Happy New Year, OWC!

Happy New Year, Ottawa Writer's Circle!

Welcome to a new decade (to most people), the Roaring Twenties 2.0 (to just me)! With a new year brings new resolutions, renewed goals, and promises of New Year, New Me. I'm here to tell you This Is Your Year To (Finally?) Write The Thing! Or Finish The Thing! Query The Thing! Publish The Thing!  

This post is long (surprise!) so what am I going to talk about? What's coming up in 2020 for the OWC, a call for volunteers, and bringing back the OWC reader database with a new focus. Feel free to skip around or read on!  

2020 is going to be a bit of a new year for the OWC. The Year of Getting Back to Basics, the Year of the Write In, and what we're all here for: The Writing. (And apparently The Capital Letters.) We're not shutting anything down! We're still going to have critique circles and socials; you're just going to see fewer of them on the calendar. 

For Write Ins, we're hoping to get more of them in more places around the city! Like these January ones in Kanata, Westboro/Hintonburg, Barrhaven, and Downtown. 

We're also focusing on more writing-focused talks. Like these Shop Talks on How to Get Back to Enjoying Your Story! January is full, but February has lots of space. Our Story Development Groups--fancy, guided brainstorming--have opened back up for some events in February (1, 29) and April. And there will be so many more new events that haven't been announced yet! 

So, is there something you'd like to see happen with the OWC that we haven't talked about? Is there something we've talked about that excites you and you want in? Fill out this form and we'll be in touch! This group runs on volunteers, very little would happen without our leadership team, so if you're interested, we'd love to hear from you. 

Also, we're bringing back the critique partner database for OWC members. Since we've just been adding to the old one for quite a while, it's gotten quite stale. So, we're starting from scratch with a renewed focus on critique partners, alpha readers, and beta readers. This isn't to say paid editors aren't welcome in the database, but I hope to see more two-way, long-term connections made! If you're interested in being included, please fill out this form by January 15th. 

That's it! I'm looking forward to a brand new year and seeing some new and old faces out to some events. On a personal note, I know I've been a bit of The Man Behind the Curtain this year, but hopefully I can make it out and put more faces to names. 

Happy New Year, all. I hope it's wonderful and all your dreams come true.