Showing posts with label Janet Love Morrison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Janet Love Morrison. Show all posts

Friday, January 10, 2014

Guest Post Author Janet Love Morrison


“In order to write about life first you must live it.”
Ernest Hemingway

Janet Love Morrison was born in Toronto, Canada and grew up in Port Coquitlam, near Vancouver, BC. She spent a lot of her life travelling around the world doing a variety of jobs while living in Switzerland, Israel, India, Japan and Malaysia.

Travelling inspired Love Morrison to document was she felt, what she saw and what she heard. Her writing has appeared in the Pique Newsmagazine, which is published in Whistler, BC, one of Canada’s famed ski resorts, the Globe and Mail, one of Canada’s two national newspapers and several other publications.

“Refugees, children, taxi drivers, fellow travellers, work colleagues, family, friends, Dhyan Vimal, founder of Friends to Mankind, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and so many, many more remarkable people have been my teachers.

From the Himalayas, to the Alps; from the Andes to the Rocky Mountains; I have encountered this planet and I write to honour the courage of those who have met life challenges and rose to be the best they can be. They have sparked the belief in me that when we all rise to be the best we can be humanity will rise to be the best it can be.”

Love Morrison first started editing in 2004 for Masters’ World magazine in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Since that tenure she has embraced a wide variety of editing assignments including: websites, brochures, resumes, magazine articles, real estate advertisements and so much more. Those creative experiences, combined with teaching English grammar as an ESL teacher for 11 years, are what make Love Morrison a well-rounded editor today.

In addition, Love Morrison is available for speaking engagements for she has appeared on television, radio and various other platforms to speak on different subject matters.

And finally, Love Morrison is an Ambassador for Friends to Mankind, an international non-profit foundation that works with individuals, corporation and philanthropic organizations towards the betterment of humanity.

“If your work is just work, then you haven’t found your work, but if your work is your life, then you have found your life.”
Dhyan Vimal, Founder, Friends to Mankind



How/why did you start to write?

From the Himalayas, to the Alps; from the Andes to the Rocky Mountains; I have encountered this planet and I write to honour the courage of those who have met life challenges and rose to be the best they can be. They have sparked the belief in me that when we all rise to be the best we can be humanity will rise to be the best it can be.

What was your first published piece?

My first article was published in The Whistler Question in 1992.
Sponsored by a local pizza parlour, the paper offered to publish travel stories in exchange for extra-large pizzas. The article was titled, Cabbie a Cultural Oasis at Border Crossing, and chronicled my journey across the Sinai Desert into the Gaza Strip in 1985. I was pretty excited about the pizza!

What did you do before embarking on your writing career? Was it an asset to your writing? How?

I’ve spent many, many years outside of Canada and my intent has been to honour and celebrate people who have met their challenges, for I believe they inspire others to rise too.

What inspires you?

This quote:
“If your work is just work, then you haven’t found your work, but  if your work is your life, then you have found your life.” Dhyan Vimal, Founder, Friends to Mankind

Please share one of your successful author platform building technique

For me, I try to always be conscious of my beliefs and intent before I write.

Parting words

What are you creating? What are you moving towards? What is the vision you are holding for your writing and yourself? What are you willing to do?



Radar the Rescue Dog
Author: Janet Love Morrison
Illustrator: Zuzana Riha Driediger
Foreword: Justin Trudeau

Released: October 2013
        Categories:   Juvenile Fiction, Animals Dogs
                                     Juvenile Fiction, Sports & Recreation
                                     Juvenile Fiction, Winter Sports
                                  
ISBN Numbers:
Paperback: 978-1-4602-2575-2
eBook: 978-1-4602-2576-9

Friesen Press, Inc.
Suite 300 – 852 Fort Street
Victoria, BC
V8W 1H8
CANADA

Tel: 1.888.378.6793
Email: publishing@friesenpress.com

Bookstore: http://www.friesenpress.com/bookstore/title/119734000011498168

Radar the Rescue Dog is a fictitious children’s story based on a real dog. Three adventurous young skiers venture beyond the ski area boundary and find themselves lost on Whistler Mountain. Radar is their hero. It’s a simple plot to teach young skiers and snowboarders mountain safety awareness.

In 1978 Radar was Whistler’s first avalanche rescue dog. His home was Whistler and his owner was Bruce Watt, one of the original founders of the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association (CARDA).

The safety of mountain guests is critical in all ski areas. Much like we are taught about the hazards of water, electricity and fire, we must also teach young people about the fundamentals of mountain safety. This is the intent of Radar the Rescue Dog.

Justin Trudeau has written the foreword. His brother Michel was tragically killed in an avalanche in November 1998. Since then the Trudeau family has participated in mountain awareness.

Radar is endorsed by the Canadian Avalanche Foundation; the Canadian National Ski Patrol; the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association; Whistler Search and Rescue; and Dave Irwin and Steve Podborski of the famed Crazy Canucks.

 About the Illustrator:
Zuzana Riha Driediger lives in Revelstoke BC, and has been a member of CARDA since 1993. She currently sits on the board of directors for the organization and helps instruct rescue teams when required. She is presently training her third avalanche rescue dog who looks a lot like Radar.

For information about Janet Love Morrison's other books, please visit this site

Janet Love Morrison's video about her book Friends: Six Women, Six Cultures, One Humanity


Thursday, October 3, 2013

Word Vancouver notes by Leanne Dyck

This year, Word on the Street became Word Vancouver and I was blissfully unaware until I arrived home and read the brochure. 
Um... Yeah... Is my face red? Yup.
Anyway...
Here's what I did notice...

Because I wanted to attend an early morning lecture (11 a.m.) I sailed over to the mainland on Saturday evening. There were weather warnings. So I made plans to stay an extra day, if necessary.
I arrived at the Vancouver Public Library, Main Branch early Sunday morning (10 a.m. -ish) and watched the Word Vancouver crew tearing down tents. Due to the weather forecast, the outside market was brought inside. The Vancouver Public Library was stuffed full. Already, narrow aisles were made even narrower due to display tables occupying both sides.

The first display I saw was by the Alcuin Society. I feasted my eyes. The books displayed were works of art. All had won awards for book design. 

I descended the stairs to the Alma Van Dusen room.

Pauline Johnson -- A Vancouver Legend with Shelia Johnston

Shelia Johnston spoke eloquently about Pauline Johnson -- a dynamic poet and true Canadian. Pauline was born into an ethnically diverse family -- Aboriginal father and white more 

In a time when the dominate white culture looked down on Aboriginals, Pauline used her gift for poetry to attract and inform her mainly white audience about the proud Aboriginal traditions. 

"She caused revolutionary thinking," Shelia Johnston told us.



(sorry, this is what you get when you don't hire a professional photographer)


Shelia treated us by reading from Pauline Johnson's collection of poetry. I listened, captivated as Shelia brought Pauline's lovely words to life.

Audience members informed us that Margaret Atwood and Tobin Stokes have created an Opera called Pauline



Then. I walked next door to the Peter Kaye Room.



Get Published with Janet Love Morrison
Janet Love Morrison used her personal experience to help us navigate our way through the publishing process.

First decision, self-publish or traditionally publishing?

Janet offered us a series of questions to help direct us into one camp or the other.

Questions:
-What was the purpose or intent behind writing the manuscript?
-Who is your target market?
-What are your story's unique selling points?

Before submitting our manuscripts to a publisher, Janet advised us to do our homework.

Questions to answer...
-what genre does the publisher publish?
-what are the publisher's submission guidelines?
-how many books does the publisher publish a year?
-what is the size of the publisher's print run?
-what awards has the publisher won?
-how long has the publisher been in business?
(Janet told us not to shy away from new publishers. She simply wanted us to be informed.)
-where are the publisher's books reviewed?
-does the publisher support their newly published authors?
(Janet told us that generally a publisher will help market a new book for three months)

Once we've found our publisher and are ready to make a submission...

Send...
-cover letter
(Janet told us that if we could find someone (organization) to endorse our manuscript send that along with your submission.)
-synopsis
-sample chapters or pages
-state if this is a multiply submission

When a publisher is interested in publishing our books, they will ask us to sign a contract. Janet advised us not to sign anything until you completely understand it. In fact, she suggested hiring a literary lawyer to help explain the contract.

For those in the audience who decided to self-publish, Janet walked us through that process as well.

I shuffled back over to the Alma VanDusen Room



New Directions in Creative Writing
Presented by UBC Creative Writing

UBC professors discussed the creative writing program; the developments they've seen with respect to combining literary projects with new media and the professors also talked about their own writing.

I remained in this room for...



The Scene of the Crime
Presented by the Crime Writers of Canada
Moderator:  Cathy Ace
Panel members:  Debra Purdy Kong, David Russell, Robin Spano, Kay Stewart and Chris Bullock

I am a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and it was nice to re-connect with some of the members.

At the beginning of the discussion, each writer was given seven minutes to talk generally about their writing, their book(s) and to do a brief reading.
Then the audience was invited to ask questions. These were many and varied.
Some were...
Question:  Do you use beta readers?
Answer:  All of the authors did. One as many as 12.

Question:  Do you contact the police for a research resource for your book?
Answer:  Yes, the public relations office. Sometimes, through social media, the resource person contacts the author.

Question:  How do you come to your story?
Answer:  One author picks a place (location) where she wants to spend time and then develops a story around the place.
Others are haunted by an image or inspired by news headlines and current issues.

Back into the hall...
Think I'm done?
Think again.
I ascended the stairs to the Canada Writes Tent which was brought inside, into a coffee shop.
I kicked myself because I caught the tail end of Sexy Sick Chick Lit (Kim Clark and Robyn Michele Levy). I would have loved to hear it all and speak with them later. But then I would have missed... And I couldn't have split myself in two--or even cloned myself. So... Next year, perhaps.

I enjoyed listen to...
Mark Letheren-Young read from Free Magic Secrets Revealed:  A Memoir
Carellin Brooks read from her soon-to-be released book Fresh Hell
Shaena Lambert read from her short story collection Oh, My Darling
Janie Chang read from Three Souls

Okay, I'm not sure how but I had an opportunity to visit the book market. I met so many interesting people and I invited them to visit this blog. I'm hoping they'll accept my offer. Because I know you'll enjoy meeting them as well.

Oh, yes, and in case you're wondering, Mother Nature did throw a hissy fit--and I was stuck on the mainland. Oh, poor, me. I got to go out to eat with my in-laws--a rare and savoured treat.
I arrived home a day late and just in time to attend a meeting of my writing circle.
I thought I'd be drained -- and I was, a little. But mostly I was super-charged. And now I'm dreaming of flying off to literary events in T.O., New York, London. Okay... Okay... I know, don't get carried away...

***
Literary festival... 
Some day I will attend...
Some day I will attend as a participating author...
The stuff of dreams...



Sidney Writers' Festival




Whistler Readers and Writers Festival







Surrey International Writers' Conference
Learn more here