Interesting Literary Event

If you click on our “Literary Events” tab, above, you’ll see an interesting presentation coming up featuring Carla Funk and Matthew Christopher Davidson. It should be a fascinating evening.

NEW INFORMATION ABOUT THE SUMMER SCHOOL

On our summer school page (see the tabs, above), we have the criteria for tuition assistance listed now - please take a look if you think you may need help in meeting the costs of the school. We will help where & when we can, but are dependant on the generous donations of supporters of the school for the bursaries.

Also on that page is important information about accommodation for this year, please be sure to check that out as well.

A Quick refresher in Standard Manuscript Formatting

We’ve had some questions about standard manuscript formatting, and while this is a very basic part of the writer’s toolkit, it doesn’t hurt to explain it again.

Standard manuscript formatting is the format in which you will submit your story or book to an editor, or to the school. It’s standard because it’s the way it’s done by everyone, everywhere. There are minor differences; some editors like page numbers at the bottom, some at the top; some publishers insist on Courier or Times Roman font, others don’t care as long as it’s a business font. Sometimes your contact information will go on the first page, sometimes it will be on a separate page. The important thing is to remember is the overall formatting rules:

One inch to one and a half inch margins all around.

All text is double spaced. Paragraphs are not separated by a space, instead, indent the first line by five spaces. Page numbering is consistent, from one (1) to 199 - or whatever your last page number is. You don’t number pages by chapter - Chapter 1-1, Chapter 2-1, etc. Put an identifier on each page - your last name, a slash and a word from your title: Dickens/Twist, for example, for Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist.

At the end of the manuscript, centered, are the words “The End” or “End” or “-30-”

Contact information goes either at the top left hand corner of the first page, or on a separate page. Include name (your real name), address, phone number, both land and cell (mobile), blog and website. At the top right hand corner or on the title page is the approximate word count of your work.

Begin the text about 1/3 of the way down the page: The title of the book/story is centered, and under it (single spaced) is “by so and so” This is where your pen name goes, if you are using one. A double return, indent five spaces and begin the story.

Use only business-like fonts and white, 20 pound bond paper. Coloured paper, arty or handwriting fonts will earn you a quick rejection. (And we won’t appreciate it, either!) Times Roman, Courier, Courier New, Garamond, Verdana, Old Century Schoolbook are all acceptable for use in manuscripts.

Questions or comments welcome.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

Go to the summer school page, and download the form there. Fill it out, write your cheque, mail it in!

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS AND BIOGRAPHIES

Be sure to drop by the Summer School Page - we have an expanded description of the school, and the course descriptions and instructor biographies and photos are up! Remember, if you want information on the school, email coord@victoriaschoolofwriting.org

NEW VSW BOARD MEMBERS

We have new board members, so go to our “About VSW” page to get to know them. Tricia Dower comes to us from Toronto, where she was a business executive, teacher and writer. She’s been published in Room of One’s Own, The New Quarterly, Hemispheres and Cicada among other notable periodicals. Susan Braley, from London, Ontario taught university courses as varied as women’s studies and literature before moving out here to devote more of her time to her own writing. Jody Collins is a recent graduate from the University of Victoria, where she studied writing. Her main focus is short fiction, but is working on a novel and dabbles in play and screen writing. May Brown, our newest board member, isn’t on the about page just yet, but will be soon. May works for the Times Colonist, and has spent and still spends time as a stand up comedienne.

New email address:

Our old email address still works fine, but for inquiries regarding the summer school, we’ve set up a new address.

If you have questions, comments or problems, please email:

coord@victoriaschoolofwriting.org.

You can still email the info address, but we’ll be forwarding anything about the summer school to the second address.

Blog update

New members of the Board of Directors to check out on the “About us” page.

The Malahat Review announced the winners of its PK Page and Jack Hodgins contests - see the Literary News page.

Lots of new calls for submissions, so be sure to go there, as well.

The flash fiction contest is still open - get your entry(s) in to us - deadline is coming up at the end of May. For those who were inquiring - the entries for the earlier contest have been rolled over into this one.

It was great!

While the Pacific Festival of the Book is continuing through this week, to the 20 (and don’t miss Lynne Van Luven’s workshop on Tuesday afternoon!), our blue pencil went well. The writers whom we saw were talented, articulate and promising - Victoria really has some great talent hidden away.

The festival itself was great - the Friday night reception went well, with lots of people and the introduction of some of the anthology authors. Saturday’s workshops appeared to be well attended, and the exhibitor’s room was crowded and happily noisy a lot of the time. Shelley and Susan got a lot of interest at our table, and we have new names for our school, and potential new instructors in some exciting areas of writing.

Be sure to mark your calendars for next year’s festival - we’ll be there, blue pencils at the ready!

VSW’s Blue Pencil Clinic at the Pacific Festival

Victoria School of Writing is pleased to present an all-day free blue penciling clinic for writers of all levels of ability and all areas of interest at the Pacific Festival of the Book 2008. With the generous help of our supporters and our friends at the Professional Editors Association of Vancouver Island (PEAVI), experienced writers and editors will be available to review your poetry, fiction, non-fiction, creative non-fiction, and academic writing.

Links to the sign up pages at the PFB are now active. Link here, choose a 15 minute session with one of our blue pencillers and email PFB your choices. Or you can sign up at the door. Remember to bring your hard copy (no more than 5 to 10 pages) with you to the Pacific Festival of the Book on Saturday, March 15^th .

We’ll be expecting you…

Bev Cooke, children’s writer and writing coach, children’s, fiction, non-fiction.
Bev is on from 9:00 am to 10:30; 12:15 to 1:45 and 3:15 - 5:00 pm

Mavis Andrews, professional editor and writing coach, children’s and adult, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, creative non-fiction.
Mavis is available from 10:30 to 11:45 and 1:30 to 3:00 pm

Lynne van Luven, teacher, editor and writer, creative non-fiction and non-fiction.
Lynne will be happy to look at your work from 9:00 to 10:30 and 3:15 to 5:00 pm.

Nikki Tate, children’s writer, fiction, non-fiction
Nikki will be at the Blue Pencil Clinic from 4 to 5 pm.

Carol Sokoloff, poetry and literary.
Carol Sokoloff will be wielding her blue pencil from 3 to 4 pm.

Sara Cassidy, poetry and literary.
Sara Cassidy will be happy to look at your poems from 11 to noon.

Kari Jones, teacher and writer, fiction, creative-non-fiction.
Kari will be on duty 2 to 3 pm

Laurel Bernard, professional editor, fiction and non-fiction.
Laurel will be on deck from 12:00 - 1:45.

Rhonda Batchelor, writer and editor, poetry and literary
Rhonda is going to be with us from 10:30 - 11:45.

Laurie Elmquist, teacher and writer, fiction, non-fiction
Laurie is scheduled for 2 to 3 pm.

Rachel Peterson, professional editor, academic, non-fiction, short fiction
Rachel’s an early bird - she’s on from 9 to 10:45

Caroline Mufford, professional editor, academic, non-fiction, short fiction
Caroline can look at your work from 10:30 - 11:45 and from 1:30 to 3:00 pm

Jana Kalina, professional editor, children’s and adult, fiction, creative non-fiction.
Jana’s commenting between noon and 1:15 and again from 3:15 to 5:00 pm

Sally Jennings, professional editor, children’s and adult, academic, non-fiction, short fiction.
Sally will have her pencil at the ready from 9:00 to 10:15 and again from noon to 1:15 pm.