Why should Canadian writers and editors who are Christian attend Write! Canada?
We thought we’d ask the experts: the six men and women who have worked as conference directors throughout its history.
Past & present conference directors. From left: Bill Fledderus, N. J. Lindquist, Wendy Elaine Nelles, Brian Stiller, Audrey Dorsch, Larry Matthews (missing, Marianne Meed Ward). Photo by Philip Maher.
Here’s what they had to say:
Brian Stiller: Because if you don’t come, you’ll miss an experience that’s not available to you anywhere else in the world. You’ll fail yourself and your aspirations. And if you’re gifted in writing, you’ll fail the Lord. But I don’t ask you to come for guilt reasons; I ask you to come for grace reasons. The writers’ conference is a gift of grace that the Spirit has helped to engineer for Canadians, to accelerate their understanding and motivation and productivity in writing. And it’s one of a kind.
Audrey Dorsch: Novice writers should attend because they don’t know what they don’t know. More experienced writers should attend because they need the network.
Larry Matthews: For a lot of people, the conference functions kind of like rebooting your computer; there’s a sense of freshness that you take away from it. For many people, that alone is enough to justify coming. Others find a certain clarity in being with like-minded people, and not having to explain themselves. Being with their peers gives them clarity about what they’re trying to do. And of course there are always the skills you gain. But you can get writing skills through teaching in a number of places. What you get here (that you don’t get anywhere else) is a context—as to the significance of your writing—that’s simply beyond your own success or connections.
Marianne Meed Ward: There are always things you can learn and improve, and skills you can develop. The nice thing about this conference is it nurtures writers who are in a unique niche; Christians. There’s a lot of interest in the mainstream community for spiritual, religious writing and this conference helps give people the tools to jump from a church paper, for example, to a mainstream audience and thus to broaden their reach.
Bill Fledderus: Because no matter what level of expertise you’re at, you still need others around you to support you in your career, to help you advance and progress and reach the next level. And this conference is a place where you can meet someone—whatever level you’re at—who’s one rung higher than you, and who can be an inspiration to you or a source of encouragement or good advice.
N.J. Lindquist: You don’t know what you don’t know until you meet people who have gone further in the journey or who have experienced different parts of the journey. When you get together with them in person, you will often discover things that will save you many headaches and many hours of going in wrong directions. The writing life is like a maze. And when you come to writers’ conferences, you meet other people who may have gone a little further in that maze and can help you.
Wendy Elaine Nelles: Write! Canada is the one place where you can come and meet 200 to 250 fellow writers and editors, all under one roof. It’s a very intense, three-day period that offers tremendous learning and networking opportunities and chances to market your work and your services, meet new friends and potential new employers, and find out news about the industry. It’s like a three-day crash course that always provides new tips to pick up, new people to meet, new markets to explore, and new things to learn.
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NOTABLE QUOTES:
“I came to get connected. To see what the Write! Canada buzz was all about, and to meet some fellow writers. It’s been quite humbling actually. I submitted a manuscript and that’s the first time I’ve ever done that. I’m learning a lot. It’s intense. I’m looking at people of various stages of gestation. The air is thick with expectation and hope. As a result, we’re all a little bit fragile too, I think.”
- Renee James, Editor, The Link and Visitor
The content of this post was written by Patricia Paddey, based on interviews done at Write! Canada 2009.
Picture of directors and former directors taken at Write! Canada 2009 by Phillip Maher.
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