Workshop This Monday for Calgary Writers!!

January 23 2012


Special Topic: Ready Set Write!

Presenter: Janet Gurtler

Join Janet Gurtler, author of "If I Tell" and "I'm Not Her" (Sourcebooks, 2011), to learn some useful and practical writing techniques using Donald Maass' workbook, "Writing the Breakout Novel." Bring along your novel or work-in-progress and get ready to get to work. Suitable for all Genres of Writing!

Cost: Free for SCBWI members and $5 for non-members

Time: 7:00 - 8:30 pm Doors open at 6:30 pm

Location: Southcentre Mall, Calgary -- Community Meeting Room, Lower Level

Contact: Pamela McDowell, pmcdowell@shaw.ca

Where the heck is Janet?

Disclaimer- This is not really me. Or. Is it??

I'm thinking of me dressed in red and white stripes like Waldo. I'm hiding somewhere. Blending in. It could be a hot yoga class. It's probably in my living room with a laptop on my lap.

You've probably noticed by now that my blogging skills lately. Well. They kind of suck. I want to blog. I like the idea of blogging. But really sometimes I get too lazy busy. I have been busy writing a new book and doing some awesome Write For Hire Books. I have some workshops coming up and frankly, some days I struggle with things to say to the blog world in general. I'm not so much a teacher in my blogs. I have opinions, but I usually keep them to myself. So that really leaves babbling. And really. Do I need to babble at you? I don't think so either.


I'm definitely not going away. I'm on Twitter alot.

 Find me on Twitter

I also still love me some Facebook.

Look! Here I am on Facebook!


You can also email me with burning questions, like what do I love to eat for breakfast more than anything? Or even better questions of your own. My email is listed on my Contact page on my Website.

So I'm still here. I'm just not here. If you get my meaning. Big wink.

Stay in touch baby.

Happy Holidays!

Thanks to everyone who has popped by my wee bloggie, and everyone who has supported my books in 2011!

Hope you holidays are full of great joy and create wonderful memories!

See you in the NEW YEAR!!

Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

Oh hello badly neglected Blog. You are still here? Waiting for me to return? How sweet and loyal. Thank you.

Well. I did it! I finished Who I Kissed and turned it into my editor exactly less than 24 hours ago. (I was going to give an exact time but seriously, I'm tired. My brain is fried. Estimations will suffice)

I know it's not done. As in done done. Lovely Leah, super editor, will read and contemplate and send me back revisions, and that's okay. I actually really like the revision process of a novel. Not that I haven't already done lots of work and re-work.  Who I Kissed was an edit as I go project. A weaving journey.

Right now. Today. I'm pleased with it. Of course my brain is still really really full of it, as in I worked on it pretty hard and in pretty high gear to get it written to a fairly short deadline. Again. That's okay. I'm a pretty fast writer. But I haven't really had a chance to step back from it and then look at it with fresh eyes. That will come in January.  

But it has some good bits I think. Hope. Pray. Of course there are sad points. The synopsis kind of acts as a spoiler for that. Girl has a peanut butter sandwich, kisses boy and kills him not realizing he is deathly allergic to peanuts. But there's lighter things. And cute boys.

It's a journey of self discovery.  Angels even have a role. And a funny little dog named Fredrick who looks kind of (okay exactly) like this:

But now as I emerge from my writer cave, I see that Christmas is almost here. Funny how it does that the same time every year, yet it always seems to sneak in unexpectedly. My house is a true disaster zone. My boy is having a sleepover party tomorrow, and there's domestic work to be done. After this weekend I am planning to collapse for a while. And then we'll be off to visit family and then back and ready for a brand new year.

2011 has been a full one. That's for sure. But that's another talk for another day.

Happy Christmas Shopping. See you on the flip side!

Warning. More Writer Deadline Confessions.

When writing a new book, once in a magical while (usually at the beginning when brains are enamoured with  new shiny stories) it sometimes seems like it's the best thing ever written by anyone ever. There may be laughing out loud while writing, there may be tears as characters suffer. These moments are usually replaced by fear that this is the most horrible drivel ever conceived and that the editor will rip up the contract and block email when she receives her first copy of the manuscript.  There may have to be intervention from other writers.

Thinking about people especially professional reviewers reading your work at this stage can only cause major carbohydrate binging. It is best avoided.

Even when it doesn't look an author on deadline is working. She is. She's watching and thinking and contemplating the way real life scenarios or conversation bits might be useful in books. She`s thinking about what her characters are doing and why. She`s wondering how she can make that person more alive. All this is secretly done while driving, eating, talking, watching our children play sports and even sleeping.

An author on deadline secretly wishes that everyone could just stop needing her for a couple weeks. Going away to a secluded room with wifi and coffee and snacks seems like the best idea. Ever. And a personal maid would be awesome too. The author still loves her family and her dog, she just wishes they could function without her for a couple weeks.

Coffee and pop become food staples.  Exercise seems much less important in the whole scheme of things.

Daily chores are really aggravating. And often aren`t done. Laundry starts to breed and multiply.

Google becomes a writer`s best friend. Real friends are only communicated with on Twitter, Facebook or in a real emergency, by email.

Worry. There is lots of worry. And hope. Lots of that too.

Happy writing!!

Confessions and a Deadline

I'm not Catholic but I live in a house with them and therefore this feels like a good time for a confession.

Hello Blog. I have not visited you in two weeks.  During that time I have often been busy working on my new novel as I should be. I also had to stop to write two non fiction write- for- hire books about Football. It was fun but way more work than I thought. The time she is ticking. November, she is a busy busy month. Plus I have begun a run program with plans to run my first half marathon in March 2012?. Yes. I might be crazy. Have I mentioned that I am not a very good runner?

I have spent wasted time reading celebrity gossip. What is up with Blake Lively? Did she really dump Leo or did he dump her? Should I really care? I suppose I'll never know the truth. Seriously she'll always be Bridget from The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants to me. No matter who she is sleeping with or how much cleavage she shows in a dress.  Okay. Yes. I'm jealous.

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I also rediscovered that I am really not a fan of Jesse James. Really not. Did you know he fooled around on that tattoo girl 19 times? Well with 19 different woman, probably more times. Which is bad enough, but what makes it worse to me is that he said something that was a total SLAM to Sandra Bullock,while engaged to tattoo girl.  Something about the tattoo girl being the very best lover he ever had.  So he purposely went out of his way to make Sandra Bullock feel bad when he was fooling around on Tattoo girl too.  Grrr. He has really scary eyes I think. Plus have I mentioned how much I love Sandra Bullock? She handled the whole thing with mega class.

 Please Blog. Tell any teen readers to never ever let themselves be fooled by the bad boy antics of boys like Jesse James. They will break your heart. Every time. There may be a character who has similarities in my new book. But I don't want to give spoilers. So shhhhhhh.

During my absense I also watched almost two full seasons of Drop Dead Diva. This. This is an awesome show. I need to hunt down Season Three.  But not until I finish writing.

I am working working working on book 3, WHO I KISSED.  I promise. And you know what, it has some really awesome parts. Unfortunatley right now it also has some parts that need work. ALOT of work. This deadline stuff is kind of freaky.

The next few weekends I have swim meet committments. I have lots of work to do. Did I mention this deadline stuff is kind of freaky?

I will be back soon, Blog. In the meantime.  If I'm not here, I'm writing. (or catching up on celebrity gossip. But shhhhh. Let's pretend it's all writing)

Read all about The First Time!

You never forget your first...

In THE FIRST TIME, 25 young adult authors contribute 25 stories all about firsts: first loves, first kisses, first zombie slayings, and more. Featuring New York Times bestselling authors Carrie Ryan and Jessica Verday, plus a host of others. From humor to horror, and everything in between, these stories will make you laugh, cry, cheer, (and maybe even scream) as you experience something brand new from the authors that you love.

Contributing authors include: Cyn Balog, Lauren Bjorkman, Leigh Brescia, Jennifer Brown, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Janet Gurtler, Teri Hall, Cheryl Renee Herbsman, Stacey Jay, Heidi R. Kling, C. Lee McKenzie, Saundra Mitchell, Jenny Moss, Jackson Pearce, Shani Petroff, Carrie Ryan, Sydney Salter, Kurtis Scaletta, Jon Skovron, Kristina Springer, Rhonda Stapleton, Charity Tahmaseb, Jessica Verday, J. A. Yang, and Lara Zielin

Get it from Amazon:

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If you don't have a Kindle, you can still read this eBook on your phone, computer, iPad, e-reader, etc. Just grab the Amazon Kindle app here: