Thursday, December 31, 2009

Ten Stories High, short story competition

"Do you have the write stuff ?"
The Canadian Authors Association, Niagara Branch, is holding its eleventh annual "Ten Stories High" short story competition - open to all Ontario residents. Stories can be of any genre but must be previously unpublished and between 1,000 and 3,000 words. (No personal essays, memoirs, children's literature or non-fiction please.)

For first Canadian rights, the top ten finalists will have their stories published in an anthology in the fall. The award for first place is $300; second, $200; and third, $100.  Winning entries will also receive story evaluations.

Entry fee:  $15 per story.  Deadline: March 31.
Full details here: http://www.canauthorsniagara.org/Resources/ShortStoryContest.html

Note: For information about all the annual writing contests in Canada, order The Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar. Details here.

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

"My Father’s Gun," by Rita Bailey


My father’s gun sat on top of the TV in our living room. It was the first thing you saw when you walked in: the television, big and boxy with four legs and a flat top, a 60’s model, and the gun sitting on top, small and black in a brown leather holster, a Smith and Wesson model.

I can almost see your eyebrows going up at the image of a gun on a TV, with the family gathered round watching Hockey Night in Canada and the Ed Sullivan Show. It jars with our media-shaped idea of normal life, at least as it was back in the days of Beaver Cleaver. Guns didn’t belong on TV’s in suburban living rooms. Guns were found in sheds or barns or clapboard farmhouses with wooden screen doors or in the back of mud-splattered pickup trucks.

But we didn’t have a wooden screen door or a pickup or even a shed. We had a red-brick house in the suburbs, and my father was a cop. He hated guns and often joked that he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, not that there were any barns in downtown Toronto where he worked.

If it makes you feel any better, before putting it on the TV, he always took the bullets out of his gun and locked them in his old leather briefcase at the back of the hall closet, which we knew was permanently out of bounds.

Ours was a busy, crowded house, crammed with eight kids, my parents, and an aunt – eleven people in all. Things could easily go missing in a house like that, overflowing as it was with laundry baskets, school books, board games and winter boots. But the gun, and the gun alone, had pride of place on the TV. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. The television was the hub of our existence, so my parents would immediately know if someone touched it. My mother was a regular air-traffic controller, with a built-in radar for our movements at all times. And, since the gun was out in the open, there was none of the allure of the forbidden fruit. It was just there, part of the furniture. In truth, we didn’t even notice it.

My father was a grade 11 drop-out. His education was the kind you got just by surviving the depression in an inner-city neighbourhood, and by serving in the Second World War. He preferred street psychology to the use of force, and employed various bluffs with the skill of a card shark. “Stop or I’ll shoot,” was one of his favourites, reserved for use on those days when he had left his gun on top of the TV. Another ruse, pulled out when he was too out of breath to chase someone, was, “There’s no use running, I know who you are and where you live.” What amazed him, he once told me, was that most of the time his techniques worked, and saved a lot of wear and tear on his body.

He told another story about a suspect who was resisting arrest. Knowing he couldn’t overpower the man, my father, who had an ample girth, simply fell on him, and had the man cuffed before he could catch his breath.

Looking back, I realize that these stories were probably exaggerated, told by my father to reassure and entertain his children, so we wouldn’t worry about him. But whenever I hear about Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man tazered to death at the Vancouver Airport by the RCMP, I think about my father.

Times have changed. So has crime, according to the media, and so, for better or worse, has policing. I’m sure officers are longer allowed to take weapons home and leave them on top of the TV. Vancouver in the 21st century is not Toronto in the 1960’s. Drugs, gangs, guns, and the threat of terrorists have raised the stakes to new levels. We all seem to be living in a culture of fear, afraid to talk to a stranger, isolating ourselves behind locked doors and security cameras.

But the video of Robert Dziekanski’s death plays in a continuous loop in my mind. The officers who tazered him were probably better trained and educated than my father, and had the latest technology at their disposal. But they don’t seem to have had any people skills. Maybe they needed less training in weapons and more in human psychology. Maybe they just needed to play more card games.

Somehow I think my father, with his beer belly, and his lousy aim would have handled it differently. Maybe he would have tried talking to the man, offering him a meal or even a beer. If all else failed, he could have fallen on him. But he wouldn’t have used the Tazer. Most likely he wouldn’t even have had it with him. He would have left it at home, in the living room, sitting on the TV.
*
Rita Bailey lives, writes and gardens in downtown Hamilton. When not writing, she volunteers with various environmental and social justice organizations.

Note: For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing classes, see here.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Call for submissions for poetry anthology


The Canadian Federation of Poets is publishing an anthology, and they’re looking for poems on nine different themes:
Peace
Love
Travel
Children
Relationships
Marriage
Food
Seasons
Spirituality

You can enter one poem per topic (unless you’re a CFP member and then you can enter three). Submit any poem that's on topic, of any length.

click on your topic and submit your poem on-line.

Note: For information on Brian Henry's upcoming writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Monday, December 28, 2009

The Engagement Project, by Brenda Harlen

Megan Roarke had a secret crush on Gage Richmond - but what woman didn't? The gorgeous heir apparent to his family's pharmaceutical company was also a legendary playboy. So why had Megan's boss selected her to be his temporary fiancĂ©e?

It was only supposed to last six months, so Gage could win a coveted promotion. But once his sweet, shy employee accepted his offer, everything changed. Falling for Megan was the easy part. Now if Gage could just convince her that they were ready for the next step - that fateful walk down the aisle...

This is Brenda Harlen’s 16th romance novel. Brenda will be the guest speaker at the “How to Write and Sell a Romance Novel” workshop, Jan 16 in Hamilton. Details here.

Note: For information about all of Bria Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

"The Great Turkey Flood," by Laurel Karry


My instructions were simple: “Soak the bird in the laundry basin for a few hours so it can thaw.”

“No problem,” Jeff replied.

The turkey had been defrosting in the refrigerator for two days, but at this rate it wasn’t ever going to be ready for the roaster or for my in-laws. It was Thanksgiving Eve and our turn to host the family dinner.

I thought I'd left the Butterball in good hands and set off to run errands. Jeff would meet me in Grimsby at three o’clock for some horseback riding with our nephews. We’d have dinner at their house and come home to prepare the turkey at ours. What could be simpler?

I arrived home first, some eight hours later, pulled into the garage and shut off the car, or so I thought I had. Still, I could hear a loud hissing sound, not like the sound of an engine really, but like the sound of water running through pipes. Must be the dishwasher, I thought. I got out of the car, carried my sleeping daughter to the door, and hoped for nothing else but a good night’s sleep before the Thanksgiving festivities the next day. It wasn’t meant to be.

I opened the garage door, the door that connects the garage to the laundry room, and there it was, treading water, bobbing and floating just above the sides of the white plastic sink in the laundry room while gallons of precious H2O poured out of the faucet and over the basin like the Niagara River over Niagara Falls: our soon-to-be Thanksgiving turkey dinner.

A stream of cold, clean tap water covered the ceramic tile flooring in a river as deep as the wall base molding and as wide as the walls would allow, making it no further than the first floor powder room, as far as I could tell.

I shut off the tap, took my daughter upstairs to bed, and thought about what I’d just seen. I rolled up my pant legs, walked back downstairs, and bravely headed into the deepest recesses of our home, the basement.

Imagine, if you can, a tropical rain forest in the basement of your house. There was water everywhere, and lots of it, pouring from the ceiling like rain, saturating every cardboard box in sight. It had seeped into the boxes of Christmas ornaments, tree skirts, tablecloths and napkins …into every file folder of lesson plans for Shakespeare, Austen, and Blake… … into every Scrabble, Yahtzee, and Twister game…and into every stack of old photos we owned. Every single box was a sopping mess of pulp.

Jeff soon appeared at the top of the basement stairs. He stood in disbelief, as did I, and then sheepishly grabbed the nearest mop.

“I did just as you said,” he told me as we attempted to reverse the flood. “I filled the tub with water, turned off the tap and left the room. When I came back to check on the turkey, the water had drained out of the laundry basin, so I turned on the faucet to let it fill up again and left, intending to return in a couple of minutes to turn it off before heading out to meet you at the stables. After that, I don’t know what happened. To get to the garage, I needed to walk through the laundry room, past the sink, and past the bird. For some reason, I didn’t notice the water shooting full blast out of the faucet and into the tub. But how could that be? How could that be?”

A question we will never have an answer to.

And so, the Butterball turkey had sat, and it sat, and it sat. For some eight long wet hours that featherless fowl sat all alone atop a laundry tub full of ice cold tap water, unable to sink or swim or call for help. Nonetheless, the next day, our Thanksgiving dinner for twelve continued as planned. Well, sort of.

All the furniture in the family room had been pulled into the middle, making conversations quite intimate, with everyone expected to take his turn stomping across the many towels absorbing the broth-soaked carpet. Other than that, the sun shone through every window, the laundry room floor sparkled, and the turkey was exceptionally moist.

Jokes abounded, as did valuable advice.

“Now dear,” Jeff’s mom whispered to me, gesturing to her cerebellum, “you just tuck this experience way back here. For when you need it.” A smile of forty-some years of marital experience flashed across her face. Who was I to argue with that much wisdom?

The insurance company and restoration contractors arrived Monday with industrial-sized fans and dehumidifiers that ran for five days straight on the main and lower floors of the house. By the time the drying out was done, my head felt like I'd been under the hair dryer at Betty's Hair Salon for the good part of a week. The contractor’s instructions were simple: tear out the family-room carpet, throw out every cardboard box in sight, invest in Rubbermaid…and never, ever, let your husband near the turkey again!
*
Laurel Karry has found her muse on Moon River in Bala, Ontario. (For a view of heaven, click on the photo.)  Although this is her summer writing hang-out, she does manage to write some pieces during the other three seasons as well. For the past ten years, she has been a full-time writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Her acceptance to The Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta is her greatest writing accomplishment to date. Saving drowned turkeys is not one of her specialties.  

Note: For  information on Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

“Writing Your Life,” Saturday, April 10, Toronto

Writing memoirs and other true stories
Saturday, April 10
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
World's Biggest Bookstore, 20 Edward St, Toronto
(A block north of Dundas, just west off Yonge St.)

Have you ever considered writing your memoirs or family history? This workshop will introduce you to the tricks and conventions of telling true stories and will show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Whether you want to write for your family or for a wider public, don't miss this workshop.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He has helped many of his students get published, including our guest speaker, Ross Pennie.

Our guest speaker is Dr. Ross Pennie, author of The Unforgiving Tides, a doctor’s memoir of Papua New Guinea (Manor House Publishing). He has also signed a contract with ECW Press for three medical mystery novels. The first of these, Tainted, came out last April; the next will be out in 2010. Dr. Pennie will speak on how to turn ordinary life into dramatic material and will answer questions about how he wrote his memoir and got it published.

Fee: $39.05 plus gst = $41 paid in advance
or $42.86 plus gst = $45 if you wait to pay at the door

To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Note: for information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Thursday, December 24, 2009


“Writing Your Life,” March 27, Guelph

Writing memoirs & other true stories
Saturday, March 27
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Harcourt United Church, 87 Dean Ave, Guelph (map)

Have you ever considered writing your memoirs or family history? This workshop will introduce you to the tricks and conventions of telling true stories and will show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Whether you want to write for your family or for a wider public, don't miss this workshop.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He has helped many of his students get published, including our guest speaker, Ross Pennie.

Our guest speaker will be Dr. Ross Pennie, author of The Unforgiving Tides, a doctor’s memoir of Papua New Guinea (Manor House Publishing). He has also signed a contract with ECW Press for three medical mystery novels. The first of these, Tainted, came out in April. Dr. Pennie will speak on how to turn ordinary life into dramatic material and will answer questions about how he wrote his memoir and got it published.
Visit Ross's website here: http://rosspennie.ca/site/home/

Fee: $39.05 plus gst = $41 paid in advance
or $42.86 plus gst = $45 if you wait to pay at the door

To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Note: For information about all of Brian's workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Levine Greenberg Literary Agency

307 Seventh Avenue
Suite 2407
New York, NY 10001
(212) 337-0934

Levine / Greenberg has seven full-time agents, offices in New York and San Francisco, and represents every category of fiction and non-fiction. Their goal is to guide their clients across a variety of media – books, film and television, audio, and electronic formats.

Co-agents in Hollywood handle movie and television rights with major studios and production companies. Recent books-to-film include Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabes, which was the basis for Mean Girls (written by and starring Tina Fey), and Lisa Lutz's The Spellman Files was optioned by Paramount with Laura Ziskin (Spiderman) attached as producer, and Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) attached to direct.  The agency also represents Amanda Brown, author of Legally Blonde (hence the photo).

As with every agency, the most junior agents are the ones most in need of clients. Levine Greenberg has two such agents:

Monika Verma recently joined Levine Greenberg as an associate agent. She seems to have joined the agency directly out of school (Wellesley College and a year at Oxford), so she has no publishing experience. But she does have the backing and guidance of an agency with considerable clout.

Monika is seeking pop culture, humour, narrative nonfiction, fashion, foodie, and music titles. She loves to represent books that makes people's lives just a few degrees sunnier, be those quirky memoirs, satirical humour collections, or old-fashioned cookbooks.

On the fiction side, Monika likes literary mysteries and suspense. Some of her favourite authors are Kate Atkinson and Benjamin Black. She often suspects that she was born in the wrong century, and loves books that give her a window into an older way of life.

Kerry Sparks, Associate Editor:  Kerrry doesn't have any background in the publishing industry, but she's been with Levine Greenberg a couple months longer than Monika and is just as hungry for clients.

Kerry loves to be transported and surprised when reading both fiction and nonfiction. She is looking for great YA and middle-grade fiction, both commercial and literary, with a fresh voice and compelling story (although she tends to shy away from the paranormal) and enjoys the occasional picture book.

In non-fiction, Kerry is most drawn to health and lifestyle books with a prescriptive focus.

How to contact: Do not send queries directly to the agent’s personal e-mails. Instead, submit through the agency's online form or send your query via submit@levinegreenberg.com
In the subject line, clearly note that it’s a query and for whom; e.g., "Query for Monika."
Do not submit more than 50 pages along with your query. No snail mail queries please. This agency responds within 3 to 6 weeks, but only if interested.

For a full list of agents at Levine Greenberg and what they represent, see here.

Note: For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Contests for short and ultra-short stories and poems

The Binnacle ultra-short
The University of Maine’s Literary and Arts magazine, the Binnacle,  accepts submissions from all over the world and sponsors an annual contest that everybody should enter: the Binnacle’s ultra-short competition. There’s no fee and your piece doesn’t have to be long at all. The maximum length for prose or poetry is 150 words (sixteen lines max for poems).
Submit via email to ummbinnacle@maine.edu
Please include the work in the body of the email message.
Winning entries will be published and will win a minimum award of $50. Please submit no more than two works total, prose and/or poetry.
Deadline: February 15
Complete rules here: http://www.umm.maine.edu/ultra-short-competition.html
As a literary journal, The Binnacle accepts submissions, too. Check out the Binnacle here.

The Writer’s Union of Canada Postcard Story Competition
The Writers’ Union of Canada runs three good contests each year:
The Short Prose Competition, deadline Nov 3
The Writing for Children Competition, deadline April 24
And the Postcard Story Competition, deadline February 14

The Writing for Children contest is probably the best, because the Writers' Union presents the winning manuscripts and all the runners-up to three children's book publishers.  Really there's no better way to get your manuscript under an editor's nose.  But the funnest contest is certainly the Postcard competition.  The challenge is to write a story in just 250 words. You can use humour, poetry, dialogue… anything goes! 

For a wonderful example of a winning entry, check out "The Invasion of the Snotty Badgers" by Karin Weber – it will only take you a minute to read it – here.

Prize: $500 and the winning entry will be published in postcard format.
Deadline: February 14
Entry Fee: $5
Complete rules here: http://www.writersunion.ca/cn_postcard.asp
Links to all the Writer's Union contests here.

Note: For information about all the annual writing contests in Canada, order The Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar. Details here.
For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Quick Brown Fox is 2nd most popular Canadian literary blog

Thank you to everyone who voted for Quick Brown Fox in the Canadian blog awards.  Thanks to your efforts, we're now officially the second most popular literary or cultural blog in Canada.

Congratulations to Praxis Theatre Company, which now has bragging rights as Canada's most popular lit blog.  Check it out here.

Congratulations also to Jennifer Bushman, whose Eat Planet blog came in second in the Crafts & Cooking Category. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out.  Eat Planet offers a unique blend of world recipes, travelogue and memoirs.  See here.

Congratulations to the winner in this category, the food blog, Sift, Dust & Toss.  Sift also won first place in the New Blog category, beating out the South Seas diving blog: Bangkok Dangerous.

Note: For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

P.S. The kids are out of school for the next two weeks.  My blogging may be intermittent.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Plotting novels, writing short stories, Saturday, March 6, Mississauga

How to Build Your Story
Saturday, March 6
10 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Chartwell Baptist Church, 1880 Lakeshore Road West, Mississauga (map)

This workshop will show you how writers plot a novel step by step. You’ll also get the best tips on:
- Writing short stories
- Where to get your stories published
- How to win contests
Best yet, you’ll see how to apply the story-building techniques you’ve learned to your own writing.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years.  He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and George Brown College and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Sudbury.  He's helped many of his students get published.

Guest speaker Eve Silver of Thornhill has nine books published and three more contracted. She’s written five novels of historical suspense for Kensington Publishing; two near future speculative fiction novels for Dorchester, and two contemporary paranormal novels for Grand Central Publishing (formerly known as Warner Books). In addition, her short stories have been included in the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance from Running Press and in the Nature of the Beast anthology from Kensington.

Her most recent sale was for a dark, gritty urban fantasy/paranormal trilogy to Harlequin.  The first of these, Sins of the Heart, will be released in August 2010, followed by Sins of the Soul in September 2010 and Sins of the Flesh in October 2010.

Eve’s books have been best-sellers in the United States and have been published in numerous countries overseas. Her work has garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, has received Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Awards, and has been listed among the Best Books of the year by the Library Journal.  Eve's agent is Karen Solem at Spencerhill Associates. (For info on Spencerhill, see here.)

Eve is a terrifically energetic and dynamic speaker. At the workshop, she’ll be sharing her insights into the plotting process from the point of view of a novelist who’s writing three or more books a year.

For more information about Eve and her books, visit her website: http://www.evesilver.net

Fee: $39.05 plus gst = $41 paid in advance
or $42.86 plus gst = $45 if you wait to pay at the door

To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Note: For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Globe & Mail, Personal Essays

Every Monday through Friday, the Globe and Mail publishes a personal essay on its Facts & Arguments page.  This is a great place to get your first writing credit from a big city newspaper.  Here's what the editors say they want:

The Essay on the Facts & Arguments page gives Globe readers such as yourself a chance to let other Globe readers know what's on your mind, just as though you were catching up over coffee, at a virtual water-cooler or chatting over the back fence.

Facts & Arguments essays should be personal and not political. Before submitting an essay, it's a good idea to read the page for a while, just to see the kind of essays that are being published. Often a good essay isn't accepted because there has recently been one on that same topic.

Please send submissions by e-mail, both as an attachment and as part of the message (in case we can't open the attachment). Send submissions to facts@globeandmail.com
Write: "Facts & Arguments essay submission" in the subject line.

We prefer to consider one essay at a time from any given writer: Rather than send a number of essays and asking us to choose, it's best if you choose your favourite essay to submit. Any one writer can appear a maximum of four times a year on the Facts & Arguments page.

There is no payment if your essay is accepted for publication. The Globe assumes first-print rights and electronic rights for unsolicited submissions; writers retain copyright.

Essays should be about 900 words.

If your essay is selected for publication, you should hear from The Globe within one month. You will not be contacted if it has not been chosen for publication.

Seasonal essays should be submitted at least three to four weeks before the event, so the submission can be considered and, if accepted, an illustration can be commissioned: It's not the best idea to send an essay with a Christmas theme on Dec. 24.

An essay goes beyond a rant or an anecdote. A good essay often involves an observation about a person, a situation or yourself, an analysis of that observation that might lead to a change of mind or a different perspective, and an extrapolation to a larger truth or a bigger question. And remember: Essays are non-fiction and they're true. 

Complete guidelines here.  

Note: For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Three agents hungry for new authors

Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency
PMB 515
1155 Camino del Mar
Del Mar, CA 92014

Sandra Dijkstra says her agency is always looking for new authors, fresh voices, and original stories. Moreover, three of her agents are especially hungry for clients:

Natalie Fischer interned at the Dijkstra Agency in 2007, got a job writing book reviews and author profiles for the San Diego Union Tribune, and recently returned to work at the Dijkstra Agency full time. She is interested in historical and narrative non-fiction (including memoir, biography, and popular science/culture).  She's also looking for literary and creative fiction in these areas: historical, young adult/teen, women’s, romance (contemporary and historical), cross-cultural, and select paranormal. She is looking for hard-working, talented new authors with a fresh, unique voice and hook.

Elise Capron is Sandy Dijkstra's Executive Assistant and a Literary Agent. She specializes in debut fiction, (that means first-time authors) and also wants character-driven literary and offbeat fiction and short story collections. She is interested in selected nonfiction if it has a literary edge.

Stacy Carlock recently rejoined the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency as an acquiring associate agent after several years in book sales and whatnot. She is interested in character-driven stories that deal with women’s issues (both fiction and non-fiction). Think Lolly Winston, Ann Packer, Kate Christensen on the fiction side, and Jen Lancaster and Susan Shapiro on the non-fiction side.

She is also interested in spiritual stories that come from being real, like Anne Lamott and Susan E. Isaacs. She is always into a great page-turning beach read – particularly legal thrillers with complex and interesting lead characters (think Lisa Scottoline) – and just good fun reads like Plum Sykes and Emily Giffen. She loves business books that encourage and develop people skills and ethical awareness.

More about all the agents at the Sandra Dijksta Agency here.

Submissions by mail only.
Fiction: We ask that you send a query/cover letter, a 1 – 2 page synopsis, and a sample of your manuscript (no more than the first 50 pages, double-spaced, single-sided, and unbound).
Non-fiction: We ask that you send a proposal (an overview, a detailed chapter outline, author bio, one or two sample chapters, and a brief analysis of readership and similar titles).
Full submissions guidelines here.

Note: For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

QBF Advances to final round of vote for best literary blog in Canada


Great news: In the first round of voting for the Canadian Blog Awards, we came a close second. Now in the final round, Quick Brown Fox is positioned to win. In the initial round, the Praxis Theatre Company’s blog edged us out of first place. All the other culture and literature blogs trailed far behind. So now it’s a showdown between QBF and Praxis.

So, please, vote for Quick Brown Fox. Vote now, Vote often. Vote here! Find Quick Brown Fox on the list. Click on the tab and rank QBF 1st. Click “vote” at the bottom of the screen, and click to confirm. Thanks!

In the Crafts, Cooking and Other Activities category, Jennifer Bushman’s Eat Planet blog came in second place, too. So Jennifer also advances to the final round of voting. Vote for Eat Planet here.

Unfortunately in the Humour category, Judith Millar’s MillarLite blog came in sixth place. So her blog won’t be advancing to the final round – next year, though!

In the Political category, my candidate, Dust My Boom, will also advance to the final round. This is only right and proper. After all, not only does the Broom kindly publish my opinion pieces, but they blog the best blues in Canada, too. Check out the Broom here. And vote for them here.

Note: For information about all of Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Writing Romance, Feb 6, St. Catharines


The Canadian Authors Association, Niagara, presents…
“How to Write & Sell a Romance Novel”
Saturday, February 6
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
St. Catharines Public Library
54 Church Street, St. Catharines (Map here.)

Get the inside story. Whether you want to write chick lit (like Bridget Jones’s Diary,) a traditional Harlequin-style romance or woman’s erotica, this workshop will show you how. Learn the "secret formulas" and how to brainstorm a story line. Find out how much money authors earn and where the best opportunities are to get published now.

Workshop leader Brian Henry had been a book editor for twenty-five years, including seven years with Harlequin, the world’s largest romance publisher. He teaches a credit course in writing romance novels at George Brown College and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Sudbury.

Fee: $39.05 plus gst = $41 paid in advance
or $42.86 plus gst = $45 if you wait to pay at the door

To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Note: For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here

Thursday, December 10, 2009

New e-book publisher


Hi Brian,

We have great news for established or aspiring authors! Co-founder, Christine Maiorano and myself, have just launched an on-line eBook Store, www.eBookGuides4Life.com and are currently accepting submissions. We are working with a seasoned, internet marketing professional to market and promote this website to the eCommunity all over the world.

ePublishing is quick and simple and our Authors can earn 50% to 60% commission on every sale.

We would like to extend an invitation to all of your Quick Brown Fox subscribers to visit our website and encourage them to register to receive a free copy of “Tips on How to Write an eBook.” I have also written an eBook called, “Yes you can ... Write an eBook! Your 5 Step Plan,” which is also available at www.eBookGuides4Life.com.

This is a great opportunity for both writers and readers. Thank you for your continued support of this exciting venture.

Lori King

Note: For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Book of Time Travel Romance

Hi, Brian.

I was in your self-editing class at Ryerson University way back in 2003 and wanted to let you know that my short story, "Lost and Found" will be included in The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance to be released December 8, 2009, in the UK by Constable and Robinson, and in the US and Canada by Running Press.

If they don't have it in your local bookstore yet, you can buy the Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance at Amazon, here.

Maureen McGowan
www.maureenmcgowan.com
www.drunkwritertalk.blogspot.com

Note: Maureen is represented by Pamela Harty at the Knight Agency. For more about the Knight Agency see here.

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Monday, December 7, 2009

The Malahat Review, novella contest

The Malahat Review
University of Victoria
P.O. Box 1700, Stn CSC
Victoria, B.C. V8W 2Y2
http://www.malahatreview.ca/ 

Established in 1967, The Malahat Review is Canada's most prestigious literary journal.  It publishes poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction by new and established writers from Canada and abroad as well as reviews of Canadian books.

For more than two decades The Malahat Review has been the recipient of numerous commendations of excellence. In the last five years alone, twenty-two Malahat authors have featured in the National Magazine Foundation’s roster of finalists, taking home three gold and six silver awards. Stories by Malahat writers have won the McClelland and Stewart Journey Prize six times. In 2000 Malahat received international attention when Novella Prize winner “The Deep,” by Mary Swan, was awarded the prestigious O. Henry Prize for the best short fiction published in an American journal.

Submission guidelines:

Unsolicited poetry submissions should consist of five to ten poems on any subject and in any style. The magazine will often accept several poems by the same author; therefore, please do not limit your submission to a single poem.

Unsolicited submissions of short fiction may range in length from 1,200 to 8,000 words.

Unsolicited submissions of creative non-fiction may range in length from 1,000 to 3,500 words. No restrictions as to subject matter or approach apply. For example, a submission may be personal essay, memoir, cultural criticism, nature writing, or literary journalism.

Complete guidelines here: http://www.malahatreview.ca/submission_guidelines.html

Contests

In altenate years, The Malahat Review runs the Long Poem and Novella contests, and the poetry and fiction categories of the Far Horizons Award. It also holds an annual Creative Non-fiction Contest, as well as the annual Open Season Awards (one $1000 prize in each of three categories: poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction).

Currently, the Malahat Review is inviting entries for the Novella Prize. One prize of $500 is awarded, plus payment at the rate of $40 per printed page upon publication. Previous winning entries have also won or been nominated for National Magazine Awards for Fiction and the O. Henry Prize.

Enter a single work of fiction, with a minimum length of 10,000 words and maximum length 20,000 words. No restrictions as to genre, subject matter, or aesthetic approach apply.

Entry fee: $35 for Canadian entries, includes a one-year subscription to the Malahat Review.

Deadline: February 1, 2010.

Complete contest guidelines: http://www.malahatreview.ca/novella_contest/info.html

Note: For information about all the annual writing contests in Canada, order The Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar. Details here.
For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

The Canadian Writers Contest Calendar

The 2010 Contest Calendars arrived yesterday – delivered to the workshop I was leading in Oakville.

Whether you’re a beginner or advanced writer, if you’re looking for places to send your work, you should put contests on your list. The Canadian Writers’ Contest Calendar gives a full listing of contests in Canada arranged by deadline date, with full details of prizes and entry requirements. The Calendar lists contests for short stories, poetry, children’s writing, novels, and non-fiction – contests for just about everyone.

The Calendar costs just $20 including tax if you buy it at one of my workshops or writing classes.  Or add $2 for me to mail one to you. 
To order, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Note: For information about my writing workshop and creative writing courses, see here.

Friday, December 4, 2009

New agent for young adult and middle-grade lit


The Bent Agency
204 Park Place
Number Two
Brooklyn, NY 11238

Susan Hawk is joining the Bent Agency.  "For the past 15 years, I've worked in Children's Book Marketing, most recently as the Marketing Director at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, and previous to that as the Library Marketing Director at Penguin Young Readers Group.  While at Penguin, I also worked for a time in Dutton Editorial, acquiring projects for that list. My favorite part of that time was being able to read new submissions -- I love the thrill of finding something wonderful and imagining where it can go."

At the Bent Agency, Susan will work only with authors of young adult and middle grade books.  (no picture books, no books for adults.)   She is looking for both non-fiction and fiction, especially more literary fiction for young readers, but also fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction and mystery.

If you're writing for adults, send your query to Jenny Bent.

Jenny says:  "If you know you are a great writer with a story to tell, we hope you will be in touch. Tell us briefly who you are, what your book is, and why you're the one to write it. Then include the first ten pages of your material in the body of your e-mail. We regret that we cannot respond to each and every query, although we do our best. Rest assured that we read each one and we will certainly follow-up when we have interest.

"Please do not send an exclusive query. Queries are meant to be shared with multiple agents. Submissions are a different story. We rarely ask for an exclusive submission. However, if we do request material we ask that you check back with us before signing with anyone else."

To query Jenny, please email queries@thebentagency.com
To query Susan, please email kidsqueries@thebentagency.com

More info on submissions here: http://www.thebentagency.com/submissions.html
The Bent Agency home page: http://www.thebentagency.com/

Note: For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Writing Romance, Feb 20, Stouffville


The Whitchurch-Stouffville Library presents…
“How to Write & Sell a Romance Novel”
Saturday, February 20
1 – 5 p.m.
Whitchurch-Stouffville Library,
30 Burkholder Street, Stouffville (Map here.)

Get the inside story. Whether you want to write chick lit (like Bridget Jones’s Diary,) a traditional Harlequin-style romance or woman’s erotica, this workshop will show you how. Learn the "secret formulas" and how to brainstorm a story line. Find out how much money authors earn and where the best opportunities are to get published now.

Workshop leader Brian Henry had been a book editor for twenty-five years, including seven years with Harlequin, the world’s largest romance publisher. He teaches a credit course in writing romance novels at George Brown College and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Sudbury.

Fee: $37 paid in advance or $40 if you wait to pay at the door
Lots of handouts included in the fee.

To register, please make out a cheque to the Whitchurch-Stouffville Public Libary and drop it off at the library or mail it to…
Attention: "Romance Writing" workshop
Whitchurch-Stouffville Public Library
30 Burkholder Street
Stouffville, ON L4A 4K1

Space is limited and seating is on a first come, first serve basis.
For more information telephone the library at: 905-642-7323

Or you can, e-mail me at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca
Note: For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The Canadian Blog Awards - Vote for QBF!

Quick Brown Fox is in the running for the best literary blog in Canada. If you enjoy QBF, I’d love it if you’d vote for it in the “Culture and Literature" category.

Update - Great news: Quick Brown Fox has advanced to the final round of voting for the best literary blog in Canada. Please vote for QBF. Go here.  Find Quick Brown Fox on the ballot. Click on the tab and rank QBF 1st. Click “vote” at the bottom of the screen, and click to confirm.

"Ningyo" by Fran Mackenzie Peacock

New Year’s. It’s the biggest holiday in Japan. There was so much preparation for it.

My aunt Kanaii-chan, and my uncle Tomo-chan were busy pounding sweet sticky rice into mochi, a glutinous rice cake that was grilled and served with soy sauce and sugar or with sweet red beans, and was used in soups, too.

I remember watching them. Kanaii would wet her hands, turn the rice, while Tomo Chan would raise and swing the large wooden mallet, barely missing her head. They had some kind of rhythm going, wet, turn, swing, pound, over and over again, until the mochi was what my grandmother considered the right consistency.

My mother and other aunts would divide up the mochi, and smooth it into round mounds of different sizes. My grandmother would talc the mochi to keep it from drying out. The first mochi in the house went to Buddha. Nothing in the house was ever consumed without the first piece going to Buddha.

My grandmother, my Obachan, was always up at 4:30 every morning to start breakfast. Rice was always cooked fresh, and as soon as it was done, she would get the brass cups in her home temple and give Buddha his offering. She would then smooth her kimono under her knees and kneel. Two sticks of incense in the holder and three gongs on the brass bowl, then three claps of her hands, and she bent her head and said her morning prayers.

“Namyo ren se yo,”she would repeat that over and over like a song. All these years later, I still hear her sing-song prayer voice.

Breakfast on the table, she would wake my Ogichan, my grandfather.

I could hear him coming down the hall, his footfalls shaking the tiny house.

After he had sat down, the rest of us could sit and eat. Breakfast consisted of hot rice and a raw egg, which was cooked by the rice.

Once everything was cleared away, Obachan turned to me.

“This is Shogatsu, New Year’s. Time to fit you into your kimono.”

I had never worn one. I was six and we had just returned to Japan from the States a month before.

My mother made me sit down. She combed my hair, pulling and brushing with such vigor that I thought my scalp was going to come off.

“Ow, ow, ow!” I cried. She was pulling so hard that I had to struggle not to get pulled off the chair.

“The hair needs to be smooth,” my mother said as she pulled and twisted my hair into an acceptable bun, weaving a colorful scarf through it.

Next, I was stripped down to my underwear. It was cold in the house. Japanese homes have no central heating, just kerosene heaters warming particular rooms, and the rooms not used very often generally don’t get a heater. At night, our futons were piled high with heavy quilts. Before we went to bed, my grandmother would run a bed warmer filled with burning charcoal to take away the chill.

First thing to go on was a thin silk under jacket. Not that it gave much protection, but it was something against the cold.

Next, I was told to sit down and put on the tabi, which were socks, but they separated the big toe from the others on the foot. The tabi had little hooks that had to be pushed in to give it a smooth look.

I stood up and was instructed to stand still with my arms straight out.

The under slip went on, tied with a silk belt. At least I had something else on.

My mother looked at me. “If you need to go to the bathroom, go now, because you won’t be able to later.”

I think there was a look of pure panic on my face. Not be able to go to the bathroom? What if I really had to go? I took off and did my business.

When I came back, my aunt Katsumi brought in a large box. She knelt down on the floor and, with great ceremony, opened the box.

Inside was the most beautiful garment I had ever seen. It had a white background, but the explosion of flowers in pink, blue, gold silver and green were painted onto the silk kimono.

“Kimonos are hand-painted and handmade,” my mother said. Did I detect a hitch in her voice? I think she was trying hard not to cry.

Obachan lifted the kimono out of the box and placed it on me. The sleeves were long and elegant, longer than the adult kimonos I had seen my aunts and grandmother wear.

I felt like one of the maiko-sans that I had seen when we had gone into downtown Kyoto. Maiko-sans were the apprentice geishas. They wore long flowing kimonos with long sleeves, and long obis. When they walked, they wore platform getas, the wooden shoes that were carved so make the forward motion a little easier. Maiko-sans were so beautiful, I wanted to be like them, but my mother said that the training to be a geisha was long and hard. Usually, the training started at age six. Besides, I was gaijin, not full Japanese, a foreigner, and an outsider.

Obachan started doing the wrapping and tying of the kimono. My aunt Teruchan brought out another box. Inside, a long gold and silver obi, with flecks of red splashed through it. My grandmother lifted it out, and my mother said, “Now, don’t breathe. We need this to fit as tight as possible.”

I took a deep breath, and my grandmother tied the obi around my waist, almost crushing my rib cage.

“Mommy,” I gasped. “I can’t breathe, Mommy.”

“I told you. Keep your arms out.”

Obachan put the decorative bow on the back, and secured it with ties. My aunts started putting the kanzashi into my hair. These are the combs with flowers or little metallic bits that hang down over the side of the forehead that shine and sparkle.

My mother put touch of lipstick on my mouth. Pink, the color of innocence.

The women pushed me out to see my grandfather. Walking was an effort because the kimono was so restrictive, so I shuffled over to stand in front of my Ogichan. He looked down at me, not cracking a smile.

“Bow,” my mother whispered.

He was the patriarch of our family. I was being presented. I bowed from the waist.

Ogichan bowed back, but not deeply. More of a nod, really. He turned, picked up two boxes, a small thin one and then a larger one.

I opened the smaller one first. He had gotten me a fan to put into my obi. The second box contained a wooden paddle, but the top was decorated like a Japanese doll. I gave him a puzzled look.

“It is New Year,” he explained. “This is your hagoyta. You play with it.”

I bowed to him again. Japanese people don’t hug or kiss. It isn’t proper. That much I had learned in my month here.

After I had left my grandfather, my mother explained the game to me. “You play it like badminton,” she said.

“In this? Mommy, I can’t move.”

“I know. It’s only for a couple of days.” Mom gave me a smile.

My grandfather came out with his camera. He called to me, motioning me over.

My mother told me to go outside. We did, and for the first time, I wore my zoris, a formal shoe for kimonos. I shuffled my way to the front of the house, where my grandfather positioned me so he could take my picture.

He rambled off something, and I looked to my mother for translation.

“He said you look like a little Japanese doll. He called you a ningyo.”

I looked at my Ogichan. He rarely smiled, and he was very stern. But I could see at that moment, he was very proud. I was his ningyo.
*
Fran MacKenzie Peacock was born in Japan and grew up in Kyoto, in the American south, and in upstate New York. She’s now settled in Ancaster, Ontario, with her son, husband and two dogs. Her other son decided to be nice to her. He moved out and created his own family, giving her the little girl she never had with her grand-daughter Morgan. Fran has won the title of National Fleet Manager eleven times for Chrysler Canada and been a master member for 15 years. Sounds dirty, doesn't it? Now, she has gone back to her first love: writing.

Note: For information about Brian Henry’s upcoming writing workshops and classes see here.