SAGE - Here I Come!

My check list has begun for the MTS SAGE 2014: Special Area Groups of Educators Conference on October 24th. 

Spaghetti is NOT a Finger Food books to sell. Check.
Spaghetti book marks and Lesson Plans: Check.
Stuffed Charlie Dog: Check.



Forever Julia book marks: Half a check. (In process.)

Stoked to be manning The Manitoba Writers' Guild table with friend and fellow author, Susan Rocan.

Wish us luck as we promote the Guild's resources, fellow Manitoba writers, and ourselves, too!

The Manitoba Writers' Guild, Rocks!

Sheldon Oberman

The Manitoba Writers' Guild offers many workshops, masterclasses, and information sessions on writing and the publishing industry.

They also offer the highly regarded Sheldon Oberman Mentorship Program. Through a submission process the selection committee pairs mentors with apprentices and I was honoured to be selected as an apprentice in 2013.

The experience changed by writing life.

And as if being accepted wasn't enough of a thrill, I was paired with Carolyn Gray, now Executive Director of The Guild. Under Carolyn's gentle guidance, I ditched 14 of my darling chapters, replacing them with better written, faster paced scenes that actually contained plot!

Yes, plot peeps. Every story needs one.

My goal, which I stated with firm conviction and a wavering voice at the "meet and great", was to come out of the program with a submission-ready, young adult manuscript. Carolyn worked tirelessly, always questioning, but never fixing my writing. One word scrawled along the margin was all I needed to reexamine the text;

Motivation? POV? 

or my favourite...

Really? 

And then came the dreaded, square brackets.

If I found [around any text] it was a recommendation to delete that sentence, phrase, or paragraph. We'd discuss the passage and explore it's importance and 99% of the time, out that bit would come. Carolyn taught me to recognize my bad writing habits and how to write cleaner and tighter, without losing voice. I will always cherish the hours we spent editing and laughing at McNally's Prairie Fire Restaurant as we scoured every word I'd written.

Now, I am proud to say, "our" work has been picked up by
Great Plains Publications. 

Forever Julia is to launch in spring 2015, all thanks to The Sheldon Oberman Mentorship Program and my mentor and dear friend, 

Carolyn Gray.

"Lady Gray"

A New Novel Begins

Today is a day of firsts.

I've never shared on my blog a section from one of my works in progress. I thought I'd pull out some courage and give it a go. Plus, many of my non-writer friends seem quite curious about the writing process.

When I was accepted into the Sheldon Oberman Mentorship Program, I shelved the young adult novel I was then writing. 

This past 9 months has brought me many writing rewards. Most importantly, three days ago I finished a complete rewrite of the novel I worked on with my mentor Carolyn Gray. It began as, Who Needs Romeo - A Tale of a Modern Day Juliet and finished as, Forever Julia.

It is the best novel I have written thus far. At least that's how I feel about my development as a writer.

This stretch of time has also allowed for the novel I cast aside to peculate in my mind, and my brain, and my head too. Yes, I am a die hard fan of Jack Black's School of Rock.

Yesterday I returned to, Gemini, writing a new first chapter. It gave me goosebumps. 

Will it survive my final edit? Who knows. 

I only know that it feels like the right start for now.

I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1

Truth [trooth]  

actuality or actual existence.

In the shadows lurked the truth.

And it floated through the jack pines and skimmed over the peat bogs straight to the old log cottage that sat high on the rocks.

In the shadows lurked the truth.

And it hovered outside a bedroom window, where it peered through the cracked yellow plastic blind.

In the shadows it lurked.

And it melted into that room and waited at the end of the bed for the sleeping girl to see it.

In the shadows lurked the truth.

And at the first pale light of dawn, Kate screamed.

Dare to Dream It!

www.wildthingsrunfree.com

Dare to Dream It! Work to Achieve It! 

This is the motto at the amazing school I work at as an extremely part time secretary. I've had a lot of jobs and I can easily say, working at Linden Meadows School is the best job - ever - outside of writing - which, for me, is too exhilarating to be classified as work.

Writing is my passion and something I need to do - like breathing. Or eating mountains of chocolate.

Yes, I know.
My brows are Tres Brooke Shields.
I'm hoping for a spa day from Santa.

This week has been filled with awesome moments that have confirmed that listening to Drew and my fellow Anitas to NOT quit writing, back in January, was the best decision I have made all year. Perhaps even the best decision I've made in the past several years.

On Monday I picked up my gorgeous Spaghetti is NOT a Finger Food (and Other Life Lessons) posters from Prolific printers. A huge thank you to Rana DiOrio, Chief Executive Pickle of Little Pickle Press for donating them to our fundraising campaign for Asperger Manitoba Inc. We'll be selling them at various events over the next 6 months and all proceeds go to Asperger Manitoba.

Today, whilst picking up meatballs and lingonberry jam at IKEA, I received a surprising email, which sent me happy dancing around the cinnamon bun display.

I've been accepted into the Sheldon Oberman Mentorship Program run through The Manitoba Writers' Guild! Over the next 5 months I work with a mentor on my Young Adult manuscript, Who Needs Romeo - A Tale of a Modern Day Juliet. Being accepted into this program, is a true honor and is exactly what I need to get Who Needs Romeo, publication ready.

Here's a brief bio of my mentor, Carolyn Gray. 

Mentor. 

How utterly cool is that? 

Carolyn Gray, who is a Winnipeg writer, actor, director, designer, and puppeteer. She is a founding member of Adhere and Deny Object Puppet Theatre, helmed by Grant Guy. Her full-length play, The Elmwood Visitation, was produced by Theatre Projects Manitoba in 2007 and won the Manitoba Day Award for excellence in archival research. Catarinetta was produced by the MTYP Junior Company the following year. Her most recent play, North Main Gothic (Scirocco), premiered this April with Theatre Projects Manitoba. Gray was the 2008 winner of the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer.


Follow this link to find out more about the Sheldon Oberman Mentorship program: http://www.mbwriter.mb.ca/programs-services/the-sheldon-oberman-mentorship-program/

Looking to join the Manitoba Writers' Guild? Click on this link: http://www.mbwriter.mb.ca/


Find out more about Asperger Manitoba here: http://www.asperger-manitoba.ca/

Fellow writers, do NOT lose hope. Keep the faith. 

Follow your passion and keep on writing.

Dare to Dream It! Work to Achieve It!

www.austinwilcox.tumblr.com