For a more literary tale, choose Emma Donoghue’s acclaimed story, Room, where a five-year-old boy, confined to his room, recounts the dark but eventually triumphant end. Several years earlier, Old Nick abducted and raped Jack’s mother. Though innocent, Jack is wise beyond his years because his mother taught him to read and write. He considers television characters his personal friends. All nouns are proper and article-free, for example, Snake, the eggshell creation living under Bed; Wardrobe, the hideaway where Jack sleeps when Old Nick comes to visit. Their complete dependence on one another enriches the tender love between mother and son. Jack proves to have learned his lessons well when the couple attempt an escape. Sometimes suspenseful and always moving. Fans of Chris Cleave’s Little Bee should pick up his earlier book Incendiary. As in Little Bee, Incendiary tackles real human struggles and helps us to empathize deeply with characters different from us. A heartbroken working-class Englishwoman writes a book-length letter to Osama Bin Laden, revealing how his recent (fictitious) terror attack on London destroyed her life. Her beloved “boys” (her husband and son) were among the victims of a bombing at a football stadium. First, we taste a little of their modest life and learn of their hopes and dreams. Then we learn of

A newsletter for writers and editors produced by

May/June 2011 Vol. 17 No. 3

Continued on page 2...

Ken Follett is back with another doorstopper. The first in a trilogy, Fall of Giants traces several families in Wales, England, Germany and Russia. In Wales, the Williams family takes centre stage. Ethel and Billy are teens in a struggling but politically astute mining family. A mining disaster and a strike provide suspense. Ethel works for the Earl of Fitzgerald, who takes advantage of her innocence. His sister falls in love with a German ambassador, while the complexities of the Russian revolution play out in the midst of a world war. Occasionally the weaving of plots becomes strained and predictable, but despite its 1000 pages, it’s a fast read.

Hot Summer

Reads Once again, Karen Cole

spent the winter devouring books. She reviews them

here so you can enjoy a summer full of great

reading.

By Karen Cole

2

Breakfast in July!

JULY 9th – THE WCDR SLAM IS BACK!

the bombing and its aftermath; the paranoia and personal prisons created as a result. An intriguing sexual triangle that crosses class boundaries shines a light on ingrained prejudices. The story is haunting and beautiful. The debut novel of Shilpi Somaya Gowda, Secret Daughter, topped best-sellers’ charts for months. Born in Toronto, now living in Texas, the author paints a wrenching story of an infertile California doctor, Somer Thakkar, a Caucasian married to an Indian. Meanwhile, in the slums of rural India, Kavita Marchant gives birth to a second daughter. Since her husband snatched away the first one, Kavita treks to Bombay to save Usha by putting her in an orphanage. Convinced by her husband to return with him to India to adopt a child, Somer finds that she hates everything about India: the heat, the bugs, the beggars, everything except Usha, renamed Asha. Twenty years of interwoven history pass as Somer and Asha often clash. Asha longs to explore her roots, finally doing so in her university days. Despite contrived coincidences, the outcome is poignant and unsentimental. Another best-seller lauded by the

media is the non-fiction work by Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Born impoverished in Virginia in 1920, Henrietta died young, but her cells lived on. Shortly after the birth of her fifth child in 1951, Henrietta was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cervical cancer. At that time black people like Henrietta were treated free of charge at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Her surgeon passed along a tissue sample of the cancerous tumour to George Gey, a researcher who was trying to grow cells in a Petri dish. Until then, all the cells had died but Henrietta’s cells multiplied rapidly. Neither she nor her family were informed, but a multimillion dollar industry grew from the research that followed. A few months after her surgery,

Henrietta died. Skloot began researching this story in the late ‘80s. The Lacks survivors were reluctant to talk, but finally Skloot’s persistence paid off. This heartbreaking story reads like a novel. It’s also a wakeup call about rights of science versus those of the individual. I’m lucky to be able to read a book a week, so these are just a few of the many I could recommend—and would be willing to lend to eager readers.

From the cover...

Karen L. Cole is the author of

the 2009 memoir, Lifting the

Veil. She is shopping her novel

about Jamaica, Southern

Exposure, to publishers.

Currently, Karen is writing a

novel, Letters to Louise, based

on an old box of letters.

www.karenlcole.wordpress.com.

Last July, The WCDR breakfast meeting was alive with the sounds of laughter and tears as we held our first SLAM competition. By popular demand, we’re bringing it back in 2011! Member auditions will be held Monday evening, June 27th, in Whitby. (Watch your emails for time and place.) Competitors will each have THREE MINUTES to perform an original piece of writing. The SEVEN highest-scoring slammers will advance to the FINAL ROUND at the WCDR breakfast meeting on Saturday, July 9th, where audience members will vote and Special Guest Performer and Slam Champion Eytan Crouton will entertain us. The SLAM WINNER will take home the coveted WCDR SLAM GAVEL TROPHY and $100.00 cash! YOU MUST BE A WCDR MEMBER AND REGISTER IN ADVANCE TO ENTER. Visit http://wcdr.ca/wcdr/?p=6957 to Register and for more details.

information, the editor should send you a written quote with the fee and time line. You may be asked to sign a contract or agreement, though not every editor does this. If you don’t have a contract, ask the editor to outline the details in an email, so you both have them in writing. Minimally, this includes what the editor will do, when you can expect the edited manuscript, how many edits you can expect, how it will be delivered, the fee, and what happens if one of you decides to terminate the project before it’s completed. Almost all editing is done on-screen. This means you can expect to exchange versions of

3

You’ve completed your manuscript and found an editor. Now what? While you might have an idea of what kind of help you need from an editor, frankly, most editors don’t expect the author to know. Often, they’ll receive a manuscript from an author who is sure the writing is fine and just needs a quick “once over,” only to find that much more is needed. This doesn’t mean the work was poorly written. But the author is usually too close to the work to be objective, and doesn’t see where changes are needed to correct or improve it. The author might stumble over a problem, not know how to handle it, get used to it after a few readings, and decide it’s fine. Usually, the best way to find out what kind of editing your manuscript needs is to ask the editor. Once you connect with an editor you’d like to work with, you’ll likely be asked to send a sample of your manuscript. This allows the editor to get an idea of a) what type(s) of editing is/are needed and b) how much work will be involved. You’ll also be asked about the length of your manuscript. Based on this

your manuscript by email. Usually, the editor’s suggested changes and any specific comments will be directly in your manuscript, often using the Track Changes feature in MS Word®. If you find it difficult to read the marked up text, you can also request a clean copy with the changes incorporated, for ease of reading. If you agree on a hard copy edit instead of an on-screen one, the editor’s suggested changes will be written directly on your manuscript or on sticky notes attached to it. With either method, you’ll likely also receive a note outlining any general comments or suggestions that apply to the whole manuscript. Once you receive the edited manuscript, you’ll need to decide which corrections you agree with, and accept them, and which ones you disagree with, and reject them. If something isn’t clear, make sure to ask for an explanation. It’s common practice to include a second, lighter edit after you’ve had a

Continued on page 4...

By Sherry Hinman

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM AN EDITOR:

THE PROCESS

REMINDER: No Breakfast scheduled for August.

Next After-Breakfast Mini-Workshop is September, 2011

Putting the ‘tilt’ in your writing with Ingrid Ruthig.

4

chance to incorporate the changes, but this and any other details must be negotiated ahead of time. Editors’ fees vary greatly, depending on the number and type of tasks the editor is expected to carry out. There are various ways of quoting: by the word, page, hour, or project. Regardless of the type of quote, most editors will have an hourly rate in mind as a basis on which to calculate the fee, and this can vary anywhere from $30 to $100 or more. After your manuscript has been edited, the next steps differ depending on what you plan to do with it. If your manuscript is accepted by an agent or publisher, it will go through another round of editing, though publishers usually look for manuscripts

Sherry Hinman is a Certified Professional Editor, freelance

writer, and teacher. She is treasurer and co-chair of the Ontario Writers’ Conference,

and a past president of the WCDR. You can reach Sherry

at info@thewriteangle.ca.

that don’t require a lot of work. If you are planning to self-publish, the editor you hire is usually the last person to have a crack at it, though you’ll still need a designer to ready the manuscript for publishing, and a proofreader to check all the elements of the page. Then it’s time to start thinking about the sequel!

Theme: TRADITIONS 600 words maximum

Email to wordweaver@wcdr.org Before July 30th

Submit your best PROSE (only).

Stretch your creativity!

In each edition, the writing challenge will ask for a new theme and writing style. Challenge yourself by writing outside your comfort zone!

Read more about Dorothea Helms a.k.a. The Writing Fairy at www.thewritingfairy.com

5

If I told you that cash flow is both a science and an art, and that freelance writers can figure out how to get and maintain one, you might stop reading this column for fear that it may involve a reference to numbers. CHICKEN! Yes, that’s right. A lot of freelancers shy away from what they need to do to make money because they are far too comfortable wallowing around in their right brains to pay attention to keeping accurate business books. The bad news is that you have to, if you want to make money and enjoy a successful career. The good news is, it’s not rocket science. It is a left-brain pursuit that helps you continue to produce your “art” for a living. Among the bookkeeping practices worthy of your attention is cash flow. So, what is it? To tell you the truth, I didn’t understand the concept of cash flow until I got one. The concept is simple–how much money flows into your business and how much flows out, and when. Seem too easy? As writers, we don’t have hundreds of transactions

occurring every day like a retail store, so it’s pretty straightforward. You write, invoice for the writing, deposit cheques when they arrive, write cheques for or charge expenses, equipment and overhead—and, of course, pay yourself. Keeping track of what’s coming in and going out allows you to know how much money you have at your disposal at any given time, and helps you to budget for things like paying income tax and HST when you need to. I’m not ignoring the fact that freelancing can be a challenge where cash flow is concerned. Some clients pay within 30 days; others may pay in 60 or even 90 days. During economic dips, it may take longer. There is a certain “art” to juggling input and output to keep afloat, but you can do it.

If there’s more going out than in, which is often the case for beginning freelancers, you need Plan B to carry you through until your revenue exceeds your financial outlay. Some freelancers finance their businesses through family backing or personal money. Others write business plans and approach their banks for loans. However you do it, remember that cash flow is a sign of your business health. The first rule of creating a healthy cash flow is to create one, period. And then keep track of it. Face those numbers head on. Six-digit freelancers didn’t get that way by being chicken.

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Harold Downham and his cousin Danny Crofts lived on my street, and I am convinced that Danny taught me how to write. Perhaps “caused” is a better word than “taught” because I really don’t think Harold or Danny could teach a stick to lie still. At seven years old, I had finished reading Moby Dick. I was honing my reading skills at the same time I was learning to speak the English language. After that, I tackled all of the classics, including A Tale of Two Cities, Of Mice and Men and Oliver Twist. Every day, Harold Downham would hide in the undergrowth on the footpath waiting for me to walk by. The footpath was two blocks long, sloped sharply downhill and had high bushes on both sides. I was a skinny kid with a serious stubborn streak—I knew that Harold was waiting for me but I was going to walk that way anyway.

How I Became a Writer BY PETER CLUFF

After two years of this brutality, I had had enough. When Harold jumped on me, I started yelling lines from The Red Badge of Courage. Harold could not process all of the words that I was throwing at him, so he muttered, “I’ll get Danny after you,” and skulked away. This was my first experience with the power of the pen! The next day, Danny Crofts hung me by my ankles over a bridge. I was a little concerned

about being dropped twenty feet into the cold water below, but my oldest brother Pat had told me private things that Danny talked about at school. So I simply said, “Danny, drop me and everyone will hear what you did with the Schramm sisters.” The Schramms were just about the homeliest people in our town, and they lived right beside Danny. My threat was totally bogus but based on pretty good intel. He silently pulled me up and neither he nor Harold ever threatened me again! I then swore that I would become a writer. There were so many interesting stories in the world, and after my encounter with Danny, I knew that I could create stories with the best of them.

Peter Cluff was a business coach for six years but decided five

months ago to write full time. He has a business

book and a novel (thriller) in the works.

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Submit your story (350 words max)

to wordweaver@wcdr.org Before July 30th

My atelier looks out over a Parisian side street, tangerine in the afternoon sun. Accordion music wafts up from the café below, carrying the sounds of merriment and the tinkle of glasses. In my smoking jacket and beret I stand staring out the window at the gridlock below. I languidly draw on my Calabash pipe and sip wine. On a small desk behind me, my faithful Smith-Corona stands, eager for us to resume our book. This is one of my earliest memories. I was perhaps seven years old. The atelier was my bedroom overlooking the driveway; my smoking jacket a bathrobe; the wine, gingerale. My pipe was real, but empty. The typewriter held a page from my first book, a Hardy Boys mystery.

To Dream, Perchance to Write, Ay There’s the Rub

By Dave Jones

I was encouraged to write because a poem I submitted to radio station CFRB was read on air. Imagine, they liked what I wrote! It felt great. That Hardy Boys book with a few pages in it, along with other stories, was stored in the typewriter case, destined to somehow disappear over the years. However, the image of my writer self contemplating his latest plot twist while gazing out the window is still vivid in my mind. The dream of celebrity may have dimmed, but it too still lives. My mind’s eye now also envisions Stephen King and me on a beach swapping tales of writing and book signings. It’s all merely a pipe dream though, unless one, perchance, actually writes. At this later stage of life, I have rejoined my quest to live the

dream. As a carver takes a block of wood and strips away bits and layers until a figure emerges, so a writer creates a block of words then strips, shapes and polishes them until his creation emerges. Practising this craft is considerably more challenging than back in my pipe dream atelier, yet is still very satisfying. Today, I’m encouraged because some of my recent work has been published in the Toronto Star and some smaller publications. That’s one step closer to chatting with Stephen on the beach. I write on and dream.

Dave loves spending hours writing daily. He’s had articles in national and local

publications. When not writing, Dave strums the guitar,

reads and likes poking dead things with a

stick.

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Monday evening, May 26th, WCDR members took a walk on the wild side with the launch of the Wild Words Anthology in Ajax. Ten of the writers included in the anthology wowed the crowd with selections from their pieces. The dedicated contest committee, Heather O’Connor, Theresa Dekker and Ruth Walker, looked on with pride, and WCDR supporter Dawn Riddoch manned the sales table where the first run of the books sold out that very night! Susanna Kearsley came and spoke her judge’s

Heather Tucker reads her first- and second-place pieces.

Patrick Meade

Anna Gersman

Connie di Pietro Sparacino

blessing over all the writers. WCDR president, James Dewar, hosted the evening, and a wide selection of supporters were on hand to stomp, clap, cheer, laugh and cry as they listened to the readings. The restaurant, Azian, did us proud with delicious appetizers from all over the Pacific Rim. The place was standing room only. If you were there, you know what a great time was had by all. If you weren’t there, make sure you’re part of next year’s event: enter the Whispered Words Prose Competition!

Some of the Wild Words readers…

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By Heather M. O’Connor

Ingrid Ruthig

Who Who’s

Ingrid Ruthig traced a unique path to writing. Captured first by architecture, a blend of many disciplines, she now builds with words and images. The award-winning writer’s prose and poetry have appeared in many prominent Canadian and international literary journals. Her innovative “textwork,” Slipstream, on display recently at the Aurora Cultural Centre, blends language with visual art, something akin, she says, to “mixing lyrics with music.” WORD WEAVER: Do you perceive any parallels between writing/poetry and architecture? INGRID RUTHIG: Actually, yes. They’re both reliant on structure, space, visuals, ideas. To communicate in any medium, one needs a solid understanding of its history, forms, tools, etc. Good architecture manipulates space and light without a person being fully aware of why it’s a pleasurable experience. The same applies to writing (and poetry especially); it manipulates the reader’s experience of it, hopefully without calling too much attention to the writer’s skill. You simply notice that “whoa, this is doing something to me!” WW: You now pursue a multidisciplinary dedication to the arts, with both writing and

visual arts to your credit. How does art affect your writing and vice versa? IR: They are fed by the same drive to make or recreate, and inform each other, even while they take shape in their own ways. The writing sparks ideas about how I might change the experience of it, by expressing or enhancing its visual nature. The art now nudges ideas about what might suit the next text-based canvas or series. It’s a way for me to blend the tangible aspects of language, printed text, and books, with colour, texture and movement, to try to produce a new and, hopefully, more deeply layered aesthetic experience than each might provide on its own. WW: How did Slipstream come to be? IR: Slipstream grew out of rough notes for a much larger narrative I began in 2007. By imposing the structure and temporal nature of traditional Japanese haiku poetic form, I distilled it, word by word and image by image, into a series of twenty poems. It’s a contemplation of time, change, memory, absence and acceptance. Two years after

completing the sequence, I decided to transpose Slipstream from the private text-on-a-page incarnation to a more public form—something I’ve termed a “textwork.” WW: What is special and unique about Slipstream? IR: The curator for the Aurora Cultural Centre show said she’s never seen anything like it before. The text is anchored around a photograph you have to look twice to see, since I digitally altered and segmented it to reveal its inherent graphic, near-calligraphic qualities. I then printed everything on a variety of papers and assembled the layers to produce twenty linked panels. Traditional Japanese painting influenced arrangement and colour scheme, and each poem, in word and visual form, recreates time’s hypnotic effect of cycles and linear passage. The viewer-reader is drawn forward by way of a visual slipstream, perceiving only subtle changes that occur from panel to panel, from moment to moment. So, in a way, I think Slipstream is a bit like a book pulled apart; but it’s more than that because each panel is a separate experience within the narrative. WW: What response is it receiving? IR: It seems to have struck a note with many people. When you spy someone taking time and leaning in close, you know something’s resonating. The thoughtful paragraph that accompanied Snap Aurora’s photos from the show opening was particularly gratifying to

Continued on page 10...

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read, and some viewers were eager to talk to me about Slipstream. It often opens your eyes to aspects you’ve been too close to the work to see. WW: Tell me about the Slipstream book that is forthcoming. IR: Originally written for a chapbook, Slipstream—from notes to poem sequence to textwork to book—has had a long and exciting journey! The artist’s bookwork—i.e. a book designed and made by an artist—will retain much of the textwork’s art and “feel.” I’ve redesigned it somewhat to suit this final form, and will produce it in a handmade, deluxe, limited edition, as well as in a regular edition (also handmade.) Details about the book and launch will be available on my website at ingridruthig.wordpress.com. WW: What do you see in the future for poetry in Canada? IR: There’s no crystal ball, but I suspect poetry will survive, despite the turbulence of the current publishing world, the few presses who print it, and a microscopic audience. It’s an old art form that still renders an idea or a moment in a way nothing else can, and those who love it will continue to make it because they must. When any poet gets the words just right, or when I’ve had a good day of work and managed to write a few lines that sing, it prompts a brilliant feeling of having captured something exciting and satisfying!

continued Who Who’s

A year has passed since the

historic 2010 Annual

General Meeting. Much-

needed changes were made

to improve both the

administration of the WCDR

and our capacity to envision

and plan for the future. Our

organization has grown to

four hundred members in a

hubbub of interested creative

writers across all genres and

forms. Now we need to

reward that creative courage

and deliver ways to help

each other find good footing

and move steadily toward

our goals. Don’t worry;

we’re on that challenge! The

new writing circle

accreditation program will

be starting in September, as

well as writing circles for

youth.

June is also a bittersweet

time for us on the board. Not

only will we join in the

excited welcoming of those

who have volunteered to

become a part of this busy

board, but we will also say

goodbye to those board

members whose exemplary

service has been

instrumental in the success

that the WCDR enjoys. We

say goodbye to our Special

Events Coordinator Thomas

Hello fellow authors and writing aficionados:

Moss, with one year of

service, and our Public

Relations wiz Dorothea

Helms, after two years,

although Dorothea has served

on previous boards several

times. Thanks for your

contributions!

We have a special goodbye,

however, for a man whose

vision and dedication built

the fabulous website and

communication network that

have become such a key

component of our everyday

lives. For eight years, Rich

Helms filtered, recorded and

sent out the almost daily

paeans and announcements

that kept us up to date on our

members’ many

accomplishments, workshops

and other newsworthy items.

Behind the scenes he worked

tirelessly, keeping watch over

all of us by uncovering on-

line scams, helping many of

us learn WordPress and being

as generous as the best big

brother anyone could possibly

be, watching our backs. His

ongoing role in thanking our

guest speakers in an attentive

and precise manner spoke so

well for all of us. Thanks for

your enthusiasm and

dedication, you wonderful

man!

James Dewar

President

Notes from the Board

June 25th is

Save The Bookstore Day!

To show support for our favourite bookstore, we are heading to Blue Heron Books on the morning of June 25th to buy a book (or 4).

Mark it on your calendar! Invite your friends!

When: Saturday, June 25 · 9am-11am Where: Blue Heron Books, 62 Brock Street West, Uxbridge

Let's SWARM BLUE HERON!

11

The Editor’s Desk

Start

writing

QUIETLY!

So, here I am writing for the first time as the editor of The Word Weaver. My third edition is almost ready to be published and I’m really looking forward to hearing some feedback. Of course I’d love to hear that every single WCDR member loved the content and the layout, but I’m not picky. Tell me straight. I want to hear from you! Would it help if I introduced myself? You know my name from the very fine print on the back page, and it’s under my picture above. That’s a very good picture of me and I’d like you to note that it’s not Photoshopped…just a lucky shot. I’m a full-time freelance

Note

s from

By Cathy Minz

copywriter, a mom of three incredible children, a community volunteer and, at times, a nosey neighbour. An eternal optimist, I believe that one good thing leads to another and we are all connected to each other and our environment. That’s why I put so much effort into being the best writer, mom, volunteer and nosey neighbour I can be. To be the best editor I can be, I need to hear from you. Send me story ideas, writing challenge entries or just a plain old “hello.” I’m looking forward to it. Email me at wordweaver@wcdr.org.

The Word Weaver is published by The Writers’ Community of Durham Region as

a service to its members and other interested parties. No one should act

upon advice given without considering the facts of specific situations and/or consulting appropriate professional

advisors. Publications are invited to quote from The

Word Weaver upon obtaining written permission from the President,

The Writers’ Community of Durham Region,

Bayly Postal Outlet, P.O. Box 14558, 75 Bayly Street West, Ajax, ON

L1S 7K7 905-686-0211 www.wcdr.org

Word Weaver subscription: $12/year (six issues).

We reserve the right to edit or reject submissions at our discretion.

Editor/Desktop Publishing: Cathy Minz

Copy Editor: Sherry Hinman

We welcome your input! Send questions/comments/article ideas

to wordweaver@wcdr.org.

12

Sally Moore Workshop Coordinator

Maureen Curry Membership

Christina Vasilevski Secretary

Thomas Moss Special Events

Dorothea Helms Public Relations

James Dewar President

Theresa Dekker Vice-President/

Breakfast Coordinator

Sue Reynolds Past President/

Treasurer

Rich Helms Web Liaison

webmaster@wcdr.org

For complete board bios or to contact a board member visit

www.wcdr.org

2010/2011 Board of Directors

Member Paeans

Congratulations to these WCDR members:

Ruth Walker Phil Dwyer

Graham Ducker Elizabeth Tyrrell

John Draper Ruth Zaryski Jackson

Heather Whaley

For a detailed list of what your fellow writers have been up to, visit

www.wcdr.org.

A Very Warm Welcome to Our

New & Returning Members

Marissa Campbell Terry Fox

Sara Gallagher Rachael Jackson

Aleks Nikolic Helene Paquin

Sharon Sanderson Chevon Gael Lisa Liscoumb Tyler Redman

Anthony Thompson