Friday, July 31, 2015

Exploring Creative Writing, an introductory course, Thursday afternoons, Sept 24 – Nov 26, in Mississauga

Exploring Creative Writing
10 weeks of discovering your creative side
Thursday afternoons, Sept 24 – Nov 26, 2015
12:45 - 2:45
Unity Church Unit 8, 3075 Ridgeway Drive, Mississauga (This is just north off Dundas between Hwy 403 and Winston Churchill Blvd. Map here.)
Note: See details of all six courses starting this fall here.

This is your chance to take up writing in a warm, supportive environment. We’ll explore writing fictional stories and writing true stories, writing technique and creativity technique, getting down your very best writing and just for fun writing.
The class has the same format as "Welcome to Creative Writing," but we look at different aspects of writing. With either course, you get a shot of inspiration every week and an assignment to keep you going till the next class. Best of all, this class will provide a zero-pressure, totally safe setting, where your words will grow and flower.

Instructor Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.
Read reviews of Brian's courses here.

Fee: 158.41 + hst = 179
To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. ~ Brian


See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Kids Can Press seeks picture books and chapter books

Kids Can Press
25 Dockside Drive
Toronto, Ontario

Kids Can Press is looking for quality picture books and nonfiction manuscripts for children, as well as chapter books for ages 7–10. We do not accept young adult fiction or fantasy novels for any age. To ensure that your manuscript is appropriate for our publishing list, please familiarize yourself with the books that we publish.

“For picture book submissions, please send a copy of the entire manuscript. For chapter book submissions, we require a synopsis and approximately three sample chapters. Please do not send the entire manuscript unless requested to do so. No email submissions.

“You are welcome to send your proposal simultaneously to other publishers rather than submitting it exclusively to Kids Can Press.”

See the full writers’ guidelines here. See the guidelines for illustrators here.

Note: On April 30, Yasemin Uçar, senior editor at Kids Can Press, will be one of our guest speakers at a “Writing for Children & for Young Adults” mini-conference (see here). Yasemin has been children’s book editor for seventeen years. She’s worked with many popular and award-winning authors and illustrators, including:

Louise Rennison (international bestselling author of Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and other Confessions of Georgia Nicolson books), Barbara Coloroso (author of Kids Are Worth It and many other best-selling books about parenting and bullying), Anne Velleneuve (author of the Loula series of picture books), Pierre Pratt (illustrator of I See … My Cat and many other picture books), Caroline Adderson (author of the Jasper John Dooley series of chapter books and many others), and Ashley Spires (author of the Binky series of graphic novels and of many others).

For details of the Writing for Children and for Young Adults workshop see here.

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

The Next Step in Creative Writing course, Wednesday evenings, Sept 30 – Dec 2, in Burlington

The Next Step in Creative Writing
10 weeks of creative growth
Fall session
Wednesday evenings, 6:45 – 9:00 p.m.
Sept 30 – Dec 2,
 2015
Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (Map here.)
Note: See details of all six courses starting this fall here.

The Next Step in Creative Writing will challenge you to take a step up in your writing. Over the ten weeks of classes, you’ll be asked to bring in five pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on.

Besides critiquing pieces, the instructor will give short lectures at the start of class, addressing the needs of the group, and in addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write. This is a supportive group and a rewarding class.

Instructor Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors.
Check out two reviews of the Next Step course hereAnd see more reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.

Fee: 176.11 + 13% hst = 199.  
To reserve your spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca
Note: I start working out the schedule for when participants are due to bring in a piece of their writing three weeks before our start date, so please try to sign up by September 9. In any case, these courses fill up, so enroll early to avoid disappointment. ~ Brian

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Literary agent Noah Ballard of Curtis Brown seeks new authors, upmarket thrillers & narrative nonfiction

Noah Ballard
Curtis Brown Ltd.

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. ~ Brian

Curtis Brown is one of the world’s most well established literary agencies. It employs more than 28 people, with offices in New York and Los Angeles.

Noah Ballard is a new agent at Curtis Brown, and like all new agents, he needs authors. Noah received his BA in English from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and began his career in publishing at Emma Sweeney Agency where he sold foreign rights for the agency in addition to building his own client list.

Noah specializes in literary debuts, upmarket thrillers and narrative nonfiction, and he is always on the look-out for honest and provocative new writers.

Query Noah at: nb@cbltd.com
Include the first ten pages of your manuscript or proposal. See Curtis Brown submission guidelines here.

Rachel Letofsky
Brian Henry will lead "How to Get Published" workshops in St. John, NB, on Saturday, Oct 3 (details here), and in Hamilton on Saturday, Oct 17, with Rachel Letofsky of the Cooke Agency (see here). 

Other upcoming workshops, include "Writing Your Life," Saturday, August 15 in Midland (see here) and Saturday, September 26 in Brampton (see here), "Fall Colours Writing Retreat," Sept 19 - 21, in Algonquin Park (see here), and "How to Make Yourself Write," Saturday, October 24 in Guelph (see here).   
For more information or to register, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

But the best way to grow as a writer or to get your manuscript ready for publication may be with a weekly class. This fall, Brian will offer a full line-up of six weekly courses, for beginners through advanced. See details of all six fall courses here. And here's the schedule... 

“Exploring Creative Writing,” Thursday afternoons, Sept 24 - Nov 26, in Mississauga (see here).
“Writing Personal stories,” Thurs mornings, Oct 8 - Nov 26, in Oakville (here)
“The Next Step in Creative Writing,” Wednesday evenings, Sept 30 - Dec 2, in Burlington (here).
“The Next Step in Creative Writing,” Thursday evenings, Sept 24 - Dec 3, in Georgetown (here).
“Intensive Creative Writing,” Tuesday afternoons, Sept 15 - Dec 8, in Burlington (here).
“Intensive Creative Writing,” Wednesday afternoons, Sept 16 - Dec 16, in Burlington  (here).
For details or to reserve a spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.


See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Intensive Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, Sept 15 – Dec 8, in Burlington

Intensive Creative Writing
12 weeks towards mastering your craft
Tuesday afternoons, 12:15 – 2:45 p.m.
Sept 15 – Dec 8, 2015 (no class Sept 22)
Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario. Map here.
Note: See details of all six courses starting this fall here.

This Intensive course isn't for beginners; it's for people who have been writing for a while or who have done a course or two before and are working on their own projects. Over the twelve weeks of classes, you’ll be asked to bring in six pieces of your writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on.

Besides critiquing pieces, the instructor will give short lectures addressing the needs of the group, and in addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write. This is a challenging course, but extremely rewarding.

Instructor Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors.
Check out a review of the Intensive course here. More reviews here.

Fee: 193.81 + 13% hst = 219
To reserve your spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Note: I start working out the schedule for when participants are due to bring in a piece of their writing three weeks before our start date, so please try to sign up by August 25. In any case, these courses fill up, so enroll early to avoid disappointment. ~ Brian

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

“My Reasons to Love You” by Ángeles F. Hernández


My reasons to love you,
Are not more than these that my heart gives me,
Indeed, my words, my worries and not the reason,
My anguish as I seek you,
And my ability to find you, love;
Without you knowing me yet

Let me love you and know you
Move aside the mountain of prejudicial norms,
Let me love you, even against the world,
In the sleeplessness and solitude, hearing more at the insistence;
As a little girl who doesn’t understand the course of time
Things that are not important at seventeen

I have no reasons to love you, they say
That I shouldn’t speak to you, go out with you
You and I know, but they don’t know,
That love is free

Love is the flower,
The soft fragrance on your shirt
Awakening the senses
It is the colour of the sky after it rains
Hold me,
Because like this, in my adolescence;
In what I know and what I don’t know,
I find reasons to love you
But why do these ties of love they all intend to break up?
My heart, proudly fights such rudeness
The antagonism that leaves me in an abyss of uncertainty
Either of punished insolence
Or of rules which I do not accept

I look for you nonetheless, and I wait for you
Thinking that nobody knows it,
In this beginning which love brings;
That seems to be uncertain,
For which I’m punished,
But which beats beautifully in my heart

Sometimes I lose myself, without finding you
But there is a refuge in my anguish;
Indeed, the desolate words,
Those ones that give me comfort
Those ones that while longing your heart I write
Words, pages in my books,
Poems,
Words with the scent of a flower,
Soaked in tears, wrapped in the wings of hope
Adorned with rose petals inside the book;
And in my notebook once more I write,
Your name, my love

Ángeles Flores Hernández is a writer, visual artist and songwriter.  Her first poetry anthology, 20 Poemas Desesperados y Una Canción de Amor / 20 Desperate Poems and One Love Song is a bilingual book which was published in September of 2014 and is now available at the Mississauga Central Library (here). Her first major exhibit presented paintings of abstract expressionism at the Mississauga Central Library in January 2015 and most recently by Visual Arts Mississauga’s Art in Motion, an exhibit for the 2015 Pan Am & Parapan Am Games. She shares her literary achievements, visual art exhibits and her life as a runner through her blog here.   
Ángeles’ son Nate Sheppard has produced and directed The Unframed Window – A Short Film for Autism Awareness (see here).

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

“Rebellion” by Robert Kish

“Rob, it’s time to get up and get ready for school.”
            “Mom, I think I’m sick,” I said, knowing all too well what day it was. 
            “No you’re not,” my mother replied patiently, entering my room to briefly feel my forehead and confirm her diagnosis.  “You just don’t want to get your picture taken today.”
            It was true: I hated school picture day, and everything about it.  I hated having to smile for the sour photographer who seemed to hate his job.  I hated having my hair combed and not being able to run around during recess because I’d mess it up!  I hated the dress shoes that I was told I had to wear, even though our feet were not even in the photo.  What was up with that? 
            Most of all though, I hated how dumb I always seemed to look in the photographs, and how my mom would send them around to all our family and friends.  She even framed and hung up the last two school photos I took, both of which featured gummy expressions after I’d lost my so called baby teeth too early or something.
            “Fine but if I get sick, I’m going to tell them you made me go to school!”
            After a quick breakfast, which I ate sparingly in the hope that my lack of appetite would be noticed and earn me a reprieve, I had to put on an itchy blue shirt, a pair of stiff black pants, and sit still while my mom gave me a makeover.
            “Why didn’t your dad take you to get your hair cut on Saturday?  It’s too long.”
            “Maybe I shouldn’t get my picture taken today?”
            “Okay, if you mention the picture again, I’m going to have Christina wash your hair after school!”
            There were few things that could coerce me into silence when I was a kid, and my older sister washing my hair was one such event.  Three years older than me, she had long finger nails, and sadist that she was, she liked to use them way too much.  Before Freddy Kruger there was my sister, and so for the sake of my scalp, my objections ceased.
            Once at school, the morning proceeded as normal, but for the periodic announcements over the PA system telling each class when to proceed to the gymnasium for our photos.  It was during picture day that my teacher, Mrs. Buccheri, decided to allow me to do the presentation I’d prepared on wasps.
            The presentation itself had not been assigned; I just prepared it because after having been stung in class a couple of weeks earlier, I wanted to know why they sting.  My research indicated that the wasp attack was entirely random and it had stung me because I’d accidentally squeezed it, but I knew the truth: the wasp was just nasty!
            As the morning progressed, and recess approached, it became clearer and clearer that picture day was a grown up conspiracy that everyone was in on!
            “Okay boys and girls, stay off the grass,” Mrs. Buccheri said.  “It’s almost time for us to have our photos taken, and I don’t want to see any muddy kids.”  My mother couldn’t have said it any better herself!
            After ruining our morning recess, our time to make our way down to the gym came, and at that moment I really did feel sick.  I realized that I had messed up my hair, so I brushed it over to the side with my hands, and with my classmates, assumed the required position, like a condemned man standing before a firing squad.
            And then came the individual photo, and my breaking point.  You see for the last two years, I’d smiled in spite of the absence of front teeth, and for two years I looked like a young old person!  Christina had even taken to telling me I should go out for Halloween as Gummy Smurf!
            So I decided no more monkey business: I’d make a statement my parents would never forget.
            Several weeks after picture day, I was given the prints that my mother had ordered, and boy was she in for a shock. 
            “What did you do?” she asked after having taken one look at the cover print, and then glaring at me, her arms crossed.  “Why did you do that?”
            “I told you I didn’t want to take the picture.”
            In horror my mother stared at the photos of me, smiling a dopey smile, with my eyes crossed, and my hair all messed up.  Personally I thought it was an improvement over the last two years, but needless to say she would need more convincing.
            “You’re taking these again!”
            “And I’ll do that again.”
            “If you do, you’ll be taking them again!”
            “And I’ll do that again,” I replied, quickly nearing the threshold of my bravery.  I could see this stalemate being solved with a threat to tell my dad that I was being saucy, which would invariably result in a grounding, and possible swat on the backside.
            “Well then I guess I’ll walk you to school, and be there to see you retake the picture.”
            Even then, I thought that was a masterstroke of strategy on her part.  I couldn’t have my friends at school seeing my mom.  I’d never live that down.
            “Fine, I won’t do it again,” I conceded, hoping that she’d forget the photo retake dates, and I’d be off the hook. 
            She didn’t, and so ended my first rebellion: a colossal failure!  Doubly so as every member of the family got two photos of me that year, neither of which was any good!
Robert Kish is an aspiring author who was born and raised in the Toronto area.  When he's not writing, Robert also enjoys reading, seeing movies and photography. 

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Moncton, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.