Webinars

Finding the Fun: Approaching Writing with Playful Experimentation and Compassion
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
12:00 pm PDT / 1:00 pm MDT, CST / 2:00 pm CDT / 3:00 pm EDT / 4:00 pm ADT / 4:30 pm NDT
60 minutes
Closed captioning available

> This webinar is exclusively for TWUC members. Click here to access registration (member login required).

What you do when your writing feels stalled or blah can make the difference between an incomplete draft and a published, or even bestselling, one. There’s a secret to success that’s NOT about grinding it out in a harsh and arduous way to meet your writing goals. What if you could make it fun and write (and rewrite) with a sense of ease instead? If you’ve been what The New York Times describes as “languishing” creatively during the pandemic, facing a second-book curse, or feeling stuck in the messy middle of a manuscript, this workshop is for you. Join author and creative writing instructor Suzanne Alyssa Andrew for an exploration of imaginative and compassionate approaches to reinvigorating your writing practice. Hosted by award-winning author Doretta Lau, this webinar runs 60 minutes including a Q&A session. Please bring a notebook, pen, and curiosity.

TWUC members who are unable to attend will have access to a recording of the webinar for a limited time.

Suzanne Alyssa Andrew is the author of the novel Circle of Stones (Dundurn Press) and two books-in-progress. She’s also a contributing editor for beloved Canadian literary magazine Taddle Creek. A former arts journalist and story director for award-winning digital TV and film co-productions and narrative games, she now teaches the art and craft of telling a good story. She’s taught creative writing courses at UofT and workshops at UBC, Guelph, and Ryerson. She also teaches and coaches writers independently. Find out more at suzanneandrew.com.

Doretta Lau is the author of the short story collection How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun? and the poetry chapbook Cause and Effect. She splits her time between Vancouver and Hong Kong, where she is writing a comedic novel about an inept company struggling to open a theme park about death. Visit her website at www.dorettalau.com or follow @dorettalau on Twitter and Instagram.

How to Win NaNoWriMo
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
12:00 pm PDT / 1:00 pm MDT, CST / 2:00 pm CDT / 3:00 pm EDT / 4:00 pm ADT / 4:30 pm NDT
60 minutes
Closed captioning available

> Register now

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is coming! Are you ready? Join Karma Brown as she provides tips and tricks for kickstarting your writing, staying on track, and finishing your novel. Hosted by author Thea Lim, this webinar runs 60 minutes including a Q&A session.

TWUC members who are unable to attend will have access to a recording of the webinar for a limited time.

Karma Brown is the author of five novels: the #1 international bestseller Recipe for a Perfect Wife, Come Away with Me (a Globe and Mail Best Book of 2015), Globe and Mail and Toronto Star bestsellers The Choices We Make, In This Moment, and The Life Lucy Knew. She is also the author of the nonfiction bestseller The 4% Fix: How One Hour Can Change Your Life. An award-winning journalist, Karma has been published in SELF, Redbook, and Today's Parent, among others. She lives just outside Toronto with her husband, daughter, and a Labradoodle named Fred.

Thea Lim is the author of An Ocean of Minutes, which has been translated into three languages, optioned for television, shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and ALA Reading List for Science Fiction, and longlisted for Canada Reads. Her writing has been published in Granta, The Nation, The Paris Review, Best Canadian Stories, The Globe and Mail, Guernica, and others. She holds an MFA from the University of Houston. She’s always honoured to be entrusted with the words of other writers, whether as an editor at Gulf Coast, as a book critic, as creative writing faculty at many schools including Sheridan College, the University of Toronto, and the Flying Books School of Reading and Writing, as a mentor at Diaspora Dialogues, the Writers Union of Canada, and the University of Guelph, or as an arts council jury member. She grew up in Singapore and now lives with her family in Toronto.