Writers' networks in Bruce/Grey
      Canadian Authors' Association
      Guidelines for Authors
      Special Guidelines for Brucedale Backpackers
      Calendar of Upcoming Events of Interest

BETWEEN THE SHEETS - meets every Tuesday morning from 10:00 until 12:00 at the public library in Goderich, Ontario. Usually we collect a toonie. We offer feedback encouragment and practical advice, networking opportunities and share resourses. There are facilities to make our own coffee or you can bring your own. For more information you may contact Debbie Bauer at 519-529-7820 or wdbauer@hurontel.on.ca.

HIGHWAY 4 WRITERS' GROUP is based in the Durham area. They meet monthly
in the daytime, and provide each other with feedback, inspiration, support -- and pretty
good food. Contact Daniel at damilos@bmts.com for more information.

THE TARA WRITERS' GUILD meets privately in Tara for members to share their work and get feedback.
For information, drop a query to Box 52, Tara, Ontario, N0H 2N0.

UNDER THE COVERS meets every Tuesday evening (except winter) in Blyth, Ontario, at the Blyth Hotel at 7:30. We offer feedback encouragment and practical advice, networking opportunities and share resourses. This is a resturant setting and refreshments may be purchased. For more information you may contact Debbie Bauer at 519-529-7820 or wdbauer@hurontel.on.ca.

WinK - Writers in Kincardine
The WinK group, now in its 7th year, meets the second Tuesday of each month at Trillium Court, 7 PM, in the Second Floor Private Dining Room. This group includes several authors with published works and also sponsors a school in Africa with toonies collected at meetings.
The contact person is Joan Hartwick, email joan@hartwick.com, phone 519-396-3179.

The Grey-Bruce Writers' Association, meets monthly (first Wednesday) in Owen Sound, and includes writers from the northern part of the Bruce. This group holds workshops, hosts speakers, encourages members with information exchanges and how-to tips. Contact Diane at 519-534-4302 for details.

WRITERS' BLOC (Lakeshore area) meets on the last Tuesday of every month at 6:00 p.m in the community room, Port Elgin Branch Library, 708 Goderich Street.
Call 519-832-6025 for more information about his informal group.
We share news of markets, contests, writing successes. We read to each other for feedback and occasionally we read to the public in support of community projects.

The WRITERS' TABLE, Bruce Peninsula Writers' Group, meets at 7:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month at 56 Lindsay Road # 5, (formerly Lindsay Township Hall, now the headquarters of the Municipality of Norhtern Bruce Peninsula). No fees.
Contacts: Marion Pinnell, 795-7869 or Katharine Ferguson, 793-4266

OTHER WRITERS' GROUPS? Let prospective members hear about you!
E-mail us with information, meeting place/time, and a contact or mail the information to us at

Canadian Authors' Association, Waterloo-Wellington Branch.
Meetings are held each month on the first Monday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. (second Monday if the first falls on a statutory holiday) at the Waterloo Community Arts Centre, (The Button Factory) 25 Regina Street South, Waterloo.
For more information visit their website at www.author.ca/events1.htm.

IMPORTANT POINTS

*  "Regional" means having a strong connection to the Queen's Bush and Bruce Peninsula area of Ontario
*  Manuscripts are read no sooner than November of each year
*  Manuscripts are returned ONLY if enough CANADIAN postage is provided.

Please keep the following in mind when submitting your work:

1. Unless responding to an invitation to submit, query first, with outline and sample chapter for book-length submissions. Submit full manuscript of work intended for children. A brief résumé of your writing efforts and successes is always of interest, and may bring future invitations, even if the present submission is not accepted for publication.

2. Manuscripts must be in English and thoroughly proof-read before being sent -- no first drafts, please! Use UK spellings, Canadian style.

3. All manuscripts must be typed (letter-quality computer print is acceptable) on one side only of 8.5 x 11 white paper. Double-space each page, with generous margins, and page numbers in upper right corner. If the work is available on disk, please state the software used to generate it. It is not necessary to send a disk unless requested.
   Put your name, address, phone number, title and word count on the cover page, and the title on each following page.

4. Previously published work must be so identified, stating where and when it appeared, and giving the copyright holder's name and address. Simultaneous submissions must also be identified, but are not as likely to be accepted.

5. Send with each work submitted both: a) Self-addressed stamped postcard for acknowledgement that your manuscript has arrived, and indication when you can expect a decision on it
   and b) Self-addressed envelope large enough and with correct Canadian postage for the return of your manuscript - if you wish it sent back. Otherwise, note in your cover letter that the manuscript may be destroyed if not accepted for publication, and send only a #10 (business size) SASE for notification. We cannot mail anything without CANADIAN postage.

6. Unsolicited manuscripts are read after the current publishing season -- usually no earlier than October. Allow three months for consideration of book-length projects. Notification deadlines for shorter projects are announced with invitations to submit.

The Brucedale Press buys one-time North American rights, and pays on publication for short projects, and in quarterly royalties for books. Payment for some projects may be in copies.

The Brucedale Press also organizes workshops for authors and helps local authors distribute self-published works. For more information on these activities, send a stamped, self-addressed business-sized envelope, or check out this website.

Important: Manuscripts and queries are accepted by regular mail only.

Brucedale Backpackers are outdoor adventure stories for early readers of 'chapter books'.

1. Plots involve outdoor activity in which the child characters participate and/or learn new skills. Stories may include an environmental theme or message.

2. Child characters show personal growth through meeting new challenges.

3. Adult characters are worthy role models, but not perfect.

4. Strong, independent-thinking female characters, both child and adult. Child protagonist not necessarily female.

5. Word count 10,000 to 12,000 with vocabulary suited to grade level for each title. Within the series, reading level ranges Grades 1 to 3. New vocabulary for subject matter introduced with context clues and possibly illustration. [e.g. the yurt in Skiing in Black Bear Park]

6. Character development shown in dialogue and action.

7. Material lends itself to no more than 3 illustrations per book.

8. Language suited to characters, but generally with good grammar, although some informal works acceptable.

9. Canadian settings, authentic in the sense of seeming real, but not necessarily an actual place.

10. Sympathetic treatment of "problems" perceived by child characters.

11. Authors should submit whole manuscript in hardcopy, usual format [double-spaced, one side only of 8.5 x 11 white paper, no graphics], along with a résumé of their writing and other relevant experience.

Writers' Round Tables
Second and Third Wednesday afternoons each month at The Brucedale Press sales office in Port Elgin.
An opportunity for writers to bring copies of works-in-progress [any genre] for feedback and coaching by an experienced editor.
Call 1-866-832-6025 or
e-mail brucedale@bmts.com for details.

The Brucedale Press
Box 2259
Port Elgin, Ontario N0H 2C0

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