, following our sharing time, I will share with you some resources I found helpful in ensuring work aims at a professional quality—essential if we desire to publish our work.

For other Thursdays, Craig Funston will talk about common grammar and word use mistakes, and Ruby Cleroux will discuss the basics for fiction writing. I’m open to suggestions for other ideas you’d find helpful.

So, we look forward to seeing you next Thursday

May God bless you all richly in 2014,
Bryan

Recommendations and Inspirations - Tracy Krauss

I always find January to be a very inspiring month for me in terms of my writing stamina. Maybe its all the talk of 'goal setting' and 'resolutions'. Or maybe my batteries are recharged after Christmas break. In any case, I look forward to January each year and the sense of excitement I feel about what the year holds.

Last year, I told you about an excellent book called Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love  by Rachel Aaron. I read a lot of other good books on writing and marketing, but this one still stands out. One of the things I discovered after reading the book was Scrivener, a software to help you organize your manuscript. I used the trial version and subsequently bought it for $40. The best forty bucks I spent last year, I'm sure.

Another wonderful 'find' was the Emotion Thesaurus by Ackerman and Puglisi. It is basically a list of emotions with various physical and psychological manifestations for each. (Like a thesaurus, as the name implies.) What a wonderful tool. I currently have an e-version, but I think I may invest in a hardcopy as well, so it can be right at my fingertips!

I had a very productive year last year in terms of writing, but I didn't actually get a lot published. One play called HOOK'S NEMESIS released just under the wire on Christmas day, as well as an anthology that I contributed to called TASTE AND SEE Volume 2. 

However, that means I can look forward to multiple releases in 2014. (I hope!) I have a devotional and a children's book waiting on US tax documents; two finished novels with my agent; and it looks like I will be writing several serials under contract - one contemporary stand alone series and one as a contributing author to a Sci-fi series. (I'm a huge Sci-fi nerd so I am especially excited about this one!)

It is all a bit scary but also quite exciting. Good thing I work well under pressure. *smile* With everything I have on the table at the moment, I think I really will be hibernating this winter...

Tracy Krauss is a teacher, artist, author and playwright living in Tumbler Ridge, BC. She currently has four novels and six plays in print. For more, visit her website at tracykrauss.com , her blog at tracykraussexpressionexpress.com , or sign up for her monthly newsletter.

Weighing in Your Writing by Pamela Mytroen

A while back I decided I needed to lose some weight. I stepped on the scale the next morning and took note of where I was at. The next morning I did the same thing. I carefully followed my ritual every morning for a full year, fully expecting to see a change in the numbers. I did manage to wear two perfect footprints into the rubber pad, but alas, I did not lose a single ounce.

The other routine I followed religiously was that I continued to eat all my favourite foods, especially my hot buttered popcorn and potato chips. Yet I kept hoping that I would see a new mark on the scale. What is the definition of insanity? Doing something the same way repeatedly and expecting different results every time? If I expected to see a change, then my routine needed to change.

So it is with writing. If we are not progressing, something needs to change. The same old routine is not going to magically produce results. I would love to wake up a writer with a published book and several more writing credits to my name but I have discovered it’s not enough to think, talk, and dream about being a writer. Strong desire does not equal amazing results. It’s not enough to ‘weigh in’ every morning and see if I have magically written anything in my sleep. Something has to change. Something needs to be sacrificed.

My writing strategy this past year was to write first and THEN check my email and facebook. It worked. I was able to have many non-fiction pieces published. Funny how just that one little sacrifice had to be made. My writing plan for this year is to give up that first golden hour after supper – from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. when the couch is calling after a day at work. I have started this routine and have discovered that once I get writing it is often 8:30 or 9:00 before I need a break. I am also part of a small facebook writing group. We write for 30 days and then choose our best rough work and send it out to each other for editing. We have had a few stalls but we’re still going and I find I am motivated to write just knowing that they will be waiting to see a piece.

These days when I weigh in my writing, and on the scale too (the popcorn machine doesn’t come out as often) I am seeing a new balance with more credits to my name.

What are you willing to give up to see change?

Pam Mytroen

Stay Close to the Source by T. L. Wiens

How many of you have read something and thought this is a very interesting theology? Sometimes I’ve read things and thought, wow, someone else sees the same thing in scripture that I see. Then I continue to read and find there it is, the false teaching that so many times contradicts the very thing the author has set out to point out to other believers.

Why does this happen so often? It discredits everything—the truth is lost. And I live in fear of being that author. How do we avoid something that seems like a very basic human weakness? The Bible.

We all need to study our Bibles, not with a devotional manual but with the Holy Spirit guiding us. Sometimes this means putting down a lot of preconceived notions put there by our own thoughts on issues, church background and denominational lines. This is not easy but must be done to make sure we’re not sabotaging our own faith. We all want to honour Jesus Christ in the words we write. The only way to do that is by making sure we know His Word first.

2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”