Killing Jar Sells Out at SiWC
Chicken House Press was so pleased to support Ace Baker on his quest to give back to the conference that has meant so much to him over the years. With the publication of his first collection, How To Make a Killing Jar, he leveraged that momentum to land a position as a 2023 presenter, offering three separate sessions to conference attendees: Young Writers-Kudos to You!, Using Motif to Deepen Prose, and Contest Quest. (See below for an explanation of each workshop/masterclass.)
Ace described the experience as “the closest I will ever feel to being a rock star.”
It was a weekend of teaching and connecting and signing many books for eager attendees, selling out of all the books CHP provided to the conference bookstore and leaving attendees wanting more.
Ace Baker and Diana Gabaldon at SiWC 2023
For Ace, it was a writer’s dream. “…I couldn't walk down a hall or enter a room without someone approaching and thanking me, or someone coming up to say something about my book that they were now reading…Heaven!” He also enjoyed a moment reconnecting with international bestseller Diana Gabaldon, to whom he is forever grateful for the quote she provided for the front cover of How To Make a Killing Jar.
Ace left the conference with invitations to join writer’s groups and an invitation to teach a group led by the conference bookseller.
Now he is taking that rock star energy back into the high school classroom where his students are sure to benefit from his enthusiasm and new-found confidence.
“I was…surprised how extroverted I was at this conference, without any jitters. I'm not a social butterfly usually, but I really was at this conference, and I didn't dart from one to another, but SPENT TIME with each, listening more than speaking, and valuing their words. It went extremely well, much better than I ever expected.”
You can check out some of the attendee feedback at the bottom of this post.
To learn more about the Surrey International Writers’ Conference please visit siwc.ca.
Young Writers-Kudos to You! —This master class for writers under 19 years of age covered techniques in both poetry and prose that could help student raise the bar in their own work, enough to find the printed page or place in those very competitive contests. It offered some do’s and don’ts that could greatly improve their odds when submitting work to editors, publishers, and contest judges.
Using Motif to Deepen Prose — Ace Baker has used motifs on more than one occasion to catch a contest judge’s or publisher’s eye (including those at SIWC). Several of the short stories in his collection, How to Make a Killing Jar, make use of it, including more than a few award winners. In this workshop, he showed excellent examples and walked writers through, step by step, a wide variety of ways motifs can be used in their flash fiction, short stories, personal essays, memoirs, and novels. A MASSIVE folder of handouts was provided.
Contest Quest — Ace Baker has won more than a few contests in his day, including The Storyteller Award at SIWC. In his short story collection, How to Make a Killing Jar, half of the stories included have placed or won in contests; others are new works. He has also helped more than 100 other writers win or place in competitions as well. This session focused on how to gain the upper hand when submitting creations. It talked about what works and what doesn’t, ones to aim for, ones to avoid, and what they can do for you, for your writing, and for your author platform, offering some simple tweaks that can be made to both poetry and prose to improve the odds of winning.
Do you want to invite Ace to be a presenter at your writing event? Chicken House Press would be happy to connect you! Reach out via the contact page and an introduction can be made, or connect directly with Ace through his website Fight to Write.
