About:

Gail offers writing workshops and presentations for many organizations. Book club events are free. Honorariums for library events and writing workshops vary from $200 to $400 depending on workshop length and nature of the funding. Funding for events may be available through TWUC, of which Gail is a member, with the National Public Readings Program. For more, contact Gail's office: books@gailanderson-dargatz.ca

Here's a sample of writing workshops that Gail offers:

Overcoming Our Fears to Write Powerful Stories

Our fears can stop us from finishing a book, or even starting it. We may feel we need to stick to writing only what we know, and write from personal experience, but then worry about what Mom will think. And we so often avoid our protagonist’s conflicts, for the same reasons we avoid our own. The result: passive protagonists and wandering storylines. Author and writing coach Gail Anderson-Dargatz will draw from more than twenty years of experience as a writer, teacher and developmental editor to explore the many ways we avoid conflict in our projects and our writing lives, and offer solutions that will help kickstart your writing and help you develop your project to the fullest.

Get Your Book Noticed

Thousands of books are published each year, through self-publishing and traditional publishers. How do we get an agent or editor to notice our book? Or, if we self-publish, how do we get our book noticed by readers? We’re told to promote our writing on social media sites. But most of us aren’t comfortable with promoting our work at all. And how do we connect with readers in the ocean of Facebook and Twitter posts? Internationally best-selling author Gail Anderson-Dargatz will talk about approaches that have helped her own novels become bestsellers. Writers, come with a notebook or tablet in hand, prepared to come up with ideas for your own marketing plan.

Tackling the Novel

Pantser or Planner? Approaches to Plotting Your Novel

From Literary to Thriller: Crossing Genres to Add New Life to Your Craft

Writing Home

We’ve all heard the phrase “write what you know” but writing fiction from real life isn’t easy. We worry about what family and friends will think. We worry if we have the right to tell the story, or write about a given location. We get stuck in reality -- what “really happened” -- and our fiction flounders because of it. In this workshop, award-winning novelist Gail Anderson-Dargatz will explore all these issues and more with the goal of writing powerful fiction that has the authority that can only come from “writing what you know." Writers, come with a notebook or tablet in hand, prepared for writing exercises that will bump your writing up to the next level.

Writing Hi-Lo Books for the Educational Market

Creative Writing Course

Work independently and at your own pace as you learn how to put together the building blocks of fiction. Great for newbies and emerging writers.

Blue Pencil Sessions

Not your average blue pencil session, this consultation with Gail is a full workshop. Book at any time.

Fiction Mentorships

Gail's flagship course. In this one-on-one, private, four-month online mentorship, Gail will guide you as you put together your fiction project.

Developmental Edits

For writers with a complete draft. This manuscript evaluation focuses on the big picture but also includes notes on the finer elements of craft.

Writing Retreat

This week-long writing retreat in the Shuswap region of BC is timed to coincide with the sockeye run on the Adams River, a natural wonder.

Gail's Classroom

Already registered for one of Gail's courses? Click here to enter Gail's online teaching forums.

Blogs on Craft

Check out these resources for writers from Gail and many of Canada's best established and emerging writers.

Events and Workshops for Groups

Gail offers library and bookclub reading events as well as writing workshops for organizations and private groups.