The Powell River Business Directory

  The Business Directory in the Retail & Wholesale Section now contains pages for local authors with each author’s name and contact info listed with their book titles and a one-paragraph description of each book.  There is the option of taking out an advertisement that will show the cover of the book with a more complete description.

 So please spread the word to any authors you know and send the details noted to:

 Norah LeClare

604.487.0177
http://www.powellriverdirect.com/

 Write to Sell

 The brainchild of Gary Grieco and Barb Rees, this pilot project launched Group 1 in December. With the support of Darren Robinson at Tourism Powell River, and the bottomless wisdom of Ann Nelson, they set about to write “articlettes” …Gary’s word for a filler piece of no more than 300 words. The Patricia Theatre was the theme for those nine participants.

 Over two sessions they were shown how to write cover letters, do research, find magazine editors and guidelines. At the end six had bravely stuck with the project, and several sent articlettes to magazines.

 Group 2 with five writers had two sessions in January with the theme “Powell River’s Centennial.” We are happy to report that Roger Whittaker and Janet May sold their stories. Congratulations!

 Write to Sell was the appetizer to more in depth workshops at the coming writers conference. Bigger…Better…and designed to take your writing to the next level. By now you’re gathered from our site that’s the theme for this years 7th annual event.

 Writers Buzz

Friday, April 30

 Powell River will be buzzing with many readings, and extra workshops. Details on Writer’s Buzz page.

 International Peace Poem Walker’s Association

 Congratulations Eva van Loon and the Powell River Live Poet’s Guild! IPPWA became official Feb.12/10. For the last two years in conjunction with our festival/conference, they have gathered peace poems from all the schools in Powell River, judged them and held an awards ceremony. From that Eva produced 2 little books of poetry on Powell River’s first perfect binding press thanks to CMG Printing .  This year the awards take place April 8 at Max Cameron Theatre ahead of the writers’ conference.

 Details at: Live Poet’s Guild  or contact Eva: mettalaw@gmail.com.

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 Any body who is planning to attend the Powell River Writers’ Conference and who has not yet registered, is asked to email Gary Grieco at griecogary@gmail.com to be included on a “soft list” of attendees. Thanks. Deadline for early bird special is March 31/10. Deadline for So You Think You Can Write contest is April 10/10. Go to writing contest for guidelines.

Cash-strapped writers are in need of sponsors to assist them to attend the writers conference. Please donate their registration($100 by end of March or $120 after) and reap the reward of knowing you helped further someone’s dream to become a writer. Your name will also be on this site and on the program at the event. Call Barb(604-485-2732)  if you’d like to become a “Friend of the Conference” with this donation or any other you have in mind.
Any event of note to writers can appear in the newsletter. Please send contributions to egwen@shaw.ca.

POWELL RIVER WRITER’S CONFERENCE

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN WRITE?

The latest buzz is our newest fall contest:  So You Think You Can Write?  The Powell River Writer’s Conference has teamed up with the Powell River Tourism Board to promote tourism!  We are conducting an incredible contest entitled “So You Think You Can Write?”  All entries cost $10 (unless you have already paid your annual fee, then your entries are free), which also gains the author a year membership in the writer’s conference.  Stories are limited to 300 words, and poems to 20 lines. 

The subject?  Why people should visit Powell River – Howe Sound to Lund, actually.  All entries are due by September 18, 2009.  Local travel magazine editors will review all entries and reduce the final numbers to the final 10 entries.  The authors will present their entries at the fall (October 17th, 2009) workshop at VIU, in front of 3 judges (like Canadian Idol).  The winner’s entry will be published!  Please mail all entries to:  Powell River Writer’s Conference
4300A Scotia Place, Powell River, BC  V8A 2X2. 

Please enter the contest yourself AND please help us get the word out.  For more information, people can call Jennifer at 604-485-0564 OR you can visit the Writer’s Conference website for complete details at www.prwriters.org.  Students are especially encouraged to enter and are NOT charged the entry fee – the school must be clearly marked on the entry for the fee exemption.

We will be at the Blackberry Festival on August 21^st, and have community advertising on 97.3FM, 95.7FM and Channel 4 TV.  We have requested money from The Rotary Club of Powell River to assist us with additional marketing.  Further, we have been granted a complimentary airline ticket for Sylvia Taylor (you may remember her from our spring conference) to conduct our fall workshop. 

FALL 2009 WORKSHOP

Our Fall workshop is on October 17, 2009. The cost is $50 and we will have lunch options for purchase.  The workshop is from 9am to 3pm, conducted at Vancouver Island University, Powell River Campus. 

The subjects of the workshop:

1.  How to write an articlette, and get paid good money for it.  What is an articlette?  A small “snippet” of an article, between 100 to 150 words, which magazines use as filler spaces.  Some of these articlettes are very lucrative, and may be a good source of income for those who wish to know more about it. 

1. How to write a query letter.  Most publishing editors read the cover letter and may read the manuscript (if the cover letter is sufficient).  The query letter is the most essential part of selling your manuscript.  The workshop will include how to write an effective query letter, and how to better approach publishers with your work.

1. The finale of the contest “So You Think You Can Write”. 

The registration form will be up on the website soon to attend the workshop.  Get your contest entries in!

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Congratulations Wayne Lutz on the release of his new book!

We’ve long known Wayne for his regional “Up the Lake” series but there’s a side to  his literary talents we’ve not seen before. He has released his second Sci-Fi novel: Inbound to Earth

Available at Amazon.com or at www.powellriverbooks.com