Author Archives: Sharon

by | March 5, 2016 · 10:42 pm

Unless You Puke, Faint, or Die, Keep Going

In the last few months, I’ve dipped a toe in the query waters. After spending most of last year writing, editing and revising a children’s picture book, my fellow Restless Writers informed me it was time. Time to let my baby bird fly from the nest to see if any agent birds might be interested in what the tiny bird has to say.

This is my first foray into the vast query ocean and let me tell you, it is not a welcoming place. The water is cold, dark and pretty lonely. Hearing the word “no” and all its variations time and time again can leave you feeling like it’s time to hop into the nearest life raft, head to shore and happily hoard your writing for your eyes only for all of eternity.

Thankfully, I happen to have a secret weapon to defend against this line of thinking and help me forge ahead. Part cheerleader, part ball buster, this person is the Jillian Michaels of the query coaching world.

The name of this coach you ask? Well, I can tell you they won’t like that I’m mentioning them in this post. They will not like it at all. So let’s just say their name rhymes with Leckie Has.

Good. Now that we’ve got that out of the way let me tell you how Leckie has helped me with the process of querying. In a nutshell, like Jillian Michaels, Leckie refuses to let me quit.

Sent out 25 queries and received 25 rejections back? Awesome. Send out another 50.

Me: I got a rejection email from such and such agent.

Leckie: A rejection from such and such agent?! Sharon, that’s fantastic. That agent is amazing. Now send a query to this one and this one and this one.

Back and forth we go and as we do, somehow, I start to feel like my querying efforts are all going according to plan. The more defeat the better. Leckie reminds me that repeated rejections are supposed to happen, they are part of how the query process works. If you are hearing the word “no” it means you are putting your work out there and this is the only way to get where you want to go.

Of course this doesn’t mean I don’t still have days where the life raft is calling my name but I know with Leckie on my case side, it’s futile to entertain these thoughts. Better to query and query again and once more while I’m at it.

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by | June 21, 2015 · 10:29 pm

No Arguments? Father Knows Best

As some of you may know, the Globe and Mails’ Facts and Arguments recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the national newspaper held a contest inviting submissions for The Essay that centred on a moment of truth.

As a group, each of the Restless Writers has at one time or another submitted an essay to the Globe and Mail in the hopes of it being published in The Essay. It’s a right of passage for a new writer. We followed the submission guidelines, kept to the word limit, carefully critiqued and then revised our pieces to get them just right. We pressed send on our computers, anxiously awaiting a reply and then zip. Nada. No traction. Among the four of us, we’ve submitted a total of nine essays and have only managed to crack the secret code once with the publication of Maria’s entry about starting a second career.

Despite these terrible odds, some of the Restless Writers decided to once again dust off their keyboards and submit an essay to the moment of truth contest. They were good. One made us cry to read how life can change in an instant when faced with a personal health emergency. The other made us laugh with tales of kicking a serious caffeine habit. Again, we read the criteria, kept to the word limit and worked to polish our drafts. And you know what? That’s right. No dice.

So all of this has got me thinking, what DOES it take for a submission to make it past the steely guards surrounding the desk of the Facts and Arguments editor? In honour of Father’s Day today, I thought I’d ask the one person I know who’s actually had something published in Facts and Arguments – not once, but twice. My dad, Barry.

Writing is something my dad started in his retirement. He’s had some great success with personal essays and travel articles published multiple times in the Toronto Star and travel magazines.

So I asked him.

Me: What advice would you give to a writer looking to have their personal essay published in the Facts and Arguments section?

Dad: I have given it a lot of thought and here are my Top 5 tips.

  1. The editors are looking for a very good story. It doesn’t have to be “professional” but well written.
  2. Write about an honest personal topic, something unique. Humour helps too. Be self depreciating, you don’t always have to look good.
  3. Avoid having an axe to grind or making others look bad.
  4. Make sure your title is an attention getter. Think of what’s trendy in popular culture, alliteration can work well. In my case, an essay titled “A Wedding Trauma” became “One Wedding and a Trauma.”
  5. Give your piece a strong closing that puts it all into perspective.

So there you have it, some insider tips from a real life published Facts and Arguments author.

Believe me when I say, the man knows unique personal stories. One of his published essays detailed the time he accidentally walked into a metal sign and split open his forehead 30 minutes before he was due to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day! He ended up with five stitches. Did I mention it was in the middle of the SARS epidemic in Toronto?

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Me and my dad on my wedding day. Bandages and all!

While I don’t suggest personal injury as a route to publication, I do hope some of my dad’s tips might inspire you to not give up on the quest to be a part of the exclusive Facts and Arguments club.

Rejects Rejoice
In the meantime, for everyone who’s ever had their Facts and Arguments submission passed over, there is now a place where you can share your essay with the world as you intended.

The Restless Writers are proud to introduce a brand new blog called Restless Rejects – the site that will take your Facts and Arguments submission and post it. The only requirements? The essay must have been submitted to and rejected by the Globe and Mail and be under 1,000 words.

If you are still shaking your head wondering how the editors could have passed over your piece, we want it. Read more about the new blog.

P.S. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there and a very special thank you to my dad for lending his support with this blog post and every other single thing I’ve ever done – including making it back from the hospital in time to walk me down the aisle! Now that’s a good dad. Happy Father’s Day.

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by | October 12, 2014 · 11:05 am

Time Out

Last weekend, the Restless Writers combined two of our greatest loves, writing and wine, at the third annual Restless Writers’ retreat in the beautiful Niagara on the Lake.

I, for one, look forward to this trip each year as a chance to recharge, stretch my writing brain and get inspired. And it did not disappoint. For four days, our laptops were put to the test as we polished pages, revisited old projects, and unearthed news ones.

Of course our trip would not have been complete without taking time out to sample the beautiful scenery and fermented grape goods produced in the heart of Canada’s wine country.

Here are some pictures from our weekend. Can’t wait to do it all over again.

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by | September 19, 2014 · 10:44 pm

Popcorn Anyone?

I’m late getting to my blog post. This is nothing new but what I am switching up this month is my excuse. I’m not going to blame work, kids or even the hectic pace of getting my household back into a routine for a new school year. Nope. My blog post is tardy because I’ve been spending every waking moment outside of work, kids and getting my household back into a routine for a new school year reading Written In My Own Heart’s Blood, the eighth instalment of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series.

I love these books.

The series follows a married World War II combat nurse who mysteriously finds herself transported back to eighteenth century Scotland. Think hot Scottish Highlander, time travel and epic historical battles.

If the release of the newest Outlander book wasn’t enough excitement for this wannabe Sassenach, a new television series adapted from the books launched in Canada on Showcase on Aug. 24. Think hot Scottish Highlander, time travel and epic historical battles brought to life!

While some may not be fans of novel adaptations to the big or small screen, I am. And that’s a good thing because movie and television book adaptations are plentiful right now – my fellow RW Andrea even featured one in her last blog post. From Game of Thrones and Orange is the New Black to The Hunger Games and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, it seems like there are more book-to-screen adaptations now than ever before.

For me, an adaptation is like Toy Story for adults. I get to see the characters and all the tiny details that live bottled inside my head come alive. And, in the case of a book like Outlander where it’s been more than a decade since I first read it, I have the joy of reliving my favourite parts of the story all over again. Think hot Scottish Highlander…okay, okay.

Granted, it doesn’t always work. There have been times after seeing an adaptation where I wished that I could shove those characters back inside the safety of my imagination and erase the movie versions. The Da Vinci Code comes to mind.

When it does work, it can be magic – the perfect word to describe one of my favourite book adaptations, Harry Potter. I was in my thirties when I read this series but that did not take anything away from the sheer thrill of seeing JK Rowling’s oddball sets and characters made real. The screen versions of her books surpassed my imagination.

The good news for us book adaptation lovers is that the trend is not slowing down any time soon. There is a long list of new movie adaptations set to hit the screens in 2015. I am especially looking forward to Still Alice.

In the meantime, get writing. The time has never been riper for the chance to see your characters and their stories given life.

What are some of your favourite book adaptations?

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by | April 10, 2014 · 9:57 pm

Discovering the “Good” in Goodbye

“The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.” Ivy Baker Priest

I’ve never much liked goodbyes. I come by it honestly. Growing up, when it came to saying goodbye, my mom used to say we were born with our kidneys too close to our eyeballs because we found them sad and were easy to cry. The two of us could see total strangers bidding each other adieu at the airport and in an instant; there would be the tears.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise (mostly to me) that I initiated my own goodbye last month. After six years at the same job, I packed up to start a new opportunity. Equally as surprising (again, only to me) was that I managed to get through my departure sans tears.

While I felt sad knowing I wouldn’t see the good friends I’d made day to day, a strange thing started to happen to me in the days leading up to my last day – I started to see some actual “good” in this whole goodbye thing.

I realized goodbyes are:

Good for getting nice notes from your colleagues and other co-workers you didn’t even know cared

Good for reminding you how much stuff you’ve really accomplished over the years in your job

Good for finding a vase of bright spring tulips on your desk

Good for seeing how much better your current hairdo is than the one on your old ID badge

Good for reminding you to take a leap every once in a while

Good for pushing yourself to go for new things

Good for taking stock of and feeling grateful for all you’ve learned and the great relationships you’ve made

Good for blog post ideas, suggested by your fellow RW (Miss Beckie!)

Good for being the recipient of a heartfelt poem written by your talented and thoughtful coworker who also happens to be a RW (thank you Andrea!)

And of course, GOOD for new beginnings.

Wish me luck!

  

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by | October 1, 2013 · 10:19 pm

Gone Fishing

What do you get when you combine four writers, one car, six tins of assorted Pringles and a beautiful bed and breakfast located steps from Lake Huron? That’s right—it’s the second annual Restless Writers retreat! 

This past weekend the Restless Writers said good bye to partners, pets, part time jobs, looming exam studies and weekend to-do’s and headed to the sunny shores of Port Elgin, ON for two uninterrupted days of all things writing.

The weekend gave us a chance to kick it into gear on our individual projects and also provided time for us to reconnect with and reflect on our goals for our writing and the RW group over the next year.

Of course we also made time to enjoy some of this…

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And wonderful it was.

Thank you Restless Writers for a most inspiring and fun getaway. Already counting the sleeps until 2014.

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by | June 17, 2013 · 11:13 pm

Me & CBC

This Huffington Post article by Amy Wruble, 40 Effed Up Things About Being 40, is making the rounds on my Facebook feed. It made me laugh. I just turned 40 last year but found myself relating to many of Amy’s observations – the correlation between the ingestion of pancakes and my waist size in particular. May my old metabolism rest in peace.

There is one more item I would add to this list – not so much “effed up” but definitely in the category of a “new trend” for me since I turned forty. I have become a fan of CBC Radio. That’s right, I said it, I am a late bloomer to CBC Radio.

It’s not that I didn’t know it existed, it’s just that growing up I largely considered CBC Radio to be “boring” and for “old” people. I like to think I was just wrong all these years, of course it may be that now I am old and boring but either way CBC Radio is suddenly appealing to me and often the first thing I put on the radio when I get into the car.

I’m still learning my way around the programming schedule but am super happy when I land on shows like The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers or Writers & Company hosted by Eleanor Watchel. These programs offer up a great forum for discussions with authors. I love hearing about what compels them to write and inspires their stories and characters. Studio Q with Jian Ghomeshi is also a great place to hear fantastic interviews like this one with Khaled Hosseini  (Kite Runner, And the Mountains Echoed) last week.

Turns out there’s a whole world of radio/talk shows for writers out there, just opening up to boring-old-40-year-old me. Here are just a few that I found. I’d love to hear from others about their favourites.

Talk Shows for Writers (www.freelancewriting.com)

Best Podcasts for Authors (http://www.bookbuzzr.com)

5 Must-hear Podcasts for Writers (http://www.fromthewriteangle.com)

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by | January 14, 2013 · 7:30 pm

When the going gets rough, the rough get writing

Back for the first blog post of 2013 and sadly, it’s not a happy one. I lost my sweet mom two days after Christmas. She’d experienced some health issues throughout November and rebounded for a time in December but unfortunately it was temporary.

My mom, me in the plaid and my big sister.

My mom, me in the plaid and my big sister.

I’m not in a place where I have any kind of perspective or insights to share about this whole experience but I did volunteer to write this blog post because in the days since my mom’s death I have found that writing has become a lifeline. In the first few days after she died, I couldn’t sleep. I’d get up in the wee hours of the morning and was drawn to my laptop. I began writing my eulogy for her service, madly trying to commit every detail I’d miss and every memory I’d cherish to the page. I talked with my sister who said she was struggling to write something but for me it was the only thing that offered some sort of solace.

I did a little bit of investigating and turns out there really is something to this idea of writing through the grief of losing someone you love. Author Louise Desalvo explores writing as a way to heal the emotional and physical wounds of life in her book Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives. There are grief writing workshops, like this one, offered by hospices and community support groups. Grief even has its own genre, the literature of loss as explored recently by the New York Times.

So I must be on to something.

One final note—I hope none of our readers ever find themselves in a similar situation with losing a loved one but if you do, may you have the good fortune to experience the exceptional support and love I’ve received from my fellow restless writers in the last few weeks. Their emails, hugs and thoughtful gifts have all helped to hold me up and I am eternally grateful to them. xo

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by | October 5, 2012 · 6:07 pm

Confession Time

I dumped the entire contents of my purse on the floor of my doctor’s waiting room this week. Embarrassing? Yes. But there was a silver lining. While I was crawling on the ground (in a skirt!) gathering up the little pieces of my life, I made a few choice discoveries, including a $50 gift card for The Bay that was MIA since last Christmas and the head of my son’s much-coveted Darth Vader Lego figurine. Better than this though, I also found my ideas—long-forgotten writing ideas for book plots and characters that I’d jotted down on the back of receipts and sticky notes.

I have a habit of doing this. If you came to my house, you would find more of the same random notes on my bedside table, my phone, my laptop and in the back of my agenda for work.

This system for organizing my writing ideas is about as effective as it sounds – chaotic and unreliable. My notes, if I even remember that I’ve made them, are never where I think they should be when I want them. In fact, right now I am leafing through my agenda in search of a bright yellow sticky note that had some great ideas on it for this blog post. Ah, actually found it—crumpled at the bottom of the bag I cart back and forth to work every day.

Clearly, I am in need of some sort of system to help organize my writing.

I turned to my fellow Restless Writers to see how they keep track of their projects.

Maria wondered if a binder qualifies as a system—I say yes. In her binder Maria says she keeps hard copies organized according to the working title of the piece, including previous versions, all dated.  Beckie relies on file folders, storing notes and papers in folders, one for each writing project.

A quick Internet search tells me there is a myriad of stuff out there for people just like me. Programs like Evernote, Mindjet, and an eBook The Oraganized Writer that promises 30 days to more time, money and less frustration. There is even a mobile app Werdsmith, created for writers to help them keep track of ideas whenever inspiration strikes.

Do others have organizing systems they’d be willing to share? What works for you?

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by | April 24, 2012 · 8:02 pm

The New Girl

Here I am. Reporting for my first blog post, fresh from my inaugural Restless Writers meeting. The meeting was everything I hoped it would be – a great opportunity to get to know these awesome ladies better and to take in some of their honest feedback on the pages I submitted. While I survived their critiques (this was managed largely through consumption of wine and baked brie), as the newbie to the Restless Writers, I have to admit I am struggling with a dash of self doubt about whether or not I have the writing chops to be a part of this group.

Beckie has an agent—a real agent. And I didn’t even know what an em dash was until  Maria told me. Heck, I thought em dash was spelled “m” dash until I just looked it up online two minutes ago.

The good news in all of this is? I’m fairly sure I am not the first new want-to-be writer to feel this way. In 2010, The Guardian ran a two-part feature where they asked famous writers to share their Ten Rules of Writing Fiction. I was particularly drawn to the cheery wisdom imparted by British novelist and journalist Will Self. Will says:

“You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished.”

If this is true, I guess I am well on my way to becoming a writer.

Thank you Restless Writers for the warm welcome. With your mad grammar skills I’ll be mastering the in’s and out’s of em vs. en dashes in no time. And if not, I’ll fake it.

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