I'm presenting at SIWC 2026
Craft.Community.Connection.
The Surrey International Writers' Conference is the best kept secret in the writing and publishing community of the Pacific Northwest.
It attracts writers, editors, agents, and publishing professionals from around the world and is the most comprehensive professional development conference of its kind in Canada.
Writers working in all genres - from beginners to experts - spend a weekend honing their craft with in-person, hybrid and online-only classes.
I will be teaching two sessions for writers who want stronger stories starting on page one, and a writing life that lasts. Check them out and join us! You won't regret it.
01Pulling apart the paragraph:
Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind
In this close-reading craft session, we'll pull apart the opening pages of two legendary and influential novels: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler.
Together, we'll examine how early narrative decisions shape voice, structure, belief, and narrative authority across an entire novel. You'll leave with practical strategies for strengthening the foundations of your own manuscript from page one onward.
The act of
constant relevance:
For Writers Who Want Their Words to Last
Writers are often told they need a platform, a brand, or a social media strategy. This session argues that all three are the wrong frame.
Relevance isn't built through promotion. It accumulates through participation: with other writers, readers, booksellers, editors, and publishers, through correspondence, events, local ecosystems, and the ongoing work of being present in the communities that make literary culture move.
Writers who understand this stop performing visibility and start practicing it.
You'll leave with concrete approaches that work whether you're preparing a first manuscript or building a long writing life.
