March/ April 2011 Freelance

Freelance lance March/April 2011 Volume 40 Number 2

Saskatchewan wishes Pam Bustin a fond farewell as she departs for Ontario in June. Please see Pam's Saskatoon Shenanigans report on page 7.

March/April 2011

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Features Volume 40 Number 2 March/April 2011 SWG STAFF Executive Director: Judith Silverthorne Education and Publications Officer, and Freelance Managing Editor: Beth McLean Accountant: Lois Salter Program Officer: Tracy Hamon (Regina) Program Coordinator: Pam Bustin (Saskatoon) Administrative Assistant: Milena Dzordeski Cover photo credit: Mansel Robinson

Freelance is published six times per year for members of the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild. Submissions to Freelance are welcome for editorial review. If accepted, articles will be edited for clarity. The basic criteria to meet in submitting materials are readership interest, timeliness, and quality. Viewpoints expressed in contributed articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the SWG. Copyright remains with the writer and cannot be reprinted without permission. Services advertised are not necessarily endorsed by the SWG.

President's Report

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Executive Director's Report

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News

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Saskatoon Shenanigans

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Shhhhh! Freedom to Read

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Freedom of Expression

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TWUC Symposium

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The Perils of Forgetfullness, the Rewards of Remembrance 14 Choosing Language that Respects the Reader

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Easy Ways to Track Submissions and Markets

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Family Literacy Day, CANSCAIP Workshops

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Saskatchewan Writers' Guild membership fees are $75 per year ($55 for full-time students or seniors). Membership (with full voting privileges) is open to writers or other individuals with an interest in writing, reading, or the oral tradition of literature.

From Here to Infinity (part 2)

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The Space-Time Continuum

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Freelance ISSN 0705-1379

Writers Group Grants

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And Another Thing ...

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Summer Retreats

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Letter to the Editor

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Payment for reports and articles is $80 per printed page. Deadline for Freelance copy is the 1st of the month prior to the month of publication.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Cathy Fenwick, President, Regina Jerry Haigh, Past President, Saskatoon Lisa Wilson, Vice President, Saskatoon George Khng, Treasurer, Saskatoon Martine NoĂŤl-Maw, Secretary, Regina Danica Lorer, Maidstone R. P. MacIntyre, La Ronge Scott Miller, Estevan Marilyn Poitras, Saskatoon Kelly-Anne Riess, Regina Ex-Officio: Judith Silverthorne Mailing Address: Saskatchewan Writers' Guild Box 3986, Regina, SK S4P 3R9

We gratefully acknowledge the support of SaskCulture, Saskatchewan Lotteries Trust Fund and the Saskatchewan Arts Board

Courier or Drop-off Address: 205–2314 11th Avenue Regina, SK S4P 0K1 Phone: (306)757-6310 Toll Free: 1-800-667-6788 Fax: (306)565-8554 Email: info@skwriter.com or education@skwriter.com Web site: www.skwriter.com 2

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PRESIDENT'S REPORT I’m grateful to be living in a multicultural country. I believe that our diversity is our strength.

Multiculturalism means we are open to experiences and to the ability to celebrate cultural differences—I’m broadly defining culture as a set of shared attitudes, values and practices that characterize a group or organization. The strength of the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild lies in its diversity and in the many talents of its members.

This richness and inclusiveness makes for an exciting, fully functioning and well-rounded organization.

In my last report I wrote about how one might achieve a sense of balance in a challenging world, but something I read in Alexander McLeod’s Giller nominated book, Light Lifting, made me think that a little imbalance can be a good and necessary thing. In the story, "Miracle Mile," McLeod writes, “I never met a balanced guy who ever got anything done. There’s nothing new about this stuff.

You have to sign the same deal if you want to be good—I mean truly good—at anything.”

My pioneer ancestors probably didn’t think about whether or not their lives were “balanced,” but I do think they had discussions about how fast things can change. Father’s people left Russia after several generations of being allowed to practice their German language and Catholic traditions. When Russian nationalism took root in the late 1800s they began to lose their identity rights and fearing their lives may be in danger they emigrated to Canada. Through many difficulties, they created and managed change in order to survive and make a better life for themselves and their children—a few generations later I reap the benefits of their courage. I’m told that Greatgrandmother was frightened

by the speed with which trains skimmed across the prairie in the early 1900s. Grandmother and Grandfather grew up in Saskatchewan, were comfortable with trains, and quickly acclimated to the Model-T Ford, though horses were still used for farm work. My parents were very comfortable with tractors, trucks and cars, but not so much with airplanes. My father refused to step foot on a plane. Flight for me is still an amazing thrill; for my children and grandchildren flying is the only way to go.

A wise teacher once said to me, “They say that time changes things, but actually you have to change them yourself.” There are times when we must create and manage change in order to make things better. This is as true for organizations as it is for people. Nothing stays the same for long, and we either keep up or we get left behind.

In the same way that people change and grow, all organizations must evolve or they risk becoming stagnant.

The SWG, by its very nature, is a dynamic organization.

How could it be otherwise when it’s made up of several hundred highly creative people? Our mandate is to provide services to all writers, which in turn benefits the citizens of Saskatchewan, Canada, and the world. To fulfill our mandate, we depend on a visionary board, committed staff and an involved membership. Our SWG team is focussed on keeping the Guild viable and strong. The challenge for us is to encourage creativity while developing and maintaining workable structures and guidelines.

the requirements of our bylaws, our members and the people who provide our funding. The SWG board will participate in a strategic planning session in May to consider objectives, outline our goals for the next three years, and come up with a plan for achieving those goals. We’ll keep you posted.

Last year the SWG membership committee developed an excellent plan to recruit new members. Their plan succeeded in attracting 135 new members to the Guild. Most of these new members are young writers and aboriginal writers, as well as a few writers that are new immigrants to Canada. As a diverse and inclusive organization we consider the strengths and needs of all our members and strive to provide services and programs that will keep them engaged.

Twenty to thirty years ago organizations were talking about how they should strive to become more diverse because there was a moral imperative to do so. I often heard people say, “It’s just the right thing to do.”

They didn’t talk much about how diversity could be hugely beneficial. In the last few years these same organizations are saying that diversity is making them stronger and healthier by increasing creativity and innovation, improving problem solving, increasing flexibility and improving the quality of service. In the business world the mindset has shifted from doing things based on moral imperative to one based on strategic imperative. They’ve learned that by being inclusive, they have become more successful. They’ve learned that everyone is strengthened by cultural diversity and inclusiveness.

This year our focus will be on long-term planning and on completing necessary updates to policies and handbooks for our The SWG strives to create programs, in ways that meet an environment that is posiMarch/April 2011

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tive for all our members. We understand and believe that different communities have different strengths, which people are willing to share when they are made welcome to do so.

We can best address the needs of our various communities by educating ourselves on cultural

nuances that affect our interactions. A “highly inclusive” organization is aware of and responsive to these different cultural nuances.

cultural gaps and to insure that all voices are heard. We recognise and respect the rights of various groups to maintain their cultural differences and ensure that all ages and backgrounds As a highly inclusive organiza- are respected. tion, the SWG is developing internal systems to help bridge Cathy Fenwick

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT Pam Bustin, the SWG’s Saskatoon Program Coordinator and liaison, is resigning from her position as of April 29 to move to Toronto with her partner Mansel Robinson. The Guild is sad to share this news, because Pam has done such a great job of giving the Guild a valuable presence in Saskatoon and she will be hard to replace.

We are seeking someone to fill her tall boots, however, and we look forward to adding to the foundation of programming and networking Pam has already established. And of course, we wish Pam and Mansel all the best in their new life in the east.

Speaking of moves, for the last few months we have been searching for a new home for the Regina Guild office. Our lease is up at the end of August this year, and although prospects are limited due to the rental shortage, we have managed to find a suitable spot with ample parking and easy accessibility that isn’t too far from the downtown area. We will also be neighbours to the Saskatchewan Arts Board, CARFAC and other non-profit groups who are in the vicinity.

the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Network is working towards (see page 5). You can register with their SALN Aboriginal Literary Artist database by calling the SALN office, or by visiting the SALN website at www.aboriginal.sk.literacy. ca. The deadline for submissions is March 25, 2011. They are also hosting the Anskohk Aboriginal Writer’s Festival in the Fall of 2011. SWG will also be partnering with SALN on a number of programs and events for Aboriginal writers, so please continue to check our web site: http://www.skwriter.com/?s=p rogramsservices&p=aboriginal programs.

The Saskatchewan Arts Board has a new strategic plan which they are unfurling after a series of consultations, which included community consultations in 2009 and 2010, reviewing the provincial legislation (The Arts Board Act, 1997), the Province’s cultural policy, Pride of Saskatchewan,and much collaboration between the staff and board of directors of the agency. To view the entire document, please go to: http://www.artsboard.sk.ca/ files/documents/sab_strategic_ plan_2011.pdf. Since then the SAB have had a couple of focus group sessions with individual artists and arts organizations to get feedback, one of which I attended. The results of this will be forthcoming.

Katherine Lawrence has agreed to be the new Guild delegate for ACCESS Copyright. She will attend the meetings on behalf of SWG, along with James Romanow, who is on the ACCESS Board. Lynda Monahan is the editor of Windscript Volume 27, and Mari-Lou Rowley, Randy Seems much of my role as Lundy, and Helen Mourre are the Executive Director involves editors of Spring Volume VII. meetings, and I have attended my fair share of them lately, For Aboriginal writers, please including gathering tips from note the new initiatives that the Canadian Public Relations 4

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Society (CPRS) on attracting the attention of media for Guild activities. I also was part of the consultations of stakeholders regarding the Cultural Industries Community of Interest (COI), which were organized by the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance (SAA), in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Cultural Industries Development Council (SCIDC) and SaskCulture Inc. This consultation process is to gather opinion and information from stakeholders regarding the future directions of the Cultural Industries Community of Interest (COI).

There are many other meetings I’m involved with that hopefully will result in favourable results for Guild members, and the status of writers in general.

Member opinions are always appreciated about what you’d like to see the Guild do to help you achieve growth in your writing careers, so please contact us and have a chat. We continue to do outreach, add more programming and resources for you, some of which will emerge over the next few months, budding like the flowers of spring.

Speaking of spring, the Spring Fling Dance is going to be an exciting fundraising venture and we hope you already have your tickets. If not, give us a call right away so you don’t miss out on all the fun (Milena:791-7740; info@skwriter.com). We have some great door prizes and draws planned and we know you’ll enjoy the great music and networking opportunities. Hope to see you all there!

Judith Silverthorne

NEWS The SWG has an RSS Feed The SWG web site now offers an RSS feed for your convenience. Click on the link at the bottom right hand corner of the home page http://www. skwriter.com/ under the Facebook and Twitter links. You will be directed to register here: http://www.skwriter.com/rss.php.

By subscribing to the RSS feed, you will be alerted each time there is an update to the SWG web page. This will allow you to easily stay informed with timely updates.

Purchase Your Tickets to the SWG Spring Fling Fundraising Dance The Spring Fling on April 9 is an opportunity for us to mix and mingle with fellow Guild members and the general public, cut a rug, raise the roof and ring in the spring season. We'll enjoy great music by The Canadian Drifters, dancing and conversation, while raising funds to help support SWG youth programs.

Tickets to the Spring Fling SWG Fundraiser are only $15 and available at Bach and Beyond, the Austrian Club and the SWG office.

2011 SWG Winter Retreat The 2011 SWG Winter Retreat was held at St. Peter’s Abbey from February 4-25, with 20 participants from five provinces. As well as much needed time to focus on their work, participants enjoyed quinzhee building, hiking, indoor games, and socializing with one another. Of special note was the Trivial Pursuit showdown between Team Kever and Team Demetrius (the winner). In addition to sixteen writers, four artists were in attendance, and the traditional Thursday night readings were complimented by artist studio visits the night prior to the end of the retreat.

By all accounts the winter 2011 retreat was productive and fun for all who attended.

Dave Carpenter and Honor Kever relax in the traditional quinzhee.

March/April 2011

Red-breasted nuthatch

Maureen Scott Harris

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Crossword queens: Betsy Rosenwald, Lorri Nielsen-Glenn, and Honor Kever

Trivia challenge with Pete Sarsfield, Father Demetrius and Dave Carpenter

Anne Pennylegion

Dave Carpenter, Pete Sarsfield and Gerry HIll

Register for the SALN Aboriginal Literary Network Database The creation of an Aboriginal literary artist’s database by the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Network Inc. aims to unify and promote established and emerging Saskatchewan Aboriginal writers. This initiative will additionally provide emerging writers with a foundation and a network to encourage successful and professional growth.

If you are an Aboriginal writer with a Saskatchewan background and are wanting to pursue a writing career contact Dorian Geiger at 280-8718; email events.saln@sasktel.net, call the SALN office, or visit the SALN website at www.aboriginal.sk.literacy.ca to learn how to register on the database.

The deadline for submissions is March 25 and the database will be launched at the Anskohk Aboriginal Writer’s Festival in the fall of 2011.

The database will be arranged in categories of “established” and “emerging” First Nations, Métis, and Inuit writers who call Saskatchewan home. Writers will register with the database and self-identify their literary genres such as fiction, non-fiction, poetry, playwriting, oral storytelling, academic writing, song writing, etc.

Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Gala May 13, 2011 The Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Gala celebrates excellence in Aboriginal literacy by providing an opportunity for learners and Elders, practitioners and educators to come together.

In the past, the SALN (Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Network Inc.) has hosted the Awards Gala celebrations in conjunction with the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Gatherings every two years. Beginning in 2011 they will host these special Literacy Awards annually. The Gala takes place on Friday, May 13 from 5:30 to11:00 p.m. at the Dakota Dunes Casino, 204 Dakota Dunes Way in Whitecap, Saskatchewan. For tickets and more information please contact aboriginal.literacy@sasktel.net; (306)934-2632.

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Saskatoon Shenanigans: Yearning for Spring

by Pam Bustin Oh, I hope that by the time you read these words we can feel the sun on our skin. It’s been a long, blustery, blisteringly cold winter. Or … I’m just feeling the years.

That said, we’ve had an event-filled winter. We got Writing North off the ground in January and had such a great turn-out that we are already at work with the University of Saskatchewan to ensure that it will become an annual Saskatoon event.

Our Freedom to Read event, Shhhhhh! (presented in partnership with the Saskatoon Public Library), was struck by bad weather, which sorely affected the “bums in seats” count—but the hardy Saskatoon media made it out and we got excellent coverage on CTV, CFCR and in the Star Phoenix. Kudos to our presenters George Khng, MariLou Rowley and Ann Foster, who put the time in to create excellent presentations that led us into a lively discussion.

Freedom of expression is very near and dear to my heart and I truly hope that the Guild and our members continue to stand up for writers whose work has been challenged or banned as part of our vision to “create an environment where writers and all forms of writing flourish.”

• Alice Kuipers, this year’s Writer-in-Residence at Saskatoon Public Library (http:// www.saskatoonlibrary.ca), has been offering a plethora of Creative Writing workshops, and the Library is hosting more writing events and contests than ever before.

• Tonight it’s Poetry (http:// www.tonightitspoetry.com/ wordpress/) offers up fresh words to feast on every Sunday night at Lydia’s.

• The Saskatchewan Playwrights’ Centre (http://www. saskplaywrights.ca/) continues their work with playwrights and is gearing up for the Spring Festival of New Plays at the University of Saskatchewan (May 22-29).

again.” Mansel and I are planning another grand adventure.

This time we will head East for a while.

I’m not sure what the future holds. I never am. I may end up back in the Big Smoke (T.O.), at school for a few years or we may end up hunkered down at “the shack” á la Al Purdy and his A-Frame (http://www.harbourpublishing.com/PurdyAFrame/index. html), spinning words and watching the river. Our shack is farther north than Purdy’s cabin. We have no indoor plumbing, but we do have high-speed internet and, one year, a pelican showed up.

It’s a good place for a couple of writers to hunker down.

Pam hard at work in Northern Ontario

• McNally Robinson (http:// www.mcnallyrobinson.com/ saskatoon_events) hosts author readings pretty much Aside from Guild sponsored every week. events: • The Saskatoon Writers’ Saskatoon is a city of writers Coop (http://www.writers- and a city of readers. It has coop.org/) continues to offer been an honour to work with high caliber workshops, a you all for the past two years. really well attended monthly open mic and their excellent Yeah … I’m a bit sad to announce that, “It’s that time coaching program.

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Whatever happens, I’ll keep my eye on you and the Guild.

Us prairie gals never really leave forEVER—we just wander off for a time.

I really do want to thank the Guild—the staff, the volunteers, and all of the members.

I’ve enjoyed my time as the Saskatoon Program Coordinator. I’ve learned a lot, I’ve met some fabulous people SWG Freelance

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and I hope I’ve served the members well and contributed to the Guild’s public profile and strength in the city of Saskatoon and throughout the province as a whole. May you all flourish.

My last official day of work will be April 28—the night of the 2011 apprentice readings, being held, this year, at the Refinery. I hope to see you there, or out and about in the sunshine at some other glorious literary event, before we hit the road in June.

Til then, and always—keep scribbling and …

Go easy–Pam

A CELEBRATION

OF

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

Help the SWG celebrate National Poetry Month by coming out to readings by Saskatchewan’s Poet Laureate Don Kerr and Saskatchewan poet Judith Krause.

There will be a special appearance by the Lieutenant Governor, His Honour the Honourable Dr. Gordon L. Barnhart.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 7:30 p.m.

Government House (4607 Dewdney Avenue, Regina) Open to the public. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

Please RSVP to Christopher Dove at (306)787-4063 or cdove@ltgov.sk.ca.

Don Kerr has eight books of poetry published, the most recent The Dust of Just Beginning, 2010. He has had five plays produced, has written a collection of short stories, Love and the Bottle, and one teen novel, Candy on the Edge. Don has written three non-fiction books: Saskatoon, the First Half Century, with Stan Hanson; The Garden of Art on Regina artist Vic Cicansky; and A Book in Every Hand, a history of the Saskatchewan Public Libraries. He is currently at work on a Winnipeg artist, Don Proch, and is always working on poetry manuscripts. He has served on many organizations dedicated to culture and the arts: the Saskatoon Public Library Board; the Saskatchewan Arts Board; SaskFilm, and the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance. He was for ten years an editor with Grain, was an editor of the NeWest Review for five years, a member of Coteau Books for fifteen years and was a Professor of English at the University of Saskatchewan.

Judith Krause is a Regina writer whose publications include four collections of poetry and a collaborative chapbook. Her work has been broadcast on the CBC and widely published in periodicals and anthologies. She is a two-time winner of the City of Regina Writing award and co-winner of the Ralph Gustafson Poetry Award. She has studied writing in Canada, France and the US, and is an active member of the local writing community.

For more information call Tracy Hamon at (306)791-7743; email programs@skwriter.com.

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"Shhhh" Freedom to Read

by Laura Lacey Warm smiles welcome me in. It is good to be here, to listen and talk with fellow book lovers, to talk about what we love. But also, on this afternoon, we talk about what we fear. We talk about freedoms under attack, about books being banned and challenged, about hate literature. We talk about whether words can harm children. This is Shhhh! Readings from Challenged Works: a presentation by the SWG and the Saskatoon Public Library, in honour of Freedom to Read Week.

Pam Bustin opens the event.

She introduces the three presenters, and explains how each one has been asked to read from challenged works of their choosing. Ann Foster is a librarian with the Saskatoon Public Library. She tells us that Young Adult books are the most frequently challenged, usually because of sexual content. Ann then reads a montage she has put together, of quotes from 23 challenged works. These include everything from The Bible, and Shakespeare, to the recent hit series Twilight. The juxtaposition of phrases and voices is fun and witty—the entire audience laughs our way through it.

Mari-Lou Rowley, an awardwinning Saskatoon poet, takes the podium next. She reads from The Catcher in the Rye, which has been banned numerous times, mostly because of its abundance of swear-words.

Mari-Lou claims the swearing gives power to the novel's language. She then speaks about the novel Tom Sawyer, which has famously been censored for its use of the word “nigger.” She says this censorship disturbs her as a writer, and because changing historical texts alters how we see history. She argues

Challenged books mingle with presenters' books on the Shhhh! book table

that we need to read historical texts as they were written, so we can see how far we've come. Mari-Lou objects to the kind of “political correctness” that outlaws specific words, and then she reads a poem of her own, which suggests that people who can't accept “real words” are “emotionally impaired.” I really appreciate Mari-Lou's discussion of the “insidious censorship of corporate media.” She says that “shock and awe news,” and other propagandistic programs and writing, are used to control what we think. She says we cooperate with our passivity.

George Khng's presentation brings a welcome global perspective to the event. He reads work by Nobel Peace Prize winners from China and Egypt. He also reads a witty satire of his own, parodying government objections to WikiLeaks, and finishes with a moving poem about the spread of freedom through the Middle East. As I listen to this piece, I think about an on-Facebook argument I'm having. I am upset by a male friend's sexist attitudes.

But as I listen to George I realize that we are truly blessed to live in a society where we can argue any political issue in March/April 2011

a public venue such as Facebook with no fear of reprisal.

With this freedom we educate and learn from each other. We must remember to not take this freedom for granted or to forget its fragility.

But I do have some doubts about absolute freedom of speech and opinion. After the formal presentations, the presenters and audience share a wide-ranging and lively discussion. Other audience members wonder about the same questions as I do, about issues like hate literature, and age-appropriate texts for children. The issue of intellectual freedom is a complex one. I doubt there will ever be easy, clear answers.

But that's okay. Political and economic powers, cultural norms, and the arts are always in flux. Always will be. Because they'e alive. And it will always be important, in a culture that is alive, to think and talk about intellectual freedom.

Laura Edna Lacey lives and writes in Saskatoon. She has published poems in Spring, The Society, Room, and the chapbook Alongside Silence, along with articles in The Saskatoon Sun and cahoots.

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Freedom of Expression

by George Khng When I was first approached to deal with this subject, it was for the “Freedom to Read” week and I thought to myself; how to show succinctly our freedom of expression is precious but is still stymied by the powers that be who are supposed to serve us. While looking at the recent events on the world’s stage, I found that even now in the 21st century, when we have gone to the moon and explored the deep sea, our art and literature has blossomed, scientific advances have been made, freedom of expression and information, especially pertaining to the governance of people, is still frequently suppressed in all societies, be it a closed society like China, or in an open society like ours in the West or authoritarian societies in the Middle East.

This article brings three distinct examples of what can happen to writers and ordinary people when they exercise their freedom.

The first is an excerpt entitled “I Have No Enemies” from the writings of Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Noble Peace Prize winner from China. Liu Xiaobo wrote this on Christmas Day, 2009 before he was sent to prison and he said this: “In the course of my life, June 1989 was the major turning point ...

[Before 1989] I was a member of the first class to enter university …[after] the Cultural Revolution … My academic career was all smooth sailing. … I [taught] at Beijing Normal University ... and was a public intellectual, writing articles and books that created quite a stir during the 1980s, frequently receiving invitations to give talks around the country, and abroad.

What I demanded of myself was this: whether as a person

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or as a writer, I would lead a political views … will be equally life of honesty, responsibility, guaranteed. and dignity.

I hope that I will be the last vic[When] I returned from the U.S. tim of China’s endless literary to take part in the 1989 Move- inquisitions and that from now ment, I was thrown into prison on no one will be incriminated ... Merely for publishing differ- because of speech. ent political views and taking part in a peaceful democracy Freedom of expression is the movement, a teacher lost his foundation of human rights, lectern, a writer lost his right to the source of humanity, and publish, and a public intellectual the mother of truth. To strangle lost the opportunity to give talks freedom of speech is to trample publicly. on human rights, stifle humanity, and suppress truth.

Twenty years have passed, but the ghosts of [June 4th ]1989 [However] In order to exercise have not yet been laid to rest. the right to freedom of speech [Nevertheless] … I stand by the conferred by the [Chinese] convictions I expressed in my Constitution, one should ful“...Hunger Strike Declaration” fill the social responsibility twenty years ago—I have no of a Chinese citizen. There is enemies and no hatred. nothing criminal in anything I have done. [But] if charges are Hatred can rot away at a per- brought against me because of son’s intelligence and con- this [freedom of expression], I science. Enemy mentality will have no complaints. poison the spirit of a nation, incite cruel mortal struggles, The second example is, in an destroy a society’s tolerance open society such as ours, and humanity, and hinder a na- where freedom of expression tion’s progress toward freedom and information are suppressed and democracy. … I hope to be in a very sophisticated manner, able to transcend my personal people who publish the raw experiences … to counter the truth are brutally attacked. regime’s hostility with utmost goodwill, and to dispel hatred In this second example, I wrote with love. a satire called “Leak”, to depict the current battle for control of Everyone knows that it was information, especially in the [China’s] Reform and Opening internet age.

Up [movement] that brought about our country’s develop- Leak ment and social change.

If you close your eyes for a moIn 1998, the Chinese govern- ment and imagine a high tech ment [committed] to sign two prison where a prosecutor who major United Nations human represents the world’s powerful rights covenants, signaling political, financial and media China’s acceptance of univer- elite ranting at his prisoner, who sal human rights standards. In is strung up cross form, his 2004, the National People’s mouth gagged and laser beams Congress (NPC) amended the shooting at him.

Constitution, writing into the Constitution for the first time Oh wikileaks, wikileaks, why do that “the state respects and you leak so much guarantees human rights,” … Leak a little, and for a short I look forward to [the day] when while so that we can tolerate my country is a land with free- you and maintain our facade dom of expression, where the Real freedom of information is speech of every citizen will be not for the people, you should treated equally well; where dif- only leak what we want you ferent values, ideas, beliefs, and to leak March/April 2011

Like telling everybody how good we are, how powerful we are and how exceptional we are Like we love and die for human rights, freedom of speech, information, and thought, democracy and the rule of law But you leak too much You told all our citizens the raw truth about our governance which they are not supposed to know That we do torture people, that we do kill innocent reporters with our gunships, that we do support tyrants and despots to continue their corrupt rules and also there is real corruption amongst our elites You even told them that we ask Russia to change their laws for Visa and Mastercard For leaking that much, we cannot allow you to exist We are shutting you down, jailing your editor-in-chief for the similar type of reason China jailed her Nobel Prize winner, and stopping all donations to you via Paypal, Visa and Mastercard Although, we do allow donations to Ku Klux Khan and we even did not charge the person who outed the CIA agent for treason But not for you Yes, yes, we know you did not commit any crime or intend to hurt anyone as you want us to verify and redact the information you want to publish

Right back to the time of the will say that you are a terrorist Roman, Russian or British Em- and you will die in our jail for pires espionage or we call for you to be killed.

Because history tells us when A guard rushed in and whisthe people know the raw truth pered to the prosecutor who like now in Tunisia, change will turned around and look bewilcome; like stopping the Viet- dered and exclaimed nam War where we were making huge profits, or getting our Now what? favourite US President to resign or topple our puppet authoritar- Wikimirrors, who are they? ian regimes The third example is about the So although the times had power of freedom of expreschanged and we are now in the sion which when mobilized on 21st century a massive scale in dealing with dictatorial regimes, displayed The battle line is the same the courage and sacrifice of ordinary people to effect change It is between us who want to in their society. In such circummaintain the total control of in- stances, freedom of expression formation with OUR version of does have the power to change the truth and therefore maintain the destiny of people and the the status quo that suits us course of history.

And people like you who want Mohamed ElBaradei, the 2005 the raw truth to come out Nobel Peace Prize winner eluded to this power in his beloved Yes, you must be eliminated be- country Egypt in an article cause you broke the steel wall published in the Daily Beast, a of indoctrination, ignorance, New York newspaper entiltled, complacency and apathy which “A Manifesto For Change In we so carefully built around Egypt”. This was published our citizens over the years by on January 29, 2011 and an telling them that raw truth will excerpt of his writing follows: bring chaos When Egypt had parliamentary No, this is not acceptable elections only two months ago, they were completely rigged.

You must be eliminated because And the American government you do not know when to stop said that it was “dismayed.” and how much raw truth you The word was hardly adequate must tell to express the way the Egyptian people felt.

You see Wikileaks, you must only leak what we want you Then, as protests built in the to leak and if you don’t, we streets of Egypt following the

DENNIS COOLEY

AND

FRED WAH READING

But we refused Because to us, you have committed an unforgivable deed which is worse than any crime

The University of Regina presents readings by Dennis Cooley and Fred Wah Lower Commons. Tuesday, March 29, 7:30 p.m.

You let our people know the raw truth of our governance

Free parking in Lot 3M. All are welcome.

Throughout history, this type of knowledge is forbidden

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overthrow of Tunisia’s dictator, I heard Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s assessment that the government in Egypt is “stable”.

I was flabbergasted and puzzled. What did she mean by stableÉ. Is it the stability of 29 years of “emergency” laws, a president with imperial power for 30 years, a parliament that is almost a mockery, a judiciary that is not independent? Is that what you call stability?

If you would like to know why the United States does not have credibility in the Middle East, that is precisely the answer.

People were absolutely disappointed in the way you reacted to Egypt’s last election. You reaffirmed their belief that you are applying a double standard because you think it represents your interests. We [Egyptians] are staring at social disintegration, economic stagnation, political repression, and we do not hear anything from you, the Americans, or for that matter from the Europeans.

write their history in blood for the freedom of expression and democracy they seek that will overthrow all forms of dictatorships. It is also an attempt to chronicle what had transpired at this moment in history so that we can remember the moment and possibly serve as an inspiration to all of us writers that the freedom of expression can really change the world.

We Count !!

An unknown fruit vendor in Tunisia, Mohamed Bouazizi, in protest for his livelihood, sets himself aflame Tipping the uneasy balance towards cascading change Then all Tunisia began to shout They drove their dictator, Ben Ali, out Egypt saw how the Tunisians shout Suddenly, they too found their voices out loud But, with Egypt, their shout is a thunderous roar It shakes the whole Middle East to the core For she is the cultural and political epicenter of the Middle East But long lost her ways in her bargain for a cold and fragile peace The West turned a blind eye to Mubarak’s autocratic corruption and atrocity Which stifles all germinations of Egypt’s civil society

Of course, you in the West have been sold the idea that the only options in the Arab world are between authoritarian regimes and Islamic jihadists. That’s obviously bogus. … [We Egyptians] want desperately to catch up with the rest of the world.

As a result, the young people of Egypt have lost patience, and what you’ve seen in the streets these last few days has all been organized by them. [For them] … it is time for a change ... the only option is a new beginning.

Now Egypt is at the crossroad Will she retain dictatorship in other forms or set herself truly free with her historic victory?

Yes, fear was the psychological impediment that the governing elite of all types of societies used to control their respective populace. Following is a poem written in honour of the youth and the Arab Street especially those very brave ordinary people who laid down their lives to

With fear gone, and regimes in Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Syria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Yemen, rattled and quivering and dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt down

The West too is at the crossroad Are they genuine in their promulgation of freedom and democracy?

Or is the West, again for self interest and oil, going to repeat their mistakes and stifle a spreading revolutionary democracy Of proud and ancient people who want to determine their own destinies

Yes, an unknown fruit vendor in Tunisia burnt himself to death This week the Egyptian people in protest broke the barrier of fear, and once that is broken, there is no But with his sacrifice, he ignited a wind of change across the stopping them.

Middle East, we confess

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The youth and the Arab streets had stood up and raised their voices in one thunderous revolutionary shout to the world “We count !!”

March/April 2011

The Writers' Union of Canada Symposium: Wave of the Future

By Judith Silverthorne I attended the recent TWUC symposium held in Regina on Monday, March 7 with new TWUC Executive Director Kelly Duffin and fellow presenters Ross Laird and Betsy Warland.

It was filled with useful tips on where the publishing industry is going and how we as writers can take advantage of the new age of electronic publishing technology that is literally outselling print books across North America. Many publishers are either going under or adding an e-book line, so this was a timely topic. Ross Laird’s positive approach on how to embrace the technology from e-books to new media promotion took the fear out of pursuing these methods and gave some direction on how to take advantage of the phenomena that is only going to become more widely spread.

traditional publishing house, we all have to do our part in promotion and marketing, and he says there are far more opportunities to do this now.

Although I suspect there will always be physical books around, the new platforms for sales are important. The concept of electronic readers is gaining in popularity, as are “book trailers” on YouTube or your own web sites, and blogging, so knowing about this technology is important.

Self-publishing (either the print version or e-book version) is the way of the future apparently, and it’s lost the stigma it once had. Now several well-known authors are going this route as a more lucrative way to share their work, like Amanda Hocking who sold 100,000 e-books in December 2010. This is not something new. Authors like Beatrix Potter self-published a limited edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1901.

Although it eventually was picked up by a trade publisher, it has sold 40 million copies and wouldn’t have gone anywhere if she hadn’t started with self-publishing. There are Whether you’re using pub- many other authors of note lish on-demand (POD), self- that have self-published at one publishing or going with a time or another over the years.

A list of some of them can be found on: http://www.bookmarket.com/selfpublish.html Whatever way you publish, the greatest promotional tool you can use is having a web site. If you’re a geek you can start from the bottom up and learn all the scripting programs from HTML, CCS and JavaScript, but if you’re not so inclined, you might want to check out user-friendly software like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. Easier still is to hire someone, so you don’t have to worry about registering domain names, finding a host,etc. All you’ll need to do is create the content. Check web sites that you admire and ask yourself why you like them. Above all, make sure your web site is “standard compliant” so that it can be read across a number of platforms from Internet providers and cell phones to digital readers and everything in between.

There were many more topics covered in this workshop, including Betsy Warland’s on sustaining yourself as a writer, and Kelly Duffin’s session on contracts and what to watch for in the new digital age, among several others. This was a great symposium, and if you missed it, try to catch it in an area near you.

VERTIGO READING SERIES In a couple of months, the SWG will be adopting the Vertigo Reading Series in Regina.

This multi-genre series runs once a month and provides a venue for emerging, established and travelling writers.

We would welcome volunteer hosts for the series as well as people to manage the book table for the guest readers.

Please contact Tracy Hamon at programs@skwriter.com or 791-7743, if you’d be willing to assist.

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The Perils of Forgetfulness, the Rewards of Remembrance This is the first in a series of articles based on new workin-progress, The Literary History of Saskatchewan, by David Carpenter One of the fears I am sometimes beset with is the fear of forgetting and of being forgotten. For example, I never want to forget that feeling of being a young writer down at Fort San, summer of 1977.

That giddy feeling of being surrounded for the first time by equally obsessed writers.

That anticipatory feeling of hauling my manuscript into Bob Kroetsch's class on the first day. That conviction that there was no limit to what I could write. That friendly sound of typewriters going all night long in the writers' residence. The day Kroetsch told me that I was a writer. The dancers doing their pliÊs and stretches on the grass. The sound of the band students playing—they were always almost in tune, and their music inhabited us every time we walked across the lawn in front of the admin building and under the towering trees where the orioles nested, as though every one of us, orioles included, were tuning up for the symphony of our creative lives.

The fear that this might be forgotten pales next to the fear that all of us might be forgotten, and not simply forgotten in the vagueness of our own senility, but forgotten by the world around us, the world of passionate intelligent readers, the wider world of Canadians outside our province, the ones who want to get through Saskatchewan as 14

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fast as their cars can motor so that they can get to Winnipeg and culture or Alberta and mountains.

Saskatchewan's first big literary flowering in the 1970s to the work that emerged at the end of the past century.

Why do Saskatchewan football teams, junior, university and professional, strive so mightily to flatten other football teams? Why do men build colossally beautiful buildings and dedicate them to women?

Why do people snap thousands of pictures and videos and put them on YouTube or in albums or in some form of cyber storage? Why do scholars young and old read history and build archives to be filled with letters, photographs and memoirs? Why are anniversaries, personal, public and historic, celebrated year after year?

Why do we write things down and try like hell to get them published? Seven questions, one answer: so they won't be forgotten.

But let's get back to that not-forgetting thing. Check out these names. Saukamappee. Kelsey. Ahenakew. Belaney. Karras. Symons. Tekahionwake. Rashley. McCourt.

Blum. Hicks. Szumigalski.

How many of them have you never heard of? How many had your forgotten until now?

If you can identify all of them, then you must be a walking library complete with rare books room. If you can identify just half of them, you're doing awfully well. If you can do that and spell Vanderhaeghe, you probably have a Ph.D. in Canadian literature. But if you've never heard of Martha Blum, Anne Szumigalski and John Hicks, so recently honoured and buried, perhaps you've just stumbled into the wrong room. Volume 1 of The Literary History of Saskatchewan goes a long way to remembering these and other nearly-forgotten storytellers, visionaries and poets from Saskatchewan. They have left us with a legacy of inspiration, wit and wisdom that has allowed their readers and inheritors to stand on higher ground. To forget them would be a crime.

This fear is a vanity I simply can't unlearn. And so I have undertaken, along with several dozen wise and dilligent people, to create a literary history of Saskatchewan. I am the editor. So far, twenty-one essays have been written and polished, and the twenty-second is still in progress. Many more essays are being planned for a future editor to take over.

But I am perhaps a few weeks, if not days, from handing in this 600-page monster to a David Carpenter, St. Peter's publisher, so the prospect of Abbey, Muenster moving on with my life is just around the corner.

David Carpenter is taking a I am hoping that the manu- break from writing books this script can be divided so that year in order to edit The LiterVolume 1 examines the works ary History of Saskatchewan. of tribal storytellers and Euro- His recent work includes white colonial writers right up the novel Niceman Cometh to writers in the mid-twentieth (2008), the collection of nocentury. In other words, if vellas Welcome to Canada you want to see what the (2009), and the memoir A experts think about your own Hunter's Confession (2010). work, you probably won't find He has just returned from a yourself in Volume 1. Volume retreat at St. Pete's where 2, then, would be an exami- he built a quinzy and wrote a nation of our literature from bunch of really short things.

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Choosing Language that Respects the Reader This is the first in a series of articles written by Alison Lohans on the craft of writing for young people.

A six-year-old is trapped in a nightmare. “See Jane. See Spot. Go, Jane. See Jane go.

Run, Jane, run!” The dream has a voice-over narrative that can’t even begin to address the complex arc of the dream—which is only marginally about Jane and Spot (although the young dreamer is nonetheless expected to attend to the verbal commands).

The prescriptive vocabulary constitutes the only interactions that the child is permitted within the dream, and thus she is excluded from all of the interesting stuff. Finally she escapes into wakefulness and finds herself in tears, with a headache. A bright little girl with an enquiring mind, the language ascribed to her supposed ability to read and comprehend has so disempowered her that she feels hopelessly thwarted.

That little girl was me, and I was quite ill with the measles.

inevitably ask: “Do you simplify your language?” My reply is that generally I don’t when writing fiction for young adults (though admittedly the voice of this article isn’t one I’d choose for fiction). Unless an editor requires that a text be aimed toward a specific level, I don’t consciously set out to limit my words to those having three or fewer syllables, for example, or use sentences whose length seldom exceeds ten words (grade two reading level). Children are intelligent and deserve to be approached in a manner that respects their willingness and eagerness to engage in story, and their quick ability to learn and incorporate new material. To borrow that tired cliché, children’s minds are like sponges, and today’s kids are exposed to a range of content that was inconceivable during the childGiven recent frustrating ex- hoods of those of us whose periences with an editor who hair is showing hints of grey. shall remain nameless, and a totally opposite experience Hence, my extreme annoywith a teacher librarian who ance with an editor who did invited me to speak about an appalling rushed job on This Land We Call Home be- one of my novels, skipping cause her grade six and seven the normal content edit phase students were working on entirely and e-mailing me a themes pertaining to power copy-edited manuscript full and prejudice, this topic seems of amazing new errors which appropriate to discuss in this had to be corrected between December 23 and January 4, column.

When people find out that I with a Toronto-time morning write for young people, they deadline. Not only did this Fortunately my mother came right away to comfort me. The dream aptly illustrated the crux of frustrating issues I was having regarding concepts of “reading” versus “story.” At age six I was story-literate and deeply enthralled with the wonders of story, thanks to being read to regularly and often by my parents and other relatives. With their encouragement I’d long since been making up stories of my own (and encountered writer’s block for the first time in grade one because I couldn’t spell “squirrel” and was too shy to ask my teacher). Why, then, the restrictive vocabulary?

A child that young of course was unaware of the theory behind reading pedagogy, but nonetheless the shining hope that reading represented was quickly becoming tarnished.

FIVE NEW VOICES APPRENTICE READING Five New Voices features Caitlin Ward, dee Hobsbawn-Smith, Moira McKinnon, Gary Chappell, and Jess Boyachuk Thursday, April 28, 2011, 7:30 p.m.

The Refinery (609 Dufferin Avenue in Saskatoon) This event is open to the public. Admission is free and everyone is welcome. There will be free refreshments and a cash bar.

The readers are celebrating the completion of their participation in the SWG's mentorship program—come out and join them.

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editor consistently refer to a middle-grade novel featuring an eleven-year-old protagonist as a “teen” novel; she also had grave misgivings about teens’ ability to comprehend language that any reasonably bright middle-grade reader would find interesting. Worse, she muddied strong sentences with dangling modifiers that would’ve been hilarious had I not been in such a panicked rush over Christmas holidays and seriously at risk of having my name attached to the mess she’d created. In the editorial “dance” one learns which issues must be protected to maintain integrity of voice, and which ones can be compromised or dropped entirely.

I love the editing phase; it provides one last opportunity to bring a book and its language to an exquisite polish. But this person plunged me into such a nightmare that my usual diplomatic stance crumbled into occasional snarls: “NO!!!

Hair cannot smile.” “NO!!!

Dust motes—not to be confused with dust mites, which are tiny creatures that cause allergic reactions in some individuals.” Sigh. Perhaps it’s certain editors for whom language must be simplified?

But I digress.

courage opened up amazing superimposing the sorts of new worlds for child and adult imagery that can so easily bereaders alike. come cliché. My goal always is to create a sense of immeSo what is the mechanism diacy which permits a reader that engages readers through to participate vicariously in the the events of the story? It’s story. Thus when writing for definitely not simplified lan- all ages I strive for the clearguage. Two of my novels for est, most evocative language younger children were rejected possible: language that is rich specifically because the lan- with concrete sensory images, guage was too easy; one was as opposed to the grey fuzz later published when I threw of abstractions. It’s crucial to away the language constraints work for a tight narrative. If a I was trying to employ. What word like “mesmerized” says works best for me is to have it best, use it rather than seta good topic that will interest tling for pale imitations like a specific age group, and a “fascinated,” “paid attention character’s unique narrative to,” “watched” and the like. voice that can propel both the Children learn the meanings character and reader through of words used correctly in the problem arc or plot. As a context. My “difficult” editor character-driven writer, I step finally conceded that kids can into my protagonist’s persona always look things up if need and write from the voice of be, and that this is how they this child who lives the story: learn. it might be third-person, firstperson, or even second-person Which brings us to the quesviewpoint (as I do in parts tion of language as a tool for of Doppelganger). I might or empowerment. might not use shorter sentences—but ideally they will It was immensely heartenbe crisp and direct. I attempt ing, while dealing with this to craft vivid images in quick same editor for proofs, to be strokes that come from the in communication with a lochild’s frame of reference— cal teacher librarian whose sometimes sensory, some- stance was completely optimes emotional—rather than posite. Rather than insulat-

This rant aside, one might consider Madeleine L’Engle’s memorable statement that when she wanted to explore new ideas, she always presented them in her children’s books because she believed adults’ minds were too closed.

Children, on the other hand, will more willingly suspend disbelief. Is tesseract too complex a word for middlegrade readers? Does it matter?

I think not, given both of my sons’ excitement at sounding out four-syllable dinosaur names at age five. Whether or not L’Engle waged editorial battles over tesseract and the scientific concept it represents, her forward-looking

WINDSCRIPT LAUNCH

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Please join Windscript editor Lynda Monahan as we hear readings by contributors at the launch of Windscript Volume 27, the SWG's magazine of high school writing.

Wednesday, May 25, 7:00 p.m.

Connaught Library (13th Avenue in Regina) (during the Cathedral Village Arts Festival) Refreshments will be served and all are welcome!

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ing kids from language and concepts they might not yet be acquainted with (and thus “dumbing down” their potential capabilities—as the editor seemed to be doing with my novel), this teacher was adamant that young people need to be exposed to crosscurrents of ideas and events, through literature. When I visited the school, we had some great discussion about atrocities committed against people of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Reading excerpts from This Land We Call Home, however, I was the one who held back: I’m unwilling to speak the racial slurs that were in common use during that era. Yet I respect readers’ rights to be aware of them, and teachers’ rights to discuss such language with their classes, so that young people can move beyond such petty behaviour to a more compassionate state of awareness. To hold back in my writing would be to suggest that such things never happened.

"Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow."

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Welcome New Members Gareth Cook, Air Ronge Marie Fenwick, North Vancouver Dianne Greenlay, Shaunavon Susan Harris, Wolseley Miriam Körner, Air Ronge Martha Roberts, Regina Jamesw Sinkewicz, Regina Garth Taylor, McCord

What can be more beautiful than shining images like those of my younger son, then not yet two, toddling toward me, arms outstretched holding his favourite book? Beaming with anticipation, he asked me: “Booka booka ree?” Notso-shiny is the memory of his worst tantrum at age three, when I had to carry him kicking and screaming out of the library after preschool story hour had ended and we’d checked out our books. This, a child who, at four, insisted on having our own Dianne Young’s The Abaleda Voluntary Firehouse Band in bed with him every night before he could fall asleep. (Hey—aren’t words like “Abaleda” and “voluntary” too complicated for preschoolers? Obviously not!)

This same son now spends massive amounts of time reading and writing about the scientific complexities of chemical reactions involving proteins, enzymes and DNA—but he also reads voluminously on his e-reader, and enjoys loaning me print copies of books he has especially enjoyed.

Alison Lohans has published 21 books for young people, most recently Dog Alert (Pearson Education, NZ, 2011) and Collapse of the Veil (Bundoran Press, 2010). Also to be released in 2011 are Picturing Alyssa (Dundurn) and Crossings (Bundoran). Alison won the 2008 Saskatchewan Book Award for YA Literature for This Land We Call Home (Pearson, 2007), and served as Writer-in-Residence at Regina Public Library in 2002-2003.

She also has her Master’s degree in education.

What can be more profound than Oliver Wendell Holmes’ metaphor of language being the blood of the soul?

The medium through which thoughts are charged with life as objects and concepts are named, linked, and thus given meaning? Viewed in this context, we are charged with the awesome responsibility of offering up language which stimulates young readers’ awareness and curiosity so that they can discern and create possibilities for how they, as humans, might fit into the As writers, we need to respect patterns of society in mean- young readers' inherent right to grow, to blossom in our ingful ways. shared world of ideas, mediated by language and literature.

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Easy Ways to Track Submissions and Markets

By Heather Andrews Miller So you have sold your first article. Encouraged, you pitch story ideas to three more publications and submit manuscripts to a couple that accept submissions without query.

But suddenly you realize you are confused as to what story went to which editor! And did you already query that publication about this article?

Keeping track of query letters and manuscript submissions is crucial for any writer. Established freelancers become successful by keeping articles and query letters constantly circulating to print and on-line markets. Knowing what stage every article, poem or essay is at is an important aspect of the business side of our craft, even though it’s not the fun part of the job.

I write for four local markets and some online publications, usually averaging 12 per month but often as many as 18. For regular assignments, I designed a simple MS Word table with date, name of article, publication and issue date, number of words, and payment details. It works well as a reference for me and is a great statement of income for my accountant at tax time! It also helps me to spot any articles that are still waiting for remuneration, although with regular assignments this rarely happens.

But for speculative or periodical work, a better system is needed. Editors and book publishers can take up to six months to respond to a query or review a manuscript. Many come back quickly, but others languish in a busy editor’s inbox for weeks. Still others are 18

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returned, rejected for a variety of reasons, and therefore are available to submit again to a new market. Keeping track can be a nightmare! So for non-assigned writing, a different system which allows more room for details is needed.

heard back. And your tracking sheet will ensure that a previously printed article that you send out again to a new market will not mistakenly get published in a magazine with a similar audience.

Index cards are a great method for some writers to track their work. Many colour-code the cards, yellow for queries, pink for submissions, blue for regular columns. Small plastic boxes to hold the cards can 1) date of submission or query also help with the sorting, into such categories as magazine letter 2) editor’s name, publication markets, book proposals, ficname, and title of piece(s) be- tion, non-fiction, inspirational, or fantasy. ing submitted 3) format: poem, essay, nonFile folders are invaluable for fiction article, etc.

4) when you expect to hear holding onto manuscripts or query letters while they are back 5) results—was it purchased, “out there” being considered or awaiting publication. Make rejected, reasons why one folder for each article, 6) amount of payment poem or idea, and create a Do leave plenty of room for cover sheet with all pertinent comments from the editor in information such as submisthe “reasons why” column sion date and publication, as, if rejected, these can help research tips, lists of possible you refine your work and lead markets, queries, rejection to better success next time. slips or other feedback from Remember, often a rejection is the editor, and so on. If you simply that the article wasn’t are selling a lot of articles to suitable for the publication. one particular publication, There was nothing wrong make a file on it and include with your writing. It can go all correspondence with the back out into circulation to a editor as well as copies of the different publication. You can stories you have sold to it. save yourself a lot of work and wasted time if you study If you find you have a pile each magazine or paper be- of unrecorded articles and fore submitting to be sure it’s query letters on the corner of suitable and ask for writer’s your desk, some dating from guidelines, often available months back and in various on the publication’s website. stages of progress, don’t dePeriodicals often publish only spair. Once you’ve designed two or three issues a year and your tracking document, go response times will be longer. through the pile and do the Submit no more than six to best you can from memory— eight poems, or one story, and you might be surprised at record the titles carefully. The how much you do remember. turnaround time for web writ- Then resolve, starting today, ing is often shorter. Many mar- to record the very next article kets state their response time or letter you send out with so you have an idea of when full details. the editor will be contacting you and can follow up with MS Word and Excel or Corel a polite letter if you haven’t Quatro Pro are excellent proUsing a spreadsheet is one of the easiest ways to record the details of your speculative writing activities. It should include:

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grams for designing spreadsheets or tables and are likely already on your computer. If you want to explore alreadyprepared systems for tracking your submissions, Writer’s Market has an online service which is free for one year from the purchase date of the book and it links up with the publications that are printed within its 1000-plus pages. Other popular software packages include Sonar and InkLink, the latter which features a reminder function so you don’t let too much time elapse between communications from the editor. There is a cost for the software but it’s a onetime expense. The Canadian Author’s Association has also recommended a software package called The Working Writer v3.1, claiming it’s easy to use and also has great back up support should you need

it. To find more information, come by writing is a wonderful search the names of the soft- and rewarding occupation and ware in your Google tool bar. well worth designing or purchasing the tools you need for If you make any income at all, the business end of it. You’ll or expect to, make sure you be glad you did! are keeping track on another spreadsheet of your income This article has been reprinted and expenses for your writ- with permission from the ing. Keep your receipts and January/February issue of cheque stubs to submit to WestWord, the Alberta Writyour accountant. Once you ers' Guild's member magazine. are writing regularly, you will be delighted to know you can claim a portion of your car expenses, utilities, magazine Heather Andrews Miller is a and book purchases, any writer in Edmonton whose writing-related courses, and articles appear in several local other costs, but you must be markets. While most of her caprepared to show the details reer has been as a non-fiction and have the documentation writer and journalist, she has to back up the expenses you a fiction book in progress.

Heather keeps active with are claiming. her writing group as well as Finally, don’t be discouraged enjoying activities with her six by all the cautionary advice. grandchildren and volunteer Making all or part of your in- work in the community.

SWG SHORT MANUSCRIPT AWARDS The SWG Short Manuscript Awards competition recognizes literary excellence in works of creative writing by Saskatchewan authors. Entries are judged by out-of-province judges who will be named when the winners of the awards are announced in October 2011.

Copyright for all works remains with the author. Winning submissions will be published in Freelance and winners will receive a cash prize. The first place winners will read from their work at the Short Manuscript Awards Lunch at the SWG's Annual Fall Conference on Saturday, October 15 in Regina.

Rules: • Entrants must be Saskatchewan residents as of December 31, 2010.

• Entrants must be 19 years of age or older.

• This competition is open to both SWG members and non-members.

• Entrants may not have published a book (or have had a book manuscript accepted for publication) in the category or categories in which they are entering.

• Entrants may submit one piece for each category for which they are eligible.

• There is no entry fee for members of the SWG; non-members will pay a fee of $10 per entry (regardless of its length). Your fee must accompany your entry.

• Make cheques and money orders payable to the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild.

• The word limits for the categories are as follows: • poetry: maximum 100 lines • short fiction: maximum 5,000 words; • literary non-fiction: maximum 5,000 words • children's/young adult literature (prose or poetry): maximum 5,000 words for prose or 200 lines for poetry For complete guidelines, please visit our website at www.skwriter.com.

Submissions must be received in the SWG office by 4:30 p.m. Thursday, June 30, 2011. We will accept email submissions as a Word attachment to info@skwriter.com.

For more information, contact Tracy Hamon, Program Officer at (306)791-7743 or programs@skwriter.com.

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2011 JOHN V. HICKS LONG MANUSCRIPT AWARDS The John V. Hicks Manuscript Awards recognizes three unpublished book-length manuscripts annually. The awards rotate between the genres of poetry, fiction, plays, and literary non-fiction. In 2011 the SWG will honour three unpublished, full-length manuscripts of literary non-fiction.

Prizes will be as follows: 1st place: $1,000; 2nd place: $650; 3rd place: $350. The winners will read from their work at the John V. Hicks Luncheon on Saturday, October 15, 2011 at the SWG's annual Fall Conference in Regina (expenses paid).

1.Entries must be submitted by or postmarked by Thursday, June 30, 2011. If you are sending material close to this date, please consider Xpress Post, Priority Post, courier, or special delivery. Late submissions will not be accepted.

2.When mailing or dropping off your entry, please submit three hard copies of your manuscript. Please keep a copy of your manuscript, as manuscripts will not be returned.

3.A $25 entry fee must accompany the entry. Make cheques and money orders payable to the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild.

4.Due to the length of the manuscripts we will not accept email, fax or digital memory stick submissions.

Rules: 1.Entrants must be Saskatchewan residents as of December 31, 2010.

2.Only one entry per person is allowed in the manuscript awards.

3.All entries must be original work.

4.Copyright for the entry remains with the author.

5.No more than 50% of the manuscript may have been published in magazines and anthologies or by broadcast media.

6.The manuscript must be for a full-length work (minimum 35,000 words).

7.The writer’s name and contact information should appear in the cover letter only. All entries will be numbered upon receipt so that they may be judged anonymously. If the writer’s name appears on any page of the manuscript, it will not be accepted for the competition. The name of the manuscript may appear on both the cover page and subsequent pages.

8.There is no application form; instead, please send the entry plus a cover letter that includes the following: • your name and all contact information (including address, home and work numbers, and E-mail address) • the name of your work • confirmation of the following: • that you were a resident of Saskatchewan as of December 31, 2010 • that the work is original to you • that the script will not have had a public production before the announcement of the awards in October • that no more than 50% of the manuscript will have been published or broadcast before the announcement of the awards in October 9.The following submission criteria must be followed or the entries will not be accepted: • entries must be in English • use plain text fonts (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial, Courier) and not in display fonts such as Algerian • 12 point font • use black ink on 8 ½ x 11-inch white copy bond paper • entries must be single-sided • at least a one inch margin on all sides • the title and page number must appear on each page • entries must be double-spaced • the paper must be clean (no smudges, drawings, hand-written corrections, or stamped words) • to fasten submissions, use paper clips (including fold-back clips)—avoid staples or any other fastener which goes through the paper (including binders, presentation covers, or coil binding) • avoid hole punched paper • good-quality photocopies are acceptable 10. The jury may decide not to award a particular prize if they believe no submission merits it.

11. The decisions of the jury will be final.

12. Winners agree to permit the use of their name and title of their work in promotion by the SWG. 13. Winners agree to acknowledge the SWG in any publication or production program of the winning scripts.

Mailing Address: Saskatchewan Writers' Guild, Box 3986 Regina SK S4P 3R9 Courier Or Drop-Off Address: Saskatchewan Writers' Guild, 205-2314 11th Avenue Regina SK S4P 0K1 For more information: Contact Tracy Hamon, Program Officer at 791-7743 (phone); 565-8554 (fax); or programs@skwriter.com.

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Family Literacy Day: Saskatchewan Style, CANSCAIP'S 2011 Online and In-person Worshops

By Marie Powell Mendenhall

semesters for some provincial high school districts. The CANSCAIP SK Horizons event was spread out over three days, January 26-28, to allow more schools to participate, but several high schools were unable to participate because students were not in school on those dates.

However, seven authors gave inperson visits over the three days, to reach close to 1100 students in schools in Regina, Moose Jaw, and Prince Albert. Authors presenting in person included Alison Lohans, Jean Freeman, Warren James, Judith Silverthorne, Maureen Ulrich, Glenda Goertzen, and me.

It was a combination of the old and the new, of experienced and emerging authors, of face-to-face and online experience. It was one of those times that makes you want a T-shirt saying “I survived …” It was simpler than I thought As well, I joined Linda, Arthur it would be, but more time con- Slade, Edward Willet, Maureen suming than I expected.

Ulrich, and Sharon Plumb in giving online workshops through CreIn short, it had the earmark of a denda. These workshops managed grand experiment. to reach more than 6625 students in close to 100 schools from rural It was Family Literacy Day 2011, districts to major cities, literally done Saskatchewan-CANSCAIP- across Saskatchewan from south style (Canadian Society of Chil- to north, east to west. Some 425 dren's Authors, Illustrators and individual classes were involved, Performers). For several estab- spanning all grades from early lished as well as emerging chil- elementary through to Grade 12. dren’s writers, the event opened “Unfortunately, there were a couup new avenues. ple of schools that did have trouble getting their computer equipment And it was successful in helping to function,” Linda said later, “but Saskatchewan children’s writers on the whole the technology was reach more than 7500 students 99% problem free.” across the province through inperson and online readings and The event had its origins in April workshops. Funding support from 2010, when insufficient registrathe Saskatchewan Arts Board tions caused cancellation of a made it all possible. planned World Book Day event in Regina. After going through feedQu'Appelle-based author Linda back from the first Regina World Aksomitis, CANSCAIP’s Sas- Day event in 2009, and during the katchewan chapter president as 2010 event planning, CANSCAIP well as a teacher with Credenda members gradually came up with Virtual High School and College, a plan for a Literacy Day Authors combined the best of both worlds Conference. in this year’s Literacy Day event.

She invited Saskatchewan chil- “The Saskatchewan Arts Board dren’s writers to offer workshops generously approved transfer of in their home areas. At the same the funds to this event, as they time, with Credenda’s support, were also interested in exploring she spearheaded a series of online virtual events,” Linda added. workshops through the Credenda website.

Many Canadian writers earn a significant portion of their anFamily Literacy Day has been nual income from workshops and celebrated nationally on January readings in the school system, in 27 since 1999, when ABC Life one form or another. Children’s Literacy Canada first broached writers are popular guests for it as a way for families to share school classrooms and libraries, reading together. This year the and the Arts Board grant meant date cut across the turn-around in these CANSCAIP readings required March/April 2011

no additional funding from the schools.

The event offered authors a chance to share their writing, in person and online, with more students. Online workshops also offered the authors the chance to do a workshop from home. While the winter weather was especially cooperative that week, with temperatures in Regina of roughly -4 to -8 degrees, technology can help overcome the weather and geographical distances that prevent more traditional workshops and readings.

“As an organizer, I’d have to say the best part of the event was introducing so many authors and students to the opportunities of the virtual world,” Linda said.

“While everyone’s expectations were different, in general the rural schools who have limited access to in-person author visits provided the most positive feedback. Large city schools expressed appreciation in being part of this historic event, but indicated they found live author presentations to their individual schools and classrooms suited their needs better.”

Her biggest challenge was “answering questions from schools that had very limited technical knowledge or experience,” but, like all of the authors, she appreciated the expert help from Credenda’s technical support staff.

Linda is planning to step down as chapter president of CANSCAIP in September, so whether the experience is repeated will be up to another planning committee next year.

A Personal Perspective on the Experience Developing online workshops involved organizing and reorganizing material, re-envisioning it in a new format, and a lot of manual dexterity – at least in typing and teasing the material into a cohesive shape.

In this format, those of us presenting felt a need to gain familiarity with the technology. Linda was generous with her time in SWG Freelance

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arranging several practice sessions on Credenda, but most fell during periods when I was unavailable. Sharon Plumb stepped in to help me after hours, and we were able to access the site to practice together. I was also able to watch the afternoon workshops before I presented, One of the disadvantages in the online workshop format is the inability to see the students, and how they’re reacting to the presentation. In my case, I had given the workshops previously in school classes and in adult workshops. That helped me because I knew how people had reacted in person. For example, the Journaling workshop I prepared was based on one I’ve given in schools previously, and I prepared it for the two in-person school visits I did in Regina as well.

As always happens when relying on technology, we had a few technical difficulties. One presenter lost connection during the workshop and had to log in again, for example. Some of the schools found the technology challenging, or didn’t follow directions for signing in, but most were able to connect and participate fully.

My own sessions were remarkably hitch-free, especially given the short amount of preparation time I had before the event. I led an interactive session during the journaling workshop, asking questions and posting answers on a white board to demonstrate a creative exercise.

With more time, or if a workshop could be spread out over more days, I could see the technology would open up several teaching possibilities. We could develop group poems or stories together, for example, and even write and share individual work.

Reactions From the Schools In the comments Linda collected from schools after the event, one comment by the Robert Southey School illuminated their side of the experience: “It was certainly more technical than we had expected but the picture quality was excellent!

Our staff and students valued the opportunity to learn about this author's writing process and to hear him read from his work.

They appreciated the opportunity to ask questions.”

Unity Public School said, “Our students learned from this conference where authors get their ideas from, what the author’s role is and what the publish-

ers’ and editors’ roles are in the production of a book. They also learned that authors have many life experiences and write about what they are interested in and know about. Our staff and students valued hearing everything from a real author. The students loved that their personal questions were answered during the presentation. Our students enjoyed listening to an author from their own province. She talked about things they could relate to as she described her own writing process.”

Dinsmore Composite High school added, “What a wonderful way for rural students to have the opportunity to hear such gifted writers!”

M E Powell (http://www.mepowell.com/) is a professional journalist with work in print, broadcast, and online markets across Canada and internationally. Her award-winning short fiction and poetry appear in literary magazines and anthologies, including Room, Transition, Pandora’s Collective, WindFire and the Winnipeg Free Press.

Scholastic Canada recently published her book, Dragonflies Are Amazing!

SASKATOON PROGRAM COORDINATOR NEEDED The Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild is seeking a part-time Program Coordinator for its Saskatoon office.

The Program Coordinator is responsible for the development and coordination of SWG programs and services in Saskatoon and for publicizing Guild programs in that community. The coordinator will establish and maintain productive partnerships with stakeholders and other relevant organizations and provide project support as necessary.

• • •

Experience in program design, delivery and evaluation Knowledge of marketing and public relations Must have the ability to plan, priorize, budget and meet deadlines

This position will appeal to an energetic self-starter with excellent interpersonal, time management and organizational skills.

This 18 hour/week position offers excellent benefits. A detailed position description can be found on the Guild website at www.skwriter.com. Closing date for applicants is April 8, 2011.

Application may be made to info@skwriter.com or to SWG, Box 3986, Regina SK, S4P 3R9. Only those selected for interview will be contacted.

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From Here to Infinity (or so) Part II The 2010 Caroline Heather Memorial Lecture by Don McKay (continued from January/February 2010 Freelance) This lecture was delivered at Victoria Island University during Don McKay's tenure as the 2010 Ralph Gustafson Chair of Poetry, and will be published in spring 2011 by the Institute for Coastal Research at Vancouver Island University, in cooperation with the Ralph Gustafson Poetry Trust. http://www.mala. ca/icr/publications/gustafson. asp My experience in Loss Creek echoes, in a small way, the discovery—although perhaps "acceptance" is the better term—of deep time itself.

This is generally credited to James Hutton, the Scottish Enlightenment thinker who first took in the significance of unconformities in the rock record, and, I suppose, clapped his hand to his head and exclaimed the eighteenth century equivalent of “holy jumpin' schmoley.”

An unconformity is, before such a eureka experience, an unprepossessing line between strata representing a gap in the geological record, so that there is a significant difference in the ages of the rocks above and below it.

This means there was a long period of erosion (maybe ten, maybe two hundred million years) rather than deposition or mountain formation, which occurred between the strata. Hutton’s holy jumpin` schmoley experience occurred at Siccar Point in Scotland, though he had already surmised that there must be such an unconformity somewhere, just as Darwin reasoned that there must have

tion exposed at the present Siccar Point. Hutton’s eureka punctured the notion that the Earth was, on the basis of the Biblical account of creation, six thousand years old, a view held now only by creationists and the current head of our Treasury Board. Deep time surfaced, in the history of ideas, at Siccar Point, just as it surfaced, in my own history, at Loss Creek. James Hutton’s book, Theory of the Earth, is notorious for its unreadability, except for its last phrase, which is frequently cited, and aphoristically captures the sudden injection of infinitosis into history: “… we find no vestige of a beginning—no prospect of an end.”

The story of the planet, this implied, was not only contrary to the Biblical account, it wasn’t a story at all. I attempted to catch something of the disorientation of deep time, with the loss of narrative structure, in a poem called “Devonian.” The title refers to the time period four hundred million years ago, noted for such developments as the Hutton's angular unconformity first lobe-finned fishes.

been a feathered dinosaur. At Siccar Point, Hutton observed a very dramatic unconformity, called an angular unconformity, in which the lower beds are actually tilted—like the schists along Loss Creek—creating a sharp visual contrast to the horizontal upper ones. The illustration shows an artist’s representation of the phenomenon of angular unconformity used by Hutton in his treatise in 1795.

The uptilted beds were, of course, originally horizontal, and derived from deposits in the ocean. The tilt means that they subsequently became mountains just like our contemporary Rockies, which later eroded (notice the loose stones just above the unconformity). Then, for the horizontal beds to be emplaced, the formation must once again have been located in a deep oceanic setting, where the sediments collected on top of the uptilted beds formerly known as mountains. Imagine the Rockies, which were also formerly seabeds, worn down and re-submerged, and more oceanic deposits of silt or sand or crustaceans collecting on top. All of this was followed by another period of uplift, which left the whole formaMarch/April 2011

If Zeno’s paradox introduced the concept of the infinite into philosophy and mathematics, Hutton’s aphorism could be said to bring it into the realms of earth science and biology. I realize that by saying this I am coasting through a distinction between deep time and infinity. While I know this is important, crucial if you’re a cosmologist or mathematician, it is negligible to a lay person, casually dropped, as by a helicopter (or the aforementioned Scope magazine) into the ocean of time. When Hutton showed, and explained, the Siccar Point Unconformity to his friend and Boswell John Playfair, Playfair’s reaction was similar to mine: “The mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time.” I am assumSWG Freelance

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ing that the minds of most of us, if they have not been hardened by academic study, react similarly, and that the experience is the same whether the number of millions is two and a half, forty-five, sixtyfive, two hundred and fifty, or six hundred and fifty, or even four and a half billion. (These are the dates of, respectively, the first hominids, the Loss Creek-Leech River Fault, the Cretaceous extinctions, the Permian extinctions, the Mistaken Point fossil beds, and the age of our planet.) Safely inside mathematics, these compute wonderfully I’m sure; inside my finite mind in the phenomenological instant, the difference is the equivalent of being told, after you’ve been dropped into the middle of Lake Ontario, with no shoreline visible, that at least it’s not the Pacific Ocean.

To make deep time accessible, we have to leave the world of numbers. As Stephen Jay Gould puts it, in Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle: "An abstract, intellectual understanding of deep time comes easily enough—I know how many zeroes to place after the 10 when I mean billions. Getting it into the gut is quite another matter. Deep time is so alien that we can really only comprehend it as metaphor."

Among those metaphors in common use in geology textbooks and classrooms is the geological mile, in which human history is represented by its last few inches, and the geological year, with our noble species appearing barely in time to sing Auld Lang Syne.

But my favourite, and Gould’s, is the one attributed to John McPhee. This calls for a beautiful assistant, whom I now ask to join me on this imaginary stage. Simply extend your arm, I say, and she (or it may be he, according to your imagination’s preference) complies.

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Your shoulder, I say, is the big bang, and your fingertip is the present. Then I produce, with a flourish like Errol Flynn drawing his sword, a nail file. Carefully I file one stroke from her (his) middle fingernail, erasing hominids from the planet’s history—not, some would say, such a bad idea.

Let us press Pause here, with my imaginary assistant still standing before you, arm outstretched. The reason for this pause is to ask about the

phor is extraordinarily nuanced and appreciative, as his book Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle makes manifest. But fundamentalist reductive materialists, like Richard Dawkins, tend to regard their metaphors as mere teaching aids, to be set aside, like childhood toys, once their job is done. In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins is at pains to warn us about the very catchword established by his title and the constant recourse of his argument to analogy (which is, you might

DEVONIAN Then someone says “four hundred million years” and the words tap dance with their canes and boaters through the spotlight right across the stage unspooling out the stage door down the alley through the dark depopulated avenues (for everyone is at the theatre) toward the outskirts where our backyards bleed off into motel rentall stripmall U-haul past willowscruff, past ancient rusting mercuries along the lovers’ lanes the coyotes lure our family pets down all those creekbanks where we always did whatever anyway and left our bodies blurring into brush the words slur into is it sand or is it snow that blows its messages across the highway through the headlight beam the dried-up memories of water how the waves were how the light that fell so softly through the depths was intercepted by the lobe-finned fishes flickering among the members of the audience still staring at the empty stage—four hundred million years, yes, that’s a long long time ago.

role of metaphor as a way of conceiving the inconceivable, and to note some basic assumptions about its use.

Stephen Jay Gould’s view that an abstract, intellectual understanding of deep time comes easily is not one that I share, nor would I call it “understanding” to know how many zeroes (nine, I think) there are in a billion. However, I am in total agreement over the crucial role that metaphor (incarnated just now in my hard-working, patient, beautiful assistant) plays in the hermeneutics of deep time. Gould’s interest in metaMarch/April 2011

say, super-sized metaphor).

Metaphor, Dawkins says, with thunderous understatement, is useful for economy and vividness, but we have to remember that we can revert at any point to what he calls “gene language,” for all the world as though “gene language” were not itself a metaphor. There is an implied progressivist epistemology in this attitude, which regards metaphor as an embarrassingly vulgar, earthbound vehicle leading to the refinement of abstract thought, as though we’d been transported to a mystical star

chamber in a gypsy caravan, or achieved satori through sex. Having no capacity for abstract thought, I suspend all judgment about this aspect of the supposition; but having a love for metaphor, in all its manifestations, from Wallace Stevens to Country and Western, I think it appropriate to complicate the situation a little.

One metaphor often used for the effect of metaphor in relation to deep time or infinity is to say it “brings it home.”

That is, in the terms proposed by this talk, metaphor brings infinity here; we get it into the gut, as Stephen Jay Gould says. In the case of my beautiful assistant, home is intimate indeed, as close as her or his right arm. But in bringing home the infinite, metaphor also alters the home it’s brought to, as Loss Creek is irrevocably altered by my holy schmoley experience, and Siccar Point by James Hutton’s. Metaphor, like the ferry whose etymology it shares (meta pherein—carry across) goes back and forth, to and fro. It renders the infinite tangible, but it also infinitizes the here and now. I’m suggesting, to be blunt, that metaphor by its very nature, and not solely because of the content it may be carrying, bears the germ of infinitosis. And this means that, while it does indeed help us understand, it complicates the nature of understanding itself. Emmanuel Levinas, a philosopher for whom infinity is a primary concept, regards infinity as the thought that “overflows itself.” “In thinking infinity,” he says, “the I from the first thinks more than it thinks” (italics Levinas’). I’m suggesting that metaphor, in a humble way embedded in ordinary speech as well as in poetry, reflects in its actions just such a paradoxical power to alter the nature of understanding. When we con-

sider the idea of place—that "home" which the infinite is brought to—we can observe a particular benefit of this "infinitizing" tendency. For place can become very set in its ways, smug and substantial; it can shade into property, something to be possessed and defended. It can become real estate; it can become a gated community with walls to keep out wilderness and undesirables. The contemporary Polish poet, Adam Zagajewski, shows an awareness of the dangers of place’s capacity to grow centralizing and exclusive when he observes, “Boat people—the only nation free of nationalism.” Against this tendency, which Levinas calls "totalizing," metaphor works to keep place open to the infinite.

One writer who is acutely aware of the perils, and benefits, of the infinite is the Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges. Over and over again Borges introduces the infinite into his fictions, and observes the destabilizing consequences —not only for the fictions (which become first meta-fictions then metan fictions), but for the proud or ambitious characters who are addicted to that unthinkable thought. “There is a concept which corrupts and upsets all others. I refer not to Evil, whose limited realm is that of ethics; I refer to the infinite.”

Infinity is a truly perilous thought, a subversive element inside intellection, and yet—and I believe this to be true within Borges, as it is in mathematics, in Levinas, and in metaphor—a necessary one.

In every area, the idea of infinity (or its slightly less perilous cousin, deep time), works as an antidote to human hubris; it says, as against Alexander Pope, that man is not the measure of all things. Indeed, if we can turn once again to my patient, beautiful assistMarch/April 2011

ant, let’s observe the deep paradox implicit in this metaphorical gesture. On the one hand we are using a human figure to measure deep time, and on the other—by demonstrating the extreme brevity of our species’ existence—we are undoing the assumption that man, or woman, can be its measure. Metaphor is that site in language—most human of devices—where tangibility opens itself up to possibility. It brings home, or domesticates, and infinitizes with one and the same gesture. Metaphor is also, necessarily, both true and false at once, as my patient assistant is both here and not here. It consequently brings into the very medium we think with—language—the perilous power of the unthinkable thought, the thought that “thinks more than it thinks.”

In the poem on the next page, I attempt to probe something of this effect of metaphor (represented by those magic words “as if,” which are to metaphor what “Once upon a time” is to fiction). The physical basis for the poem is the experience of seeing what seemed to be a starry galaxy on the surface of a cove on the Avalon Peninsula—one of those perceptual illusions, like the one in Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro,” that is also something of a revelation.

But, of course, there is a way to encounter deep time and infinity without risking infinitosis, and this is implicit in my title, which spins off the novel by American writer, James Jones, and the film made from it in 1953, called From Here to Eternity. To my mind, there is a big difference between infinity and eternity. Eternity, we might say, is thinkable infinity, and that thinkability is largely due to its embrace of a narrative shape, from Genesis to Revelation. It has both the doctrinal SWG Freelance

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AS IF Play it con brio, a muscular iamb, a frisbee sizzling— as if—into no man’s land, its emptiness unfurling fast and fern-like. Last winter, from a cliff along the coast, I saw a milky way strewn lavishly across the cove, twinkling in the chop.

It was cold, and so moments before my stiff fingers unburied the binoculars and found it to be Eiders. In their black skipper’s caps they scudded the waves, cold’s own creatures, their white chests flashing in the slant sun, until, as at a signal, with a move part gulp, part slurp, each, one after the other, dove, like this: as if, as if, as if that surface were the border— suddenly porous— between yes and no, so and not so. vestige of a beginning and the prophetic prospect of an end, and so tailors the infinite to fit the dimensions of a human lifespan, giant-sized to be sure, but human nonetheless. Religious eternities differ from secular ones in having many more furnishings, and perhaps a larger population of famous citizens. But what is common to all eternities is a class system in which we—humans—are assured of preferential status (we are Elite and Super-Elite clients, in the parlance of Calvinism and Air Canada), unlike members of other species, genera, phyla, or kingdoms. No fungi, bacteria, or black flies, you can be assured, infest eternity, whereas infinity is teeming with the suckers, who are, in that absolute democracy, as good as you and me.

The filmic and novelistic versions of From Here to Eternity could be described as modified melodrama, that is, melodrama with its shadow visible.

As a war drama from the 1950s, set in pre-Pearl Harbor Hawaii, it showed a more realistic version of military life than was acceptable during 26

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the war, an army in which a bully (played by Ernest Borgnine) might actually kill a more sensitive soldier (played by Frank Sinatra). But the portion of the film that lasts in cultural memory, and mine, is the love affair between a sergeant (Burt Lancaster) and the commander’s wife (Deborah Kerr).

In fact, From Here to Eternity may be one of those movies whose most lasting impact is its poster, which shows Deborah and Burt embracing on

the beach, the liminal space between "here" (the dry land) and "eternity" (the ocean).

Like Aphrodite, the lovers have been birthed by the sea, and celebrate their union with a kiss rendered iconic and timeless by photography.

The ocean, having already baptized them, now seems to endorse their relationship on behalf of both the natural world and the eternal one.

Iconically and aesthetically, Burt and Deborah are forever embracing on the beach; love connects here to eternity in a timeless instant of the kiss.

It’s great to be human when you’ve got the cosmos behind you.

As you have no doubt guessed, I am planning to turn this talk into a movie of my own, a subversive alternative to the original, with infinity replacing eternity as the timeless entity.

It’s probably going to be tough raising money, since I will have to pitch the merits of chastening human hubris rather than endorsing romantic notions about ourselves. Also, I’m not sure my hypothetical backers are going to go for the removal of vestiges and prospects, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement, or

Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity

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a cinematographer who may, at any moment, lose interest in my Burt and Deborah equivalents to focus on the microbes working in their intestinal tracts or the seaweed in the ocean off shore. As to the iconic poster: well, I could leave it blank, but that seems to be the infinity of saints and mystics. I could just go with the ocean, but that seems the infinity of romantics and Romantics. To catch a sense of the infinity appropriate to the lovers of here, like myself, I realize I’m going to need a poster with a cast of thousands, or maybe millions, if I can get funding. I see my Burt and Deborah equivalents kissing, while others copulate, eat breakfast, defecate, die, crawl out of the ocean and return to it, take off and land, lift up and erode, the huge crowd reaching the edge of the poster then beginning another layer on top, the whole impasto effect burying the Burt and Deborah equivalents, along with Paolo and Francesca, Rogers and Hammerstein, the trilobites and the Ediacarans, the Romans, the Yankees, the Dodgers, the draft dodgers, the Great Auks, and the Dodos. No, I can see I’m headed for one of Borges’ monstrous, infinite creations—The Book of Sand or The Library at Babel, or the labyrinthine novel in which every side of every fork in the path is followed. I haven’t even begun my pitch to the backers and already I feel my movie is doomed. No wonder we prefer eternity, with its borders, its curtailments, its lovely master narrative, its humanistic art on walls and ceilings. I’m going to have to face it: the thought of infinity may be unfilmable as well as unthinkable. Probably I’d be better off focusing on whichever “here” I am privileged to encounter, and leave infinity for the metaphors, the theologians and the mathematicians. But stay tuned: if I

ever manage to make it, From Here to Infinity will definitely have a role for you—no previous experience necessary and no audition required.

Endnotes The Scope, Issue 84, vol. 4, no. 11 (St. John’s: June 18July 16, 2009); Don McKay, “Loss Creek,” Strike/Slip (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2006), 7.;quoted by Stephen Jay Gould in Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987), 65. McKay, p.14 Gould, p.

62 Gould, p. 3; quoted in Simon Critchley and Robert Bernasconi, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Levinas (Cambridge University Press, 2002), 14.; Adam Zagajewski, “Antennas in the Rain,” Eternal Enemies, trans. Clare Cavanagh (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008), 115.; Jorge Luis Borges, “Avatars of the Tortoise,” Labyrinths (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1964), 202.; Don McKay, unpublished poem, 2010.

Don McKay was awarded the Order of Canada in December 2008 “for his contributions to Canadian literature as a nature poet and mentor of many emerging writers from coast to coast.”

He is a two-time winner of the Governor General’s Award for poetry, for Night Field and Another Gravity. McKay has written twelve books of poetry, including Birding, or Desire and Apparatus. A recent collection, Camber: Selected Poems, was a Globe and Mail Notable Book of the Year.

Slip/Strike won both the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 2007.

He has worked as an editor and creative writing teacher at University of Western Ontario, University of New Brunswick, Brick Books, Sage Hill Writing Experience, the BC Festival of the Arts, and The Banff Centre. From 1991 to 1996, he was editor of Fiddlehead magazine.

At present, Don makes his home in St John’s, Newfoundland.

POETRY SLAM The SWG will be co-sponsoring a poetry slam during the Cathedral Village Arts Festival in Regina.

Tuesday, May 24 Location TBA Sign up at 8:00 p.m.; slam begings at 8:30 p.m.; $2 entry fee; winner takes the pot.

For more information contact Tracy Hamon at (306)791-7743; programs@skwriter.com.

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The Space-Time Continuum

By Edward Willett For most of the world, Charlie Brown is only a beloved cartoon character with a round head. But for those immersed in the science fiction and fantasy genres, Charlie Brown was also the nickname (though he hated it) of Charles N. Brown, owner, publisher and editor of Locus Magazine, which he co-founded in 1968 in Boston.

from more expensive hardcovers to trade paperbacks and more mass-market paperback originals.”

Two under-represented forms of books, POD (print-on-demand) and e-book originals, so in fact the number of science fiction and fantasy books available in some format is certainly far, far greater than even the record-breaking number of 3,056.

Looking to shop your novel to the top publishers in the field?

Locus has the numbers on the various SF/fantasy imprints.

Leading the pack are Tor, which published 269 books in 2010 (in all formats, both new titles and reprints); Ace, which published 105; Baen, with 72, Del Rey, with 61; Orbit US with 60; my own publisher, DAW; with 55, Roc, also with 55, Subterranean Press, with 45; and Eos and Wizards of the Coast, both with 38.

Although Brown died last year of a heart attack while flying home to California from a science fiction convention, the magazine that began life as a mimeographed newsletter more than four decades ago continues to thrive, under new editor Liza Groen Trombi, as the premiere source of information about science fiction and fantasy writing and publishing.

What’s the most popular subgenre? Locus’s numbers make Which means that if you really it clear: fantasy far outstrips want to know what’s going on science fiction, with 614 in those genres, you have to original fantasy books seen read Locus, as I’ve been doing by Locus compared to just now for (gulp) some 25 years. 285 SF novels. In fact, SF is a distant third to paranormal One annual highlight is Lo- romance, which accounted for cus’s Year in Review issue, 384 original books last year the 2011 version of which and wasn’t even on Locus’s just arrived. It provides both radar as recently as 2006. commentary on the state of Horror falls not far behind SF, the genre and hard data about with 251 original books. the business of publishing it.

Science fiction and fantasy Curious about how many sci- magazines continue to be ence fiction and fantasy books probably the largest market are published each year? for short fiction left to writLocus has that information ers: but those magazines have (with the caveat that it can been declining in circulation only report on books it sees). for years. It’s a rather grim The magazine notes, “The part of reading the Year in number of books broke 3,000 Review to note that Analog, for the first time in 2010 ... a which boasted 46,324 subfourth year in a row of record scribers in 1997, is down to numbers,” and adds, “despite 22,791; Asimov’s Science the slow economy, publishers Fiction has fallen from 37,488 are still pumping out the books in 1997 to 17,866 last year, in ever-larger numbers; their and The Magazine of Fanbig change is to shift away tasy and Science Fiction has 28

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slipped from over 30,000 to just under 11,000. Realms of Fantasy which boasted more than 20,000 subscribers as recently as 2002, actually died last year, before being revived by a new publisher. It currently has around 9,000 subscribers.

But for once there’s a ray of hope: the Analog and Asimov’s numbers are actually up from 2009, thanks to a surge of digital subscriptions: 2,500 for Analog and 4,100 for Asimov’s. E-book readers are changing everything, and Locus will be tracking those changes in the years to come.

Information like this is just the tip of the Locus iceberg. The February issue, in addition to the Year in Review, contains, within its 82 pages of pretty fine print, interviews with author Alastair Reynolds and editor Sharyn November; the regular “People & Publishing” column with notes on milestones, awards, books sold and more; and a collection of news stories running the gamut from the financial woes of Borders to the wedding of Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer.

Each issue also includes books and magazines received and a plethora of reviews. Forthcoming books are regularly listed, and international SF/fantasy news appears periodically.

I can’t state it strongly enough: if you really want to know what’s going on in science fiction and fantasy, you should be reading Locus, either in print or the new digital edition (I’m now reading the magazine on my own sciencefictional reading device, the iPad.) Failing that, at least visit the Locus website, locusmag. com, on a regular basis.

Without a doubt, Locus is the best single source of information about the fabulous field of fantastical fiction.

Much as it pains me to admit into an alternate dimension it, it’s even better than this and listed the 2009 finalists column. for the Hugo as the 2010 finalists. In Melbourne, Australia in 2010, two novels tied for the CORRECTION Hugo: The City & The City by In the last "Space Time Con- China Miéville and The Wintinuum" column, I apparently dup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. slipped through a wormhole Two Canadian books were

DEADLINE FOR GRANTS

TO

among the finalists: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer and Julian Comstock: A Story of 22ndCentury America by Robert Charles Wilson. Rounding out the nominees were Boneshaker by Cherie Priest and Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente.

WRITING GROUPS

Applications must be postmarked by Thursday June 30, 2011. Please note that applications and follow up reports must be submitted by mail. We do not accept applications submitted electronically.

Each writers group may apply for $500 for this upcoming fiscal year (August 1, 2011– July 31, 2012).

A local writing group is eligible for funding if it meets the following criteria: • • • • •

it has a minimum of five members two-thirds of the group are members of the SWG it meets a minimum of six times per year to discuss writing by members members meet in order to develop their craft it has provided a follow-up report (with all the requested documentation) for the previous grant

If the group is approved for funding, cheques will be issued in September 2011.

Groups who receive grants have the following responsibilities: • include mention of SWG sponsorship on all appropriate publicity issued by the group • provide follow-up reports with the next year’s grant application • provide copies of receipts or cheques as part of the follow-up report This grant is intended to help the members of the writers groups develop their craft, so allowable expenses may include, but are not limited to, the following: • fees to an author to offer a workshop • member travel expenses to allow them to attend meetings and craft-development sessions • member participation fees in conferences, workshops, and other craft-development sessions The following restrictions apply: • • • • • •

the grants may not be used for self-publication the grants may not be used to buy books for the group the grants may not be used for the costs of a website the grants may not be used to promote the group or individual members grants may not be used for social events, food, alcohol, or party favours writing groups receiving a grant through this program are not eligible for funding through the Author Readings Program within the same grant period • unspent grant money in excess of $50 must be returned to the SWG by June 30, 2012 For more information contact Tracy Hamon at (306)791-7743; programs@skwriter. com; www.skwriter.com.

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And Another Thing ...

by Robert Calder William Golding, one the most acclaimed British writers of the twentieth century, once wrote of being “haunted by this desperate, cruel, bloody business of believing I can write . . . . This obsession with writing is as pointless as alcoholism and there’s no Authors Anonymous to wean you away from the typewriter.”

Golding was referring to the frustrations and pessimism experienced periodically by most serious and committed writers when confronted with the vagaries of editors, publishers, literary fashions, and the reading public. Given that his novel Lord of the Flies was famously rejected by twentyone publishers before the editors at Faber and Faber saw its virtues, he had some right to be cynical. Lord of the Flies, however, became one of the most published and most influential books of the century, and he followed this with an even better novel, The Inheritors. Never weaned away from his typewriter, Golding went

on to produce such an impressive body of work that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.

ing and encouraging forest animals. Swallowed up by the act of literary creation, he is truly a happy camper.

Farley Mowat was talking about a different aspect of the writing life when he told an interviewer: “Writing is an ordeal. It’s tedious, tiresome and often frustrating as hell. I don’t write for pleasure. I write because I’m an impulsive masochist.” It is a comment that touches on an ongoing discussion I’ve been having with a well-published writer friend of mine. As opposed to Mowat, he claims to enjoy the actual writing process immensely while my pleasure comes, not from the “ordeal” of writing, but from, at the end of the day, having written something,especially if I think that I have written it well.

I, on the other hand, trudge to my study with the same enthusiasm that workers used to plod their way to the salt mines or to their oars on slave galleys. Hovering in the air around my desk are a host of editors, agents, reviewers, and friends pointing accusing fingers at the blank computer screen, saying, “Fill it up.

Bend and twist and massage those assorted, half-formed ideas into some proper artistic shape and GET IT RIGHT!” In the background, I’ve got a Beethoven symphony or a Schubert quartet playing, my attempt to drown out the sensation that I really should be listening to Sam Cooke’s lyrics:

As my friend describes his pleasure in writing, I see him, like Happy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, whistling a cheerful tune while he skips to his study and the writing desk. Around him, as he bangs out yet another book, I see metaphorical bluebirds fluttering, and at his feet are surely an assortment of admir-

“I hear somethin' sayin' (Hooh! aah!) (hooh! aah!)

(Hooh! aah!) (hooh! aah!)

(Well, don't you know) That's the sound of the men working on the chain ga-a-ang That's the sound of the men working on the chain gang.”

Apparently I am not alone in seeing the process of literary

WORKSHOP: FICTION FREEFALL–HIGH SPEED Do you struggle finding time to write?

Want to learn to relax and let the words flow?

Are you up for the challenge of exploring a new relaxation technique and diving headfirst into a new story or taking another run at a story you’ve trying to write for ages?

Join award-winning novelist, Bernice Friesen, for Fiction Freefall–High Speed!

Saturday April 16, 2:00–5:00 p.m.

Studio Four – Second Floor of the DSI Centre (205A Pacific Ave, Saskatoon) $50.00 for Guild Members; $60.00 for non-members The class is limited to 10 participants.

Deadline for registration is Monday, April 4.

To register please contact: Milena 306-791-7740, info@skwriter.com More info: http://www.skwriter.com; saskatoon@skwriter.com; (306)955-5513.

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composition as being akin to the sadistic means used by the Spanish Inquisition to force confessions from the lips of perceived heretics. How else to explain that many books, articles, reviews, and reports are completed only when an author is finally confronted with the horror of a deadline and the prospect of a lost publication and lost income?

Unless, of course, you are like Douglas Adams, the author of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, who once said: “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

How else, either, to explain the ingenious ways so many famous writers in history have avoided confronting the blank sheet or screen? Hemingway is said to have broken all his pencil ends at the end of each day so that, when he sat down to write the next morning, he would have to sharpen his pencils before he had to wrestle his thoughts into some effective form. Other writers last only a few minutes before they decide that the dog needs walking, tea must be made, or a letter must be walked to that mailbox conveniently located beside that Starbuck’s.

The American author P. J. O’Rourke has described how, in part, he once avoided his writing desk for three hours: “sorting my neckties by width, looking up the word "paisley" in three dictionaries, attempting to find the town of that name on The New York Times Atlas of the World map of Scotland, sorting my reference books by width, trying to get the bookcase to stop wobbling by stuffing a matchbook cover under its corner, dialing the telephone number on the matchbook cover to see if I should take computer courses at night, looking at the computer ads in the newspaper and deciding to buy a computer because writing seems so difficult on

SASKATCHEWAN WRITERS/ARTISTS RETREATS SUMMER 2011 Emma Lake Retreat: Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus University of Saskatchewan, June 12 to June 26 A maximum of 15 participants will be accommodated. Cost is $525 per week for Saskatchewan Writers Guild and CARFAC SASK members and $600 per week for non-members.

Postmarked/online deadline for receipt of applications is 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 22, 2011.

St. Peters Retreat: St. Peter's Abbey Muenster July 1 to August 5 Cost is $275 per week for Saskatchewan Writers' Guild and CARFAC SASK members and $350 per week for non-members. Postmarked/online deadline for receipt of applications is 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 22, 2011.

Please send completed applications to: Saskatchewan Writers' Guild, Attention Retreat Coordinator, Box 3986, Regina, SK, S4P 3R9. More information and application details can be found at http://www.skwriter.com/?s=skwritercolonies& p=writersartistscolonies or by contacting Anne Pennylegion, Retreat Coordinator, at skretreats@skwriter.com.

my old Remington, reading an interesting article on sorghum farming in Uruguay that was in the newspaper next to the computer ads, . . .”

straight, and once you start you can’t just stop. If you’re a writer, you can stop anywhere, any time, and no one will care or ever know.”

I have always thought that writing, if one is writing for an educated and discerning audience, is one of the hardest things most of us do or perhaps it is more accurate to say that it is one of the hardest things I do. I subscribe to Peanuts’ Snoopy’s view that “good writing is hard work.”

But maybe I am a wimp. Richard Ford says to “beware of writers who tell you how hard they work. Writing is indeed often dark and lonely, but no one really has to do it.

Yes, writing can be complicated, exhausting, isolating, abstracting, boring, dulling, briefly exhilarating; it can be made gruelling and demoralizing. And, occasionally it can produce rewards. But it’s never as hard as, say, piloting an L-1011 into O’Hare on a snowy night in January, or doing brain surgery when you have to stand up for 10 hours

Ford is right that our writing doesn’t guide an airliner full of passengers safely onto the tarmac or remove someone’s dangerous cerebral clot, and that we can stop writing any time during the day without immediate serious results.

Still, at the end of the day, however rigorous and difficult that day might have been, we all want to have a piece of writing with which we can be pleased. So the struggle and pain has eventually to be confronted, unless your writing desk is a carefree playground, to achieve that satisfaction that keeps us writing.

March/April 2011

NOTE: During the writing of this article, Mr. Calder found that he had to re-grout the bathroom tiles, itemize his collection of motel soaps, and search the house for that longlost Billy Ray Cyrus album.

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Letters to the Editor are welcome. Please send your letters to Editor, freeLance, P. O. Box 3986, Regina, SK SRP 3R9.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Methinks the Professor Doth Protest Too Much

by Ted Dyck Although I do not claim the august credentials of [former] Professor Calder—considering myself more a student than a teacher of English, I do want to respond to his recent article against certain informal usages of that language. In what follows, the reader will, I hope, understand that I am addressing points made by Robert Calder in his article—I am not addressing the man himself. Above all, I am not taking issue with him, nor do I have an issue with him.

I was disappointed to see the article begin with, as English teachers often say, "a real howler." After admitting that some of his readers might disagree with him, Calder says that, in that case, "[he] will just have to absorb whatever verbal darts issue from [their] metaphorical … blowguns."

The growth and change in meaning of issue are instructive: "to flow out" dates from the 13th century; "offspring," "outcome," and "legal point" from the 14th; the more general "point to be decided" from the 19th; the earlier "to join issue on" is transferred to "to take issue with" also in the 19th (O.E.D., supplemented by Online Etymology Dictionary).

Regarding "have issue with," most contemporary dictionaries agree that it is an instance of informal English. We all know there are many kinds of English. Standard English, for example, notoriously difficult to define satisfactorily; or kinds suggested by binaries like spoken/written English; or polite/ familiar, formal/informal (Leech and Svartvik, A Communicative Grammar, 2nd ed., Longman 1994). Of course dictionaries rely on both descriptive and prescriptive grammars (David Crystal, How Language Works, Penguin 2005)—so they will normally give both formal and informal usages.

And there's the nub of the Professor's attitude to language.

Though he would admit some new technological coinages into English, he would also insist that what he views as the "precise, direct, and effective" usage of standard English be maintained at all costs, conveniently forgetting that what he now regards as precise, direct, effective was at some earAt the core of Calder's tower- lier time unacceptable, perhaps ing discontent is the expression even deviant, usage. "have issue with" as in "I have issues with her." Sentences This leads to the strongest containing the expression "take rebuttal of the article's central issue with", on the other hand, argument, one provided by the are acceptable—as in his own article itself. Calder quotes "Some of you will take issue with approval Calvin's “verbing weirds language” to sum up anwith me." other of his grievances against informal usage, namely, the sin of turning nouns into verbs.

The possibility that these blowguns might be aimed at the message rather than the messenger is airily dismissed in the [I hope, unintentionally] arrogant presumption that any possible rebuttal of the article would have to be ad hominem.

I am vain enough to hope that this small needle will deflate that particular balloon.

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"Verbing weirds language" certainly turns nouns, even adjectives, into verbs. It is however arguably the most precise, most direct, most effective, even most eloquent sentence in the entire article. It is an example of the vitality and wit of the English language in one of its informal, non-standard variants.

It is a life-giving antidote to the deadening prose of that version of standard English known (informally, of course) as the academic style. And, using that style for a moment, it is quasiautological.

BTW, why is nouns into verbs bad, but verbs into nouns good?

Yes, the continuing evolution of the English language has its horrible, sports-broadcasterly mutants. Yes, cool and awesome are either dated or imprecise or worse. But the slippage from standard English into non-standard English is inconsequential before the slippage, say, from defending standard English at all costs into imposing it on others in all situations.

In conclusion, a bit of that thing classical rhetoric called decorum: "[T]he English language is, in a sense, not a single language but many languages, each belonging to a particular geographic area or a particular kind of situation" (Leech and Svartvik 9). So, please, Professor Calder: Let your poor wife lay down in peace, eh!

Ted Dyck operates a writing, editing, and teaching service called WorDoctor <http:// www.wordoc.sasktelwebsite. net/> out of Shaunavon. He is the editor of Transition and fly-fishes Farwell Creek for his mental and physical health`.

Inclusion in the Markets & Competitions listing is not an endorsement of any contest, market, event or otherwise. This is only an informational resource.

We encourage all readers to thoroughly investigate all contests or markets before submitting their work.

MARKETS & COMPETITIONS Deadline: April 15 Between The Lines: The Journal of Hockey Literature is calling for submissions for its inaugural issue to be published in Summer 2011.

Between The Lines is a refereed journal dedicated to the publication of literary work and historical articles focusing on the game of hockey.

Any hockey-related poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama, monologues, interviews, book reviews, and historical articles will be considered.

The journal will be published biannually.

Fiction and non-fiction should be in a range of 500 to 2000 words, but longer or shorter pieces will be considered on their merits. Poetry length will be considered on its merits. Multiple submissions are welcomed.

Although preference will be given to new submissions, previously published material will be considered. Payment for new material will be $50 for fiction and non-fiction and $30 for poetry. For previously published material, payment will be $40 for fiction and non-fiction and $20 for poetry. Two copies of the journal will be given to each author accepted for publication.

Send submissions in Word attachments to: scriverboy@ gmail.com Deadline: May 1 The Malahat Review's 2011 Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction. Prize: $1000 CAD All writers who have yet to publish their fiction in book form are encouraged to enter

a piece of short fiction of 3500 words or less. Full contest guidelines: http:// www.malahatreview.ca/far_ horizons_fiction/info.html Deadline: May 15 LAKE: A Journal of Arts and Environmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Special Issue on Indigenous Peoples, Health, and Place. Submissions of original unpublished fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, and visual arts related to Indigenous peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; health as connected to place are now being solicited. More details are available at: http:// www.lakejournal.ca/submissions.html.

missions are preferred (with full contact information and a brief bio). Submit manuscripts in Word or WordPerfect format (12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, 2.5 cm margins) as e-mail attachment to: contactus@ cmhask.com or directly to the editor at tdyck@sasktel. net. Or send hardcopy manuscripts (typed, one-sided, 12point, double-spaced, 2.5 cm margins), together with full contact information, a brief bio, and self-addressed, stamped return envelope with sufficient postage, to:Transition, 2702 12th Ave. Regina, SK S4T 1J2 Deadline: August 1

Deadline: June 30 The Bridport Prize is accepting short stories and poetry for its annual contest. More details are available at http:// www.bridportprize.org.uk/ rules.htm Deadline: July 1 The 2012 Ken Klonsky Novella Contest: Quattro Books will publish the two best novella manuscripts (15,000 to 42,000 words). Details at http://www.quattrobooks.ca Deadline: July 31 In addition to their usual continuous submissions, Transition is calling for submissions to a special issue on humour for fall 2011. What's so funny about crazy? The usual guidelines apply (see www.cmhask.com). Include the word "humour" in the subject line of your electronic submission. Electronic subMarch/April 2011

The John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award's Short Story Competition. Details can be found at www.johnkennethgalbraithliteraryaward.ca

Freelance Advertising Rates Freelance accepts classified and display ads at the following rates: Display ads: Full page: $150; 1/2 Page: $100; 1/4 page: $50; business card: $35 (add GST to above rates; SWG members pay 75 per cent of above rates) Classified ads: Classified ads cost 20 cents per word (plus GST).

Ads run in three consecutive issues unless cancelled. (SWG members may place one 25word ad free of charge each year).

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EVENTS MOOSE JAW March 26 & 27: The Saskatchewan Festival of Words' Great Big Book Club Weekend with Dianne Warren, author of Cool Water, the 2010 winner of the Governor General's Literary Award. For complete details and to register, visit www.festivalofwords.com or call 691-0557.

April 27, 7:30 p.m.: The Saskatchewan Festival of Words' 2010 Performers Cafe Open Mic at Java Express presents poet Ted Dyck and singer songwriter Brandy Moore. For more information visit www.festivalofwords.com or call 691-0557.

REGINA March 27, 8:00 p.m.: Vertigo Reading Series at Orange Izakaya, 2136a Robinson Street, featuring Jarrett Rusnak, Melissa Richardson, Rolli, and Alison Lohans. More information: www. vertigoreadingseries.wordpress.com.

May 6 & 7, 7:30 p.m.: Regina Little Theatre will be producing Keith Foster's first play, Domestic Bliss, as part of an evening of one-act plays at the Regina Performing Arts Centre.

April 8â&#x20AC;&#x201C;10: SHIFT Dialogues of Migration in Contemporary Art with author Neal McLeod, poet and essayist Charles C. Smith, and storytellers Cheryl L'Hirondelle, and Peter Morin. At the MacKenzie Art Gallery. For details visit www.shiftssymposium.ca.

SASKATOON April 16, 8:30 a.m.â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4:45 p.m.: His Imprint Writer's Conference at St. Louise Community Church, with plenary speaker Kathleen Gibson, and sessions covering business writing, nonfiction, public speaking, writing for children, marketing your book, poetry and more. Details are available at: http://hisimprint.wordpress.com.

McNally Robinson Booksellers events: www.mcnallyrobinson.com/saskatoon_events Saskatoon Public Library events: www.saskatoonlibrary.ca

I'd Like to Make a Donation Yes, I would like to help by donating to: SWG Programs Writers' Assistance Fund Grain Magazine Writers/Artist Retreats Gary Hyland Endowment Fund Pat Armstrong Fund SWG Foundation Endowment Fund Facilitated Retreats Judy McCrosky Bursury

Make cheque or money order payable to: Saskatchewan Writers' Guild, Box 3986, Regina SK S4P 3R9.

You can also donate via Paypal at: http://www.skwriter. com/?s=payments_and_ donations&p=guild

Thank you for your donation. A tax receipt will be issued.

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The Backbone CONTRIBUTORS (to $50) Allan, Sandra Archibald-Barber, Jesse Biasotto, Linda Bircham, Doris Dean, Jeanette Dow, Jeannette Edlund, Merrill Episkenew, Jo-Ann Fahlman, Jean Givner, Joan Goertzen, Glenda Gossner, Carol Grandel, Loaine Guymer, Myrna Hamilton, Sharon Husband, Carol & John Leech, Robert MacFarlane, Sharon McRae, Bronwen Meadows, Sally Miller, Dianne Morrell, Kathleen Muirhead, Laurie Olesen, Joyce Ramshaw, Betty Rice, Bruce Roussin, Thomas St. George, Marie Elyse Traquair, Morgan Unrau, John Wagner, Bernadette Wardill, William Zacharias, Marlace Tesar, Erica Goertzen, Glenda St.George, Marie Elyse FRIENDS ($50-$99) Bouvier, Rita Calder, Marie Carpenter, David Charrett, Doug Cunningham, Donna Dey, Myrna Dorton, Anne Epp, Joanne Guymer, Myrna Kostash, Myrna Lorer, Danica Martin, Miriam McLuhan, Jean Monahan, Lynda Parley, Kathleen Patton, Anne Quigley, Ellen

Rice, Bruce Richards, David Robertson, Deanna Vail, Deborah Ward, Donald Willow, Rose Witham, Janice SUPPORTERS ($100-$199) Andrist, Shirley Bannatyne-Cugnet, Jo Bidulka, Anthony Birnie, Howard Brassard, Francois Conacher, Myrtle Epp, George Duke, Scott Durant, Margaret Haigh, Jerry Halsband, Ilonka Hertes, David Hogarth, Susan Jordan, Terry Lauber, Alyson Lay, Jackie Lohans, Alison Lorer, Danica MacKenzie, Jean Malcolm, David McArthur, Wenda Merle, Charles Monahan, Lynda Moore, Jacqueline Mulholland, Valerie Nilson, John & Linda Noël-Maw, Martine Schmon, Karen Silverthorne, Judith Sorestad, Glen Stoicheff, Peter Terschuur, Betty Toews, Terry Ulrich, Maureen Walter, Murray Warwaruk, Larry Wilson, Garrett Young, Dianne

PATRON (over $500) Balogh, Mary Calder, Robert South Saskatchewan Community Foundation WAF Glaze, Dave MacIntyre, Rod Mikolayenko, Linda Ursell, Geoffrey RETREATS Banks, Shelley Galbraith, William Kostash, Myrna McCaig, Joann Sarsfield, Peter Semotuk, Verna Sorensen, Susan Westmoreland, Cherie GRAIN Kloppenburg, Cheryl FOUNDATION Glaze, David Jeerakathil, Rangi Noël-Maw, Martine Sorestad, Glen JUDY MCCROSKY BURSARY Buhr, Nola McCrosky, Judy Romanow, James

BENEFACTORS ($200-$499) Boerma, Gloria Byers, Shirley Currie, Robert Goldman, Lyn Klassen, Karen Lorer, Danica Schmidt, Brenda

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Freelance March/April 2011 Volume 40 Number 2

Publication Mail Agreement #40063014 Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Administration Centre Printing Services 111â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2001 Cornwall Street Regina, SK S4P 3X9 Email: adminprint@sasktel.net

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