Meet The Streamers!

Writing is primarily a solo occupation and can be a little lonely at times. Writing groups build a community of like minded folks, people who truly "get" you.

When we moved to England in 2015, I sorely missed my Winnipeg writing group, The Anita Factor and already homesick, I soon became writer sick. I needed to find a new "tribe" with whom a could talk story and so I began a search for fellow children's authors. Within a few months, and my first British Isles SCBWI event at Hertford's Leaf Cafe, I found two writers also searching for a writing group. Kismet? Karma? Fate?

Who knows, but from our first session at our local pub, The Millstream, we knew we had struck gold in finding each other and quickly named ourselves The Streamers. 

The Streamers:

Alice Hemming, Louise Morriss, and Me.

 Apparently, we are selfie-challenged. 

 Perhaps, it was the fizz. 

We may not have been calm, but we carried on.

Definitely the fizz.

Since then we have been to conferences together, workshops, agent meet and greets, and have completed many books together. Now that I have returned to Canada, The Streamers has gone international and we hold our crit session via facebook video. Technology is a wonderful thing.

Alice and Louise are two of the most talented writers I have met. Alice has NUMEROUS books published, with one more launching in April 2018! We had the pleasure of working on this book in our group and to see the initial illustrations and cover design is so exciting.

Louise is on the cusp of her first contract, with heaps of praise with her short listed entry in last year's Hook Competition through the SCBWI conference in Winchester.

With another transcontinental meeting coming at the end of the month, I am counting sleeps until I can hear their lovely voices and laugh the day away. Together again.

Happy 1st Birthday, Blog!

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Over the past 12 months, I've learned a lot about the art of blogging. I’ve read numerous articles stating that effective blogs focus on a specific theme, so your audience knows what to expect when logging on. 

This makes a lot of sense.

If only that was how my brain worked, this would be an easy-peasy rule to follow. But my brain is not an orderly, itemized storage vessel of information. My brain does not operate like a library, all neat and tidy, with easy to locate novels sitting perfectly square on well dusted shelves.

No, my brain resembles more of a typical teenage bedroom. Everything is everywhere, with seemingly no logical order; however, somehow whatever you’re looking for is easily found. You just need to look behind the dresser, or under the throw rug. (Try not to trip over the pile of folded clothes sitting in the middle of the floor.)  

Here is my list of blog topics I’ve covered this past year:  

·        Writing Retreats

·        Disturbing Childhood Nic-names

·        Multi-tasking

·        Open Mike Nights, twice

·        Thanksgiving

·        Awesome Manitoba Books

·        Awesome Manitoba 

·        Writing for Kids

·        The Anita Factor Writing Group

·        The Arts and Why They Matter

·        Submitting Manuscripts

·        Receiving the First Writing Cheque

·        Cabin Fever

·        Writing Tips

·        My Kids, a multitude of times

·        Getting Published

·        Excuses for Not Blogging

·        Chocolate, of course

·        Friend Deja-Vu

·        Gratitude, possibly thrice

·        Grammar

·        Childhood Firsts

·        Kids Growing up Too Fast

·        My Possible Writing Addiction

·        Type A Personality, in Remission

·        Family Traditions

·        Santa & Lego

·        Being Barely Foreign

·        The SCBWI          

Should such a diverse list of topics be a warning? Should I change my tactic? Narrow my focus?

I suppose that would be the practical, logical approach.


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Logical. Ick. Practical. Meh. Thankfully, no one has ever accused me of being either.
 

Therefore, I must conclude, (after doing zero analysis, research, or contemplation), that I shall carry on delving into new topics as they catch my interest. Think of a Blue Jay chasing shiny objects. 

Hmmm.  What to write about next?

Life’s foibles? More writing news? Book reviews? Parenting pitfalls?

 

Let me know what you’d like to read. 

I’d love to hear from you.

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