Book Signing this Saturday, May 4th for Once Upon a Sandbox

I am excited about my book signing at Waterloo Chapters this Saturday, May 4th from 11 am–1 pm, in Waterloo, Ontario. Come and get your copy of Once Upon a Sandbox and get it signed. The book makes a great gift for Mother’s Day for a mother, sister, aunt or grandmother as well.

Waterloo Chapters, King Street North, Waterloo, Ontario.

Go here to listen to my interview with Robert White at  Faith FM’s Art Connections

From my publisher’s website:

A marvellous family friendly book that will lift your spirits. Once Upon a Sandbox, by C. R. Wilker, is a warm and gentle memoir about family life on a farm. It is about the farm and the individuals, the personalities, and the ties that bind them to each other.

Whether it’s helping to whitewash a barn, hoeing endless rows of vegetable plants, or driving a tractor to prepare for spring seeding, there’s plenty of work to be done. Through this collection of prose and poetry, reflect on the realities of farm families, their connection with community, weather and economy, as well as being stewards of the land from which they make a living. This is a fine story to which anyone will relate. Read more here.

speaking at Kitchener Kiwanis Club, November 2012

Once Upon a Sandbox was a finalist in the 2012 Word Guild contest

Thank you again, Deborah Pryce, for your delightful art on the cover of my book.

Book signing soon– May 4th for Once Upon a Sandbox

I am excited about my book signing at Waterloo Chapters this Saturday, May 4th from 11 am–1 pm, in Waterloo, Ontario. Come and get your copy of Once Upon a Sandbox and get it signed. The book makes a great gift for Mother’s Day for a mother, sister, aunt or grandmother as well.

Waterloo Chapters, King Street North, Waterloo, Ontario.

Go here to listen to my interview with Robert White at  Faith FM’s Art Connections

From my publisher’s website:

A marvellous family friendly book that will lift your spirits. Once Upon a Sandbox, by C. R. Wilker, is a warm and gentle memoir about family life on a farm. It is about the farm and the individuals, the personalities, and the ties that bind them to each other.

Whether it’s helping to whitewash a barn, hoeing endless rows of vegetable plants, or driving a tractor to prepare for spring seeding, there’s plenty of work to be done. Through this collection of prose and poetry, reflect on the realities of farm families, their connection with community, weather and economy, as well as being stewards of the land from which they make a living. This is a fine story to which anyone will relate. Read more here.

speaking at Kitchener Kiwanis Club, November 2012

Once Upon a Sandbox was a finalist in the 2012 Word Guild contest

 

Thank you again, Deborah Pryce, for your delightful art on the cover of my book.

Jottings from a writer’s notebook

It hasn’t always been my practice to carry a notebook, but since I’ve taken up writing, I make sure to have something to write on, whether it’s a small notebook or a few pieces of paper, and at least one good pen. I practise what I tell my students to do— to gather fodder for story or poem, inspiration for a day when the well seems to have run dry.

There’s a notebook, usually coil bound, at my bedside table for the late or middle of the night inspirations, a notebook in my car, and one in my purse, albeit a tiny one. And pens—well many pens around me—but not always many in my purse.

My office was recently renovated and is now back in working order, and so I have not yet located all of the small notebooks with jottings in them, but I did find one such book. Here’s an undated entry from a  dog-eared notebook that bears the dates 2005, 2004 on other pages:

“We are like grass withered and brown; our bodies perish, our souls flee. Surely there is some trace, some remembrance of our time here when eternity comes.”

What triggered this entry, I wonder? Was it someone’s death? Was it a note to self to leave something to remember me some day? Was it before my book in which I wrote about growing up? I don’t know, but I think there’s something here to work with. Was this soul fleeing from the tired, worn-out body at the moment of death?

Another jotting that sounds like the making of a poem:

“Earth’s morning jolted from a dreamless sleep, seamless as the evening sky.”

Poetic, and again no date or reason for writing it. Where was I? What was I doing?  Maybe it doesn’t matter when or where, only that it’s there.

One, dated April 7, 2005, about my relationship with God:

I, sinful and weak

break my word to you time after time

year after year

but you have not turned me away

have not given up on me

Who would give me so many chances…

Indeed, who else?

Some of these entries are jottings during our pastor’s sermon. Words, phrases that I want to remember, sometimes in a notebook, other times on the back of the service bulletin that I save with my other notes. I quickly scribble down the line so I can write about it later—Sorry, Pastor, I’m still listening, sort of. My mind is taking a rabbit trail from your sermon. Always a writer’s mind here, you see.

Even now, I have three pens laying on the desk beside a newer notebook, even while my fingers work on the keyboard. I still love using pens for my first draft. My fingers can more easily keep up with a flow of words when they come to me than typing on a keyboard, for when I type, I keep correcting things. If L. M. Montgomery could keep up to her story while using pen, then it’s still a good thing, and I have the best of both worlds when I can use the computer for revision.

Another jotting, and I know where it came from:

Dimpled hands reach

arms wrap around me

something to hold on to

grabbing hold of hair  ears

whatever can be clasped by tiny fingers

wet kisses on my cheek

I return the hug gladly

Not polished, nevertheless, something I want to remember. Who knows where it will appear someday, or in what form.

I’ll keep on carrying notebook and pens, because I never know what gem I may discover. Stories comes from living life, not only from sitting behind a desk, typing.

What treasures do your notebooks hold?

Speaking in a contest

If you’re a Toastmaster, you know about speaking contests, not just the ones in the club, but beyond them too.

A club hosts a contest, and members participate as contestants (if they’re a little bit crazy and a lot brave) and others take positions as judges, contest chair, chief judge and counters. The rest are  audience members, and we need those too.

The purpose of contests in Toastmasters is to celebrate the best in speaking. That’s what the rule book says. But I call it a lesson in bravery of a different type. The speech takes over your life for weeks as you write it, practise it and refine it still further. It takes over brain cells and the body on the day of the contests, because believe me, a contest stands apart from delivering a speech anywhere else, in public or in  your club. You can think of nothing else but the speech and the contest.

And so it was that our club hosted its two contest meetings, with the evaluation contestants judged on their evaluation of a test speaker, and  for the International contest, a speech that inspired and entertained.

This time there were trophies, sometimes it’s a certificate!

Second place in Evaluation contest and second in International

When members take first place in the club contest, they go on to the next level—the Area contest. As it turned our, our first place contestant, Suzanne, in one of the contests was about to set off for a vacation, and so that’s where I came in, representing our club. Mahtot would move on for the Evaluation contest for the Energetics Toastmasters club and I would be there for the International Speech contest. And so we  were both excited about the prospect and anticipating it with a variety of feelings.

After the contestants have given their speeches and while the counters and chief judges determine the winners, all contestants return to the stage for the interview portion. The audience learns a little more about the contestants, their interests and accomplishments. It’s as enjoyable as the contest speeches and a little more relaxed.

Our Evaluation contestant, Mahtot, shaking hands with contest chair, Melanee.

This was Mahtot’s  first contest and I was so proud of her for stepping up and doing it so well.

Interview time for International Speech contestants: Apparently I talk with my hands too.

Contest chair, Bud, asked me about a  recent accomplishment and so I told the audience about my book, Once Upon a Sandbox, and its finalist position in a writing contest in 2012. Also where people can buy it. Here I was describing the biography wall at Chapters (Waterloo).

Next on my right is the first place winner of the International Speech contest, Neil Dunsmore, for Area 61, who will go on to Division level, along with Jeremy Tracey, who will represent our area in the Evaluation contest. Good luck to both of them!

 

Photos © Carolyn Wilker, unless otherwise noted. Photos 2 & 3 of this post  by permission of Gabriela Coman.

Canadian Writers Who Are Christian–What is a Mission Statement?

Yesterday, I posted over at Canadian Writers Who Are Christian, as I do once a month. Read my post on mission statements and while you’re there, take a look around and read posts by other writers such as Peter Black, Eleanor Shepherd, Linda Hall and Rose McCormick Brandon. May this reading be a blessing to your day.

C. R. Wilker, author of Once Upon a Sandbox, pub. 2011 by Hidden Brook Press.

Available from selected book outlets (Fanfare Books, Stratford; Merrifield Book Shop, Woodstock; and Chapters Waterloo, Waterloo, ON), author, and from publisher.

http://www.carolynwilker.ca

book cover

 

When Fear Gets in the Way

This morning in Jeff Goins’ blog post, his guest writer, Anne Peterson, poet, author and speaker, wrote about how people offer up excuses to get out of doing things, and avoid failure. Her mother sounds just like mine. In fact, she said the same words: “There’s no such word as can’t.”

In a recent speech to fellow Toastmasters, I talked about doing something I feared. My fears were my own, but audience members identified, for they have their own to face. The first was my fear of heights and, how, when I was a teen, the prospect of standing on an elevated platform to whitewash the side of our barn terrified me. My second, the fear of speaking was about as big, and so I joined Toastmasters in preparation for a book that I would, one day, promote, or a workshop I would present.

Perhaps you’ve guessed; I`ve done both.  It took months and months of practice—not to mention shaking hands and trembling voice—to feel more comfortable in front of my club members. but in time, I was speaking outside the club too, in other venues. Still challenged by the fear of heights, I fly to destinations for vacations but climb as few ladders as possible.

Learning to speak  has been  a good thing. Since then I have had a book published—well two, including my first little poetry collection. Being prepared has helped for I enjoyed my book events. Still butterflies creep in from time to time when I get up to speak, but I understand that means I care about my audience. Now I focus on my excitement about sharing my presentation, and it has made a big difference.

Anne Peterson quoted Winston Churchill too: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” I identify with that, because we do often stumble as we learn, whether it’s from fear of failure or just part of the learning process. Probably a little of both. If we want something badly enough, we’re willing to work hard to achieve that success, whatever it is.

Carolyn Wilker, storytelling during the event Open Doors Waterloo, 2012.

Teachable Moment

The daily prompt from WordPress: You have to learn a new skill.Do you prefer to read about it, watch someone else do it, hear someone else describe it, or try it yourself.

As much as I enjoy reading about something of interest, I’d still rather do it myself. It reminds me of a lecture about sewing household decorator items that I attended years ago. While the woman was demonstrating, I  was wishing that I had my sewing machine and fabric there to create something while she was teaching. That`s where I like the interactive options.

I could read books galore on sewing, writing, gardening or even learning a language, but then I want to try it while the information is fresh in my mind. I think so many things are learned best through one’s own efforts. Some teaching may be needed first, whether it’s hearing, seeing or reading, but then get to the part where the person tries the skill.

No language is ever learned without speaking it, no piano skills made by just listening, and no seamstress ever becomes proficient until she has learned the qualities of fabric, the way a bias works, or by testing out patterns to see what fits best. Also gardeners developed knowledge by growing things herself and reinventing her garden time after time.

That`s the way a child learns, by trying new things, and I think many adults learn by trying things out themselves as well.

Contest season again at Toastmasters

Contest winners at the Fall District 86 Toastmasters conference in London, Ontario, 2011.

February, for those who aren’t familiar with Toastmasters, is a contest month, one of the two times in the year that Toastmasters hold speaking contests.

For the uninitiated, contests provide an opportunity for members “to gain speaking experience, as well as an opportunity for other Toastmasters to learn by observing proficient speakers.” The rule book is specific in what or what is not allowed, but this is its purpose.

In February, at least in our area and district, clubs hold their own events for  the Evaluation contest and the International Speech contests.

When I first joined the Energetics Toastmasters, I was in awe of those who spoke so well and so easily. I learned later that even they were nervous in a contest. At least it didn’t show.

In an evaluation, a person gives feedback on the speaker’s presentation, not on the speaker herself, but how she presented the speech, notable gestures, the way she uses her voice, the content of the speech and how she makes it interesting for the audience. And so in the evaluation contest, the people who compete evaluate the speech of someone who comes into the club as a target or test speaker.

I’ve been on both sides, and I remember giving the speech at different clubs and getting the feedback, as well as being an evaluator in my own club and having to give feedback on the speech. In my first contest, as an evaluator, I ran out of words to say. I only needed to give, perhaps, one more comment and it would have been fine. Having evaluated so many more speakers since then, it should be a breeze, but it isn’t. There’s something about a contest that changes the picture.

The second contest this season, at the Energetics and other clubs, is the International Speech contest—the one that continues on through area, division, district to the world championships. We’ve now had two people in our district get all the way to the international convention, which in itself is quite a feat and an honour. The International contest tends to bring out more motivational and inspiring speeches, ones that speak to a greater number of people.

Our contest chair for the Evaluation contest—our first contest this season—has been asking for judges and contestants, getting all the necessary paperwork in order. She’s well organized, even while doing this task for the first time—learning as she goes. That’s what Toastmasters and contest speeches do for us. We learn as we go, and in practising first in the club, we go on to the world outside our club doors and use what we’ve learned.

Let the contest season begin! Back to my own preparations…

On to storytelling from Toastmasters, using skills I’ve learned

Storytelling as guest author for launch of  Robin Livingstone’s book,  Eyes Wide Open,telling a story from my own collection in Once Upon a Sandbox

Introducing author and children’s storyteller, Aubrey Davis on stage at Latitudes in Kitchener, ON.

Addressing the guests at my own book launch in 2011, for Once Upon a Sandbox

Liebster Award

 

 

 

 

 

My blog has been awarded the Liebster Award by fellow blogger Violet Nesdoly, whose poetry I enjoy reading. She’s  a novelist too.

The deal with this award is to nominate other deserving blogs as well as to tell a little about myself.

To accept the award:
1. List five random facts about yourself

I enjoy photography and scrapbooking.

I offer workshops on memoir writing.

I teach creative writing

For exercise, I love to walk, sometimes with a friend, but also by myself.

As Violet mentioned, I love stories, both listening to them and telling them.
2. Pass the Liebster award on to other blogs (up to as many as five).

See my list below.
3. Proudly display the Liebster button on your blog! (which I have just done)

Whether those nominated choose to pass along the award or put up the award on their blog is their own choice. Here are the blogs I have nominated for the award because I enjoy reading their posts:

The Promise of Home by Rose McCormick Brandon, who in recognition of her grandmother being a home child, dedicates her blog to the memory of those children who were sent off from their home as children. Touching stories.

Kingdom Poets by D. S. Martin, also a poet, who gives such interesting information about poetry and those who write in the genre.

Sunny Side Up! by Kathleen Gibson. I so enjoy reading her posts that often are quite humorous but very real.

 

Canadian Writers Who Are Christian–Turn over a new leaf

Today, the first day in 2013, a new year waiting for you. What are  your hopes and dreams and plans? And who is included in those plans?

This morning, I posted at Canadian Writers Who Are Christian. Go there and read Turn over a new leaf. And while you`re there, check out posts by other Canadian writers.

I wish you a Happy New Year with joy and peace in your home.

A little more to think about for the upcoming year: