Previous Year's Meetings
An Archive
This an archive listing of Branch meetings. Please see Upcoming Meetings for the most recent information.
Note: Dates and information were accurate at the time of the original meeting, but may no longer be accurate or available.
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.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
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.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
Thursday, March 11, 2010 — The Art of the Interview
"Ask and ye shall receive." The people we rub shoulders with everyday carry a wealth of information with them. All you have to do is know what you want and ask the right questions. But is it that easy? At our next meeting, former CAA national executive member Al Fowler, will invite us to workshop the art of the interview.
Bio
Al Fowler is no stranger to the art of interviewing. A retired United Church of Canada minister, military chaplain, historian, and freelance writer, he has conducted thousands of interviews.
For his book, Peacetime Padres, the military sent him across the country to interview retired chaplains. Presently, when not ghost writing, he spends his time writing family history and ethical wills.
Al is a member of the Association of Personal Historians.
More on personalhistorian.ca.
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: Hosted by Sheila Martindale.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
Thursday, April 8, 2010 — Getting to Grips with the Apostrophe and Other English Matters
Sheila Martindale will discuss aspects of grammar that are essential tools for every writer in a fun and enjoyable evening. Some of the elements discussed will be:
- Some things are spoken but don't write them!
- How unique is unique?
- Imply or infer?
- Lay and lie — what is the difference and does it really matter?
- Redundancies — or why use two words when one will do?
- There or their or they're?
- Let's address fewer and less
Bio
Sheila Martindale came to Canada in 1966, settling in Montreal, then moving westward to London (Ontario), Calgary and finally Victoria. She has had a long career as arts columnist, editor, poet, teacher, jurist and broadcaster.
Sheila is a member of The Canadian Authors Association, The League of Canadian Poets, The Writers' Union of Canada and The Canadian Theatre Critics Association. More on Canadian Poetry Online.
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: Hosted by Sheila Martindale.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
- Contact: Please contact us if you would like more information.
Thursday, May 13, 2010 — Creating and Marketing Poetry 
Our scheduled speaker, Margaret A. Hume, was called away for a family emergency.
Jean Kay has graciously offered to speak about Creating and Marketing Poetry as well as our special feature: Get Involved with CanWrite!.
Bio
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. Almost every month for the past six years Jean has had a poem published in a monthly newsletter. She has been invited into classrooms on several occasions to share her writing skills with potential young poets and also elder college students.
An active CAA Vancouver member, Jean is past Vice President and Program Chair of the Vancouver Branch, and is now Conference Coordinator for CanWrite! 2010. She is also a member of the Canadian Poetry Association.
More information about Jean is found on her website.
Special Feature: Get Involved with CanWrite!
In addition to our regular meeting topic, we'll be inviting Jean Kay, Vancouver's Conference Coordinator, to answer your questions on how you can get involved with CanWrite! 2010 in Victoria.
Jean Kay, Conference Coordinator, will cover the highlights of the conference and how you can get involved.
There's still room left to register, if you haven't already (and day passes are available).
Consider volunteering your time, listening to the CAA Awards finalists read or participate in other ways.
The 89th Canwrite! Conference will be held June 24–27, 2010 at the Harbour Towers Hotel in Victoria. Learn more….
- Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
- Place: Hosted by Sheila Martindale.
- Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2
- Contact: Please contact us if you would like more information.
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Updated: May 17, 2010
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