I Love "Go To Meeting" - Meyer

It’s hard for me to believe that I am still continuing my technology series of blogs. Hard for me to believe, not because there is a dearth of new technology but because I, Dorene Meyer, am embracing it!

Those of you who know me well, know that I cherish the simple life and have an ongoing love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with technology of any kind.

But I gotta say, I do like (maybe love is too strong of a word) “go to meeting.”

Last evening, I participated in the first ever online “Open Mic” session put on by The Word Guild. All I needed was an inexpensive headset and my old desk-top computer, and I was “in” (or should I say “on”?)

One of the exciting things for me, living as I do in a remote northern community, is my annual trek down to Write! Canada www.writecanada.org . There I can renew acquaintances with authors from all over the country and participate in writing events such as workshops, classes, readings and such. Throughout the year, the connection wanes and a feeling of isolation sets in again, especially as I hear of events happening in Winnipeg, Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver…  But for that one hour last evening, it was almost as if I was at Write! Canada again!

The session began with an introduction by the organizers, Les Lindquist (chair of Christian Info Canada) and Paul Oleniuk (2006 winner in the teen category of “God Uses Ink”). This was followed by readings and Q&A by Sara Davison and by Jayne E. Self, two authors shortlisted for the best mystery book award at the Canadian ChristianWriting Awards. I had known ahead of time that these two authors were going to be reading but was in for a surprise when first Marcia Laycock and then Linda Hall gave a reading and had a Q&A.

What was amazing for me was the way that we could all, for that one hour, be communicating and connecting from such diverse parts of the country. Even though I was way up north, I could connect with Jayne and Sara in the south, Marcia in the west, and Linda in the east. For that one hour, technology shrunk our huge country down to a manageable size!

I think The Word Guild is hoping to have more online sessions connecting writers from coast to coast. And for all of you technophobes out there, trust me on this, if I can do it, you can!  And just to prove how inept I am, I’ll confess something I was planning to keep a secret. I was on a “go to meeting” conference with N.J. Lindquist earlier that day. The meeting started okay when I responded to the link she sent me, but for some unfathomable reason, I couldn’t get my microphone or speaker to work, and we finally resorted to conversing over the phone. I was surprised because I had experienced no problems the last time we connected. Well, last evening, I discovered my mistake. In the tangle of wires I have on my desk, I have TWO little green connecting thingamabobs that I plug into my computer: one is for my infrequently used set of speakers and one is for my new set of headphones.  Yeah, you guessed it: I had the wrong little green thingamajig plugged in. Sigh… They really do look the same.

And soon - just thirteen more days! – the real Write! Canada will begin – hope to see you all there!

Dorene Meyer

Award-winning Author of:

Jasmine,  

Lewis, 

Joshua.

Discover the Poet in you at Write! Canada 2010 — Martin

I hope you’re planning to come to Write! Canada — June 17 to 19th. There will lots of wonderful opportunities for you to learn and grow, and to connect with like-minded people who can help you develop your writing career.

For the first time, anywhere, I will be taking my popular workshop — The Essentials of Writing Poetry — and expanding it significantly into a real hands-on opportunity for you to write poetry, and to have it discussed by other participants. The following blurb comes directly from the Write! Canada website:

Principles of Writing Poetry…Well — D. S. Martin

Beauty is not merely in the eye of the beholder; quality in poetry is not merely a matter of taste. In this workshop you’ll learn to discern what is needed for well-written poetry, and how to apply these principles to significantly improve the quality of your own writing — both poetry and prose! You’ll be enabled to write your own poetry as part of the workshop, and be able to give and receive feedback with the class.

Together we will go through the principles of what makes poetry good, and you’ll be given plenty of opportunities to put these principles into practice. You are encouraged to bring a laptop computer (if you have one) in order to better facilitate the sharing of work as a group. You may want to write rough drafts for several poems ahead of time; do not, however, bring poems (for this purpose) which you would be unwilling to significantly revise because you consider them to be complete.

This class will be an interactive format. The instructor will lead the discussion of poems-in-progress, but all will be encouraged to share feedback.

Participants are encouraged to bring as many of the following items as possible along with them, as inspiration for potential poems:
1) A photo of a friend or family member in a place that has special memories
--------((bring several)
2) A picture of a painting that speaks to you
3) A selected scripture passage that resonates for you
--------(an entire Bible would help)
4) A favourite poem from a famous poet
5) A favourite non-fiction book
--------(preferably well marked up!)
6) A list of your favourite places
7) The name of someone you love, and a list of things he/she does well
8) Other items that would be of unique inspiration to you.
--------(All but #5 might be able to be saved to your laptop)

I hope to see you at Write! Canada, and have the opportunity to help you grow as a writer!

Check out my blog about Christian poetry: Kingdom Poets Become a follower, or leave a comment.

D.S. Martin is Music Critic for Christian Week. He is the award-winning author of the poetry collections Poiema (Wipf & Stock) and So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed (Rubicon Press). They are both available at: www.dsmartin.ca

Grand Rapids — Martin

Something special is in the air come the middle of April — every other year — in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s when a massing occurs, a migration, a gathering of writers from across the continent, including some of the best known of their various genres. The Festival of Faith & Writing is the place to be for anyone who loves Christian writing, and particularly for those who engage in the writing itself.

Start a list of the very finest Christian writers in whatever genre you most enjoy, and chances are they’ve appeared at the festival. What is particularly amazing is how many of them appear in the same year. The festival also broadens to include writers of other faiths, and secular writers who address well the issues of faith.

It is the poets who interest me most. This year Luci Shaw, Robert Siegel, Scott Cairns, Christian Wiman, Jeanne Murray Walker, and several other top-notch Christian poets appeared. In 2008, I was delighted to meet Paul Mariani, Franz Wright and Rod Jellema — to name a few.

Many Canadians make the biannual trip — particularly from southern Ontario. Four friends from my writers group came this year, as well as a number of others I know. Hugh Cook presented a workshop, and Rudy Wiebe, was another speaker. I didn’t get a chance to catch either of Rudy’s presentations, because there was too much else going on. In most time slots there are ten different options, most of which don’t require preregistration.

This was my fourth visit to the festival, and am already planning to attend in 2012. My report following festival 2008 is available here

Here's a link to the festival website.

Check out Kingdom Poets become a follower, and leave a comment.

D.S. Martin is Music Critic for Christian Week. He is the award-winning author of the poetry collections Poiema (Wipf & Stock) and So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed (Rubicon Press). They are both available at: www.dsmartin.ca

Checking my Attitude - M. Laycock

Like many who are on this list, I attended Write! Canada recently. As many have already said, it was a good conference. There were a lot of teachers there willing and able to share their expertise with new and growing writers. There were editors and publishers willing to listen to pitches and just chat, even through their lunch and dinner hours. I heard good comments about workshops and inspiring plenary sessions. The venue was beautiful and the food fantastic. The organizers had done their work well, with much attention to detail.

But there was one thing I found disturbing.

As at most writers’ conferences, the faculty were to do interviews in 15 minute slots. They posted signup sheets and eager writers swarmed into the gym to reserve time with editors, publishers and advanced writers. They were held back by the moderator, who told them that to be fair, no-one could sign up until a specific time. That's when I noticed things went a little awry.

People began jockeying for position, some even shoving and elbowing and insisting on being first. When the 'okay' was finally given it was like the proverbial feeding frenzy. I confess, as people surged to the wall my pugnacious Irish nature began to rear its ugly head. I had to back away. I had intended to sign up for an interview with an editor, but I knew if I waded into the fray my elbows would go up too.

Later, as I was moderating the interviews, calling "Time" when the 15 minutes were up, I witnessed a few more incidents that were disturbing. Some of the faculty had trouble arriving on time, so people were waiting, and the time slots got pushed further and further off schedule. Some people got bumped altogether. And some were not happy about it. One young woman hovered over the shoulder of an editor and even interrupted him to say that it was "My turn now," even though she knew the person being interviewed had only been there for a few moments.

I understand the eagerness - or should I say desperation? – that drives us to try and put our work in front of those who are in a position to take it to the next level. I understand it all too well. But perhaps there should have been a large banner across the top of the signup sheets, "Honour one another above yourselves.” (Romans 12:10b)

The week after the conference I received a note from the woman who had coordinated the moderating of the interviews. She said she had appreciated my calm spirit. I appreciated her words, but I know where that spirit came from and it wasn’t me. Without the constant whispers of God’s spirit in my ear, I’d be giving in far too often to that Irish nature I mentioned. I have to recite that verse to myself many times, sometimes many times in one day!

In fact, I found myself getting a little ‘testy’ toward the end of the conference because I was not able to attend the sessions I’d planned to. My need to assert my “rights” kept whispering that it was unfair. It took several days before I could get around that voice, repent of the attitude and be thankful for the opportunity to attend a conference of such high calibre. As I prayed the Lord whispered, “what about the opportunity to serve?” Oh, yeah, there was that.

It’s not easy to go against our nature, which constantly hollers, “me first!” But it is one of the things the Bible urges us to work at. Preferring one another is just one of the admonitions.

Doing it requires a concerted effort to depend on God. It requires tuning out the voices that tell me to demand my “rights” and tuning in the voice that says I have been given much that I might serve others. As a writer I need to trust Him to arrange the interviews and contacts, trust His timing for my manuscripts, trust His plan for my life and for my work.

As a Christian I need to keep sharpening my understanding of the scriptures that teach these things, instead of sharpening my elbows.

Marcia Lee Laycock
Author of One Smooth Stone & Focused Reflections
www.vinemarc.com