It’s day 12 of being the facilitator of the "writing for young adults" lab at Sage Hill Writing Experience. Yep, it's over. It's done! 12 Days (11 for the students) of time to write, critique, laugh, listen to my mind numbing lectures, eat amazing food, write, rewrite, and play frisbee. To my calculations there were 2 broken arms, 2 broken legs, 1 slashed arm and six dead (Uh, I'm talking about characters in books, not students btw).

I'm blogging from home (must use treadmill desk to lose the weight I gained). It already seems like a dream...


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Cool Hunchback Book Trailer

I was so pleased when Harpercollins sent the link to this. What a great bunch of readers!

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Day Seven....

It’s day x of being the facilitator of the "writing for young adults" lab at Sage Hill Writing Experience. Okay, I'm losing track. I think it's day nine right now, but I'm going to write about day seven which was the 20th Anniversary Celebration of Sage Hill. Yeah, Sage Hill is officially out of the teen years. The event, like all good events, started with a bit of banjo/drums/violin and singing. Just a typical day at Sage Hill.
Next we moved into the church to listen to Richard Ford's keynote address. It was about "becoming a writer" with the preambled warning that he was a writer so it would be hard to tell truth from fiction. His gloriously southern-accented voice took us for a stroll through his childhood in Mississippi, his relationship with his parents, and his first publications. The talk was well received and well attended despite the fact the Saskatchewan Roughriders were playing at the same time (they lost--stupid Roughriders).
We then went outside to the tent. There was free champagne. Yes, you read that right. These galas are decadent aren't they! And a wonderful jazz trio from Saskatoon. And there were speeches that made me salivate. Well, they were excellent speeches, but I was salivating because I could smell the hamburgers. There's nothing like hamburgers and champagne. Oh, and cake, too. Mmm cake (this is getting kind of stream of consciousness, isn't it?). I'm just trying to explain that this event had everything.
Even famous science fiction writer Robert Sawyer. Notice how I'm attempting to steal his spotlight. There were paparazzi everywhere taking his picture and I made sure I was in every snap. Did I mention there was free champagne?

Oh, there were classes that day, too. And that was the day I told them the secret to being published and making millions of dollars. I would share that with you, too, but the FBI are watching so I can't.

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Day six six six

Day six. Must put fingers to keyboard. Must report to outside world. Must write about the "writing for young adults" lab at Sage Hill Writing Experience. Well today was individual meetings. All sorts of interesting discussions. Which character should I kill? Did I kill enough? Kill your darlings. Kill your not so darlings. A very murderous day.

Oh, the picture is of one of the "meditative structures" on St. Michael's land.

Later, Richard Ford spoke to us very eloquently about writing. It was a Q&A session. A few points that my tiny brain remembers--
creative writing classes are a victimless crime, no one gets hurt by bad writing that never sees the light of day.
Get over the existential dread of writing the first sentence of a book. The second sentence won't have quite as much dread.
Listen for the rhythm of each sentence.
How much time do we actually spend writing? We talk about what we've written, we think about what we will write, but when do we actually write? That's why we're here. Pedal to the metal. Hammer down. End stop.

I'm abbreviating an hour long session. I think that'll be my next t-shirt--Pedal to the metal.

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Day 5 and Still Alive

What Day is this? Oh yeah, it's day five of being the facilitator of the "writing for young adults" lab at Sage Hill Writing Experience. What fun we are having. We are really "labbing" it, I tell you what. Why today we discussed "triage" rewriting. That is picking the parts of your novel that need the most attention first and fixing them, then moving on to the next most "traumatic" section. Also we did that whole 3rd person critiquing, where as a group you critique a fellow writer's work but pretend that they are not in the room. "Well I think the author did this because..." or "she has a lovely way of describing petunias." The author can't say a word and only takes notes. It's an interesting way to do it because after awhile you do forget that the person is actually in the room. They can finally talk once we invite them back into the conversation. No fisticuffs today, either!

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steampunk aquasuit stylin'

A little bit more steampunky madness from the cover concept for The Dark Deeps (The Hunchback Assignments II)...


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Sage Hill Day 3

It’s day three of being the facilitator of the "writing for young adults" lab at Sage Hill Writing Experience. Yesterday, I called myself an instructor, but truthfully facilitator is a much better word. I'm just here to make things run a little more smoothly. All the students are here for the various classes now and the retreat centre is popping with action (there was even drumming, banjoing, and fiddling last night). Oh, and many people tried out the maze. Great thing is-if you get lost, you can walk over it.


There are plenty of walking paths and the Saskatoon berries are ripe. What? There should be writing and reading? Well that's happening, too.






All our discussions are in the "new" meeting room. I tell you, we have the best meeting room of all. There are even wheels on the chairs and a lectern that I can stand behind if I want to feel important. Today we had our first individual meetings. It's always hard to show your prose to other people, but there is something about the closed-off environment of a retreat centre that makes it a little easier. And being among a friendly group of like-minded people.

Our topics of discussion today: Point of view--3rd person? 3rd person singular? 1st person and the pros and cons. There were no fisticuffs! Present tense vs past tense? I seen what you mean, I said. And can you really make money from this business? (canned laughter here) Gee, what'll we talk about for the remaining nine days?

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Go Go Gadget Steampunk Arm

Look, it's Miss Hakkandottir's arm! Just a bit of the cover concept from The Dark Deeps. The other stuff is even more cool. Uh, but I can't show you right now...

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Teaching YA Writing at Sage Hill

Well, it’s day one of teaching young adult writing at Sage Hill Writing Experience. The course takes place at St. Michael's Retreat near Lumsden, SK. As you can see it's a lovely place. There are several courses being taught so all of we "faculty" get to arrive a day early, get settled in, and get a good sleep before the massive onslaught of students arrive. My class will be 4 students who have completed novels and want to "improve" them. A bit of lecturing, some class discussion, and then one on one discussion--for twelve days.
This is my room. You know those Franciscan friars didn't need much space. At least there's a nice view (though the view is rather curious since we're looking across a valley at a highway--odd to sit in this peaceful place and to see all these people whizzing by). Ah, well, I better do a bit of "prep" work.

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Great Moments in Steampunk History #1: Spring Heeled Jack

In 1837 the first sighting of Spring Heeled Jack occurs in England. He was tall and thin, had metallic claws, fiery eyes and could leap great distances. He committed various devious crimes then would leap over a wall or fence to escape the bobbies. The last reported sighting was in 1904 (at which point he must have been a Spring Heeled Jack with a walker).

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