Kudos to Theresa, Margaret, Janice and Julie, plus Lorraine needs Beta readers

Dear Brian,

I’m so pleased to send you this update: my first book deal! Thank you so much for all your classes, some of which I took more than once as I was learning to write and learning about the publishing industry. The work you do is so valuable to writers!

I attached my Publisher’s Marketplace announcement below.

Many thanks!!

Theresa Therrien

Note: If you’re interested in getting published, join us for “How to Get Published” with guest Olga Filina, literary agent and partner with 5 Otter Literary, Sunday, February 8. Details here.   

Hi, Brian.

I am looking for Beta Readers to help me take my character-driven low-key crime novel Mid-Life Margaret to the next level. I have been workshopping components of this novel in classes since 2016 and I think it is finally time to cut her loose. 

The manuscript is 90,000 words, set in Hamilton and focuses on Margaret as she experiences neighbourhood challenges that she can’t seem to ignore. 

At this point I would be grateful for readers who will look at the whole story and let me know what’s working and what’s not. 

I would be happy to answer questions and provide more information and the manuscript to anyone interested in reading and providing feedback.

If you might like to be a Beta reader for me, please email me at: lorraineyoung@cogeco.ca

Thank you.

All the best,

Lorraine Young 

 

Hi, Brian.

I'm so excited to tell you that two pieces of mine have been accepted for publication. "I am a Stone" appears in the current issue of The Zodiac Review and "Hidden Places" will be published in the upcoming issue of The Summerset Review, out on the 14th of December – here.

I workshopped both of those pieces in your Friday Intensive Creative Writing Course. I received invaluable feedback received from you and the class participants, which helped me make them so much better. Thank you!

All the very best,

Margaret Ries

Note: Check out all the weekly classes starting in the new year here.

 

Hi, Brian:

I hope you are well. 

Just sharing the news that I had a second story picked up by the Globe and Mail First Person section.  

Thank you for all your support!!!

Janice Locke

You can read Janice’s essay, “My apple cores brought nature to my doorstep – then some bigger guests arrived” in the Globe and Mail here. Or read an earlier version of the same essay on Quick Brown Fox here.

For information on submitting a First Person essay to the Globe and Mail (and a few other great places to submit), see here.

Hi, Brian.

A few years ago, I participated in one of your Creative Writing groups. At the time, I shared parts of a feminist thriller I started writing in 2019. However, after several years of querying, I gave up, set it aside and began to work on other things. 

All that changed early this year when the American president and his billionaire friends decided to dismantle democracy, starting with women's rights. All of the news headlines could have been lifted from my six-year-old manuscript, Make No Mistake: The Novel.

I knew I needed to get that novel out to readers as quickly as possible (it is a story of resistance and hope) and so I released Make No Mistake initially on Substack as serial fiction. A bit of an unorthodox approach, but Substack offered the ideal platform, allowing me to share a few chapters at a time, and build readership.

I also turned it into a podcast (on Substack, Apple and Spotify). Within two months, I published it as a paperback and e-book (Indigo, Barnes & Noble, Amazon). 

The comments and feedback from readers (over 1,500 on Substack) and listeners (over 4,100 downloads) was both immediate and enthusiastic. 

The novel has been nominated for the Eric Hoffer Book Awards, and selected by a number of book clubs across several provinces as their next read. It's been fun joining the book clubs in person or online for their discussions.

None of this would have been possible without the feedback and encouragement from your Intensive Creative Writing group.

As a way of thanking you, I want to share with you the Acknowledgement page from the paperback. I hope my words convey my appreciation for your contribution to this writing journey.

Julie Wise

See where else your fellow writers are getting short pieces published here (and scroll down).

See new books by your fellow writers here (and scroll down).

If you’ve had a story (or a book!) published, if you’ve won or placed in a writing contest, if you’ve gotten yourself an agent, or if you have any other news, send me an email so I can share your success. As writers, we’re all in this together, and your good news gives us all a boost. Email me at: brain.henry123@gmail.com

See all my upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and four-day  retreats here. ~Brian