Saturday, December 5, 2009

Mystery writers' organizations

Hey Folks,

Time to do a bit of PR for some local organizations that have helped me A LOT!

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) is an organization for... you guessed it. I have been involved with them (one way or another) for about four or five years. I began as an associate member (that's the designation for fans and unpublished but aspiring writers). In the last year or so, I have become an (ahem) author member.

This is a great group to be a part of. They have some cool discussions via their Yahoo group, they have a mentoring program, they publish a monthly newsletter detailing author events, and they offer all sorts of other goodies.

CWC presents the Arthur Ellis Awards (AE) for excellence Canadian Crime Writing. A few years ago, I was one of the judges for the Best Novel category. I got to read a lot of great books that I may never have stumbled upon, by authors I hadn't yet heard of. That was fun and a neat conversation starter at dinner parties.


The AE is named for Canada's last official hangman. For more info about the awards, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ellis_Awards

CWC has recently created a fan page on Facebook. Check it out at: (Crime.Writers.Canada). There's lots of good mystery info on there and a lot of fun stuff, like photos, book trailers, and links.

Another organization I belong to is Sisters in Crime, Toronto chapter (SinC). They're also a great resource and a great support for mystery writers and fans. Their monthly newsletter includes reviews, trivia, event listings and maybe an interview or two.


SinC also has monthly meetings with a neat variety of guest speakers, from newly published authors to a talk on poisons that are available in your backyard (you'd be surprised at how deadly some of those pretty flowers or innocent looking mushrooms can be).

http://www.torontosistersincrime.ca/
http://www.facebook.com/Crime.Writers.Canada
http://crimewriterscanada.com/cwcNew/index.html

I definitely think aspiring writers (for mystery or any other genre) should get involved in writing groups or associations. I've learned a lot from both CWC and SinC, I've met some cool people, and have had a lot of support and encouragement as I worked away at my writing.

Plus, both groups are having their Christmas parties this week, yippee! Time to eat, drink and be deadly!

Cheers, Jill

2 comments:

  1. Party time! The ultimate payoff for all the dues. Those sound like some great organizations. The only one I belong to, of the ones you mentioned, is my local chapter of Sisters in Crime. It is really nice to meet and talk to people who, like me, have a passion for a particular subject or avocation.

    Helen
    Straight From Hel

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just bought your book off Amazon, hope your sells do well.

    This is not my type of genre but I support new authors. Hopefully one day I will know how it feels...

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