Guidelines

The Goal of Barrie Writers Club is to provide a supportive environment that fosters encouragement and respect; allowing members the confidence to share their work and offer insights into the works of others.

 A place where one can enhance their knowledge and improve writing skills.

Meeting Guidelines

• Personal writing is top priority- Take home exercises are purely optional.
• Every attendee has the opportunity to read one piece per night; ten minutes max.   The reader should give a brief introduction as per critiquing guidelines.
• Everyone* is welcome to critique, but is not obligated to.  Critiques should be kept to two to three minutes per person.
• If members wish to have an extensive critique, please bring copies, so others can make comments on the page and then return them to the reader.
• Members are encouraged to share information pertaining to developing the skills of writing, contests, events, publication news, ect.
• The club meeting is not the proper setting for in-depth political or philosophical debates.
• Personal concerns pertaining to the club should be brought to the attention of the president, or vice president, after the meeting, or in an e-mail.
• After a maximum of four weeks, new attendees will be required to pay the membership fee.

*We ask that new members hold their critiques till after their first meeting*

Chair Persons Responsibilities

Every month, the meetings will be chaired by two volunteers.

They will be in charge of:

• Generating and presenting an educational seminar themselves, or by a guest, approved by president.
• A take home inspirational exercise based on lesson plan.
• Any prompts that pertain to the seminar or a new prompt.
• Keeping meetings and conversations on track, as per guidelines.

Breakdown of meetings

• 1^st Monday- Co-chairs will present a seminar, lasting up to 60 minutes.  A handout pertaining to the lesson, or a prompt, will be done leaving the rest of the night for regular readings and critiques.
• 2^nd Monday will be started with inspirations from last lesson and a question period.  Regular readings will follow.
• 3^rd, 4^th and (if there is a fifth) Mondays – Readings and critiques and if time allows, a prompt, set up by the co-chairs.

President: Marilyn Lamb                    Vice President: TBD                         Treasurer:  Sandra Gaylsh

prepared by Roseann Marchitto

 Critiquing Guidelines

The Goal of the Barrie Writer’s Club is to provide a supportive environment that fosters encouragement and respect, allowing members the confidence to share their work, offer insights into the works of others and enhance their knowledge to improve their writing skills.

A critical step in achieving that goal is the process of critiquing.  To that end the Barrie Writer’s Club has setup guidelines to make the process as smooth and effective as possible.

 Guidelines:

• Be respectful of everyone, one person talking at a time.
• Every attendee has the opportunity to read one piece per meeting; maximum of ten minutes.  Readers can introduce their piece as they see fit(though the writing should be able to stand on its own) but the timer will start as soon as they start talking- reading or otherwise.
• If readers want a more in-depth critique it is recommended that they bring copies of their work to hand out to the other attendees.
• When your work is being critiqued try not to explain or defend it against every comment made.  Try to be silent, take notes about what is being said and review them later to decide which you agree with and which you don’t.  Our meetings are not the place for arguments about who’s opinion is right or wrong.
• Everyone is welcome to critique but no one is obligated to.
• Everyone who chooses to critique has a maximum of three minutes to do so.
• If you have a counter argument to make, take notes and raise your hand to speak after the current speaker has had their three minutes.
• Once both sides of an argument have been given, let the author decide which one he or she agrees with.
• If copies are given and members make punctuation, grammar and small personal edits on them, these are not to be read through during the meeting; simply hand them back to the reader at the end of the night and let them go through it at their leisure.
• Finally, don’t be insulting.  Negative comments are just as necessary(or more so) as positive ones but giving negative critiques should be done gently.  Don’t simply state that something is wrong.  Make your observation, explain why and offer a solution.

New members:  We ask that you don’t critique on your first meeting; this, so that you can gain a little understanding of how our system works before you jump right in.

prepared by Daniel