This past week I attended the inaugural SeaWords Writing Workshop, which was sponsored by UPEI and the L.M. Montgomery Institute as a way of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables. The theme of the workshop was "Canada's Women Writers" and this theme held true in the choice of faculty. Writers Anne Simpson and Carol Bruneau led us budding wordsmiths in group and one-to-one sessions. Usually workshop groups are divided by genre (fiction, poetry, non-fiction, etc.), so it was not only refreshing but stimulating to have mixed groups of fiction writers and poets. I brought an excerpt of my novel, but since I also write poetry, I was interested in seeing how poetry influences prose and vice versa. I was in Anne's group and since she is a poet and novelist herself, she kept referring to this cross-pollination during our group sessions. In fact i had once taken a poetry workshop with Anne and came out of it with two publishable poems, so I was eager to see what would happen with fiction. I can't say I came out with a publishable piece, but it did change drastically in the rewrites I did during the week and I know what I have to do to get it into a publishable state. 

Playwright and novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald was a guest speaker who first wanted to know why we were at this workshop and engaged us in a lively discussion on why we were motivated to write. While she spoke candidly about her journey as a writer, she also expressed curiosity about us. A natural performer, she was very charming and entertaining. 

One of the things that attracted me to this workshop was the opportunity to meet Jackie Kaiser, a Toronto literary agent with Westwood Creative Artists, who spoke to us at length about various aspects of the publishing business. The cliched image of an agent as hard-nosed and cold-blooded doesn't seem to fit Jackie. Although I probably wouldn't want to go toe-to-toe with her in a high-stakes negotiating session, she proved to be very personable and approachable. She even gave all of us her business card. Jackie has much experience behind her as an editor at Penguin Canada. Even though we had a week, there was so much information to impart it seemed as if there was not enough time. We were asked to write "cover letters" as if we were going to submit our work to a publisher. Jackie critiqued some of the letters, which was helpful. But I would have also been interested if she'd gone through some of our stories and given us an agents perspective on our work. As an added bonus we also met and spoke with Lynn Henry, an editor at House of Anansi Press. Most interesting was her explanation of the various structures of novels and how she helps a writer find the best one to tell his story. 

I should also mention that the organizer of the SeaWords Workshop was Amy Kelly. This is not a job to be taken lightly and Amy did an amazing job. I know this because as far as I could see everything ran like clockwork. And if there were problems, I wasn't aware of them. That's when you know an organizer is doing the job right.

But the theme of "Canada's Women Writers" wasn't restricted to the faculty. Out of the 11 writers participating in the workshop only myself and one other were in possession of X and Y chromosomes. Not surprising, since the majority of readers are women; it only stands to reason that they would also aspire to create the books as well. 

The workshop took place at Shaw's Hotel, Canada's oldest family-operated inn. Lunches and snacks were included in the cost of the workshop tuition and they fed us very well. The faculty stayed in the hotel's cottages and some of the participants stayed in the rooms. I live a 60 minute drive from Brackley Beach and since things got started at 9:00 a.m. commuting wasn't practical for me. As beautiful as the hotel looked, I wasn't able to afford it as my accommodation and so opted to stay at the nearby Windsong Farm Bed & Breakfast. Proprietors Cindy and Alan are from Alberta and come to PEI to run the B&B in July and August. They are a friendly couple who showed great interest in the fact that I am a writer and wanted to know all about the workshop. Throughout the week the delicious cooked breakfasts included pancakes, waffles, fried eggs, quiche and french toast and always started with Cindy's freshly baked muffins and scones. Guests all ate at the same table and a general atmosphere of friendly chatter made for a terrific way to start the day. As I don't drive and the walk to the workshop would have taken me around 45 or 50 minutes (which I was perfectly willing to do) Alan generously offered to drive me every morning. Now that's customer service, folks! If you are ever in Brackley Beach, PEI I would heartily recommend staying at Windsong Farm.

And if the SeaWords Writing Workshop goes for a second year in 2009 I recommend you sign up as early as possible.