Meetings
Regular meetings are held on the second Saturday of the month (unless otherwise noted) in January, March, April, May, June, September, October, and November. February is our annual Valentines luncheon and July is when we have our summer picnic. There are no meetings in August or December. Directions can be found here. Meetings may include:
- Business meeting from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, followed by a break for lunch (Held Quarterly)
- Catch-up Session: 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm
- Workshop from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
**Guests are welcome to attend one or two regular meetings before joining. Please e-mail us for more information.**
*Please note, dates and/or times are subject to change based on workshop presenter’s availability.
March 9, 2024
Topic: Deep POV
Speaker: Lisa Hall-Wilson
Location: Via Zoom
Time: 11:00 am to 3:00 pm
Join us at 11:00 when Catherine from CanLit Romance will be discussing how our authors can get catalogued on her site as well as gain higher visibility.
After a quick break for lunch, Lisa Hall-Wilson will be offering her presentation on deep POV. Deep POV is a collection of stylistic choices aimed at immersing the reader in one character’s lived experience of the story. Removing narrative distance between the reader and the point of view character creates emotional connection and intimacy, immediacy, and instant (internal and external) conflict and tension that grabs readers’ hearts and keeps them turning pages.
Lisa Hall-Wilson is a writing teacher and an award-winning author and writer. She writes historical fantasy fiction and books for writers. Lisa grew up in farm country in southern Ontario, a small-for-her-age shadow of a girl whose best friends were the characters in her books. She spent nearly ten years living in Northwestern Ontario and her favourite summer job was being a historical interpreter at a recreated fur trade post (yes – she was paid to dress in period costume and pretend she lived in 1815). Lisa lives in southern Ontario with her husband and three children. She enjoys hiking, camping, reading, crafting, travelling, and typically asks way too many questions. Lisa is active on Facebook.
April 13, 2024
Topic: Writing the Anti-hero
Speaker: Janice Hardy
Location: UVic, Engineering & Computer Science Building, Room ECS660, Victoria and via Zoom
Time: Catchup: 12:30 to 1:00; Workshop 1:00 to 3:00
Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She also writes the Grace Harper series for adults (Starting with Blood Ties) under the name, J.T. Hardy. When she’s not writing fiction, she runs the popular writing site Fiction University, and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don’t Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series.
May 4, 2024 (AGM)
Topic: Six-month Marketing Plan
Speaker: Zoe York
Location: UVic, Engineering & Computer Science Building, Room ECS660, Victoria and via Zoom
Time: AGM: 11:00 to 12:00; Lunch: 12:00 to 1:00 Workshop 1:00 to 3:00
Canadian romance author Zoe York lives in London, Ontario with her husband, two kids, and two cats. She is a proud member of Toronto Romance Writers, and in between writing books as Zoe (and sometimes as Ainsley Booth (Hate F**k, Prime Minister), she travels around the world with her family.
June 8, 2024
Topic: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict
Speaker: Bonnie Edwards
Location: Vancouver Island Regional Library–Nanaimo North Branch, 6250 Hammond Bay Road, Nanaimo and via Zoom
Time: Catchup: 12:30 to 1:00; Workshop 1:00 to 3:00
Bonnie Edwards has been writing all her life, starting with a poem about Santa suffering with gout. She was seven, Santa was a thousandteen years old. Delighted with writing, she went on to write family sagas, humorous contemporary romance, romantic suspense, erotic paranormal ghost romances and more. She may jump around within romance, but all her stories come with a tear, a laugh, and a happy ending. Published by Kensington Books, Harlequin Books, Carina Press, and Robinson (UK) Bonnie’s stories stretch from short stories to novellas and novels. Now, she’s happy to be publishing her work herself. With 40+ titles to her credit, she has been translated into several languages and sold books worldwide. Aside from standalone romances, she has romance series that include Christmas romances and beach reads. Contemporary family sagas find a home in Return to Welcome set in a fictional town.
July 2024
Annual Summer Picnic
Details to come.
August 2024
No Meeting
September 14, 2024
Topic: Writing Action Scenes
Speaker: Joanna Vander Vlugt
Location: Vancouver Island Regional Library–Nanaimo North Branch, 6250 Hammond Bay Road, Nanaimo and via Zoom
Time: Catchup: 12:30 to 1:00; Workshop 1:00 to 3:00
Joanna Vander Vlugt is an author and illustrator. Her motorcycle illustrations have been purchased world-wide and her Woman Empowered motorcycle art series has been featured in on-line art and motorcycle magazines. Under the pseudonym J.C. Szasz, Joanna’s short mysteries Egyptian Queen and The Parrot and Wild Mushroom Stuffing were both published in Crime Writers of Canada mystery anthologies. Her essay, “No Beatles Reunion” was published in the Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle anthology. The Unravelling, her debut novel, and Dealer’s Child were Canadian Book Club Awards finalists. Both novels have been published under her own imprint, Ozzy Imprint. Joanna draws upon her 13 years’ experience working in the prosecutor’s office and 10 years working in the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner for inspiration for her novels. Joanna is the VP of Memberships for the Sinc-CW. Joanna is proud of her podcast SAM Magazine and the many authors she has interviewed and short stories she has showcased.
October 19, 2024
Topic: How to Raise the Stakes (Without Killing Everyone)
Speaker: Angela Ackerman
Location: UVic, Engineering & Computer Science Building, Room ECS660, Victoria and via Zoom
Time: 11:00 am to 3:00 pm
Angela Ackerman lives in Okotoks, Alberta, just a short drive from the Canadian Rockies, with her husband, dog, and a variety of wildlife that feast on her flower garden year after year. She is a story coach, international speaker, and co-author of the bestselling book, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression and its many sequels. Available in nine languages, her guides are sourced by universities, recommended by agents and editors, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, and psychologists around the world. To date, this series has sold over a million copies. Angela is incredibly passionate about helping writers become powerful storytellers. To that end, she co-founded the popular site Writers Helping Writers®, as well as One Stop for Writers®, an innovative creativity portal for one-of-a-kind tools that give writers exactly what they need to craft unbelievably rich stories and characters. A lover of mystery, mythology, and the unexplained, Angela also hopes to get back to writing Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction when life slows down. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
November 16, 2024
Topic: Hidden Emotion & Subtext: Making Dialogue Crackle with What Isn’t Said
Speaker: Becca Puglisi
Location: Vancouver Island Regional Library–Nanaimo North Branch, 6250 Hammond Bay Road, Nanaimo and via Zoom
Time: Catchup: 12:30 to 1:00; Workshop 1:00 to 3:00
Becca Puglisi lives in sunny south Florida, where she spends her weekends baking, watching movies with her family, and relaxing at the beach. The rest of the time, she works as an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of transformative books for writers—including the second edition of The Emotion Thesaurus, an updated and expanded version of the original volume. Her books are available in multiple languages, are sourced by universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. To date, this book collection has sold over a million copies. Her passion for learning and sharing her knowledge with others led her to co-create the Writers Helping Writers® blog and One Stop For Writers®, a powerhouse online resource that helps authors elevate their storytelling. An avid reader in the fantasy, historical fiction, and post-apocalyptic genres, she’s also intrigued by What If? scenarios and would love to get back to writing those stories when time permits. You can find her online on Facebook and Twitter.
December 2024
No Meeting