Creative Writers Guild (CWGT)

If this is your landing page for this Wednesday's session - message me for the invitation link. For everyone else, here is my usual prolix dose of "thinking out aloud".

This is not written on behalf of Creative Writers Guild Toastmasters, but a part of my prep for my forthcoming role as a club mentor to help charter this club and work with its two club sponsors. It also provides me a link to something other than an Eventbrite account and if this does take me to 3am in the morning to put together, it is worth it just as a hyperlink.

What this initial dump of my gray matter lump is showing me is just how wide the scope can be for this particular club charter project. This club will not be defined by what I write or think out aloud here, but by the 20 Founder Members as the club gets ready to charter. This also not an invitation to the world to attend the club - it is about 20 members, not 20,000.

These thoughts here fit the standard process pattern I utilize at a personal level here on LinkedIn. So the first resource reference I am looking at is about writing a book, and thus the first resource I found of interest was one by Jerry Jenkins, where he outlines 13 steps to writing a book. It is very well put together.

One of the big boundaries of the club charter project is that it has a Canadian focus and not a Global focus, though if someone turns up from Europe, then they happen to turn up from Europe. The Club Sponsors are the one's who are meant to get this part of the club up and running and my role is to mentor the club, to explain the charter and I include the added challenge of making the club relevant to writers.

The one thing I do like about thoughtful writing clubs in Canada is when they acknowledge the land treaty, which is a recognition of indigenous people. Only a handful do. This is what a land acknowledgement looks like from the place where I reside :

We would like to begin by acknowledging the land on which we gather, and which the Creative Writers Guild Toastmasters Club operates, is part of the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit.

For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples inhabited and cared for this land. In particular we acknowledge the territory of the Anishinabek, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Ojibway/Chippewa peoples; the land that is home to the Metis; and most recently, the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation who are direct descendants of the Mississaugas of the Credit.

We are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land, and by doing so, give our respect to its first inhabitants.

They are very rarely heard in organizations and clubs in Canada, but there are those enlightened groups that do include this acknowledgement, which include this particular group called the "I Write Canadian". This isseries of videos featuring authors and illustrators speaking about writing Canadian and what makes Canadian books great. I Write Canadian is part of I Read Canadian Day, an annual day dedicated to reading Canadian books.

I do like living in Canada, I am just not as fond of living in Toronto, but this is where my family pitched its tent and I did not feel much like living alone in British Columbia. Even though the mountains and the ocean are my first choice, they just do not replace family.

The other important aspect of focusing on local rather than global matters is that it actually serves to narrow the scope, rather than widen the scope as I now continue to learn about the writers landscape, the challenges and opportunities of authors and the relationship of this club to its education charter, which is proprietary after the club is officially chartered.

One of the immediate challenges of me pouring out these thoughts, is that my process here includes bringing in music. Initially I thought this would be a challenge, but I did find four songs that are relevant to what I am thinking out aloud about here. The first two of these are well known artists, and later the other an artist not widely known and then a cult band.

The first is Elvis Costello with Everyday I Write the Book. When he first came out, he sailed into British music with the tide of the punk rock scene. Good thing too, because he stood head and shoulders above as a singer/writer himself, but sometimes the door opens to us in the most unexpected ways. Maybe he might have made it without the help of punk. I grew up more on this genre.

If older generations think that today's generation will know The Beatles, one might want to think again. With so much music available today, it is not a given that a 16 year old not having heard of what we assume to be the most famous band of all. Even I heard a kid tell me "Whose John Lennon", so let's not assume what people listen to these days. This is the state of attention today.

While these songs are topical for this post, it really sets up my background music as I think this out. It is interesting how can think our thoughts but still have music flowing through our head courtesy of our headphones.

The great paradox of writers is that they are not writing a post, they are writing a book. As they write a book, they produce a lengthy manuscript, and someone will be out there who will accept the task of reading that manuscript. This is the beauty of the emails I sent to the Club Sponsors (Organizers) of this club - I remind them about the reading of manuscripts. This brings me to the role of editors. As I am finding out that no matter how prolix, I do not envy the task of an editor. Sure they make the writing better, but they invest their time also.

The whole publishing thing is a full time job if I wanted to know all I need to know about, so it helps to orchestrate a group of 20+ members to explore together. As I am a natural Island of Excellence (An Introvert) I acknowledge that we need to attract a group of like minded folk, and that is harder when that search becomes geographical rather than global.

While there is a lot of long-form content that provides deeper insights, there are also 8 minute short bites of information such as the one produced by "Book Launchers". At the club level speech projects lend to this format, and that club level timing is for educational purposes. One of the challenges isn't just speaking but learning to create these kind soundbites to support writers.

While the writing world has a lot of content from people I would not have heard of in the general course of my online learning purpose, there are social media folk who are well known in social media circles such as Evan Carmicheal, who do cut into this world and provide their curated content, such as this 7 minute video about the pursuit of finding a publisher.

This is just a tip of the ocean of the material available, and the challenge for me is the same as for these short-form curators. Now I need to shift focus back to the final two tracks that are related to the subject of either writers and books.

The interesting song by Patty Larkins "The Book I'm Not Reading" is how much she is not widely known as a musician, which is a shame, because here is an example of someone who has talent. She has fans but it is a niche group. Both musicians and authors cannot let themselves lose heart in the maddening competition for attention. Not that this troubles me since I enjoy this.

On the opposite end of the music industry is the cult band Talking Heads. At least it is cult for those whose tastes are the opposite of the mainstream nation. Ironically, Talking Heads wrote "The Book I Read" - so when we are talking about cult band status, it is a band that has made its mark for quality and not just cutting hit singles and seeking popularity for popularity which is art for art sake (10CC).

Now I am past the midnight hour, at least this turned out to be much faster to write than I thought when I began this, so thus I will be finished 2 hours early. What! I could have written for another 2 hours - now this totally PROLIX! So where do I go in this finishing straight.

That would be start touching on the actual act of writing itself. Yet again there is a plethora of material available. I chose a TEDTALK by Andrew Stanton. I found him to be humourous coupled with good content about what makes a great story.

For closure, I did not pick more from the well of TEDTALKS because that would leave me behind this laptop to 3am in the morning. Instead I draw my attention to Patrick Bet-David.

While he is talking about the Art of Storytelling here, in addition is perspective comes from an entrepreneurial mindset. This is two-fer or two for one. There is learnings here pertaining to storytelling, but in addition the art here is one that is applicable to entrepreneurs and how they function.

The great sales people around do not sell on features, they understand emotions and meaning and here the power of storytelling is found in the best forms of advertising and from the mouths of any great persuader. This is the final challenge personally for me, because people who are writers tend not to lift the veil on the business of promotion and selling.

So here I am about to mentor a club for writers and for the past 20 years I have told people that I am not interested in writing a book. For sure I write a lot online but this writing is the essence of what writing is - which is thinking. It is entirely possible by the time my 6 month stint as a club mentor ends, it could propel me to do that which I have said I would not. Maybe this is a sign from the big universe out there to do this. Then again, maybe not. The key tonight is not about writing a book, it is that I finished writing this before 1:00am.