CANSCAIP Prairie Horizons 2017 Conference

CANSCAIP

Beyond Limits!

 

Join us for the 12th biennial

CANSCAIP Prairie Horizons Conference

September 15-17, 2017 in Saskatoon, SK

Theme: Beyond Limits!

Presenters:

• Marty Chan (keynote speaker, presenter)
• Leah  Dorion  (illustrator, presenter)
• Michael Bradford (middle grade, panelist)
• Kristine Scarrow (young adult, panelist)
• Marie Powell (all ages, panelist, presenter)
• Publisher Representatives

Conference Events:

Sessions: Details coming soon.

Schedule: Download the Conference Schedule 2017.

Friday night Live Action Slush – Add the first page of your manuscript (children’s or YA) anonymously to the Prairie Horizons slush pile. A panel of editors and experienced writers will read it aloud and give feedback. A great way to learn what works and what doesn’t.

Open Mic: Got something to share? Sign up to read or perform a 3 minute piece on Saturday night.

Book Table: Sell your books and CDs, and sign up to help at the book table. No commission, but bring your own change.

Registration Information

Full Conference (including accommodation and meals):

• Full conference with accommodation:  $320
• Full conference with no accommodation: $225
• Saturday only: $175
• After Aug 31, add a late fee of $25
• Final Registration Deadline: Sept 8, 2017.

Register online or by mail. Complete details and instructions are on the Registration Page.

To join CANSCAIP: http://canscaip.org/JoinCANSCAIP

Questions?  Jeanette at jcmontgomery@sasktel.net or prairiehorizons@gmail.com . 

Online Registration & Payment: http://canscaip.org/EventsCalendar

Download a PDF of the Poster for Prairie Horizons 2017.

Thank you to our Sponsors!

CANSCAIP

And thank you for donating door prizes:

Thistledown Press

2017 Schedule

Prairie Horizons 2017: Beyond Limits!

Prairie Horizons 2017: Beyond Limits!
September 15-17, 2017
Queen’s House Retreat & Renewal Centre

Friday, September 15th

6:00 p.m. Registration Opens

7:00 p.m. Welcome, Social time

7:30 p.m. Live Action Slush

9:00 p.m. Mix and Mingle (cash wine bar)

Saturday, September 16th

8:00 a.m. Breakfast

9:00 a.m. Opening remarks

9:15-10:45a.m. Conference Kick-off Workshop  with Marty Chan: “A Cheat Code for Conflict”

10:45-11 a.m. Break

11:00a.m. -12 noon  2nd book panel discussion / Q&A  “Lightning Strikes Twice”

12:00 -1:15 p.m. Lunch

1:15-2:15 p.m. Presentation – Leah Dorion

2:45-3:45 p.m. Publishing Panel:  “What in the World Do They Want?”

3:45 p.m. Nutrition Break

4:00-5:00 p.m. Fantasy Foundations Workshop with Marie Powell:  “Out of This World”

5:15-5:30 p.m. Group Photo

5:30-6:30 p.m. Dinner

7:00 -8:00 p.m. Keynote – Marty Chan: “How to Succeed at Writing, One Yes at a Time”

8:15-9:15 p.m. Open Mike – 3 min/participant

Sunday, September 17th

8:00 a.m. Breakfast

9:00 a.m. Conference Summary/Evaluations/Door Prizes/Book Count/Committee for 2019/Farewell

10:00 a.m. Biennial General Meeting: CANSCAIP SK Horizons

11:00 a.m. Departure

Registration Open for CANSCAIP Prairie Horizons 2017

The 2017 CANSCAIP Prairie Horizons conference takes place September 15-17 at Queen’s House in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Arrive Friday, September 15 at 7 p.m., and leave Sunday September 17 at 10 a.m.–unless you live in Saskatchewan. Then you get to stay until 11 a.m. at the Bi-annual General Meeting of CANSCAIP Sask Horizons.

 Registration Options:

• Full Conference with Room at Queen’s House– includes all sessions, accommodations for both nights, Friday reception, Saturday breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks, Sunday breakfast. Note: supper is not available on Friday. Also, rooms at Queen’s House are first-come, first-served. If all rooms are booked, we will help you find accommodation in Saskatoon and you will be charged only the conference fee.
  • Up to Aug 31: $320
  • Sept 1-8: $345
• Full Conference, no room – includes all sessions, Friday reception, Saturday lunch, supper and snacks
  • Up to Aug 31: $225
  • Sept 1-8: $250
• Saturday Only – includes all Saturday sessions plus lunch, supper, and two snacks.
  • Up to Aug 31: $175
  • Sept 1-8:  $200

Important Dates:

• Aug 31, 2015: Last day for no late registration fee.
• September 8, 2015. Last day to register.
• September 15, 2015: Conference begins. Live Action Slush event
• September 16, 2015: Saturday sessions and workshops
• September 17, 2015: Wind-up and door prizes, CANSCAIP Sask Horizons Biennial General Meeting

More Registration Opportunities

• Friday night Live Action Slush
• Saturday night Open Mic
  • Sign up to read or perform for 3 minutes
• Book Table
  • Bring books or CDs to sell
  • Volunteer to help at the table
• Be a buddy to a first-timer, or get a buddy
• Request a ride to or from the airport or bus depot in Saskatoon, or volunteer to give a ride to someone who needs one.
• Volunteer to sit at at the sign-in table and:
  • Check-in participants
  • Hand out conference packages
  • Direct participants to sign in to their rooms and show them the floor plan to find their way around
• Volunteer to help with set up or clean up
• Alert St. Mike’s about dietary requirements

To Register

1. Online: register and pay with PayPal at http://canscaip.org/EventsCalendar
2. Offline:
   1. Download and print the 2017 Printable Registration Form.
   2. Write a cheque to CANSCAIP Sask Horizons.
   3. Mail completed form and cheque to CANSCAIP Prairie Horizons 2017, c/o 4820 Castle Road, Regina SK, S4S 4X3

 Refund Policy

• Full refund minus $35 up to September 8 (one week before conference)
• After September 8, 50% of fee will be refunded
• In emergency situations, full fee will be refunded.

Alice Kuipers: A Writing Life – Maximizing your Writing Time while Finding the Joy in your Work

Alice Kuipers

Come and hear award-winning author Alice Kuipers talk about “A Writing Life: Maximizing your Writing Time while Finding the Joy in your Work.”

Alice gave this talk live on her Facebook Fan Page (https://www.facebook.com/AliceKuipersWriter/) on June 19, 2017. But in case you missed it, it is still available on Facebook, as well as on YouTube on the Sask CANSCAIP channel!

 

Here’s a summary:

Become the productive writer you want to be. Join bestselling, award-winning author Alice Kuipers for this practical talk on managing a writing life. Alice shares her tips and tricks to help you select your best ideas, focus your time and hone your writing process. Alice has published seven books for children and young adults, with three more books coming out in the next two years. She teaches both online and in person, and she has four children, so she knows exactly what it’s like to manage a creative yet busy life.

Sign up to her newsletter  and receive free access to her online writing course Freeflow: A Writing Journey.

Who:  Bestselling author Alice Kuipers was born in London. She moved to Canada in 2003. Her first novel, Life on the Refrigerator Door, won several awards. Since then, she has published three further award-winning YA novels internationally, with the fourth, The Death of Us, a CLA shortlisted title. Me (and) Me, her fifth YA novel, is described by Bif Naked as mesmerising. Her picture book Violet and Victor Write the Best Ever Bookworm Book was selected as an Amazon best pick and Violet and Victor Write the Most Fabulous Fairy Tale was a Winter Indie 2015 Selection. She has an upcoming chapter book series with Chronicle Press.

Alice’s work has been published in 34 countries and her first novel made into plays in London, Paris and Tokyo.

Learn more about Alice, find her writing tips and hints, and access her free, online writing course at http://www.alicekuipers.com/ .

Sponsor:

Many thanks to the Saskatchewan Writers Guild for sponsoring this talk with a Writing Group Grant.

 

 

Arthur Slade: 10,000 Easy Ways to Market Your Book

Arthur Slade

Come and hear award-winning author Arthur Slade describe 10,000 Easy Ways to Market Your Book!

Art gave this talk on his Facebook Fan Page (https://www.facebook.com/arthursladefan/) on June 19, 2017. But in case you missed it, you can catch it now on Facebook or on Sask CANSCAIP’s YouTube channel.

Here’s a summary: Arthur Slade looks at methods to get the word out about your book, including social media (Facebook & Twitter etc.), finding reviewers, and using the most powerful tool of all—newsletters.

Who: Arthur Slade was raised on a ranch in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan. He is the author of eighteen novels for young readers including The Hunchback Assignments, which won the prestigious TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and Dust, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature. He also co-created the graphic novel Modo: Ember’s End.  He lives in Saskatoon, Canada.

P.S. He does all of his writing on a treadmill desk. And he listens to heavy metal. At the same time.

Find out more at http://www.arthurslade.com/ .

Sponsor:

Many thanks to the Saskatchewan Writers Guild for sponsoring this talk with a Writing Group Grant.

 

 

Storystorm 2017

In January, I participated in Storystorm. It’s an online challenge to brainstorm 30 new picture book ideas in 30 days. Created by children’s author Tara Lazar, it was originally PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) and was started as an alternative to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for writers who are not interested in writing a novel. Every day there was a new blog post by an author or illustrator or editor or someone else in the children’s book world, giving ideas on where to find inspiration, where their inspiration comes from, how to deal with a lack of ideas and so on. I thought it was great!

What I liked about it:

• I only had to come up with an idea. It could be a title, or a character or a phrase or a whole story line. It didn’t matter. The point was to come up with something new each day. I preferred to do it at night, and was surprised how often something that happened or that I saw or that I heard during the day was the spark for a new idea.
• It’s free.
• It’s in January, which seems the perfect time to me. Start a new year by generating 30 new ideas to work on through the year.
• No one sees my ideas but me. Let’s be honest, they are not all gems. 🙂 When I look back at them now, there is even one that is so vague that I have no clue what I was actually thinking! But that’s okay. There are some good ones, too.
• My ideas could also be used for children’s poems, which I also like to write.

I didn’t actually finish the challenge – this time. Something or other came up and I got off track, but I did it for 20 days. That’s 20 ideas that I didn’t have before. I will definitely give it a go again next year, and hope to make it a yearly tradition. Anyone care to join me?

Researching your Story

This month’s discussion blog post is from Judith Silverthorne, author of many historical fiction books ranging from dinosaurs in the Jurassic to convict ships in 1842 to ghost stories of the 1900s. Here she talks about her favourite ways of finding information.

What about you? What problems have you found in doing research? How has research enlivened your writing? What unique or unusual sources have you discovered?

Here are Judith’s thoughts:

Research for writing projects can take many turns and lead to a variety of unexpected sources. Whether you are writing nonfiction, fiction, or poetry, research is necessary to find information about people, places, societies, settings and even right spellings and connotations of words.

An obvious source for basic information, fact checking and the like is the internet. The internet can be useful in leading you to other great resources, providing ideas and contacts that you might not otherwise have contemplated. However, it is important to check information with primary or other reliable sources to make sure the information is from a reputable authority or knowledgeable professional. Sometimes they’re not easy to find, but be diligent.

Typical research includes names for characters, attributes of personalities, types of clothing or attire, customs, technology, dwellings, geographic descriptions, even the types of weather at a certain time and place in history. Attitudes of society and social context can be found in other books about your topic, while libraries, archives, museum, art galleries, historical societies, and the like are rich resources that can lead you to documents, letters, diaries, and other personal insights.

Connecting personally with experts in the field of your topic is also very useful. Whether about forensics, medicine, the law or sailing tall ships, trudging through a rain forest or dwelling in the artic, contacting those who have relevant knowledge and experience is one of the best ways to get what you need to make your stories accurate and believable. Academics and other specialists often have specific information or knowledge you won’t find in public sources, and can help you add depth and richness of detail to your writing,

One of the single most valuable ways to research a particular location is to travel to it and explore the locales and talk to local people and historians. If you’re fortunate, you may find living history re-enactments or special commemorative situations where you can become involved in the real life adventures you are writing about.

Being informed and understanding your topic fully goes a long way towards discerning which parts of your research are the most valuable for use in your writing. Researching enough to immerse yourself in the culture or milieu of your setting is the best way to write a believable setting and atmosphere. Your readers will thank you for it, or better yet, they won’t even notice, because you’ve done such a fine job of blending and including your research that they become totally engaged in your work.