The judges shortlisted 16 articles and stories by 15 writers.

Yes, one of them is my short story, "Twenty-five Years Later," which chronicles the reunion of four women in their 40s who haven't met since they graduated from college.

Plus, of course, I edited all the other entries, so I'm doubly pleased.

The award winners will be announced June 13 at The Word Guild Awards Gala at World Vision in Mississauga, Ontario.

Complete awards shortlist

Congratulations, everyone!

Here are some concrete examples from my books:

1. A Character

My novel, In Time of Trouble, started with a character.

The boy who was the model for the character, Shane, was in a high school class I taught years ago. He was tall, athletic, blond, and as communicative as a brick wall. But there was something in him I had to reach. and eventually we did have a breakthrough.

Don't get me wrong. He isn't Shane—there are many differences between them—but without him, I doubt very much that I would ever have conceived the character of Shane.

Later, as the story began to develop and i had to make choices as to what Shane did and said, he became very real to me, and I began to see what would happen (the plot), based on his personality and his strengths and weaknesses. I knew Shane was going to accept Christ half-way through the book, and I knew that in the end he and Sandy would, if not reconcile, at least find a meeting-point.

By the way, the entire episode, which takes place near the end, with Sandy dating Janice (who Shane was dating), actually began as a short story that I wrote long before I wrote the book. I simply incorporated the story into the book.

As for the message, I realized in a drama class at a God Uses Ink conference, after I had written the book, that in a sense it's a different take on the prodigal son story. God gives second chances.

The title came from Proverbs 17:17 a few days before it went to print—up until then it had been called Two of A Kind. However, a TV show with that name had come out and I realized i needed to change it. I like the second title better.

In Time of Trouble

2. A Setting

My novel, Shaded Light, came about because of a setting idea. I was in a beautiful Japanese garden in Vancouver and as I came around a corner I thought, "That would be a good place to find a body." (No, not really!)

I actually called the book A Setting for Murder up until a little while before it was published.

Since I wanted to write a classic style mystery, I placed the garden in a closed estate in the Toronto area.

Then I began to develop the characters, beginning with the type of person who would become the body. I decided the estate would be owned by a corporate lawyer whose wife Ellen was uncomfortable with their new lifestyle. And they would have an only son who Ellen wanted to match up with her favourite cousin's daughter. That led to the young lady, Lorry, visiting from Alberta. From there, the rest of the characters just appeared: the son's lady-killer roommate; the other lawyers in the firm and their wives; the black sheep nephew, the housekeeper and her daughter, and so on.

Put all those characters together for a few days and things happen. My plot simply fell into place because of who the characters were and their  interactions with each other.

The message? Hmm. Good question. In the beginning, I think it was the fact that everyone has secrets. But later, I'd say it kind of morphed into something about materialism's not being the answer—and the constant battle between evil/dark and good/light.—which of course is where the final title came from

Shaded Light

3. A Plot

My second mystery, Glitter of Diamonds, came about because of a comment I heard one day on a sports radio talk show in Toronto. I was driving on the 401 (4 or more lanes freeway) at the time, and you should have seen me trying to jot down the idea in my notebook while keeping my eyes on the traffic, which normally whizzes along well above the speed limit.. (Don't try this at home.)

Oh yeah, the gist of the comment was that someone needed to take a certain hockey player outside and knock some sense into his head.

Now, I'm a total sports fan, and I'd been thinking for some time that I'd love to set a book in the world of sports. When I heard this comment, the plot literally leaped into my mind. What if a sports announcer suggested taking a bat to the head of an annoying baseball player? And what if someone actually did? Would the announcer be responsible?

When I got home, I had a huge amount of fun creating characters to fit the plot: a couple of talk show hosts, a long-suffering producer, a baseball team, including a very annoying but gifted Cuban pitcher and a struggling, older pitcher, a couple of newspaper reporters, a rather odd team owner, a jilted wife, a Marilyn Monroe clone, and a James Bond style mystery man. Put those characters together and, naturally, the story just flowed. It was probably the book I've had the most fun writing.

The theme? It began with "All that glisters (glitters?) is not gold" from The Merchant of Venice, one of my absolute favourite plays. And ended there.

Glitter of Diamonds

4. A Message

My novel Best of Friends came about because I had something I really wanted to say to kids. So many of the kids I'd taught in school or worked with in youth groups had their priorities a bit mixed up, in my opinion.

I remembered I Samuel 16:7. God had asked Samuel to find a man named Jesse and anoint one of his sons as the next king of Israel. Samuel was ready to anoint the first son, Eliab, who was tall and handsome. But God said no. And then we have this verse: "But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'”

So I set out to write a book that showed that what's inside—in one's heart—is far more important than outward appearance, material possessions, or popularity.

I created three teenage boys: Glen, who is Mr. Average Teenager in every way; Charlie, the doctor's son, who is the new kid in town and who is handsome, smart, athletic, and well-off; and Phil, who was top dog before Charlie arrived, but who has more of the rebel vibe.

And then I created three girls: Nicole, who is smart, sweet, and gorgeous; her friend, Joyce, who is quiet and kind of average; and Marta, attractive but with a personality like nails on a chalkboard.

And i put them in a small town like the one I grew up in.

As is the case with most teenagers, lots of things, both good and bad, happened quite naturally.

And then I wrote three more books with the same characters.

After four books, I think the series gives my beginning message, but I also think the books says a lot more, and I would suggest that each person might see something different.

As the writer, I may have one message in mind, but as a reader, what you see may be quite different from what I intended. That comes in part from our being different people with different experiences and needs, and partly from my skill in helping you see what I want you to see.

So can you start with a message? Sure, why not? The trick is that you don't force a message where it isn't needed, or tack on a message that doesn't fit, or get so determined to put in the message that you ignore the characters and the plot and the setting.

No matter where your first idea comes from, there have to be strong characters who drive the story; a setting the reader can visualize, and which affects the story, and a compelling story. If you do that, the message, if there is one, will come out on its own, and might well be different for different readers.

Best of Friends

The norm is to simply want to tell the story from beginning to end. "This happened and then this happened and then…." However, the reality is that unless you're a celebrity or your story is particularly dramatic, not many people outside of your family and friends will be all that interested. And to be honest, I can't guarantee that your even family and friends will be interested. 

Many women have babies. Why should your birth story be newsworthy?

Many people have cancer. What makes your experience memorable?

So does that mean there's no market for your stories? Not at all.

Because many women do have babies and many people do get cancer, many people will relate to your story if you write it in such a way that they can identify with you and draw something from it that will help them. In other words, if you tell your story well and make it meaningful for other people. 

Let me give you a couple of examples:

Example 1: Using my story as the core.

I, too, have a story about giving birth. My first child arrived one Easter Sunday by C-section after a very long and highly uncomfortable labour. I've written a couple of different versions for different publications. While it is my story, it does have a bigger message. Easter Birth articles

Many people write autobiographies or memoir. The former is basically a detailed account of your life from birth on, and is usually expected to be accurate, and generally written by people who are already well-known. But many people write memoir, which is  essentially selected stories from one's past – told as you remember them. I'm currently working on a memoir. This is one story that will likely be included. It's already in the anthology, Hot Apple Cider, and it's won two awards. It works primarily because, although it's my personal story, many people can identify with feeling 'different" in some way. "The Diamond Ring"

Example 3: Using my story as an illustration

I once lost my keys through a grate in the parking lot of a grocery store just after dropping my husband off at the airport. I had two toddlers in the car, and I was pretty pregnant. Later, watching the Olympics, I cringed as a Canadian skier who had already faced extreme hardships missed the final gate on what might have been a medal run.

I put the two together and wrote a column on the fact that life isn't fair. I think pretty well anyone can relate to that. That column has been published several times. Remember to learn from life's 'unfair' experiences

I might add that if you want to read some great stories that are based on life situations, check out A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider and Hot Apple Cider. Some great ones there.

Writing exercise:

I recommend making a list of everything you can think of that might be worthy of inclusion as either the core part or an illustration in an article, short story, poem, etc. or as an illustration. Ask yourself:

• What has happened to you that someone else might relate to?
• What has happened to you that impacted you in some way? 

Go way back to childhood and work your way through your life, jotting down events that might be worth remembering and either retelling or using as an illustration.

Today, I'm feeling a lot like that turtle—scared to stick my neck out, wondering if I should just stay out of sight, pretend I'm not even here.

My so-called career as a writer and speaker has been sadly neglected over the last few years—just as neglected as this website. Believe it or not, I started writing my third Manziuk and Ryan mystery over two years ago, and only got the first chapter written. And I've had posts sitting here, mostly written and almost ready to go, from back in the spring of 2010.

And then things happened.

The scramble to get Write! Canada 2010 organized for June.

The decision in early August to publish A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider and 12 months of total focus on it, from the call for submissions to editing, layout, and then printing, the launch in May, and the promotion, all of which was interspersed with the panic of trying to organize and run Write! Canada 2011 in June.

More promotion for A Second Cup, trying to get organized to work on a memoir I've been wanting to write for years, lots of life-stuff, and then back to the pressure of organizing Write! Canada 2012, and training more staff to help so that hopefully I won't have to do as much in the future.

And here we are, two years later, and the only posts on my site since February of  2010 are a couple of news items, two posts I had prepared months before, a personal note from August of 2010, one brief mention in 2011 about A Second Cup being published,and a recent notice about a workshop I'm teaching later this month. Ouch! 

Not saying I regret it. I know Write! Canada benefits lots of people. And A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider is a terrific book. 30,000 copies are going to women across Canada as part of World Vision Canada's Girls Night Out and Couples Night Out programs. And we've sold close to 5,000 additional books.

So there are no regrets, but it's time for me to think about me, and in particular my writing.

I'm almost afraid to say it, because I've no idea what will happen tomorrow, but my way of beginning is to try to get my website in order.

I'm focusing on  two things:

• Who would want to read my books but doesn't know about them yet?
• What can I do to help people get to know about my books?

When i figure those things out, I'll start writing, and we'll see how it goes. It's actually kind of scary. I'm still the turtle in the reeds wondering if it's safe to come out. But, you know, the sun is starting to shine, so maybe I'll stick my neck out just a tiny bit by posting this blog.

Like the first book, this one was edited by Wendy Nelles and me. It took virtually all my time from August until the end of January. Well, more than that actually because now we're in marketing mode. 

There are 37 writers showcased in it, a number of whom have not really been published before.

Like Hot Apple Cider, it has a mixture of true-life stories, fiction, and poetry; 51 individual pieces in all. 

My entry this time is fiction – a short story about four women in their 40s who haven't met since they graduated from college. It's called "Twenty-Five Years Later."

Do you need a copy of this book? Do birds have wings? Of course you do.

Check it out at hotapple.cider.ca

We also managed to touch base with other members of The Word Guild from the area, including Lando Klassen, owner of the House of James, and authors Grace Fox and Carolyn Arends.

Plus we checked in with Flyn Ritchie of Canadian Christianity and even had a quick interview with managing editor David Dawes, who has interviewed me in the past, but always via the  phone or email. Nice to connect in person.

The rest of the time over the past few weeks we were connecting with family, from 90 members of Les's mother's family (including her five sisters – see photo below – Les's mom is on the far right – and four cousins from Norway) at a family reunion near Swift Current, Saskatchewan to a visit with my birth father and some of his family in Northern Saskatchewan, and an evening with my cousin and her mother, my 96-year old aunt, in Saskatoon.

Can't omit the great food at the reunion, the super Saskatoon pie my cousin made, the borscht Les helped my birth father's wife make, or the pancakes with chokecherry syrup my cousin's husband made before we left for the airport to fly to BC.

In BC, we stayed with Les's mother, and managed to see more of Les's family, including his brother from Toronto (whom we rarely see here!), an aunt, and his niece and her family from Cape Breton Island. Then we saw my aunts from White Rock and Winnipeg (another timely visit) and my birth mother and some of the members of her family. The timing was interesting since my birth mother had a pacemaker put in while we were there – not planned, but worked out very well. We also had lunch with a pastor friend we church-planted with in Regina years ago.

On our one free day, we went to Granville Island and Queen Elizabeth Park and the Bloedel  Conservatory.

Yes, there was more great food, including some terrific seafood (salmon, shrimp, clam chowder, halibut, etc.), an amazing piece of blueberry pie, and some great yam and sweet potato fries. Got some amazingly good licorice at the Granville market.

And now we're home, dealing with the three-hour time change, and feeling a bit deluged by all the things we need to do for the coming months. More on that later. Technically I'm still on holidays until September 7th. Realistically, well, we'll see….

Many writers get ideas from listening to the news, reading newspapers or the internet, watching programs about current affairs, noticing topics that are trending… 

In fact, being alert to what's going on in the world is usually a great way to get started as a writer. Many local or regional newspapers are interested in stories of community events. A simple news item might give you inspiration for a follow-up feature article, a poem, a story, a related news item, or something larger. A story in a national newspaper or magazine might give you a bigger idea.

Or you might simply use something in the news as part of a larger story or book. 

Let me give you a few examples:  

Years ago, I decided to enter the Toronto Star's short story contest. I think it was fairly new at the time. However, I had difficulty thinking of something to write that I thought the panel of judges would be interested in. I tried several things and was feeling my wheels spinning. Nothing felt right.

After some thought, I decided that the judges would likely be looking for something that was "current" in some way. So I pulled out the newspapers for the past week. I found several stories about the closures of some of the VIA rail services. Hmm. What did I know about railway services? Well, I had been raised in a small town and I knew there were some people who depended on the train. Plus one of my mother's uncles had been a railway station manager. And I began to ask what if? I thought of my grandmother. What it she lived in a small town and didn't drive a car? And what if there was a railway train she could take to the city once in a while?

The resulting story, One Last Ride on the VIA Rail, was a Judge's Choice in the Toronto Star Short Contest that year, and was published in the Toronto Star. 

One more example:

Even though my novel, Glitter of Diamonds, is a mystery, it's actually based largely on actual events.

One of the main characters is a young pitcher who has escaped from Cuba and been granted asylum in Canada.

I got the idea for this book from three different news/events sources.

1. Listening to Bob McCown on the FAN 590 one day, he and his guests were talking about sports figures who act like jerks and how some of them needed a good wake-up call.

2. A Cuban ball player had recently defected. I knew that over the years, Livan Hernandez and a number of other Cuban baseball players have escaped from Cuba and gone on to play for major league teams. Surely there would be more.

3. My knowledge that Worldteam Canada, a mission organization, is planting churches in Cuba because Worldteam USA cannot (due to government regulations).

I put the three things together: what if a Cuban baseball player defected and came to Canada, where he got lost in the glitter of the opportunities and became a jerk, while at the same time, back in Cuba, his wife was being influenced by Christians from Canada? What would happen when they were reunited in Toronto? 

And that's where my starting ideas for Glitter of Diamonds came from. Read the first chapter.

Note: The irony is that the Toronto Blue Jays recently signed a Cuban player who defected. He's a short stop, not a pitcher, and hopefully he'll remain a nice guy. :)

Writing Exercise:

1. Read through a current newspaper or magazine, or check online for recent headlines.

2. Make a list of news items, feature stories, or anything else that excite, annoy, or intrigue you.

3. Take each one and consider what you might do with it.

“Some people are uncoachable,” said the speaker, who was giving tips on mentoring others.

I nodded in agreement. I'd recently been thinking the same thing, and it was good to hear him affirm my thoughts.

Now, I've known for years that many people don’t want to be taught. But those aren't the ones he was referring to. He was talking about people who've actually come to you for advice and information.

The speaker said he tries very hard not to invest much time into a person who asks him a question and then doesn’t let him respond, or clearly ignores what he says, even if that person is offering to pay for his time. It's just not worth the frustration.

I totally agreed. Over the years, I’ve come across a number of people who, after coming to me for advice, clearly ignored my response. Oh, they may have let me get a few words out, but their body language and comments quickly led me to realize the question was simply an excuse for them to tell me what they thought was the right answer. I can only assume they wanted me to agree with them, and that was that. And when I didn't wholeheartedly agree, they wrote off everything I had to say. They weren't there to learn from me, but to get my affirmation for what they wanted to do, or maybe to impress me with their ideas.

It’s strange, really. I’ve never felt anyone has to ask for, accept, or act on my advice, but if they don’t even want to hear it, why waste my time by asking for it in the first place? Why not simply come and tell me what they think?

Let me give a fictitious example.

I find writers are some of the worst people for doing this. Especially new writers who have an idea (usually for a book).

So let's suppose I’ve just spoken to a crowd about some aspect of writing about your personal experiences. A person comes up and says to me, “I’m writing a book about my life. I was raised in a Christian home but I rebelled against God and my life was a mess. Then I became ill and prayed and God healed me. What do I need to do to get my book published?”

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that what most people asking this question want to hear is, “I know just the publisher for you! I’ll introduce you to the acquisitions editor, and I’m sure he'll be interested,” or “Just self-publish your book with X, and it will sell like wildfire.”

How likely is it that I’m going to say either of these things? 100% against. For starters, a good story is a dime a dozen. We all have at least one good story in us. But few of us know how to tell our story so well that others will take the time to read it, and fewer still know how to write with both creativity and excellence.

So my response is likely to contain titles of books they ought to read, joining a writers' organization, starting small with articles and stories and working up to a book, etc. Some people will listen and nod and ask great questions and go away with a few things to think about. Others will listen for a moment, but at the very first opportunity, they'll tell me they're going to go ahead and write the book their way and it will be a bestseller because God gave them the idea. Then they'll look at me as if daring me to disagree.

I used to waste my time and energy trying to help them understand the reality of the publishing industry. But eventually I learned it wasn't worth my time unless the other person was actually listening. Now, I just wish them good luck and move on to someone who actually wants my advice. It's so freeing to do that!

I used to feel that whenever I saw a need, it was up to me to try to meet that need. I always felt that I was the "responsible one." But I no longer feel that way. Maybe it has to do with getting older and realizing that my time is the most valuable thing I have, so I have to spend it very carefully.

And I also know that I have to stay coachable myself, because being uncoachable, or "having an unteachable spirit," as another person phrased it, is an all-too-common human characteristic, affecting everyone from the four-year-old who ignores her mother’s warning not to take the toy away from her baby brother, to the baseball player who won’t try his batting coach’s advice, to the doctor who won't listen to what the patient is trying to say. Any time we feel we feel we know everything we need to know about a topic, we’re in danger of becoming unteachable.

How do we avoid this?

By learning to set our own ideas aside for a time and listening with an open mind and a humble heart. We especially need to do this if we’ve asked someone for advice, if we’re talking to someone in authority over us or in a close relationship with us, or if we're with someone who might have first-hand insights into a topic we're learning.

If we assume we'll never know all there is to know about a subject, and go through life with teachable spirits, we’ll make new, amazing discoveries every day.

The title of the column is "When the 'Different' Ugly Duckling Becomes a Swan," which comes directly from my article, "The Diamond Ring," published in Hot Apple Cider.