Kamloops Whirlwind

Photo courtesy of Derek Hayes

Wow, what a conference! It was, as my daughter would say, jam packed.

Thursday I taught two workshops, From B to W; Blogs to Wikis: Delivering Historical Content in the Digital Age and Copyright for Print and Digital. I had two great groups of participants. They asked good questions, contributed their own experiences, and engaged enthusiastically in the exercises; I learnt from them while I shared what I know.

Thursday night was the opening reception. We were lucky to have both Dr. Ignace and Elizabeth Duckworth as our speakers as well as an amazing display of works through the BC Heritage Fairs programs. I am so happy when I see young students being involved in history.

Photo by Andrea Lister

Friday we were introduced to the grasslands by Wendy Gardner and then took a bus trip out to the grasslands.

To the left is the photo of the school buses that took us out there. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of our remarkable bus driver who backed us out back out of our parking spot after our bus bottomed out - school buses are not meant for four-wheel driving.

I learned a lot about the grasslands; its unique plants and birds and how all of those are endangered by development. Not only are we are destroying habitats for birds and plants but resting places along migratory routes for birds. And that was only part-way through Friday with more to go.............

Mysterious Afternoon

A few Saturdays back, 13th April 2013, I spent a pleasurable two hours at One Mysterious Afternoon, A Crime Writers of Canada Event with authors, Cathy Ace, Debra Purdy Kong, and David Russell. Hosted by the Maple Ridge Library, each author read from their mystery novels and answered questions.

They talked about how their writing styles differed. I always enjoy hearing how different writers work. In school, they tended to make you feel that there was only one way to write when in reality everyone has their own methodology. The authors were unanimous in their belief in the value of using professional editors, always nice to hear, but also realistic that mistakes still happen.

The questions took an interesting direction about the challenges of maintaining a realistic feel for locations and people while not crossing that line to libel. Obviously, authors need to be careful about libeling real people but they also careful about creating fictional people that are too close to real people. Not being a fiction writer, I hadn't given much thought to the idea of libelling a location prior to this discussion. The upshot being not to murder your character in a real restaurant or make your fictional company seem a little too familiar.

I found a good article on this topic on the Examiner website, Too many novelists are basing fictional characters on real people & being sued, published April 29, 2012, by Anne Hart about this topic if you are looking for more information.

Upcoming Workshops in Kamloops

I am heading to Kamloops soon for the British Columbia Historical Federation's annual conference: Historic Grasslands. Join me on Thursday, May 9, 2013 for one or two workshops.

$25.00 for Members | $35 for non-members

From B to W: Blogs to Wikis

Having a presence on the internet today is like having an entry in the phone book 30 years ago. Museums, historical societies, and history writers need to be on the web. However, there are a dizzying array of options: blogs, ebooks, facebook, Twitter, websites, and wikis are just some of the choices. Andrea Lister will take you through the options. The growth of the digital market makes it essential for historical organizations and historical writers to understand their digital options while ensuring they do not alienate their existing audience. The workshop includes a handout.
Thursday morning (9:00 am - 12:00 pm)

Copyright for Print and Digital

What does using an image in your printed book, on your website, on facebook, in a tweet, and on your blog have in common? You just published it. The world is becoming increasingly litigious and the publishing landscape has changed with the advent of websites, PDFs, blogs, and ebooks. Historical societies and individuals need to understand the basics of copyright before they publish. The workshop includes a handout. Andrea Lister is not a copyright lawyer and this workshop should in no way be considered legal advice.
Thursday afternoon (1:00 pm – 4:00 pm)

Of course, you can stay for the whole conference and enjoy 4 days of field trips, presentations, workshops, book display with invited and local authors, and the awards banquet with community historians, academics and history enthusiasts.