What is a Virtual Writing Conference like? by Diane Bator

 

It's November and I am wading into working on a new book during National Novel Writing Month aka Nanowrimo! This year, I'm working on the second book in my Sugarwood Mysteries - tentatively titled Dead Man's Doll. If you haven't checked out Audra & Drake in book one, now would be a good time! Click on the book cover or here to purchase.

I had the honor during the weekend of October 22-24, to be a moderator and participant in the York Writers Conference held on Zoom and hosted by the Writing Community of York Region (WCYR). If you've never done an entire weekend on Zoom before, I recommend stocking up on essentials—coffee. tea, and water were mandatory for most of us—and remembering to take breaks to stretch and see daylight.

We had many volunteers who’d worked hard to bring in amazing guest speakers, organize meet and greets and breakout room activities, as well as set up a virtual bookstore and SWAG bag. While the initial organizational meetings were a bit daunting, the work we put in made for a weekend with few snags.

We started off Friday evening with an Opening Address by Canadian satirist and author Terry Fallis, who is the award-winning author of eight national bestsellers published by McClelland & Stewart (M&S). Terry spoke about how writers need to not sell themselves short. We are recording history and life for future generations. After a virtual Meet & Greet cocktail party, we broke for the night.

Saturday morning we came back fresh to hear the energetic Sacha Black speak about “Villains & Heroes” and how to make both more realistic and engaging for readers. Based in the UK, Sacha is the author of several books on writing.

We were all eager to learn more about “Agents & Publishers” and Rob Firing of Transatlantic Agency did not disappoint. He spoke about why writers need agents and his work as an agent for both non-fiction authors and speakers.

Andrew Pyper’s inspiring Keynote speech was about an f word we all know well:  Failure. No one is immune, not even award-winning authors! He reminded us that it is “not only important to endure failure but to look forward to more.”

Michelle Fox spoke to the group about the ins and outs of “Digital Marketing.” She covered a lot of information about marketing, software and apps, cross promotion, and paid ads.

Next up was Maria Mutch who discussed “Short Stories” and what makes a good story as well as potential problems. We did a great exercise on observation and what we noticed in a photograph she shared.

Saturday evening, we held an Open Mic session where anyone had the opportunity to read 2-3 minutes of poetry or one of their books. I was thrilled to be asked to have two wonderful writers read a scene from a play I’ve been working on called Secrets That Haunt Them. It was a great motivator to get back to work on finishing it. Several writers read their works, including one lady who used a piece she wrote in the Short Story session earlier that afternoon.

Sunday morning began with Ruth Walker’s session on “Personal Papers.” If you have ever wondered what to do with those ticket stubs, post-it notes, and old journals, this was a great discussion for brainstorming ways to implement them in your prose, non-fiction, and poetry.

Patti M Hall led a great session called “Memoir Mastermind,” which I was frustrated to have to miss most of when my Internet went down. Fortunately, I made it for the last half hour in time to catch some great nuggets in the Q & A, particularly about whether to name people in your memoir and how to capture those thoughts and memories.

Lunch Break – Breakout rooms dealing with what makes a great Opening Sentence. It was fun to talk about the benefits of a strong first line with a small group and even came up with a few of our own.

Derek Newman-Stille led an animated discussion on “Speculative Disability,” which brought up some really great questions regarding creating characters who are disabled and their purpose in the story. I think aside from Andrew Pyper’s speech, this was one of sessions I found the most impactful and eye-opening. For any writer wanting to add a disabled person into their story, it was a good moment to sit back and ask some pointed questions about their motive.

Last lecture of the weekend was J.M. Tibbott’s discussion of “Self-Editing.” She covered a great deal of information, most of which I was familiar with, but I still made a lot of great notes! A good refresher on the process of self-editing never hurts!

After a hearty round of thank yous to volunteers, speakers, moderators, and so on, I turned off my computer and made dinner. Staring at a Zoom screen for the entire weekend was a bit tiring, but I came away with some new insights and ready to dig into my next novel once more. It was wonderful to spend so much time dedicated to something I have a passion for as well as meeting some amazing new-to-me writers.

 Thanks for joining me!

For more information on the Writers Community of York Region and our conference, please go to WCYR. Our next conference is already in the works for 2023!

Happy November,

Diane Bator

Time Sure Flies by Roseanne Dowell

 

Here it is November already. Time sure flies. Last year at this time I posted something I was thankful for every day on Facebook. I decided not to do that this year. It's not that I'm not thankful, I am. Blessed and thankful. And there's so much to be thankful for, my husband, my children, their spouses, my grandchildren, and their spouses, and my great-grandchildren What more could a person ask for?

I have a nice home, not fancy by any means, but I'm not a fancy person and it's comfortable. Lived in and it meets my needs and there's always food on the table. We live a simple life, always have. Our entertainment comes by way of our kids mostly and a few friends whose company we enjoy.  I manage to keep busy between Bible Study, and other church activities. Besides writing, which I've not been doing much of since my characters refuse to talk to me, I enjoy my embroidery machine. 

Lately, I've been doing a lot of table runners for dinners at our church. I'm on the Fellowship committee and I can't tell you how much I enjoy it. I work with a great group of women and we always have a good time. Besides that, I love to cook, and helping to cook for a large group makes it worthwhile. I look forward each month to our dinners. 

I'm sure there's a story there someplace and I'm betting Aunt Beatrice Lulu would be involved in some harebrained scheme. If she'd only talk to me. The only reason I can think of as to why she's giving me the silent treatment is her sister, Ethel started the next story. I'm afraid Aunt Beatrice Lulu is a bit jealous. To make matters worse, Ethel isn't talking to me anymore either. So I sit and stare at blank pages. I'm sure one of these days Aunt Beatrice Lulu will start talking again. It's not like her to remain quiet for too long. She's too much of a busy body. 

But until then, I'll have to be content with my embroidery.  I really love that machine and I found some websites with excellent designs, some of them are even free. Last year I made the kids several gifts from the embroidery machine. Not sure what I'll do this year. Right now, I started on the table runners for the November dinner we'll be doing at church. It takes an hour just to embroider the text and I'm adding a cornucopia to it also. Not sure how long that will take to stitch out. So I usually do two a day. 

If anyone has any ideas for Aunt Beatrice Lulu put them in the comment section. If she uses them, we'll be sure to mention you in the acknowledgments. 

You can find all of my books at BWL

BWL Publishing Inc. New Releases for November, 2021 and Win a Kindle eBook Reader Contest

 

RELEASES COMING NOVEMBER 2021

 

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 Our monthly free download is discontinued for the remainder of 2021 while we run our holiday contest events.  Every Friday from October 15 to December 17, we'll be drawing three winners and each of those winners will receive a copy of all three of our holiday romances.  Those winner's names will then be added to our grand prize drawing folder and on December 17 one name will be drawn from that folder to win the Kindle eBook Reader shown here.

Garden watching by Priscilla Brown

 

 

Cristina intends her working holiday at a luxury Caribbean resort to be a much-needed man-free zone. Why won't this zany charmer of a pilot get the message? And is he more than he seems? 

Find this contemporary romance at https://books2read.com/Where-the-Heart-is

 

Here in the cool-temperate high country of inland New South Wales, Australia, it's early summer, a period of busy activity in gardens; grass is growing doubly fast, flowers are flourishing. My desk is by a window looking onto the garden. I've considered moving it as at the moment my writing momentum is being hindered by bird-watching. But instead, conveniently disregarding the fact that the lawn needs a haircut, I took my laptop and garden chair outside.

In my garden, one bottlebrush (Callistemon) tree is loaded with vivid  scarlet 'brushes'. and my other bottlebrush shows off those of a deep pink. Apparently these Australian natives were originally named bottlebrush because way back someone rather unimaginatively thought their long conspicuous stamen spikes were shaped like an implement for cleaning a large bottle. These trees in my garden are hosting honeyeating birds, thrusting their long beaks into the blooms to find the nectar. My favourites are the tiny eastern-spinebills smartly dressed with a grey-brown back, cinnamon collar and white bib. Noisy middle-sized wattle birds, striped brown and white with red ear wattles, are sometimes not so favourite as they like to dine on camellia blossoms as well as the bottlebrush.These are only two members of the large  honeyeater avian family. Even the usually seed-eating crimson rosellas (small parrots) enjoy a taste of the bottlebrush.

So much for writing outside!  How lucky I am to have such lovelies sharing my space.

 Enjoy your reading, best wishes from  Priscilla, contemporary romance author 

https://bwlpublishing.ca

 

https://priscillabrownauthor.com 

Liar, Liar pants on fire by Eden Monroe

 

Click here for Eden Monroe's book details

 https://bookswelove.net/monroe-eden/

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

We’re all familiar with that line from any TV show or movie featuring a courtroom scene, right hand raised, left hand on the Bible. And we naturally assumed, given the gravity of the situation they were portraying, that the witness would indeed be honest. However, in real life it can be a much different story. To some, swearing to tell the truth is a promise made in bad faith.

So what is the full scope of perjury? The Criminal Code of Canada (Misleading Justice) Section 131(1) states: “Subject to subsection (3), every one commits perjury who, with intent to mislead, makes before a person who is authorized by law to permit it to be made before him a false statement under oath or solemn affirmation, by affidavit, solemn declaration or deposition or orally, knowing that the statement is false.”

It might seem fairly straightforward to prosecute those who deliberately perjure themselves, but that’s not so according to legal experts who say that perjury is extremely difficult to prove, and in order to lay charges it must be determined if it was actually done willfully; whether the witness knew what they were saying was untrue when they said it.

In Almost Broken I deal with perjury and its frightening ramifications, including the inevitable fallout when someone’s lies are accepted as truth:

“Stepping closer she landed a stinging slap across the side of his face that forced him back a step from the sheer weight of the unexpected blow. He made no effort to defend himself. He felt rooted to the spot, too mortified to move, those around him gone silent now as the spectacle continued to play out.”

But surely, we say, an experienced judge could ascertain when a witness is lying, and challenge them accordingly. Not always it seems, because while they do their best to determine if the witness is in fact telling the truth, a judge is only human, and can also be deceived. The justice system must routinely deal with practiced and convincing liars, continuing to lie should the judge, or lawyer, be concerned enough to remind them they are under oath.

And if witnesses, or anyone else making a false statement under oath in a judicial system, are caught lying?  Section 132 of the Code states that “Every one who commits perjury is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.”

While some, perhaps many, may get away with committing perjury, others have not escaped prosecution, the long arm of the law reaching out to bring them to justice.

Giving false testimony before a federal grand jury is what earned a popular entertainer a sentence of one year in prison in addition to paying a hefty fine. Athletes who have been caught lying under oath, most commonly about using performance-enhancing drugs, have earned jail sentences; police officers perjuring themselves have been similarly punished. A long-time British Member of Parliament was also found guilty of perjury, and despite his elevated political position, spent two full years in prison.

As a former Commissioner of Oaths, an officer of the court, I once had a summons server lie to me, under oath, swearing that he had served the parking summonses in question (about 300), when in fact he had not done so. He subsequently served a jail term of several months for perjury. You don’t have to be in a courtroom to commit perjury, although that’s usually where it takes place.

Obviously, false testimony given while under oath can have a disastrous impact on the lives of others, innocent people convicted of crimes they did not commit, and as a result, sometimes spending decades in prison while the guilty (often the perjuring witness) go free.

In Almost Broken, the perjury committed creates heartbreaking results:

“No,” he returned at length, “but she and I will have that conversation and you can take that straight to the bank. This isn’t over. No way. It can’t be until she makes it right. I want my conviction overturned. I want my good name back. My reputation. I want everything back that she took from me.”

Declan kept to the right-hand lane for Fredericton at the split in the highway, the route that would take them to Woodstock. “You think that’s possible, Blaise? You had a topnotch lawyer in James Pringle, Sr. They don’t come much better than him around here, and he couldn’t get you off. What makes you think you can get the conviction overturned? Is that even realistic at this point? A mother’s testimony holds great sway and in this case it’s what did you in. And I have to say she was very convincing. The judge bought it, but I believe you, not her.”

“All my mother has to do is admit she was lying. Recant her statement, her testimony. It wouldn’t be the first time such a thing has happened.”