North Shore Writers' Association

Welcome back from the summer!

Breaking from tradition the Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held at the September meeting rather than the summer wrap-up party. After the regular business and elections there was an opportunity to talk with each other about what we did and didn't get up to over the summer.

Thanks to the outgoing executive of: Shelley Harrison Rae, Joyce Goodwin, Gerhard Winkler, Terese Cairns, Bente Nielsen, Moira Thompson, Sonnet Force, Dale McGladdery, Louise Welsh, Ursula Forrestal, Claudette Perron and Andrea Winterbottom.

Many people are continuing in the new executive, some in new roles. The 2006/2007 executive are:

• President: Terese Cairns
• Vice-President: Jennifer Case
• Treasurer: Gerhard Winkler
• Secretary: Dale McGladdery
• Public Relations: Jennifer Case
• Contest Coordinator: Moira Thompson
• Newsletter Editor: Andrea Winterbottom
• Web Master: Dale McGladdery
• Historian: Ursula Forrestal
• Members at Large: Heidi Sheard, Joyce Goodwin, Shelley Harrison Rae

On Tuesday, April 19, Shelley Harrison Rae presented a workshop on one of the Cardinal Rules for most forms of writing, namely show don’t tell. Shelley read us from different pieces of both fiction and non-fiction to show us what this looked like. She spoke of different techniques to help a writer achieve this word picture such as through the use of dialogue, or by using the five senses or by employing simile and metaphor.

As music played in the background, approximately thirty writers tried their hand with a few different exercises to practice the techniques of showing and not telling. There were no rules except to keep the pen moving on the paper. After writing for ten minutes, what was written was read out loud by several in the audience. The various pieces produced a lot of laughter and a few tears and clearly engaged the audience. We "got it".

Shelley has herself published poetry, short stories, personal essays, magazine and newspaper articles as well as working as a non-fiction editor and manuscript coach. She is presently working on a novel based on her own life and a book based on her Wordlink Workshops.

Trevor Carolan, experienced speaker, writer and lecturer spoke to us, the North Shore Writers Association, on March 15, 2005 at the Silk Purse. He began by reading from his poem VESPERS AMBLESIDE which ends with the line:

"A world of miracles, simple, peaceful, holy."

This and Trevor's sometimes quiet, sometimes rhythmic voice set the tone for his presentation. He spoke of reinforcing our vocation to writing by reading from his book CELTIC HIGHWAY and the necessity to correctly target the recipients of our work by choosing the publishers that publish the genre of work we write.