Your Facilitators | A Novel Approach

“The teaching of craft can be done without damage to a writer’s original voice or artistic self-esteem.”
― Pat Schneider (the 4th precept of the AWA Method)

The Facilitators of A Novel Approach

Both Sue Reynolds and James Dewar are certified and skilled facilitators in the Amherst Writers & Artists Method, a writing workshop design that holds a safe and creative space for all participants as they engage with the courageous work of writing a novel or memoir.

James Dewar

I am an enthusiastic participant in almost every area of the writing profession.

I love writing. Whether it’s short stories, a full-length novel, or poetry, web writing, blogs, reviews, freelance non-fiction pieces for newspapers and magazines, I can freefall with the best of them. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, but kept it to myself for most of my life.

But after twenty-two years in corporate jobs, I realized that writing was my passion. I turned to it full time and have never looked back. This gives me some unique perspectives on the life and craft of writing and I enjoy sharing them. Creating and crafting first drafts into second ones and applying substantive critiquing to the writing of new and experienced authors are skills that I first learned in the business world and continue to develop. I design and oversee the editing and publication of books and anthologies as a publisher (Piquant Press and Stones Throw Publications) and I was a contributing editor on several Metroland magazine sections for five years.

I am almost finished the second draft of my third novel. I am looking forward to finishing the first draft of my next novel in the company of the many other authors participating in the A Novel Approach workshops.

I am committed to helping writers develop their talent. I have taught advanced creative writing at Durham College and offer workshops on a variety of subjects from writing fiction, erotica, poetry, and memoir, to practicing the key elements of performing your work on a public stage. I often partner with the amazing Sue Reynolds in these workshops so participants benefit from our unique perspectives on each subject.

I successfully completed an Honours B.A. in English and History at YORK UNIVERSITY and a Bachelor of Education, Type A, at the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO.

For some testimonials about working with me as a facilitor and writing mentor, please visit this page on our Inkslingers website. Testimonials for James

I have performed my work live on CBC Radio, Rogers TV, at numerous poetry readings and on several university radio stations, particularly the HOWL Radio show on CIUT 89.5 FM in Toronto.

I produced and hosted the Hot-Sauced Words Poetry Performance Series in Toronto for a decade.

I have also judged several writing contests including The Canadian Authors Association.

My poetry collection, The Garden in the Machine, was published by Hidden Brook Press in 2007. My short story, Strychnine Blues, was featured in That Dammed Beaver, a 2018 collection of Canadian Humour from Exile Editions, edited by Bruce Meyer.

My poetry and short fiction have also been published in several anthologies and literary journals including Quills, Misunderstandings Magazine, The Renaissance Conspiracy Poetry Anthologies, The Word Weaver and Whispered Words.

Sue Reynolds

I am a published novelist and an award-winning writer of poetry and creative non-fiction as well. I have been writing all my life. My first novel was published in 1992 and won the Canadian Library Association’s YA Novel of the Year award.

When it came time to write my next book, I panicked. I froze. I got a monumental case of writer’s block. Just exactly how had I managed to write that first book again?

That’s when I began studying the craft of writing. I read everything I could get my hands on. I took courses. I went to New Mexico and studied with Natalie Goldberg (of Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind) three times. Over the next few years I also studied with Barbara Turner Vessalago (Freefall Writing), Anne Michaels (Fugitive Pieces), Orm Mitchell (W.O. and Mitchell), and Robert J. Ray and Jack Remick (of The Weekend Novelist).

Through experiencing the workshops with Natalie Goldberg, I realized that I needed to find community – my tribe – to write with. And so, twenty-five years ago, I began passing on what I had learned. In 2002 I took the AWA Certification to lead writing workshops with Pat Schneider and Patricia Lee Lewis, and I’ve never looked back.

Through leading writing workshops I began to see the profoundly healing effect that writing one’s truth can have on the writer (whether in fiction or memoir). I changed my life so I could go back to university to study Psychology with a particular focus on the therapeutic use of journaling and memoir (my thesis on that topic received the Canadian Psychological Association’s Award of Academic Excellence in 2006).

I love writing in all it’s many forms, and helping others achieve their dreams of writing is a passion that has me meeting each day gladly.

For some testimonials about working with me as a facilitor and writing mentor, please visit this page on our Inkslingers website. Testimonials for Sue

For more about me please visit my website, SueReynolds.ca, where I focus my thoughts around writing for therapeutic benefit, as well as other topics.