The Quesnel Library was abuzz Saturday (Oct. 5) with writers of all different kinds sharing their work and holding small workshops and talks.
People gathered to hear from local writers like Lin Weich and Sarah Neeson for writing tips and the foundations of self-publishing work.
Weich gave a talk where she explained some of the fundamentals of writing and tools for writers to have, including a book called the "emotion thesaurus" which helps find different turns of phrase and avoid what she called "echoing" in written work. She explained fundamentals for writers like determining genre, motives for writing and that a good editor is all important.
"If you're going to ask someone to read your work make sure that you can trust them to tell you the truth," she said. She also said it's important to make sure your editor is okay with you ignoring their advice because at the end of the day the writer, and their voice, are what is most important.
There was a musical performance at the library by singer and songwriter Shannon Matter and The Electric Comets where the event's attendees got to enjoy a high-energy musical performance of original work.
One of the events attendees was Suzannah Meir wanted to meet other writers and learn about how to publish some of her work. She writes poetry, is working on novels and a children's story.
"It's about a little toddler, a boy, and he keeps having temper tantrums and throwing all his toys out the window. And just outside the window there happens to be a moose living in the woods that are very close to the house and he gets all his stuff and makes himself a nice cozy little area in this little clearing in the woods," Meir said of her children's book that she's just working on a conclusion for.
She's been a writer her whole life, working on poetry while in elementary school and sticking with it. She said she was interested in learning more about self-publishing through Amazon and it sounds like the route she'd most like to go for her work.
The event had a moment to honour Bernice Heinzelman who worked to support writers in the community throughout her life.
One of the organizers for the event, Tristin Bueckert said the event was about bringing together Quesnel's writers. She also encouraged people to come up with six word stories throughout the event with her own being "Probably shouldn't have eaten that, again."
"This is the second official year. They have done other authors' day and writers' day events in the past but it wasn't quite the same group of people so it was a little bit different," she said. "This year we're focusing a little more on beginning a writing journey and how to start writing and we're trying to give people resources on where to start."
She said the plan is to have a writing group start up at the Quesnel Library this month. The first meeting will be Thursday Oct. 17 at 6 p.m and it's open to all writers of any level in the community.
"We're going to play writing games, maybe we're gonna talk about writing or if people want we'll sit and write together. It's just going to be really fun," she said.
