Blazing Creative Trails at Pembina Trail

When it comes to creative writing workshops, I have worked with small groups before – as few as three people. It’s fun to be able to get to know each participant when you have an intimate group. I have worked with classrooms before, and there the spirit of a large group where everyone knows each other helps make individuals comfortable and able to share. When I walked into the room at Pembina Trail library and saw that it was set up for 28 young writers, it was yet another kind of workshop to experience – a large group of writers who for the most part had never met each other before. Well, the result was FANTASTIC!

Before I move on to talking about your creativity, let me say a bit about your “positivity”. Some of you knew each other from school, which is cool. But a lot of you met for the first time at the workshop. Your respect, attentiveness, and good humour throughout the workshop was totally great. I think that everyone, including me, felt at ease and willing to share. It’s not easy walking into a room with lots of new people and instantly get creative, but you did it – boy, did you all do it!

This is a creative group with a HUGE love of fantasy, and also a talent for drawing and writing (love that!). I also met readers who enjoy magazines and medical mysteries – very original (makes me me want to find new kinds of books to read!). I was struck by your expressiveness as you read from your very colourful “apple” sentences. I know that the exercise was about the senses, but you reminded all of us that EMOTION is just as important to explore. In fact, I’m going to add that in to my next workshop – great writers not only make the senses tingle, but the emotions bubble. Thanks for reminding me with your vivid writing!

I hope that each and every one of you enjoyed yourselves – I most certainly did. I was smiling for the rest of the day!

Thank you to the excellent and friendly staff who set everything up, provided cool name cards for the participants, and made me feel right at home at a library I’ve never been to before (but would love to visit again!).

Karin

New Heights at River Heights Library!

I hadn’t given a workshop for about a month, and woke up on August 15 looking forward to meeting the young writers at River Heights Library. Not only was it fun, like I expected, the discussion made me laugh and think! It was incredibly inspiring for me, and I hope for those there, that it was for you, too!

The “Get Sense-sational” exercise we did – you know, the one with the apple? – was so full of “story”, I coudn’t get over it! When asked to describe an apple using language that makes the senses tingle, you not only did that, but you created a storyworld. That’s exactly what great writing should do – draw you into a whole other world. And you did it, while the clock was running. Bravo!

I was also struck by what several of you shared about what kind of writing came more naturally. For some, it was “experience” that made it easier to generate ideas. For others, it was a new and rich idea that sparked your imaginative fires and filled your mind with creative words and possibilities. How true! Creative writing is a blend of both of these things. You draw on what you know, but you use that experience to create something that has never “been” before.

A special thank you to everyone who shared about their favourite books, and the kinds of stories they like to write. We also had a reader who shared from his original story, along with a stunning graphic that he created himself – that was great! All the best to all of you as you continue the adventure of reading and writing – I’m so excited for you!

A huge thank you to the welcoming and accommodating staff who made sure I had more than everything I needed to make things run smoothly – there were even super cool name tags for the participants – fantastic! And thanks River Heights Writers for making the first of the August workshops Absolutely A for Awesome! (did I use enough A’s?).

Karin

The Superstars of Sir William Stephenson Library

It was so wonderful to meet the four dedicated young writers at the Sir William Stephenson Library Writing Workshop. This group worked really hard, and wrote with such care and attention to detail. The Get Sense-sational exercise was particularly well done, with sentences that brought all five senses to life. Fabulous!

There were a lot of fantastic ‘firsts’ for me in this workshop – I had the youngest writer ever in this group (four years old and full of great ideas and expressive words!), I met a young author who specializes in biographies and history, an author who puts a new twist on talking animal characters, and another author who is planning not just one story but a series! How exciting to meet you and get a glimpse of your impressive imaginations!

Thanks to the staff for setting up a room for me and introducing me to the group – your welcome was much appreciated.

Have a fun and happy summer – until we meet again…

Karin

Terrific Transcona!

What can I say about this dazzling group of young writers -other than I hope you learned as much as I did at the Transcona Library Writing Workshop! I was very impressed with all of your questions, and the originality of your thoughts, especially as we looked at the first and second draft of the paragraph about the audition – you really made me think!

There was a lot of ‘Outside the Box’ thinking which is what creative writing is all about, and I got the feeling that you were all inspiring each other with your ideas and comments. A truly cooperative effort – nice! This was a large group, but everyone was SO awesome at listening to each other and working together – very impressive! I was super thrilled when you asked if there would be more writing sessions – I certainly hope to develop more workshops and that we can work together again.

Thanks to the great staff at Children’s Services for getting things set up and for the friendly welcome!

Would love to return any time! Have fun this summer – see you again!

Karin

(P.S. I hear that some of you have already finished ALL of the books of your library’s summer reading list – but don’t worry, there are still thousands and thousands of books to read – and of course your own wonderful writing to turn to!)

Charleswood Charm!

I had my first workshop of the summer at the Charleswood Library this morning. It was a hot, sunny day and still 9 great young writers and readers came together to work on writing techniques – way to go!

This group loves fantasy, which works out great because so do I! Sounds like you all have lots of books on your reading list, and lots of ideas for your own stories . The sense of humour that you shared was quite fun especially as we did our writing activities. Keep on laughing!

I loved hearing all of your creative thoughts and your exciting plans for the summer – there are lots of great story ideas in them, so consider keeping a journal or writing as you travel and have adventures!

Thanks to the staff for making arrangements and making me feel so welcome.

Have a great summer, and hope to see you soon!

Karin