WWC

When Words Collide

When Words Collide is a literary festival that takes place in Calgary, Alberta, every August. I learned about it and attended in 2017, as an aspiring writer. This year I’m not only participating in the audience, but also as an author and speaker on four relevant and meaningful panels. Each one is listed below. Click on the link or download button below the descriptions to read my key talking points.

1. Awakening to Social Sensitivity

This panel will discuss writing about other genders, races, classes, cultures with honesty and sensitivity. How can a writer be inclusive without appropriating or creating token characters?

2. How to Keep Revising when You’re Completely Sick of a Project

You’ve been working on this novel forever. You’re so close to being finished but every time you open your project you hate every single word. How do you get over this and get it finished and submitted?

3. Writing Pain and Trauma

Can surviving and choosing to write about traumatic events transcend us? Is there a risk of being dragged too deeply back into the experience? Is it worth facing your biggest pain and trauma for the sake of creating? What do you hope to gain? Who, if anyone, is changed by the writing?

4. The Danger of Digging Too Deep: Self-Care for Writers

Writers tend to write what they know, and this sometimes means digging around in their own painful history. Panelists discuss their approach to writing difficult scenes and how to practice self-care before, during, and after emotionally-draining writing sessions.

If you’d like to read more about the festival and my involvement, my publisher Dixi Books interviewed me along with fellow Dixi author and WWC alumni, Joy Norstrom. You can find our interview here.

Contact me to discuss any of these topics using the buttons at the top right of this page.