New book coming

I've recently agreed to edit and publish Hot Apple Cider 2. We have a call out for submissions now. The planned publication date is May, 2011. Yes, that's coming up quickly!

Wendy Elaine Nelles, my co-editor for Hot Apple Cider, plans to co-edit this one, too.

Because my company (That's Life! Communications) is working in partnership with The Word Guild and World Vision Canada, we're only looking at submissions from members of The Word Guild (Canadian citizens or landed immigrants who agree to the Apostles' Creed).

Submissions are open until October 18, 2010, so if you qualify to be a member of The Word Guild, you might want to join now, and get a submission in.

If you're a reader, stay tuned for more information. I'll be posting here as we proceed.

Over 30,000 copies of Hot Apple Cider have gone out through World Vision's Girls Night Out and Couples Night Out programs and another 15,000 have gone out through various means. We're hoping for similar results with Hot Apple Cider 2.

  • Share/Bookmark

8-week workshop at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario

Called to Write: Ten Essentials for Successful Writing

N. J. Lindquist
Wednesdays, October 6 – November 24, 2010,
7:00 – 9:30 pm
$240

Friends and family have urged you to write down your stories or opinions. But should you? After all, how do you know your work is any good? And how could you get published? Looking at fiction and non-fiction, short pieces and books, N.J. will give you an insider's glimpse into the world of writing and help you create a plan for your next steps. Includes optional assignments and critiques.

N. J. Lindquist is an award-winning author and speaker with 11 published books and numerous articles, columns and blogs. She also edited and published the Canadian bestselling anthology, Hot Apple Cider. The co-founder of The Word Guild and director of Write! Canada, N. J. has been teaching writers for almost 20 years.

For more details or to register, go to: 

http://www.redeemer.ca/clear/communication.aspx#write

  • Share/Bookmark

Greater Vancouver Writers’ Day

Saturday, August 21

9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Vancouver Bible House 700 Kingsway, Vancouver BC

with N. J. and Les Lindquist

9:30 a.m. – Registration

10:00 a.m. – Workshop 1: The Art, Craft, Business, & Ministry of Writing with N. J. Lindquist

11:30 a.m. – Update on The Word Guild with Q & A

12:00 p.m. – Lunch and Networking

1:00 p.m. – Workshop 2: What Writers Needs to Know about Trends in Publishing with Les Lindquist

2:30 p. m. – Wrap-up

Click here for more details

  • Share/Bookmark

Gathering ideas: 7. News, current events

man reading newspaper

Many writers get ideas from listening to the news, reading newspapers or the internet, watching programs about current affairs, noticing topics that are trending… 

In fact, being alert to what's going on in the world is usually a great way to get started as a writer. Many local or regional newspapers are interested in stories of community events. A simple news item might give you inspiration for a follow-up feature article, a poem, a story, a related news item, or something larger. A story in a national newspaper or magazine might give you a bigger idea.

Or you might simply use something in the news as part of a larger story or book. 

Let me give you a few examples:  

Years ago, I decided to enter the Toronto Star's short story contest. I think it was fairly new at the time. However, I had difficulty thinking of something to write that I thought the panel of judges would be interested in. I tried several things and was feeling my wheels spinning. Nothing felt right.

Read the rest of this entry »

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , ,

Interruption in your normally scheduled programming

So here I was posting 10 ways to gather ideas and then I stopped. Just stopped. Nada. Nothing new. For weeks.

Um, sorry about that.

It's called not having enough hours in the day. Or doing far too many things.

Mostly it's Write! Canada and The Word Guild getting in the way again.

I co-founded The Word Guild in 2001. And I'm directing Write! Canada for the 9th time. How did this happen? It was only going to be for a short while until we got things going…. 

But like Alice, there must have been a little bottle that made everything expand and expand until it was huge. And so I'm still heavily involved, though slowly working my way out.

I will be continuing to post here soon.

Write! Canada is June 17-19. I'll be teaching a workshop on how to plot stories. Fun stuff!

Also stay tuned. I'll soon be announcing a class I'll be teaching this fall in the Hamilton area.

  • Share/Bookmark

Gathering ideas: 6. Bible reading

Noah's ark

I find it almost impossible to read my Bible without getting caught up in possibilities. Such unique settings! Fascinating characters! So many complex themes! Idea after idea tumbles through my mind…. A mystery novel retelling the story of Cain and Abel with a modern setting. A Bible study  or devotional where you can share what you've learned. A poem similar to those in Psalms.A drama about Joseph. And on and on….

My guess is that simply by reading the Bible every day, most writers would get enough ideas to keep them busy for years. 

So why not simply use the Bible for ideas all the time?

Well, the possibility is that other people have had the same idea that strikes us. Let's face it, there are only so many ways you can rewrite the "love"' passage in I Corinthians 12 into modern language. Or are there? Whether you're writing fiction, non-fiction, poetry, a play…you need to be fresh, and that means real and honest. Don't write what you think you ought to say—write what's in your heart.

Read the rest of this entry »

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , ,

Gathering ideas: 5. People

girls on phonesQuite often, we'll get an idea from watching another person. It might be someone we know, or it might be a total stranger we happen to run across once.

The idea could be as comprehensive as discovering something about your mother that makes you want to tell her life story, or as simple as having the odd way a complete stranger backs out of a car trigger an idea for a character.

There are actually numerous outlets for articles about people, whether they're famous or not. Our society seems to be always looking for new information about celebrities and athletes—sometimes to a ridiculous extent.

Read the rest of this entry »

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: ,

Interview Up

There's an interview with Patricia Paddey posted at the Write! Canada site this morning. Patricia interviewed Wendy Nelles and me, as directors of Write! Canada, about our long association with the conference and our vision for the future. 

Ironically, Wendy and I both attended the conference for the first time in 1988, and we were both on the planning committee for many years. But we really didn't know each other at all until we started trying to save the conference in 2001. We've worked very closely since then, in almost daily communications.

The interview

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , ,

Gathering ideas: 4. Themes

man talkingMost people are passionate about something, or know a lot about something, and want to pass on their knowledge or understanding to others.

This is one of the most common ways people find their ideas. Out of their lives, and values, they think of something they want to say, and then figure out how to say it.

Maybe you've had cancer and recovered, and you want to tell other people how they can survive cancer. Maybe you've been treated rudely one too many times and you decide you need to write something that will tell people how they ought to treat other people. Perhaps you've discovered a way to plant a garden that is more successful than any other way you've seen. You would like to tell someone what you have learned.

Read the rest of this entry »

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: ,

Gathering ideas: 3. Theft

Yes, you are allowed to steal ideas. That's because you can't copyright an idea. And what I do with an idea might be very different from what you would do.

Now, there are some common sense boundaries. If I tell you I'm going to query a specific editor about an article on an upcoming event, and you quickly fire off an email to the same editor about writing an article on event, that is definitely a no no. And anything that has been published or produced is protected by copyright.

four people with ideasBut on less specific things, stealing ideas is allowed. For example, if I read an article on how to raise great kids in a magazine, and I find that I have things to say that weren't said in the article, there's no harm in my writing another  article on how to raise great kids using my perspective and my own examples. No, you can't  combine three of the first author's points with two of yours. What you write has to be different, has to be uniquely yours. Other wise you're guilty of plagiarism.

So you write a totally different article, but with the same overall focus—how to raise great kids.

Now, what do you do with it? Well, unless raising kids is the primary focus of the magazine, I probably wouldn't send my article to the same magazine where you read the original. At least not for a few months. Why? Because they just published an article on that topic. And they likely won't publish a similar article for at least several months, probably a year.

Read the rest of this entry »

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , ,