The Writers' Community of Durham Region

with Dorothea Helms and Ruth Walker

• Saturday, March 6th, 2010
• 10 am to 4 pm
• Location: J.P. Fitzpatrick & Son restaurant
• …………………in the Whitby Entertainment Centrum
• ………………..at 75 Consumers Rd. (west of Thickson Rd. S.)
• ………………..in Whitby
• Fee: $100($90 WCDR, WEN, HHWEN, PWAC Member)
• To Register: See below
• Maximum Participants: 16

Write to Win is a one-day immersion in the art of entering writing contests…and increasing your chances for winning. Two of WCDR’s ‘seasoned winners’ — Dorothea Helms and Ruth E. Walker — will share tips that will help you develop your own winning strategy.

Discover how even an honourable mention in a writing competition can give weight to your writing bio. And bonus! Dorothea and Ruth have not only won writing competitions, they have also judged and even administered writing competitions, so they really know what can knock your entry out of the running — sometimes even before it is actually read.

Participants are asked to bring the first page of their fiction, non-fiction or poetry they hope to submit to an upcoming competition. In this workshop, through a combination of lecture, demonstration and exercises, you will put your own work to the “writing contest” test and see if it will make it past the first reading.

Prepare for a day of inspiration and fun!

Dorothea Helms

is an award-winning, internationally published writer who is also a popular writing instructor. She is the author of the highly successful book The Writing Fairy™ Guide to Calling Yourself a Writer, and she offers courses, workshops and keynote speeches that inspire adults to write and publish their work. Dorothea has also served as a fiction judge for regional and international writing contests. She has been a finalist in fiction competitions, and her humorous fiction has appeared in an anthology in southern Ontario.
In 2006, she held the first-ever Writing Fairy Humour Writing contest, which drew entries from across North America. In 2005, Dorothea was presented with the first-ever Barbara Novak Award For Excellence in Humour and/or Personal Essay Writing from the Periodical Writers Association of Canada. Also in 2005, she tied for first place in the non-fiction category of the Haliburton Highlands Writers’ and Editors’ Network and The Agnes Jamieson Gallery 3rd Annual Writing Contest. In 2003, she placed third in The Writers’ Circle of Durham Region Dan Sullivan Memorial Poetry Contest.

Ruth E. Walker

knows a thing or two about writing competitions. Not only has she organized and administered a range of writing competitions, she has served as a final judge and a tier-judge for a number of national and international competitions including WCDR’s 2008 Chapbook contest, the annual Serial Poet competition at LICHEN Arts & Letters Preview, the Canadian Authors Association Toronto short story contest, and the Oval Victory poetry contest at Hidden Brook Press.
And she knows a bit about winning writing competition too. In 1996, her very first fiction submission won the Canadian Living Short Story prize. She went on to win the 1998 & 2005 Dan Sullivan Memorial Poetry Contest, was a 1999 semi-finalist Chapters-Robertson Davies Competition; 2001 winner Ghost Story Contest, Trent University Writers and Readers Fair; 2003 2nd place Larry Turner Award for Non-fiction; 2007 two entries tied for 2nd place in The Writers’ Circle of Durham Region Short Story Contest; and in 2008, she won 3rd place in the prestigious Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award. Along the way, she gathered a couple of honourable mentions as well.

Together, Ruth and Dorothea bring a wealth of experience as creative writing instructors along with a fun, interactive tag-team style to all their workshops. Join them on Saturday, March 6 for Write to Win!

Go to www.thewritingfairy.com to register
(Please note: you will be taken to another website to register for this event.)

For information, contact: fairy@thewritingfairy.com

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