Victoria & Islands Branch Meetings
Monthly Meetings
The Victoria & Islands Branch holds a regular meeting each month (September through May) 7:00–9:00 p.m. See our Upcoming Meetings Schedule.
Open to All Writers
All writers are invited to attend our monthly meetings. Meetings are free to CAA Members; $5 for non-members; $2 for students (with student ID).
Meeting Location
We meet on the second Thursday each month. Meeting locations may change for certain meetings to better suit the needs of our members. Please check back as the meeting date approaches.
Please contact us if you would like more information.
Upcoming Meetings Schedule
Meetings and Topics: Sorted by Date
- Upcoming meetings are sorted chronologically by date.
- Past events are archived after the upcoming meetings.
- Please check back for updates!
Thursday, February 11, 2010 — Blogging for Writers
Compelling content or compulsive writing?
Blogs can be a two-edged sword. By offering you a way to share thoughts and ideas in a less formal way than a traditional website it can help to build your markets or highlight your weaknesses. Join us as we look at how your blog can help (or hurt) your writing career.
Bring your ideas and your questions.
Bio
Russ Harvey has been building websites since 1994, including the CAA National site (now in the third generation) and a number of sites for writers and artists.
More recently he has been working with blogs as an alternative to traditional websites for writers and others to update information more frequently, yet brand them in similar ways to their websites.
In addition to creating original content for websites, Russ has published non-fiction articles on the Internet, computing, environmental and health issues.
More on www.russharvey.bc.ca.
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: Hosted by Sheila Martindale near Beacon Drive-in on Douglas Street. Please contact us for the exact address.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
Thursday, March 11, 2010 — TBA
Information about this meeting is pending.
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: Hosted by Sheila Martindale near Beacon Drive-in on Douglas Street. Please contact us for the exact address.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
Thursday, April 8, 2010 — TBA
Information about this meeting is pending.
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: Hosted by Sheila Martindale near Beacon Drive-in on Douglas Street. Please contact us for the exact address.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
Thursday, May 13, 2010 — TBA
Information about this meeting is pending.
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: Hosted by Sheila Martindale near Beacon Drive-in on Douglas Street. Please contact us for the exact address.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
June–August — Summer Hiatus
The Victorias & Islands Branch does not meeting during the summer.
Past Meetings
Archived events are sorted by date order (oldest at the top).
Tuesday, September 8, 2009—Get Writing Effectively!
Jinx Barber will give you tips and strategies to deal with your writing challenges including writer's block and getting your writing projects started (and finished!).
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: The Sequoia (Board) Room at Goward House, 2495 Arbutus Road, Victoria.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
Bio
Jinx Barber is currently rewriting a YA novel for a younger, less complicated, audience. She has strong teaching abilities adapted from previous years in the classroom. Jinx has been invited to teach writing on cruise ships en route to Alaska.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009—Blue Pencil
Blue Pencil Meeting
Bring out your best current writing. We'll work with each other's writing, noting what is working and making positive suggestions for improvements.
The Blue Pencil process can give you an idea about the benefits of belonging to a Writers' Circle.
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: The Sequoia (Board) Room at Goward House, 2495 Arbutus Road, Victoria.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
Thursday, November 12, 2009 — Success with CAA
Note Day and Time Change: Thursday, November 12th, 6:30–9:30 p.m.
Bernice Lever, veteran CAA author and editor, explains how a national writer's organization can benefit you. All are welcome to bring your queries and wishes for contracts, PLR, Access Copyright, writing circles, marketing, networking, workshops, resources and more. Lever's site.
Jean Kay will share highlights of CanWrite 2010, CAA's national conference in Victoria next June.
The 89th Canwrite! Conference will be held June 24–27, 2010 at the Harbour Towers Hotel in Victoria. Learn more….
This annual CAA National Conference is hosted by a different CAA branch each year but doesn't come to Victoria very often (the last Victoria conference was in 1995). Early-bird pricing ends December 15, 2009 so come learn more about what opportunities this conference offers your writing career!
Meeting Details
- Time: 6:30–9:30 p.m.
- Place: The Preschool Room at Salvation Army Victoria Citadel, 4030 Douglas Street (at MacKenzie), Victoria.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
The November meeting will be held in the Pre-School Room at the Salvation Army Victoria Citadel, 4030 Douglas Street at MacKenzie. Free parking is available. BC Tranit bus routes 70–73 and 75 will take you there.
Bios
Bernice Lever, now living on Bowen Island, BC, gets high on words. A poet with nine poetry books, she has also written a textbook and other non-fiction works. She still gives creative writing workshops, mainly at festivals and conferences: Surrey International Writers' Conference, Write On Bowen, and others.
She enjoys performing her poems and prose pieces in many settings as she has read and been published on five continents. Best known for her 15 years as editor of Waves, a literary magazine, she has won awards for her poems, and in 2004, CAA's Allan Sangster Award. Supported by the creative energies of many people of today and yesterday, she continues writing poems and much more.
Life member of the Canadian Authors Association and the Canadian Poetry Association, she also belongs to others, including the BC Federation of Writers. Bernice currently serves the CAA as BC Regional V.P. and Grievance Chair for CAA contracts as well as Vancouver Branch's Writer in Residence for manuscript editing and evaluation.
More information about Bernice is found on her website www.colourofwords.com.
Jean Kay has been writing in the first half hour of every morning since August of 1993, and it has been a poem every morning since October of 1997.
Her book, Morning Light, was published in August 2004. Jean has poems in several anthologies including Handprints on the Future, a Canadian Poetry Association Anthology. Each month for the past four years Jean has had a poem published in a monthly newsletter. She has also been invited into classrooms on several occasions to share her writing skills with potential young poets.
An active CAA Vancouver member, Jean is currently Vice President and Program Chair of the Vancouver Branch as well as Conference Coordinator for CanWrite! 2010. She is also a member of the Canadian Poetry Association.
More information about Jean is found on her website.
As information becomes available for the new year, the agenda and bios for meetings held in prior years are moved to the Past Meetings and Workshops page.
Thursday, December 10, 2009 — Social
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: Starbuck's in the Cadboro Bay Village, 3849 Cadboro Bay Road, Victoria.
- Cost: There is no fee for this social, but please let us know you're coming as space is limited.
Join us for coffee and dessert and to share each other's work.
Readings
This is an opportunity to read. Come hear what people have been writing and perhaps share a bit of your own work. Each speaker will be given 5–10 minutes (depending upon the numbers) to read their poems, magazine articles, or excerpts from their books. CAA members will be given priority.
To reserve your reading spot please contact Russ at 250-592-6619 or .
While there is no fee for this social, please let us know you're coming as space is limited.
Thursday, January 14, 2010 — Writing Markets
Who's accepting manuscripts? What do they pay? What are their submission guidelines?
These are some of the questions writers ask about various publishers and publications. They want to know what markets are accepting submissions and if they treat writers fairly.
We'll discuss what the best markets are for your writing and how to judge the value of a market.
Please bring along information about the writing markets and contests you've been checking out.
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: Hosted by Sheila Martindale near Beacon Hill Park on Douglas Street. Please contact us for the exact address.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
Return to Top - About Our Meetings - Meetings Index
Earlier Meetings Archived
Meetings held before the archived events above have been moved to the Previous Year's Meetings page.
www.CanAuthors.org/island/meetings.html
Updated: February 6, 2010
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