"Just Turn" by Sheena Whitworth

His oblivion to her pain crippled her

Doubling her over to contain her grief

Why did he choose to not see her need?

Why did he sit impenetrable in ignorance?

Why did he not turn and embrace her?

Why did she try to conceal her anguish?

Why did she not recognize their pain was mutual?

Why did she not see his need was as deep as hers?

Why did she not know that his strength was a facade?

Why did she choose to suffer alone and in silence?

There was a barrier between them stronger it seemed than stone

It could be shattered with one small step towards the other

Arms, eyes and hearts open and vulnerable

First she would have to look up and see a man outwardly strong but inwardly fractured

First he would have to look over his shoulder and see a woman silently pleading with him

Paralyzed by the grief of their lost child they would remain in solitude

Sheena Whitworth is new to writing and is finding her voice, and as retirement approaches, she is looking forward to spending more time on this. She is most comfortable with humour and also loves to take readers on a path with an unexpected twist at the end. But she also has a darker side which sometimes takes over her mind and pen. She is looking forward to long summer days at her cottage on the lake, developing her writing style, accompanied by her four-legged but one-eyed dog, Toby.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including Saturday writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New Tecumseth, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

You're invited to an author reading Sunday, June 23, in Burlington

Author Reading

Sunday, June 23, 2019
12 noon – 4 p.m.
Barra Fion Restaurant, 1505 Guelph Line, Unit 10A, Burlington, Ontario (at the corner of Upper Middle Road in Burlington Heights Plaza. Map here.)

At this reading, graduates of Brian Henry's writing classes get to strut their stuff. Come hear some of the most amazing emerging writers in the Toronto area reading some of the best work you’ll hear this year. This will be a fun get-together and everyone’s invited. Don’t miss it!

And if you want to read from your own work, email me, and I’ll let you know if there’s still room on the roster – as of now, there certainly is space – on both dates. (But you must arrange to read in advance; you can’t just show up on the day and hope to read.)

Doors open at 12 noon. Arrive for lunch by 12:15, or if you’re just having a drink or coffee and a snack, please arrive by 12:45. But because they’re opening exclusively for us, you can’t order just a coffee (or they might not want us back). The actual readings will start at about 1:30 and go to about 3:30 / 3:45. 

If possible, RSVP as soon as possible and let me know you’re coming: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

I look forward to seeing you all there! ~Brian

Summer classes start in a couple of weeks. Here’s what’s on offer:

Oakville Woodside Library: Exploring Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, July 2 – Aug 13. See here.

Burlington: Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday afternoons, July 3 – Aug 21, First readings emailed June 26. See here.

Burlington: Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday evenings, July 3 – Aug 21.  First readings emailed June 26. See here.

And in the fall, there will be a full roster of weekly courses on offer:

Burlington: Next Step in Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, Sept 24 – Dec 11. First readings emailed Sept 17. Details here.

Georgetown: Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday evenings, Sept 18 – Dec 11 (no class Oct 9). First readings emailed Sept 11.  Details here.

Burlington: Writing Personal Stories, Thursday afternoons, Sept 26 – Nov 28 (no class Oct 31) . Details here.

Oakville Library, Welcome to Creative Writing, Thursday evenings, Sept 26 – Nov 21 / 28.Details here

Toronto: Intensive Creative Writing, Friday mornings, Sept 20 – Nov 8 (no class Nov 1). First readings emailed Sept 13. Details here.

Toronto: Writing Personal Stories, Friday, afternoons, Sept 27 – Nov 29 (no class Nov 1) . Details here.

            See details of all classes here.

For more details or to sign up for any class, email me at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian’s full schedule here, including Saturday writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New Tecumseth, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Congratulations to Erin Silver for taking third place in the Common Deer Press Quest for a Great Children's Novel and winning a publishing contest

Hi, Brian.

Just wanted to share the news since the press release is going out today: my middle grade novel, Just Watch Me, won third place in a writing contest for Common Deer Press. It will be published in Fall 2020. I’m really excited and want to thank everyone who had a hand in getting it to this stage. I hope readers will enjoy the novel when it comes out. 

Can’t wait to read the book by the 14-year-old who won the first place prize!

Best,

Erin Silver

Note: For information about submitting to Common Deer Press, see here.

From Common Deer Press

The Uncommon Quest for a Great Canadian Children's Novel – 2019 WINNERS

GOLD WINNER: Broken Shards of Time by Nyah Nichol (Young Adult Science Fiction)

“Action! Time machines! Force fields! This story has all the good stuff. The readers who made The Hunger Games and Divergent best sellers will love the action of Broken Shards of Time. An intricate web of thrilling adventure stories, creating one compelling and exciting journey that will have you wanting more.”  – The Jurors

Wren Derecho is the lone survivor of a mysterious accident that took the lives of her parents. As Wren tries to navigate through the pain of grief and loss, she crosses paths with three other individuals and soon realizes that something beyond coincidence has intertwined their lives together. Each of their journeys are marked by immense tragedy, fate, a time machine, and a mysterious power source that seems to be alive.

Nyah Nichol was born and raised in Cold Lake, Alberta and attends the local high school. ​She says, “It has been my dream ever since I can remember to write a novel, and have it published. I’ve always enjoyed writing short stories and essays but had never attempted anything longer until now. One day, I started writing this story intending for it to just be a short story but then it grew and grew. I felt like giving up a few times but the thought that kept me going throughout was, If I don’t finish it, I can’t read it.”

SILVER WINNER: The Girl from the Attic by Marie Prins (Middle Grade, Historical)

“The friendship of Maddy and Clare is timeless in every sense. The Girl from the Attic is a creative story with endearing characters that vividly transports you through time, allowing the reader to experience the timelessness of family and friendship. I loved it and didn't even see the twist coming at the end!” – The Jurors

Maddy Rose lives in two worlds, one-hundred years apart, in the same strange house built as an octagon. When a mysterious black cat leads her into its unknown attic, she meets Clare and his very sick sister Eva. Will Maddy be able to deal with hardships of two lives? Will the skills she learned in the past help her solve the problems of the present?

For Marie Prins, her life has been, in one way or another, about books. As a child, she devoured them, at university, she studied them with a BA in English Literature, as an adult, she sold them at The Toronto Women’s Bookstore and Parentbooks. Now she teaches children how to read them.

BRONZE WINNER: Just Watch Me by Erin Silver (Middle Grade Contemporary)

“We can all relate to Simon Rosen's attempts to navigate the trials and tribulations of middle school and social media, and his journey to class hero is a nice ride. A captivating story of a modern middle grader. Delightfully funny and modern, Just Watch Me tells an endearing childhood story of friendship, acceptance and the frenzied world of social media.” – The Jurors

Twelve-year-old Simon Rosen has qualified for the Canadian Video Game Championships in Vancouver. If he can get straight A’s in school, his parents have agreed to take him. The stakes are especially high. His parents are always fighting, and if he can just get them to Vancouver – the place where they fell in love – maybe he can save his family from the brink of divorce.

Erin Silver has a postgraduate journalism degree and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Globe & Mail, Harper’s Bazaar and Good Housekeeping. One of her picture books was named a finalist in the 2017 CANSCAIP Writing for Children Competition. She is currently working on a book for Lorimer scheduled for publication in 2020.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including Saturday writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New Tecumseth, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

“Whoa!” by Brian Henry

So here’s the thing I've discovered: a genuine sports injury is awesome. So awesome I wonder how I could have gone my whole life without knowing this.

     I suppose because I’ve made my living by reading and writing. A physical workout meant wandering off to the kitchen and staring into an open fridge while contemplating how to give a story a satisfying ending. Sometimes this involved tuneless humming. Sometimes remembering what I’d come to the kitchen for. Sometimes not.

     On no occasions did such workouts require me to twist my body in strange ways. 

      In my professional life, I may have moved a few manuscripts from shelf to shelf, but I’d never crawled along a wall, groping for the next toe-hold. I may have dropped a pen in exasperation, but I never missed a toe-hold and then dropped 14 feet to the mat below.

     So is it any wonder I strained some delicate tissue in my leg? I mean, did anyone really think I was cut out for indoor rock climbing? Certainly not me.

     It was my teenage son’s latest mania. He can scoot up a wall like Spiderman. He can spring from one fingerhold to the next, pause for a rest and chalk up his hands while taking all his weight on this toes, which are dug into mere scratches in the wall.

     Hmm, I thought, maybe rock climbing would be a good father-son activity. Or maybe not. I didn’t know if I could do this climbing thing. At all. Would I be able to scramble up even a baby wall?

     Turns out I can. Not as nimbly as when I was ten years old – which is when I was last into climbing things – but I wasn’t a total bust.

     “Not bad.” William nodded, looking impressed. Or maybe just surprised.

     Then we moved on past the baby wall. And of course that’s when I twisted something.

     It wasn’t agony. It didn’t even stop me climbing. Really it only hurt if I bent my leg past a certain point. But in subsequent days, I found out the point of pain was the exact bend of the leg required for driving.

     I drive a lot – from Toronto to weekly classes in Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, to Saturday workshops in Kitchener, Niagara, Sudbury – ah, Sudbury, that’s a long drive. I did a lot of uncomfortable squirming behind the wheel.
     But the compensation!

     “Oh, yeah, I injured myself – rock climbing, eh?”

     It’s delicious – both a whimper and at boast at the same time.

     “You poor baby,” my wife said.

     “Poor baby,” my friends said. Well not those words, but that was the sentiment.

     And they also said: “Whoa! Rock climbing! When’d you take that up?”

     My therapist can’t figure out why this injury is still bothering me. “Are you really doing your exercises? she asks.

     “Yes,” I say. “Yes, I am.” And in truth I’m fine now. But it’s my first sports injury. I’m not letting it go.

Brian Henry is a writer, editor, and creative writing instructor, and he publishes the Quick Brown Fox blog. But athletic, he’s not. Brian read this piece at our most recent author reading day at the Wallace Gastropub in Toronto. 

See Brian’s upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.

Update: I'm getting better at climbing.

“North Atlantic Sea Bass” by James Simpson

I love new things. New experiences, new places to go, and new foods to try. So when the waiter told me the fish of the day was North Atlantic Sea Bass, I was curious.

     Sea Bass, I was familiar with. Chilean Sea Bass, from the south Pacific. I didn’t think there was a subspecies in the north Atlantic, and I was pretty sure it couldn’t be the same fish.

     Chefs love Chilean Sea Bass. Firm white meat, easy to season, and it takes well to a variety of sauces. I’ve read that it’s forgiving if you cook it until the flesh flakes, in which case it may be a little dry, but still delicious.

     It’s not a pretty fish, and it had an ugly name. Patagonian toothfish. Years ago someone sanitized the name for the North American diner, hence Chilean Sea Bass. I don’t think many people would order Patagonian toothfish if they saw it on a menu.

     Baked, broiled, grilled, pan fried, poached, stewed—it tastes wonderful. I stopped eating it years ago and it’s my son-in-law’s fault.

     He worked at a seafood distribution warehouse in Toronto. His team would be there Sunday evening when the shipment arrived, and they’d spend the night unloading and sorting everything for delivery to restaurants and fish markets and grocery stores: farmed salmon from South America, farmed catfish and tilapia from the USA, whole swordfish with the sword attached and protected by a long rectangular Styrofoam box (you can’t farm these), and wild Chilean Sea Bass. 
     He worked there for several years and told me, year-after-year, that the Chilean Sea Bass were getting smaller and smaller. Overfishing? Yes, the fish was threatened. Although the fishery is better managed now, I still won’t eat it. No orange roughie or blackened redfish for me, either.

     But this North Atlantic Sea Bass sounded interesting. I asked the waiter for clarification. With his delightful French accent he said it is also known as loup de mer.

     “Okay,” I said, remembering my high school French, “It’s just gone from sea-bass to sea-wolf.”

     He looked at the daily dinner specials on the piece of paper he was holding, muttered something I didn’t understand, then looked up and smiled.

     I ordered it anyway. Google it when you get home, I told myself.

     There was no internet at the resort, Arowhon Pines in Algonquin Park. Beautiful log cabins, a huge dining hall with a large central firepit, busy and helpful staff, and a most impressive menu. I’d had venison the previous night and it was cooked and served perfectly.

I was there for a three-day writing retreat organized by Brian Henry, an editor who leads weekly writing courses at various locations in Toronto, Burlington and Georgetown. There were sixteen of us, all looking forward to more learning. And especially our one-on-one with Brian, where we’d discuss his critique of the two pieces we’d submitted in advance.

Plus, we’d be writing several times a day.

Somewhere, I’d read that fish is considered brain food. Considering the feedback I’d received on my work from my fellow writers at the weekly classes I’d participated in, I needed all the help I could get. So I ordered the North Atlantic Sea Bass.

Once back in the land of the internet, I discovered that the North Atlantic Sea Bass is not the same fish as the Chilean Sea Bass. Google told me that this fish is native to the Mediterranean and the European coast of the north Atlantic. Because of where it’s found, the European Bass has several dozen names. Oui, loup de mer is one of them. More good news—it’s farmed in the Mediterranean by many countries, and the farmed production is much greater than the wild catch.

So what did I learn at the writing retreat. Is my writing getting better? (Perhaps you can be the judge.) Is Arowhon Pines an amazing all-inclusive location for a great get-away? Absolutely. And what about North Atlantic Sea Bass? Not over-fished, not threatened, and definitely delicious!

***

For information on upcoming writing retreats at Arowhon Pines Resort in Algonquin Park and at the Briar's Resort on Lake Simcoe, see here.
To reserve a spot on any upcoming retreat, workshops or class, just email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

James Bryan Simpson is retired from a career in pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry and now writes fiction and creative nonfiction. He enjoys country living, recreational reading, and participating in writing groups. He lives in an old stone farmhouse somewhere between Milton and Guelph.

P.S. You can read more about the cuisine of Arowhon Pines here.

See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including Saturday writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Jackson’s Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New Tecumseth, Oakville, Ottawa, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

How to Write Great Dialogue, Sunday, Oct 20, in Sudbury

How to Write Great Dialogue

Sunday, October 20, 2019

10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

College Boreal, Room M3360, Sudbury, Ontario (Map here)

Accessible to beginners and meaty enough for experienced writers, this workshop will show you how to use dialogue to make your stories more dynamic and dramatic.

Whether you’re writing fiction or memoir, you need to be able to write great dialogue that both sounds natural and packs dramatic punch, and you need to know how to mix your dialogue and narrative so that your characters come alive. 

Come to this workshop and learn both the basics and the best tricks of the trade. 

Workshop leader 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 St. John. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.

Read a review of "How to write great dialogue" here. For more reviews of Brian's weekly courses and Saturday workshops see here and scroll down.

Fee: 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 paid in advance by mail or Interac

or 46.90 + 13% hst = 53 if you wait to pay at the door

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

See Brian’s full schedule here, including writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

PEW Literary seeks thrillers, literary fiction, off the wall novels and diverse nonfiction

The Patient Assassin by Anita Anand,
represented by PEW Literary

PEW Literary

46 Lexington Street
London UK

http://www.pewliterary.com/

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in the “Follow Brian by Email” box in the right-hand column under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. ~Brian

PEW Literary is a new literary agency founded by Patrick Walsh in 2016. In March, 2019, he was joined by Doug Young. both are actively seeking authors.

Patrick Walsh co-founded Conville and Walsh in 2000, after learning his trade at Christopher Little (the firm that then represented JK Rowling). In 2016, Patrick decided to go solo, setting up a new agency, PEW Literary.

In fiction, Patrick represents out and out thriller writers, such as Howard Cunnell (whose diving theme ties in with Patrick's own interest in the natural world) as well as thrillers with a splash of fantasy (Nick Harkaway). On the more literary end, Patrick represents writers like Paul Kingsnorth, a literary writer also with an interest in nature and Luke Jennings, who wrote the Booker-nominated Atlantic.

Patrick has a keen interest in nonfiction, where his interests are broad and eclectic. He has a taste for:

The transgressive, representing drug dealer Howard Marks and society prostitute Belle de Jour, both of whom wrote massive-selling memoirs

The political and feisty, for example American hedge fund manager and anti-Putin campaigner, Bill Browder

Science, especially where that involves the natural world, animals or conservation. Thus Patrick represents Sarah Ellis, the animal behaviourist; Joshua Foer, a specialist on memory; Louise Gray, an environment correspondent who spent a year eating only animals she had killed herself; and Michael Hanlon, author of a number of Big Theme popular science books; Elaine Fox's books on neurophysiology

Anything else to do with the natural world, such as Kate Rew's books on Wild Swimming

Hard-to-categorise nonfiction, such as Polly Morland's book on how to be brave; Sanjay Basu's book on the links between health and the economy; or Emma Griffin on the history of recreation

Art, such as the books by Laura Cumming, the Observer art critic

History books, including military history, the design history, ancient history and much else.

Query Patrick at: submissions@pewliterary.com 

For fiction, include the opening three chapters or 50 pages, plus a synopsis. For nonfiction, submit a proposal. See full submission guidelines here.

  

Doug Young was formerly the publishing director at Transworld Publishers of London (a division of Penguin Random House), where he specialized in nonfiction. He joined PEW literary in March 2019.

 “My plan is to seek out authors with a story to tell, whether in nonfiction or fiction,” says Doug, “and people who write in a distinctive voice and from a fresh perspective. The categories will be pretty broad – it could be history, science, politics, memoir or an off-the-wall novel.

“For the last 25-plus years in publishing I’ve been lucky enough to work on a very broad range of superb books with many extraordinary and brilliant authors including the likes of Neil Gaiman, Alan Johnson, John Peel, Paul O’Grady, Derren Brown, Scott Galloway, Neil Oliver, and Paul McKenna.

“I love working with authors, and helping to make books happen is the best job on the world. I am thrilled at the prospect of continuing to do that as an agent, with the help of the wonderful team at PEW Literary.”

Query Doug at: submissions@pewliterary.com 

For fiction, include the opening three chapters or 50 pages, plus a synopsis. For nonfiction, submit a proposal. See full submission guidelines here.

Meg Wheeler

If you’re interested in getting published, soon or somewhere down the road, don’t miss the How to Get Published workshop, Saturday, June 8, in Waterloo with literary agent Meg Wheeler (see here). 

And don’t miss these other great workshops coming soon:  How to Write Great Characters, Saturday, June 22, in Oakville, (see  here), and Finding Your Voice, Saturday, July 13, in London (see here).    

But the best way to grow as a writer may be with a weekly course. 

Here’s what’s coming this summer:

Oakville Woodside Library: Exploring Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, July 2 – Aug 13. See here. 

Burlington: Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday afternoons, July 3 – Aug 21. First readings emailed June 26. See here.

Burlington: Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday evenings July 3 – Aug 21. First readings emailed June 26. See here.

And in the fall, there will be a full range of courses on offer:

Burlington: Intensive Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, Sept 24 – Dec 11 (no class Oct 8 or Nov 5). First readings emailed Sept 17.

Georgetown: Intensive Creative Writing,  Wednesday evenings, Sept 18 – Dec 11 (no class Oct 9). First readings emailed Sept 11. 

Burlington: Writing Personal Stories, Thursday afternoons, Sept 26 – November 28 (no class Oct 31). 

Oakville Library, Welcome to Creative Writing, Thursday evenings,  Sept 26 – Nov 28 (no class Oct 31). 

Toronto: Intensive Creative Writing, Friday mornings, Sept 20 – Nov 8. First readings emailed Sept 13. 

Toronto: Writing Personal Stories, Friday afternoons, Sept 27 – Nov 29 (no class Nov 1).

To register or for details of any of these classes, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

And don't miss …

Writing for Children and for Young Adults with Kids Can Press senior editor Yasemin Uçar and children's author Jennifer Mook-Sang at the Burlington Central Library, Saturday, Oct 5. Details here.

And…

November at the Briars Writing Retreat

Friday, November 1 – Monday, November 4; four days of creativity in a setting that provides the warmth of a country estate steeped in history while providing all the benefits of an extensive, modern lakeside resort. Details here.

The Briars

To reserve a spot in any upcoming weekly course, weekend retreat, or Saturday workshop, email Brian at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Read reviews of Brian’s courses, retreats, and workshops here.

 See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including Saturday writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Jackson’s Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New Tecumseth, Oakville, Ottawa, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Navigation tips: Always check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct collections of postings. If you're searching for more interviews with literary agents or a literary agent who represents a particular type of book, check out this post.