Great workshops coming up soon

Writing your life & other true stories
Saturday, June 1, 2013
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Newmarket Community Centre & Lion’s Hall

200 Doug Duncan Drive, Newmarket, Ontario (More here)

Have you ever considered writing your memoirs or family history? This workshop will introduce you to the tricks and conventions of telling true stories. 

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He has helped many of his students get published, including our guest speaker, Dr. Ross Pennie.

Ross is the author of The Unforgiving Tides, a doctor’s memoir of Papua New Guinea (Manor House Publishing). Ross has also written three medical mystery novels.

Fee:  $44 paid in advance or $48 if you wait to pay at the door.

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

Stacey Donaghy 
of Corvisiero Literary Agency

From the Horse’s Mouth: Getting Published or Self-published

Saturday, June 15, 2013
1 – 4 p.m.
Ryerson University, Yonge and Dundas streets,Toronto
(Building and room number to be announced). More details here.

A round table discussion moderated by teacher and editor Brian Henry. Following the presenters' introductory remarks, discussion will be opened up to the floor to address the concerns and questions of those aspiring writers present, both of fiction and nonfiction, interested in improving their chances of getting published.

The panel:

Greg Ioannou, publisher of Iguana Books. Through this self-publishing company, Greg is trying to create a new publishing model that avoids the structural problems of traditional publishing, while producing books that are just as well put together.

Stacey Donaghy of the Corvisiero Literary Agency wants to help talented Canadians gain access to New York publishers.

Patrick Crean, publisher of Patrick Crean Editions at HarperCollins Canada. Patrick has been in the book publishing business for more than 40 years and is one of the most respected editors in the business. Many of his authors have won Canada’s most prestigious literary awards.

Fee: $102 

Register online at Ryerson here. Or (contrary to what it says in the Ryerson Calendar), you can register in person on June 15, but please let me know in advance that you’re coming. Email me at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

German edition of
Getting Rid of Rosie
by Lynda Simmons

How to Build Your Story

An editor & an author explain it all
Saturday, June 22, 2013
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Peel Art Gallery, Museum & Archives (PAMA)

9 Wellington St. E. Brampton, Ontario (Map here.)

This workshop will show you how writers plot a novel. You’ll also get the best tips on writing short stories, where to get them published and how to win contests. Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing teacher for more than 25 years. Guest speaker Lynda Simmons has published eight novels, including Island Girl and Getting Rid of Rosie from Berkley Books. Lynda will show you how to create a character arc.

Fee:  $44 paid in advance or $48 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 and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Orillia, Bracebridge, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanon, reviewed by Phyllis Humby

Reading about Parisian ballerinas was never on my list of things to do. That changed when the author of one of my favourite books The Day the Falls Stood Still, decided to make that the subject of her second novel.

With the release of The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan has become the sweetheart of the literary world. She’s been lauded in the press and by every prominent magazine. Book clubs around the world are gushing about her latest bestseller.

Word has it that she’s been spotted doing the happy dance on the streets of New York City and high fiving patrons of Tim Horton’s in Niagara Falls and Mississauga.

The Painted Girls is different from anything on the market right now. It is a story of love, survival, and ambition. A story of lost innocence and betrayal. Buchanan’s interweaving of the true back story of Degas and the van Goethem sisters breeds familiarity and interest for the reader. But that’s not what makes this book an original. It is the intensity and passion of the author that leave me wondering if Cathy Buchanan wandered the rue de Douai in her dreams or if she ever woke with sore toes.

To experience the believable yet incredible tale, Buchanan drags us to the gritty backstreets of 19^th century Paris where we gag from the smell of decay and squalor. Our fingers trace the knobby backbones and cradle the bruised and bloody toes of the poverty-stricken dancers.

Cathy Marie Buchanon

Though enveloped within the drama, we remain powerless to soothe or comfort as we become acquainted with their world, page by page. We can only sympathize with the unsophisticated but worldly girls whose miserable living conditions warrant desperate measures by all but the youngest.

There is only one explanation for Cathy Marie Buchanan’s vivid and realistic accounting of the lives of the van Goethem sisters. Reincarnation! Research alone could not give her such intimate knowledge. That’s my view of the author’s insight of dancers from that era.

How else could she write so convincingly of the menial yet tedious work, the vulgarity of speech and lifestyle, those deserted filthy alleys where Antoinette and Émile...well, as they say, read the book.

Working from the reincarnation assumption, which character is the author? Could she be the oldest of the sisters? The misguided and suffering Antoinette could be vying for redemption by telling her story of scrabbling to survive by any means possible.

My first guess is Charlotte. Of the three van Goethem sisters, Charlotte’s is the only name not to appear at the beginning of a chapter. Marie and Antoinette take turns relating their view of life and each other, including poor drunken Maman. Of the three sisters, only Charlotte carries on for over fifty years in the world of ballet.

Then again, Marie, the middle sister, is educated and loves to read. She is clever and clearly fated for greatness. Perhaps Degas’s Little Dancer would re-emerge in another lifetime. To live on forever, not as a sculpture, but as a famous author.

Phyllis Humby lives in rural Camlachie, Ontario, where she indulges in her passion for writing suspense/thriller novels. Her stories have appeared in Canada, The United States, and the UK. She writes a monthly opinion column, Up Close and Personal for First Monday magazine. Visit her blog, The Write Break here.

Quick Brown Fox welcomes book reviews and other book related pieces. Quick Brown Fox also welcomes reviews of plays, movies, restaurants and anything else that catches your fancy. Reviews may be straight up or tongue in cheek. You might review restaurants you can’t afford, based on what you see peering through the window or otherwise use your imagination to get up to some mischief. Email your review to me at brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Orillia, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Exploring Creative Writing weekly course, June 27 – Aug 15 in Burlington

Eight weeks of discovering your creative side

Thursday afternoons, June 27 – August 15, 2013

1 – 3 p.m.

Appleby United Church

4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (Map here.)

This is your chance to take up writing in a warm, supportive environment. This course will open the door to all kinds of creative writing. We’ll visit short story writing, children’s writing, and just for fun writing. 

You’ll 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 teacher for more than 25 years. He teaches at Ryerson University and has led writing workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he's helped many of his students get published.

Fee: $115.04 plus 13% hst = $130

Number of attendees strictly limited.

To reserve your spot, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca 

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Orillia, Bracebridge, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

MacKenzie Fraser-Bub of Trident literary agency seeks women's fiction

Trident Media Group

41 Madison Ave

Floor 36

New York, NY 10010

http://www.tridentmediagroup.com/

Trident Media Group is a large New York agency, one of the largest and most diversified agencies in the world. Trident represents over 700 authors in a range of genres of fiction and nonfiction, many of whom have appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers Lists and have won major awards and prizes. For six consecutive years, Publishers Market Place has ranked Trident number one for sales in North America.

MacKenzie Fraser-Bub is the newest agent at Trident and thus the agent most in need of authors. “I grew up surrounded by writers, manuscripts and publishing deals as the goddaughter of a Vice President and Publisher at Random House, says MacKenzie. “And in the summers, I hung around my godmother’s company, the Radcliffe Publishing Course (now the Columbia Publishing Course), known as one of the industry’s training grounds.”

“My goal the first few years was to work for very smart people in the publishing industry, learning as much as I could and getting valuable experience,” explains MacKenzie. This included positions as the assistant to the Director of the Columbia Publishing Course, Lindsay Hess, and working for Trident publishing agents Kimberly Whalen and Scott Miller.

Before embarking on her career as a publishing agent, MacKenzie wanted to experience working inside a major publisher, and gain valuable insights on marketing, which she could use later to her clients’ advantage. She became Publishing Manager at Touchstone Books (a division of Simon & Schuster). She worked closely with the sales and marketing departments for a wide-array of bestselling authors, such as Phillipa Gregory, Lisa Unger, Bethanny Frankel, J.A. Jance, and R.L. Stine.

Now MacKenzie’s back at Trident as a literary agent, actively building her client list, discovering new talent, and helping established authors expand their publishing platforms and readership.

MacKenzie is interested in women’s fiction. “What I look for in every genre is a good story, well told,” says MacKenzie.

Query via Trident’s submission page here.

Your query should include only a paragraph about yourself, a brief plot synopsis and your contact information; it should not include a manuscript, a proposal, or any writing samples. 

More information about relatively new agents at Trident here.

Brian Henry will host “From the Horse’s Mouth: Getting published or self-published” at Ryerson University on June 15 with Stacey Donaghy of the Corvisiero Literary Agency, Greg Ioannou of Iguana Books, and Patrick Crean of HarperCollins Canada (details here). To register, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

On Saturday, June 22, Brian will lead a “How to Build Your Story” workshop in Brampton, with guest speaker Lynda Simmons (details here). To register, emailbrianhenry@sympatico.ca

However, before you submit, though, the best way to get your manuscript into shape is with a weekly course. This summer, Brian will be leading Intensive Creative Writing courses on Tuesday afternoons in Burlington (details here) and on Thursday evenings in Mississauga (details here).  To register, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Orillia, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Happy Victoria Day - Welcome summertime!

A couple of tunes performed by Norah Jones...

"Summertime and the livin is easy"

"I'll be your baby tonight"

Love letters: Where your fellow writers are getting published (and where you might get published, too)

Hi, Brian.
It was nice to see you at your workshop in Peterborough.
I wanted to update you about the contest at Marco Polo. They've finished publishing all the 100-words and the 500-word entries.
I've already told you they published my 500-word story. I was notified this morning that my 100-word story, Anger, has been published, too.
Take care Brian and I hope to see you again this summer.
Nancy Boyce

Read Nancy’s story here.

For information about submitting to Marco Polo, see here.

Hi, Brian.

I am very excited about the Hebrew translation of my short stories and about travelling to Tel Aviv for the book launch. A work by the well-known Israeli art photographer Malka Inbal has been chosen for the cover.

One of the nicest things about a foreign language edition is the absence of galley proofs that must be checked and rechecked. I just sit back and let others do the work!

Here is an excerpt from the letter the publisher, Milkah Klein, sent a few days ago:

The Hebrew name that was chosen to your book is: Hazut Mehugenet which means something like "Respectable Appearance." In Hebrew it describe somebody that looks respectable or dignified (I hope I'm using the right word in English) but when you say he looks respectable (Hazut means look or appearance), it says that there must be something else inside or behind his appearance. I'm sure you'd love the name.

Even though few followers of Quick Brown Fox will be able to read the book, I thought you would be interested.

My warm regards,

Jean Rae Baxter

Dear Brian,
As I've been singing my exciting news at the top of my lungs all week, I wanted to share it with you personally, having participated in your classes. I signed a publishing contract with Astraea Press for my YA fantasy romance novel Fire and Ice. Thank you so much for your helpful input on the chapters you reviewed and for your wonderful writing workshops! 
Next stop, film rights!

Wishing you all the best,
Michele
Michele Barrow-Belisle

http://www.michelebarrowbelisle.com/

See the submission guidelines for Astaea Press here.

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Orillia, Bracebridge, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

You're invited to a book launch for Objects in Mirror by Tudor Robins

Hi, Brian.

At long last, I can announce my first YA novel, Objects in Mirror, is being published!

It was your workshop at Ryerson in May 2008 that first convinced me I needed to let somebody else read my manuscript. That started a long series of critiques, revisions, submissions, more revisions, more submissions, and finally acceptance.

I’ve adored working with the supportive team at Red Deer Press to bring this book to reality, and we’re expecting copies in the warehouse by the middle of the month. In the meanwhile, everyone’s invited to my book launch:

Thursday, June 6, 2013

7 – 9 p.m.

Red Chair Kids

1318 Wellington Street West, Ottawa

Door prizes to be won and cold beverages & sweet snacks served.

So, thanks for helping kick-start the process. The Ryerson workshop was incredibly valuable. I’m glad you do what you do!

Best wishes,

Tudor

Tudor Robins

Read more about Objects in Mirror at Tudor's website: http://tudorrobins.ca/

Note: The famous Ryerson seminar Tudor refers to, where we get to question three senior members of the publishing industry for an afternoon, is coming up again, on June 15. Details here. For information about submitting to Red Deer Press, see here.

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Orillia, Bracebridge, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.