MISSA Writing Workshop at Pearson College!

From time to time on the Kayak Yak blog, I've mentioned being a writer. Most of my books are for Young Adult readers -- books on science or health or literature, for school libraries from educational publishers. Writing is mind-expanding work, and for me it integrates well with kayaking. Best way to clear the cobwebs out of my head after writing is to head out on the water in my kayak! And often while I'm on the water, things happen that make me resolve to write about this as soon as I get back to shore! Now I've got a writing workshop to teach in June that will give me a chance to paddle in a bay new to me. Writing and paddle on the same weekend -- yay!

Jo-Ann Richards' photo shows the dock at Pearson College - borrowed from Facebook

This summer, I'll be teaching a two-day writing workshop for Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts at Pearson College of the Pacific! MISSA is hosting my class Writing Non-Fiction for Young Readers, on June 28-29 2014. This workshop immerses you in the process of writing non-fiction, starting with generating ideas and query letters and then preparing outlines and book proposals. There are reasons I have twenty-eight books published by educational presses, and I'll be sharing and showing some of those reasons. Young readers need books and stories of many kinds, suited to their ages and interests.

Looking forward to bunking at the college and paddling Pedder Bay before my class...

MISSA is a terrific program for arts -- consider making your summer learning my class, maybe followed by a week-long workshop by another instructor! Look at these photos of the fabulous location for MISSA, which takes place at Pearson College of the Pacific right on the shore of Pedder Bay.

From their website, this is the MISSA Mission Statement
      Our Mandate:
     To foster the arts in British Columbia by bringing together, in a 
     fiscally responsible manner, in an environment rich in natural and 
     artistic stimulation, acclaimed practicing artists to share their 
     knowledge and inspire serious students and professionals to explore 
     and develop their artistic fields in a multi-disciplinary milieu.
     Aims and Objectives:
     To provide the maximum benefit to the individual student through an 
     inspired analytical teaching approach with small class size.

Dunno if anyone else has such a combined interest in writing and paddling, but I'm intending to paddle before and after both days of teaching my workshop! Hope to see some writing and paddling friends there.