Road Trip to Hear Susan's Secrets

Road Trips are inevitable when you live in the middle of nowhere. Occasionally, you need to make a long distance journey elsewhere, sometimes through lots of snow, to reach a point where other writers are gathered to share secrets... secrets about the craft of writing. 

Today, I had company with me, on my two-hour car ride from Owen Sound to Orillia, to attend The WCSC (Writers' Community of Simcoe County) Meeting. A writer friend, Diane, asked to tag along with me because she was interested in meeting our key-note speaker, Susan Swan. Susan had been Diane's mentor in the Humber College Writing Program, many years ago. What a small world it truly is.

Susan Swan, a Toronto novelist is an amazing speaker. She has been a published author and creative writing teacher for over 30 years. She has published novels in 15 different countries and has had her novels translated into eight different languages. A few of her novels have been made into motion pictures (shown in 32 countries) and they have also won many literary awards. She is a graduate of McGill University and has taught at University of Toronto, York University, Guelph University and Humber College.

Today, Susan's workshop was titled,

        “IS YOUR WRITING DEAD OR ALIVE?

I filled five full pages with informative notes. 

Susan shared with the group, her writing secrets, her personal process of attacking a new novel from scratch and where her ideas come from, for her novels and intriguing characters. 

It's fabulous to have a speaker talk about their personal fears when it comes to writing and to point out, whether you are a beginner or an advanced multi-published author, that you are going to experience fears like: Will people like my novel? Worse, will they hate it? My writing is such drivel, should I just give up the writing process? The questions are never-ending when you are doubting your own work.

She gave us some options and suggestions to approach  our next novel. The biggest secret revealed, was how to tell if your fiction is dead or alive... loved this advice.

While many writers you meet, don't want to reveal their secrets, Susan Swan was the opposite. Instead of giving us hours of techniques that you can read in a how-to book or hear from everyone, everywhere you go, she gave us real actual stories to use as examples of clarifying her point. This information is priceless for new authors. 

Oh, and as an added bonus, Susan offered to read and edit 12 pages of each writer's current manuscript, giving insightful tips and creative comments. What a gift that was!

If you are a writer, and you find yourself looking for a writers' group to visit, please check out the WCSC in Oriliia. We love seeing new faces at our writing meetings. You don't have to be a member to come to a meeting. Visit our website HERE to keep up to date with who our guest speaker will be each month: 

March 22: Wayson Choy, Novelist, Momoirist, Mentor 
April 19: Hilary McMahon, Literary Agent from Westwood Artists 
May 24: Susan Philpott, Author of Blown Red