Want to win a paperback copy of my 1940s-era Saskatchewan Mennonite novel CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS? You might if you "like" & comment on this Facebook author post [April 27] by midnight Saturday May 2: https://www.facebook.com/prairiesunflowers?fref=nf .
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
This looks like an interesting opportunity for the right sorts of people: http://riviola.com/submission-guidelines/ .
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
Write a poem about your favorite pet with four 4-line verses. The title of the poem is the pet's name. 24 lines total, including: Title, Verses, skipped spaces, and By-line.
One entry per submission. Send your poem in the body of an email (no attachments), or (preferred) hard-copy on paper (US Mail).
Winners will be published in Lone Stars magazine.
For more information go to https://sites.google.com/site/conceitmagazine/lone-stars-magazine
The TARA Contest is open to unpublished and published authors of novel length fiction. The author does not have to be a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) to enter the TARA Contest, however the entry must be the author’s original work, unpublished and not contracted as of the time of the contest deadline. No entry may have been previously published in any format. (on author’s website visible to the public, self-published, ebook, mass market, etc.)
Entry fee is $25 and the closing date is May 1, 2015.
For more information go to http://www.tararwa.com
Participation is open to all unpublished authors of novel length romance fiction and those who have not published within three years prior to contest deadline. Entries are to be up to the first 25 pages (including prologue) PLUS up to 5 pages of a synopsis. (The synopsis is not judged, but is helpful in helping the judges score your entry, and judges will often give comments on the synopsis.)
Entry fee is $40 and the deadline is May 1, 2015.
For more details go to http://www.hodrw.com/contests/the-molly-unpublished-writer-contest/
The erbacce-prize for 2015 is now accepting submissions up until midnight on the first of May, 2015.
The competition is free to enter, and welcomes submissions from around the world.
The winner will have their collected works published in perfect-bound format with the winner's choice of full-colour gloss or matt cover; a royalty-paying publishing contract; and five free copies.
For more details, go to http://www.erbacce-press.com/#/erbacce-prize/4533449873
For the details of over 100 other writing contests, click here
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
"A mighty fortress is our God." Martin Luther's famous words run deep in Liesel's consciousness, sustaining her through many "mortal ills." She's a key character in the historical novel Threaten to Undo Us by Rose Seiler Scott. Like many Germans, Liesel gets along well with her Polish neighbours in their mixed Polish-German area of Europe.
Then World War II changes things. The map of Poland is redrawn. Germans in Polish territory, who are now regarded as aliens, must leave their homes. They are denied human rights and enslaved by the newly established Russian Communist regime.
Threaten to Undo Us starts in 1945, the year Liesel and her children are driven from their beloved farm home. The story then returns to the year 1919, when we meet Liesel at age six. We see her grow up in a devout German Lutheran family, coexisting peacefully with the Polish Catholics around them. For example, young Liesel savours Polish words such as kapliczka, meaning statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Readers get the impression that, left to themselves, these two religiously and ethnically diverse peoples would continue to respect and cooperate with each other for many years to come.
Unfortunately disruptive political and philosophical ideas are afoot. Scott personalizes them for us when one of the characters, Günther Hoffmann, joins Hitler Youth (part of the National Socialist, or Nazi, Party). Günther described the party's aims like this: "Hitler is planning to Germanize Poland….The Slavs (including Poles) and the Jews are sub-human. The Aryan race is superior."
Liesel's father protests: "We are all made in the image of God." The tension between him and Günther, and indeed all Germans opposed to the Nazis' aims and those in favor is a major theme in the novel.
Liesel's husband, Ernst, doesn't want to join the German army. He isn't interested in "fighting for the glory of the Fatherland" and doesn't believe "religion is for the weak." However, he eventuallys join the Self-Protection Unit, or Selbstschutz, because he wants to help prevent harm to his wife and family. When the Selbstschutz is absorbed into the unified armed forces of Germany, Ernst finds himself unwillingly in the military after all.
In a heartbreaking scene, he returns home on leave. Some of his and Liesel's children don't know him. He has been away for too long. Ernst himself "had seen and done things he couldn't explain to his wife and children."
As the war drags on, some German soldiers are forced to admit they were wrong. "It is all a big lie, you know. The Hitler youth…." The Fatherland's visions of glory have shrunk to a desire for mere survival.
The Russians imprison Liesel's husband, Ernst. Meanwhile Liesel has to fend for herself and their children. One child, Heidi, is born as they flee from the Russians. Soon afterwards, she's raped by Russian soldiers.
Will the brave beleaguered Liesel see her husband again? Will he accept her, defiled as she is by rape? The author keeps us waiting to the end of the novel to find answers to these heart-rending questions.
Another question: "What will become of Christianity in face of the materialistic and crushing onslaught of Nazism and Communism?" Rev. E. J. Way, a Canadian chaplain during World War II, posed that query. His answer, published in the BMA Blitz, ran like this: "Christianity may lose many of its children, weakened and worn down by the artful strategy and brute force of evil powers, but the good will be made better and the strong stronger in the face of adversity. Like gold they will be purified in the crucible of suffering and affliction."
Liesel's faith doesn't really flourish in the face of what she and her family suffer. Nevertheless it survives, a testament to her character and the power of God.
The author, Rose Seiler Scott, is good at characterization and describing the life of the times. For example, here's Liesel contrasting two of her sons: "Olaf…at butchering time scarcely to be found." His older brother is "not at all bothered to wring a chicken's neck or help pour the blood from a pig's head."
Scott is also good at portraying action and suspense. Example: "At the whistle of the train Liesel stood up, watching to see if any coal would fall from the top of the freight cars. As the rumbling behemoth slowed, a young man dressed in rags hoisted himself up onto the train and scaled up the side ladder into the box. Showers of coal rained down onto the ground as he scooped the top of the pile.
"His bulging rucksack landed on the ground with a thud in a cloud of coal dust before the owner scrambled down after it. As he stooped to pick it up, a uniformed guard appeared suddenly, his gun drawn. 'Stop, or I will shoot.'"
Occasionally the author is less good at conveying information about the politics of the times. Sometimes the characters explain in ways that seem forced. For example, here's Liesel's father speaking to his young children near the beginning of the book: "The Great War may be over, but the danger has not fully passed. There is still the border dispute and the Bolsheviks." I doubt that children would get much out of such a general, wide-ranging explanation. Perhaps this information could have been given in another way.
Despite this little drawback, Threaten to Undo Us is a good read for anyone interested in history, politics, faith, family, and especially relationships among ethnic groups.
Threaten to Undo Us is 327 pages, $19.99 trade paperback, publisher Promontory Press of Victoria, BC, ISBN 978-1-927559-68-0. Order Online through:
Promontory Press http://goo.gl/1TmBDv
Chapters-Indigo http://goo.gl/z0rFzo
Amazon.ca http://goo.gl/4k4AGv
Amazon.com http://goo.gl/FlsbZs
Author Blog: www.roseseilerscott.com
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
Learn Twitter: 10 Beginning Steps by Ruth Snyder: A Review
I've had a Twitter account since 2009 and have used the same Twitter handle since then. However, I've never had a good handle on the uses of Twitter and how to make the most of it. Thanks to Ruth Snyder's book Learn Twitter: 10 Beginning Steps, my situation is improving.
Snyder starts by identifying several benefits of Twitter including:
-keeping up with current trends
-meeting new friends
-finding information on topics you're researching
-notifying people when you write a new blog post
-sharing quotations from your writing
-building a platform
I was already exercising some of these benefits, though on a sporadic basis. Other benefits in Snyder's list open new possibilities in my mind. After reading her book, I hope to take better advantage of my Twitter account.
Her book is written in clear, concise language. It's very basic. The first six chapters take readers through creating a Twitter account, preparing a profile, and posting their first Tweet. Each chapter ends with an assignment inviting readers to apply what they have learned.
Snyder's remaining three chapters discuss:
-following people on Twitter
-etiquette and safety guidelines
-writing good Tweets
-relationship-building on Twitter
Again, each chapter ends with a suitable assignment.
I discovered new things throughout the book, and not just in the last three chapters. For example, I learned that you can pose a question on Twitter and ask people to retweet it, thus accessing the knowledge of many beyond your own group of followers. I learned about a media platform called About Me. I wasn't familiar with it but immediately saw its advantages so now I'm on About Me as well as Twitter.
I learned that you can link your blog to Twitter and also use Big Big Tweet to post messages longer than Twitter's prescribed 140-character maximum. I haven't tried these two yet but may do so in the future.
I recommend this helpful book and look forward to the next one in the series, Learn Twitter: 10 Intermediate Steps.
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
My husband, Bob, makes “fake pizza” for us sometimes. Whisk a couple of eggs with a bit of salt & pepper, pour half the mixture into each of two oiled pie pans. Top with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, & whatever else you want: herbs, mushrooms, broccoli, sausage, shrimps, etc. Bake in hot oven till egg is set & cheese melted. We enjoy this even though it doesn’t have a crust made with wheat flour—which we’re trying to avoid.
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
Google apparently has new rules about websites. If they’re not mobile-friendly, i.e. easily seen/used by mobile devices, they sink to a lower ranking, i.e. discoverability on the web. Here’s a place to test your site’s mobile-friendliness. https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
Capital Literary Review [based in Ottawa] is a Facebook group for book reviews written for works of fiction by Canadian writers. Here are the guidelines: “It has a particular focus on discovering first-time novelists, but reviews on established writers are also welcome. Book reviews posted on the Capital Literary Review web site will be re-posted here. We welcome reviews from any contributor. Feel free to post your review on the wall. Please enjoy the site. Oh yes, you can also post book reading and book signing events to help the members discover Canadian authors. Please do not post ads to sell books or other items. You may however post reviews on your own books, but please refrain from over-doing it.” Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/147800488731016/?fref=nf .
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
Wesbrook Bay Group is an emerging publisher based in Vancouver, BC. They seem to offer various paths to publication, seemingly concentrating on novels. Here are the submissions guidelines: http://wesbrookbay.com/?page_id=28 .
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
Has spring turned your fancy to trying to get short pieces of writing published? Here’s a list of current & fairly current contests: http://tinyurl.com/7dmp4t2 .
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
Two nice new reviews of my novel Consider the Sunflowers are on Chapters Indigo, http://tinyurl.com/ny8smwk . Thanks to Wanda Bennett, “another Saskatchewan girl,” & Silvia Villalobos, a California girl.
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
From: Surrey International Writers' Conference [mailto:Newsletter@SiWC.ca]
Sent: April-08-15 3:00 PM
To: elmams@shaw.ca
Subject: [SiWC Announce] SiWC 2015!
From conference coordinator Kathy:
Hello!
Welcome to the first newsletter of our 2015 conference year. We have so much great information to share, this'll be a long one. We hope you'll be as excited as we are by all our news.
This year's Surrey International Writers' Conference will run October 23-25, 2015, with master classes on October 22nd, at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel in Surrey, BC.
Registration will open on Wednesday, June 3. Mark your calendars!
Changes are afoot!
If you've ever been to SiWC before, you may be one of the many people wrote something like this on your evaluation form: "Wow! So much great content. I only wish I could see more of it!" This year, you'll be able to. We'll still be offering 70+ workshops and panels over the three days of the conference (plus pre-conference master classes, of course!), but thanks to some minor tweaks to our schedule, for the first time ever, we'll be offering four workshop sessions on the Friday and Saturday instead of three. You'll still have lots to choose from in each session, but you'll be able to attend more sessions than ever before. Prepare for massive brain overload!
Even though we're offering each attendee 25% more content this year, we're delighted to tell you we will NOT be raising registration rates. This year's prices will be identical to last year's. You'll just get more for your money!
With those changes in place, we went back to our evaluation forms and took a look at the other common requests. The new schedule will allow us to accommodate other attendee suggestions from over the years, including offering a quiet writing room in some time slots and even a chance for some of you to share your expertise with us. Stay tuned to our blog for information about that! (All our blog posts get mentioned on Twitter and Facebook, and of course on our website, so wherever you follow us, you'll see them.)
In other news, our group rate is already available at the hotel and bookings are well underway. Check out the information here. Please use our group rate when you book; it's important for us and the hotel to know how many people are staying for the conference, and it helps keep our prices down when you do. Book early! Our group rates are available until mid-September or until the hotel sells out, which is often much earlier than that.
Our writing contest is now open to entries. This year, we're concentrating on short fiction of all sorts, with our Storyteller's Award. Details on our contest page here.
We'll begin posting our presenter bios on the website in the coming weeks, and the workshop and master class schedule in the lead-up to registration opening, too. The presenter roster this year looks amazing, if we do say so ourselves. As always, we'll offer workshops on a huge variety of topics for writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir, online content and more. Whether you're a brand new aspiring writer, a multi-published bestseller, or any kind of writer in between, SiWC has something for you. Our goal is to offer stellar professional development for writers at all stages of their careers. And of course, every year you can take advantage of our blue pencil and pitch appointments, which are always included in the cost of your registration.
If you're interested in buying ad space in our conference brochure this year for your book or your day job business, please contact kc dyer at kcdyer@siwc.ca for information and rate sheets. We offer everything from classified ads to full-page colour and lots of options in between.
Looking for more SiWC info? Apart from our very occasional newsletters like this one, you can follow us on Twitter @siwctweets and check out our website and blog at www.siwc.ca.
If you're on Twitter and would like a little writing support and encouragement, join the conversation using #thisdaywewrite. For conference-related tweets, we're using #SiWC15 this year. Stay tuned on Twitter in coming weeks for hints about this year's conference theme.
Questions? Check out our website for answers, including our FAQ, but if you can't find what you need, you can contact us through our contact form or email me at kathychung@siwc.ca.
Know writers who don't know us? We so appreciate your referrals. Thank you to everyone who's introduced SiWC to a friend so far. We hope to see many new faces and lots of old friends again this year.
See you in October!
Kathy Chung
SiWC Conference Coordinator
www.siwc.ca
@siwctweets
The Surrey International Writers' Conference, held every October in British Columbia, is the most comprehensive conference of its kind in Canada. SiWC offers writers in all genres -- from beginners to experts -- the opportunity both to hone their craft and to expose their work to the international literary marketplace. For more information please visit http://www.siwc.ca
Postmedia Saskatchewan offers a free opportunity to publish content online. I’m not sure of its advantages or how it works. Maybe somebody here knows. Link is http://issuu.com/pricing?entryPoint=ycpt
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
An article about my novel Consider the Sunflowers appeared in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix & Regina Leader on March 11. I just discovered it also ran in the Vancouver Sun, Ottawa Citizen, & Calgary Herald. I don’t know how it worked—I’m not too knowledgeable about the newspaper business—but I’m delighted.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Author+inspired+prairie/10880189/story.html
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Author+inspired+prairie/10878445/story.html
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Author+inspired+prairie/10878445/story.html
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
The Globe and Mail [national Canadian newspaper] invites submissions of essays about 900 words long. They’ll be considered for the paper’s Facts & Arguments section. More info at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/submit-a-facts-and-arguments-essay/article597357/ .
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
Are you a writer approaching publishers and/or literary agents and unfortunately being rejected? Here are a couple of good articles about dealing with that:
http://fictionfactor.com/articles/dealing-with-rejection-as-a-writer/
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
You submit a book description here http://tinyurl.com/odvs4zw . If it gets 1000 votes online, SOOP [Something or Other Publishing] publishes the book. That’s how I understand it anyway. SOOP also offers other help to aspiring authors.
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
Just published: an online feature about the Interior Authors Group and me http://tinyurl.com/p7eugwq .
Elma Schemenauer CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS: 1940s-era novel about love, Mennonites, faith, & betrayal. Info at http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs Order from Chapters online http://tinyurl.com/nsylp5j or Borealis Press http://tinyurl.com/lfdo9pf
