I belong to a small group of writers from all across Canada. We talk about our various writing styles and give support and encouragement to each other. Once a week one person in the group is required to submit an original work (any genre) to the group for their critiquing. All critiques are sent back to the author who submitted it.
A couple of years ago it was suggested we collaborate on a work that we could perhaps sell online and the suggested topic was "Christmas"
Since we are a very diverse group each story reflects the genre of the author.
The leader of the group, Our Guru, is Len Rich an Newfoundland nature writer who has a couple of books published with Jesperson Publishing and a couple of other books put out by other publishing houses. It was Len's idea to try to sell the book to a mainstream publishing house. We are all very glad he did.
Rick Cogbill is a freelance writer from BC.He has many published articles in various journals and and writes a series of western stories about his main character Slim Shambles.
Lee Parent from Saskatchewan, has been published in various newspapers and magazines on a wide variety of topics from wine-making to automobile hobbies. She contributes regularly to a Canadian Corvette newsletter.
David Drane, in Ontario writes for business and trade magazines and has many articles published.
Claire-Anne Sabourinwrite fantasy-fiction, poetry, trie-life stories and inspirational tales as well as children's stories. She lives in the Ottawa area.
(Shal)Ryn Morrison has written for over 10 years and has been published in many newspapers. She also does copywriting and freelance editing.
Joan Sennette who lives in teh Sault Ste Marie area writes poetry and has had several poems and short stories published in Tyro Magazine, Breakthrough and Teak Roundup. Joan (Jojo) had recieved a couple of awards for her work My Lover Madness and Portrait of Oka.
Debbie Kirychuk (Ontario) writes a wide variety of work including fiction.
Darrell Baizley In Manitoba is a freelance writer and ex-comedian. We rely on him for our comic relief when we start getting too serious about oursleves.
Myra Ross in Alberta, has worked as a freelance journalist and senior writer and editor for a number of publications.. She has recieved a number of journalism awards.
Bill McTague in Nova Scotia, is a retired school teacher and researches and writes extensively about ghost stories. He has several self-published books to his credit.
Donna Wark from Ontario is one of the founding members of this group of writers. Her interests are wide and varied.
Sue Buckle, also in Ontario started her writing career as a teen for her town's newspaper. Her interest lies in civic journalism and community communication with a focus on violence and women's issues. She now ventures into short stories.
Idris O'Neill has published several e-books of children's stories. Her works are a series of stories based on her internal muse, The Wee One, a fae who helps people understand the beauty of human nature. Although her stories are written for children many adults enjoy the lessons the Wee One has to relate. She lives with her husband in Ontario.
Peter Ferri, one more from Ontario, is a versitile writer with a focus on history. Peter is involved in creative writing as well as many artistic endeavors.
Lee Marsh, in Manitoba, feel very honored to be included with this group of authors. And, well, as most of you know, my writing is focused on a wide variety of abuse issues, and recovery as well as poetry.
Once the project to write the book was suggested each writer submitted a piece to the group. All pieces were first sent to me for a first edit. I would send my suggestions to the auther who would rewrite if needed and resubmit the piece to me. Once I was satisfied the piece was sent to the second editor, Rick, who put the piece through the same process. Once he was satisfied the piece would go on to Len for final approval before inclusion in the book.
A rough guess might be that it took us about 6 months from the time we started until we had the book in pdf format and had it for sale on Booklocker as an e-book. It was withdrawn from Booklocker when Len started looking fora publishing house for the work.
The entire group is imensely proud of this work. Many have never met any others in the group. I have met Rick, Darrell, Joan and Idris. The entire piece of work was done online, quite a remarkable feat in itself. The respect we have for others in the group is immense. Each accepts that those who offer critiques do so to help others improve their craft. I have been so impressed with the sensitivity of one writer for another even when we don't understand the genre of another.
I know it keeps me on my toes to be the best writer I can be.
What a wonderful group they are. I sure feel *lucky* to be included
