This month: personal stories class, workshop with literary agent, and How to Make Yourself Write

Image by Rebecca Sehn

Writing Personal Stories

8 weeks of sharing and writing

Thursday mornings, Oct 8 – Nov 26, 2015

9:45 – 11:45 a.m.

St Cuthbert's Anglican Church, 1541 Oakhill Drive, Oakville, Ontario (Map here.)

If you've ever considered writing your personal stories, this course is for you. We’ll look at memoirs, travel writing, personal essays, family history ~ personal stories of all kinds. Plus, of course, we’ll work on creativity and writing technique and have fun doing it.
Whether you want to write a book or just get your thoughts down on paper, this weekly course will get you going. We'll reveal the tricks and conventions of telling true stories, and we’ll show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Weekly writing exercises and friendly feedback from the instructor will help you move forward on this writing adventure. Whether you want to write for your family and friends or for a wider public, don't miss this course.

Read reviews of the Writing Personal Stories course here, and to read reviews of other courses and workshops, just scroll down.

Fee: 140.71 plus 13% hst = 159

To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

How to Get Published

Literary agent Rachel Letofsky

An editor & an agent tell all

Saturday, October 17, 2015

10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Mills Hardware Event Space, 95 King Street East, Hamilton, Ontario (Map here)

If you've ever dreamed of becoming a published author, this workshop is for you. We’ll cover everything from getting started to getting an agent, from getting your short pieces published to finding a book publisher, from writing a query letter to writing what the publishers want. Bring your questions. Come and get ready to be published!

Special Option: Participants are invited to bring a draft of a query letter you might use to interest an agent or publisher in your book. You don’t need to bring anything, but if you do, 3 copies could be helpful.

Guest speaker Rachel Letofsky is a literary agent with the Cooke Agency. The Cooke Agency represents literary and commercial fiction (including science fiction, fantasy and crime), narrative-driven nonfiction in the areas of popular culture, science, history, natural history, politics, personal reference and children’s books. Rachel’s tastes are eclectic. In fiction she is looking for everything from literary fiction to ground-breaking and heart-breaking middle grade and YA titles in all genres. She is drawn to works with a whimsical nature or a grounded, gritty edge in equal measure, though in either instance, unforgettable characters and original concepts are a must. In nonfiction, Rachel is looking for narrative-driven memoirs and anything with a high level of quirkiness.

What a previous attendee has to say:

Hello, Brian.I’m writing to thank you for your help and advice in crafting the query letter for my novel, The Name’s George.After attending your “How to Get Published” workshop with Martha Webb of the McDermid Agency, I’ve had four requests for the full manuscript as well as one partial. I am thrilled and hopeful that I can write you again with news that I’ve secured representation.Thanks again and all the best,

Shauna Clinning, Oakville, Ontario

Fee: 40.71+ 13% hst = 46 paid in advance

or 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 if you wait to pay at the door

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

How to Make Yourself Write

A creativity workout

Saturday, October 24, 2015
10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Harcourt United Church, 87 Dean Ave, Guelph, Ontario (Map  here.)

Let's get motivated! This workshop is designed to help you find the time and the inspiration to write. No more staring at a blank screen. Come to this workshop and learn the five keys to beating procrastination. Then give yourself a kick-start and discover how to keep going. This creativity workout will get your words flowing and help you make the breakthrough into the next level of writing.

Fee: 40.71+ 13% hst = 46 paid in advance by mail or Interac
or 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 if you wait to pay at the door

For goodness sake, don’t procrastinate! 

Reserve a spot now. Email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

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. With Cecilia Anca Popescu, he is the co-author of Bloody Christmas, a memoir of the 1989 Romanian Revolution, which is currently under consideration with a literary agent. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors.

Read two reviews of Brian’s creative writing courses and workshops here.

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, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.