WordBridge 2020 – the Aftermath?
Hello loyal readers.
It’s been over a week since WordBridge 2020 in Lethbridge and I should be updating you on my adventures in that windy Southern Alberta city. Friday morning (Feb. 7, 2020) I sat in the basement Good Times Comedy Club for one of the pre-conference workshops on memoirs, while the actual writing conference was most of Saturday in the Lethbridge Public Library downtown. This year I had an even better time than in 2019 for several reasons. Foremost was the much warmer weather and the chance to meet my favourite Canadian science fiction writer, Robert J. Sawyer. He even signed my copies of his novels (“End of an Era” and “Calculating God“) while we waited for online video session to start. I discovered over the day that Robert is an outstanding public speaker and knowledgeable on many topics besides writing, as well a being a bit of a computer techie.
Okay, I’ll dig into the juicy details..
The Memoir Workshop highlighted the differences between literacy non-fiction and other genres of writing. The presenter, Elizabeth McLachlan, has published 4 books and during the session she lead the attendees through a 20 minute Memories Exercise. A great tool for memoir work, we had 20 minutes to try and fill out 100 lines with short journal style memories. Not easy to complete and only a handful actually got past 50 lines. I wish that there had more time to work on it, but it can be finished later while working on addition research for Dad’s Biography.
Starting WordBridge 2020 was my favourite thing, a Slush session! All attendees were offered an opportunity to submit a page from their latest manuscript (double spaced and size 12 font) to be read aloud to the room as well as the panel of editors. As each panellist listened, they lifted a hand when “something out of place” or flawed triggered their Editor Sense and normally stopped them from reading any further. Once 3 hands were raised, the reading was stopped and the panel explained why they raised their hands offering corrective suggestions to the anonymous submitter. Due the large stack of pages received, a second Slush scheduled for the afternoon as the organizers had discovered last year that this portion of WordBridge was the most popular and greatly anticipated by all registered in the conference.
I chose the Things You Should Know session after the Slush with a discussion on starting writing, self versus mainstream publishing and tips on keeping writing and making contacts in the creative arts world. Three guest authors gave precis on their writing experiences and career decisions as writers with families and regular jobs. Dealing with and finding good editors as well as taking chances in your writing life were focal points.
The pre-lunch session, Flattening the Learning Curve, was on Self Publishing by Mark Leslie Lefebvre. The ZOOM online video connection began with a few technical difficulties, luckily Robert J. Sawyer and myself managed to overcome them successfully. He then moderated questions between the attendees and the remote presenter, adding some of his own queries and personal experiences to support and engage the participants.
After lunch, the second Slush consumed the entire allotted time with many positive critiques and supportive suggestions from the panel of editors on the submitted selections being read aloud. Unfortunately the session ended with many entries unread, but the panel asked for the remaining submitter email addresses and promised to read and critique each one after the conference.
The last session of the day I attended was a panel discussion of the topic, Storytelling vs. Beautiful Words. A panel of four writers (including the invited keynote speakers) debated and discussed the best balance between a great story and purple prose. A happy medium was best explained with examples from their own careers, and the session was well received as I talked with other attendees at it’s conclusion.
An hour after the conclusion of the main conference, nearly 50 of the attendees arrived at Mortar & Brick (a local art gallery) to meet and listen to the two keynote speakers over snacks and beverages. Why the Big Five Publishers are Becoming Increasingly Irrelevant was discussed quite eloquently by Robert J. Sawyer on how to avoid the boiler-plate contracts which greatly favour the publishing companies over writers. The second keynote speaker Thorsten Nesch, a German-born local writer, talked about his creative life as well as presenting a riveting reading of My Totem Came Calling, a book he co-wrote with Zimbabwean author Blessing Musariri.
All in all WordBridge was a well organized and exceptional writing conference and I’m so pleased that it is now an annual event for the Lethbridge community.
Thanks for hanging around for this long winded summary. I’ve returned invigorated and ready to set definite writing goals for this year so that becoming a published author happens in 2020.
Logan…BMW…8-)