All posts by David Koren

February Meeting

Meetings

Busy Writer’s Guide to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram: Julie Rowe – February 10 at 7:00 pm

Join romantic thriller author Julie Rowe as she dissects and discusses the effective use of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram by authors in today’s rapidly changing publishing marketplace. Topics include:

  • Why bother? What social media streams do for authors.
  • Setting up your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram profile/page.
  • Dos and don’ts
  • Content is king, where to find yours
  • Following the right people and attracting the right followers.
  • What to post/tweet to sell books without having to ask people to buy
  • Create engaging graphics to wow your followers
  • Timing your posts
  • Scheduling apps and why you need them
  • Other useful apps
  • Hashtags

Julie Rowe’s first career as a medical lab technologist in Canada took her to the North West Territories and Fort McMurray, Alberta, where she still resides. She loves to include medical details in her romance novels, but admits she’ll never be able to write about all her medical experiences because, “Fiction has to be believable”. Julie writes romantic suspense and romantic thrillers. Her most recent titles include Hell & Back book #5 of the Outbreak Taskforce series and Trapped with the Secret Agent book #1 of the Trapped with Him series. You can find her at www.julieroweauthor.com , on Twitter @julieroweauthor or at her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/JulieRoweAuthor

January Meeting

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Great Beginnings: Hank Phillippi Ryan – January 13 at 7:00 pm.

You know the great opening lines: Ishmael, Manderley, the last camel. Why do those work? And how can you create one for your own novel?  And then–what about that crucial first paragraph? And a first page that will entice editors and enchant readers? How can you set the proper expectations for the story to come—and make every word work?  

This workshop, led by award-winning thriller writer Hank Phillippi Ryan, will dissect and analyze acclaimed first lines and opening paragraphs, and reveal the writing secrets these brilliant examples offer. If you are brave enough–please bring your own first line! 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN is the USA Today bestselling author of 12 thrillers, winning five Agathas and the Mary Higgins Clark Award, and 37 EMMYs for TV investigative reporting. THE MURDER LIST (2019) won the Anthony Award for Best Novel, and is an Agatha, Macavity and Mary Higgins Clark Award nominee. Her newest psychological standalone is THE FIRST TO LIE. The Publishers Weekly starred review says “Stellar. Ryan could win her sixth Agatha with this one.”

More information can be found at her website.

December Meeting

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My road to publication: Katie Tallo – December 9 at 7:00 pm

Ottawa author Katie Tallo’s debut novel, Dark August, was published in June 2020 by Harper Collins.  Glowing reviews of the book have appeared in the New York Times, the Toronto Star, and on CBC Radio among others. CrimeReads, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly have recommended it highly.  Amazon labels it an “international bestseller.”

Tallo already had an established career as a screenwriter, but getting published as a novelist was a different challenge. She’ll be describing the hurdles she faced along the road, and how she overcame them.

There will be a draw for a free autographed copy of her book which will be open to all members attending the meeting.

You can find out more information about Katie at her website: https://katietallo.com

Renaming of the Arthur Ellis Award

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Crime Writers of Canada’s prestigious Arthur Ellis Award for Crime Writing has been renamed the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence.

The annual award for the crime writing genre includes, crime, detective, espionage, mystery, suspense and thriller as well as true-crime literary works. The award was originally named for the nom de travail of Canada’s hangman, Arthur Ellis; the award was a wooden statuette of a hanged man. But, it was time to update the award, especially in light of the changes in the world, and the award has been renamed – Crime Writers of Canada’s Award of Excellence.

For more information, visit https://crimewriterscanada.com/

November Meeting

Meetings

Planning Your DIY Book Publicity Campaign – November 11 at 7:00 pm.

Beverly Bambury has been doing book publicity and marketing for 9 years. You will hear all about her publicity process from researching review venues, to seeing her query letter template in action, to finishing out your campaign. Then she will walk you through her proven social media networking tips. Finally, you will learn the truth about whether authors should blog or not. Prepare to take lots of notes!

More information can be found at her website at https://www.beverlybambury.com (note that the website is in the middle of a hosting transition so some parts may not work).

Members will be emailed the Zoom link to join the meeting each month. If you’d like to check us out before joining, you can attend one meeting for free. Please email treasurer@capitalcrimewriters.com for the link.

October Meeting

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Our next meeting, “Poisons as Murder Weapons” will be on October 14, 2020 at 7:00 pm.

Dwayne Clayden combines his knowledge and experience as a police officer and paramedic to write crime thrillers. He is the best-selling author of the Brad Coulter Series. The 5th book in the series will be released in 2021. His new series, Speargrass-Opiod is available for pre-order from Kindle.

He is a popular speaker at conferences and to writing groups presenting on realistic police, medical and paramedic procedures. And we’re honoured to have him. Check out his website.

Dwayne’s books are available from: Kobo and Amazon. 

As a reminder, due to COVID-19 and the need to maintain physical distancing, CCW will not be having in-person meetings until further notice. Instead we will be going on-line. Members will be emailed the Zoom link to join the meeting each month. If you’d like to check us out before joining, you can attend one meeting for free. Please email treasurer@capitalcrimewriters.com for the link.

CCW’s New Executive

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The September 9th meeting began with the election of our executive.

President – Elizabeth Hosang
Programming – Lis Angus (assistant)
Communications – Linda Standing
Webmaster – David Koren and Elizabeth Hosang
Treasurer – Madona Skaff
Short Story Contest – Madona Skaff and Jim Napier

September Meeting

Meetings

Our next meeting will be on September 9, 2020, at 7:00 pm

Welcome back to another year of Capital Crime Writers! Things are going to be a bit different this fall. Due to COVID-19 and the need to maintain physical distancing, CCW will not be having in-person meetings until further notice. Instead we’ll be going on-line. Members will be emailed the Zoom link to join each month.

If you’d like to check us out before joining, you can attend one meeting for free. Please email treasurer@capitalcrimewriters.com for the link.

Our first speaker for the fall is Eric Brier. He is studying linguistics at Carleton University and is also in the military reserves. He is familiar with several languages and has experience in translation. Earlier during the pandemic he was sent by the military to help translate for Canadians being repatriated from Wuhan China/China.

Eric will be talking about some of the logistics of working in a quarantine zone. And he will also share interesting and occasionally humorous stories.

2020 Winners of the Audrey Jessup Award

Awards

1st Place       ADRIENNE STEVENSON  –  I Smell a Mystery

2nd Place       WYNN QUON  –  Midnight at Rocky’s

3rd Place       KEVIN COLEMAN  –  Confidential Donation

HONOURABLE MENTION

RUTH LATTA  –  Sometimes Crime Pays

JOE SORNBERGER  –  The Perseids

Announcement of Writing Contest Winners

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Due to COVID-19 and the need to maintain safe physical distancing, CCW is unable to have our end of year dinner to announce the results of the Audrey Jessup writing contest and socialize. But rather than end on a low note, we’ve decided to celebrate virtually, using Zoom.

DATE: Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 7:00 pm, EST.

There’ll be readings and wine. Our contest finalists will provide the readings, you will provide your own wine (or beverage of choice).

If you’re interested in attending, please RSVP to madonaskaff@gmail.com, and the Zoom link will be sent to you.