Love letters ~ Where your fellow writers are getting published ~ and Writer to Writer: beta readers wanted and a shout-out for authors and editors from Deux Voiliers Publishing

Hello, Brian.

Just wanted to let you know that Speechless has been nominated for a SILVER BIRCH award. The forest of reading awards are a pretty big deal with Canadian school children and it's a huge honour to be included on this list (me and Gordon Korman and Valerie Sherrard, oh my):

Happily yours,

Jennifer Mook-Sang

Yay, Jennifer! For those unfamiliar with the program, the Forest of Reading Awards are run the Ontario Library Association. Once you’re nominated, all the schools in Ontario order your book, and then the kids read the books on the list and elect the winners. I hope Jennifer does win, but just getting nominated turns your book into a bestseller.

Note: Jennifer will be one of my guest speakers at Writing for Children and for Young Adults workshops on March 5 in Burlington (see here) and on April 30 in Guelph (email me for details at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca).

Morning, Brian!

Excited to announce that Come Away With Me made it on the Globe & Mail's Canadian Fiction bestseller list this past week!

Hope you're doing well,

Karma Brown

Note: Come Away With Me also got tagged as a Book of the Week by the Better Reading website in Australia (here), you can see Karma interviewed on Global TV’s “The Morning Show” here, and you can read more and buy a copy if you like here.  

Hi, Brian.

The Rising Spirits Award 2015 winners have just been announced. You’ll see at least a couple of familiar names on this list – for instance, Catherine Skinner for poetry (from last winter’s Mississauga class) and Yours Truly for non-fiction.

Three cheers!

Sally B

Release from the NOTL Writers’ Circle:

Fiction:           Ist Place:         Sharon Frayne – Why Keep a Dog, and Bark Yourself?

                        2nd Place:       Oda Lindner – The Golden Leaf

                        3rd Place:        Bojan Ratkovic – Gabriella

Non-Fiction:    1st Place:        Tynan Larson-Caldwell – Musings of Autumn

                       2nd Place:        Sharon Frayne – Desperates and Daughters

                       3rd Place:        Sally Basmajian – The Vow

Poetry:            1st Place:        Myrtle Burton – Literary Fragments

                       2nd Place:       Cat Skinner – Equinox

                       3rd Place:        Donna Murphy Del Cueto – Autumn Tears

Youth:            1st Place:        Lesley Ann Nutt – Farewell to Summer

                      2nd Place:       Emily Elizabeth Daniels – The Changing

                      3rd Place:        Taylor Johnstone – To Love Four Seasons

Note: See more on the annual Rising Spirits contest here.

Writer to Writer

"Hey, I'm looking for a beta reader.
How about you?"

Hello, Brian:

My novel, AN UNSUITABLE GIRL (formerly Family Recipes) is now in its second beta phase. (Or is that its theta stage?)

When I finished my second draft I asked all the usual suspects for comments and critiques, worked on it some more, proofed it and sent for more readers to comment and eventually sent the fourth draft to agents. Four out of 18 agents requested more, one a full. All said it wasn't right for them. Two commented on the strength of various aspects. That gave me cold feet.

Hilary Johnson editorial service in the U.K. (I always felt that the U.K. setting and language needed that viewpoint) suggested an editorial report. Their reader sent me a solid review with recommendations for revisions, which I have now made. They included removing points of view, adding a plot twist and fleshing out relationships and settings, as well as removing extraneous material. The book is now down to 93,000 words (from 106,000).

An Unsuitable Girl is the story of an arranged Indian marriage that goes wrong. Set in Nairobi, London and Goa in the late 1970s and early 80s; it would probably fit in women's fiction.

If readers on Quick Brown Fox are willing to read and comment, I promise to reciprocate.

Thank you, Brian – looking forward to seeing you at the Intemsive class this winter!

Judy Chopra

If you’re willing to Judy's beta reader, please email her at: judith.chopra@sympatico.ca

On its fourth birthday, Deux Voiliers Publishing is giving a shout out for authors and editiorial associates

Canada's dynamic little writers-plus collective, Deux Voiliers Publishing, has just reached three new milestones with the publication of "The Goal," a wonderful collection of true stories about Canada's national passion: hockey! DVP now has four years under its belt, and has published 19 books and 21 authors. 

As we move into 2016, we are again looking for new Canadian talent, both authors and non-authors associates (for submission reviewing, editing, proofreading, book and cover design, and book marketing). Check us out on our website: deuxvoilierspublishing.com or send us an e-mail at deuxvoiliers@gmail.com. 

We are located in the Ottawa area, but our authors and associates work with us from across Canada and from the USA and Europe.

See Brian Henry’s 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.