Wildlife Rescue Series!

Williams Lake Young Authors’ Conference

Filed under: Uncategorized, Author Events, Conferences — Diane at 1:46 pm on Thursday, April 30, 2009

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Diane Haynes Presents on GAIA WILD

Filed under: Uncategorized, Author Events, Conferences, School Visits, 3 All About Gaia Wild — Diane at 6:28 pm on Monday, April 20, 2009

April 22nd — EARTH DAY

York House School

Vancouver, BC

April 27

Williams Lake Young Authors’ Conference

Williams Lake, BC

May 27

Word Warriors — Christianne’s Lyceum of Art & Literature

Vancouver, BC

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Canadian Book Camp … Six More Sleeps!

Filed under: Uncategorized, Author Events, Conferences — Diane at 7:27 pm on Tuesday, August 5, 2008

I won the lottery … I’m a workshop leader at this year’s Canadian Book Camp at the Vancouver Public Library! Running from August 11 through August 15, all day every day, young aspiring writers and avid readers will gather ‘below the books’ to hear authors speak, to participate in interactive workshops, and, of course, to write. By the end of the week, campers will have completed at least one piece that will be published in the camp’s annual anthology.

My workshop is entitled INSPIRATION STUDIO: Tap into your own powerhouse of inspiration! It runs every afternoon in the Alice MacKay room from 1pm-2:45pm. Participants will be amazed to discover what they can use as sources of inspiration for some of their best writing ever!

Watch here for more information leading up to the start of the Canadian Book Camp 2008. See you there!

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If I Was A Professional Skateboarder — by Keaton

Filed under: Uncategorized, Author Events, Conferences, Educators — Diane at 9:22 am on Monday, June 30, 2008

When I got back from presenting at the Williams Lake Young Writers’ Conference in May, I promised to post writing produced by the students in my workshops. I received three submissions. Here is the third, a story by Keaton, written in my “Animal Writes!” workshop (scroll down for more student writing!):

If I Was A Professional Skateboarder

If I was a professional skateboarder I would be famous and rich. I would own my own skateboard park and could land any trick I wanted to on my skateboard.

I would have sponsors because I am so good and get free stuff from my sponsors. I would be rich and could get anything I wanted. I would win every competition I would be in and become a better skateboarder than Tony Hawk.

I could travel to every place and continent I wanted to and get V.I.P. passes into any concert. I’d be friends with every famous person.

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The Dream Machine — by Austin

Filed under: Uncategorized, Author Events, Conferences, Educators — Diane at 12:01 pm on Sunday, May 18, 2008

When I got back from presenting at the Williams Lake Young Writers’ Conference, I promised to post writing produced by the students in my workshops. So far I have received three submissions. Here is the first, a “news column” by Austin, written in my “Animal Writes!” workshop (stay tuned here for more student writing!):

The Dream Machine

There was a man who got the Dream Machine. So far we don’t have his name, where he lives or anything about him. If you see him around, catch him and bring him to Creatures.Inc.

The Dream Machine copies anything you want and you can get a complete replica of it. It doesn’t matter whose it is. He will copy it and get his own. It is not good if only one person has it. Everyone should have it.

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Diane Haynes Presents at the Williams Lake Young Writers’ Conference!

Filed under: Uncategorized, Author Events, Conferences, Educators — Diane at 1:03 pm on Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Authors Diane Haynes and James McCann

Originally uploaded by Jane Ray’s Wildlife Rescue Series

The email arrived out of the blue, some time last winter: Would I be interested in being one of the authors to present workshops at the annual Williams Lake Young Writers’ Conference?

Would I?!?

After months of waiting and preparing, scads of emails and much excitement on the part of the Vancouver-based authors who would be going up together, the day finally came — May 4 — we were off to Williams Lake!

Organizer Amar Sull had thought of everything. She booked us flights with Central Mountain Air on their 18-seater prop plane. We flew direct from Vancouver to Williams Lake, swinging out over the Pacific coast and then rounding east across the snow-covered Central Mountain Range and into the interior of British Columbia. Williams Lake is 6 hours northeast by car, and situated exactly half way between the coast and the BC-Alberta border. It’s a mill town and a resort town, with a population of about 36,000 and great outdoor amenities summer and winter. Our only regret was that we couldn’t stay longer.

As soon as we saw a photo of the plane we’d be taking, author James McCann and I decided we needed to dress the parts. He went all out as Indiana Jones, complete with fedora, and I aimed for a Casablanca look. We turned a few heads at YVR, but hey, that’s what we were aiming for.

We met fellow authors Kari-Lynn Winters and Max Tell in the waiting lounge, and proceeded to throw our own little party, complete with food and drink and loud, obnoxious laughter. Missing the boarding announcement completely, we held up the plane’s departure … and then held it up a little further when we asked one of the CMA staff to take our picture on the tarmac. However the result, above, was worth it.

The plane had a row of seats on each side, separated by a very narrow aisle. In all, the plane wasn’t as wide as many cars I’ve been in. We could see the cockpit and the instrument panels from our seats, and were astonished when, after completing the pre-take-off cabin prep, the flight attendant took her place in the co-pilot’s seat and proceeded to help fly the plane.

The trip was gorgeous, and surprisingly short (55 minutes), and before we knew it, we’d arrived. Amar and her husband Jas met us at the little airport, introduced us to three more authors (who’d flown up with us, unbeknownst to us) and drove us to the Sandman Inn, where Amar had arranged all our rooms.

After settling in, James, Kari and I took a walk through Boitano Park and into downtown. Because it was Sunday, everything was closed, but again, we thought this was somewhere we’d like to return to, and spend more time.

We all met up at the Laughing Loon Pub for dinner that night, and shared some unrepeatable stories and unforgettable songs. Then it was back to the Sandman and to bed.

The conference the next day was incredible and again I have to say that Amar had thought of everything. Each author had his or her own room, and we shared an authors’ lounge for breaks and lunch. In each of our rooms was a basket of goodies — pencils, pens, chalk, kleenex and even candies! — all the emergency supplies any touring author would ever need.

We met all of the workshop participants in the gym first thing, then began our workshops at 9:45 am. I taught three one-hour workshops to grade 6 and 7 students from various schools around District 27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin). With the first group, I led a Shamanic journey for the students to discover their medicine animals. With the second two groups, I told the story of how by rescuing a drowning seabird, I joined my passion to my writing, and then I led them through a series of exercises designed to tap into what they care about most.

All the students wrote, and I invited every participant to send me their finished pieces for posting on this site. So stay tuned here for some awesome student writing!

After closing ceremonies in the gym, we all headed back to the cafeteria, where the 8 authors set up tables with their books. Students, teachers and parents had the opportunity to buy any books they were interested in, and have them signed by the author.

With our workday done, we headed downtown to check out Open Books, the little store we had spotted the day before. Staffer Annette took the arrival of 8 authors in stride, and welcomed us to the store. We hope Open Books will be involved in the conference next year!

There was just time for a snack and another short visit together, and then it was time to head to the airport, and home. We all felt as though we’d packed a week’s worth of adventures into 24 hours, and yet stiil, it felt too short. We vowed that if ever we had the opportunity to go back, we’d stay longer.

One of the best things about it, I think, for all of us, was the chance to spend time with our colleagues in a fun, no-pressure, non-competitive environment. Writing is such a solitary pursuit, and yet we’re social beings with a need to connect and to learn from one another about this crazy business we’re in. The Williams Lake Young Writers’ Conference gave us that, and we definitely made the most of it.

Good luck to Max, who’s presenting and performing today as well (lucky duck!) and congratulations and thanks again to Amar, Organizer Extraordinaire.

Watch here for posts written by my workshop participants at the Williams Lake Young Writers’ Conference!

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Delta Kappa Gamma Welcomes Wildlife Rescue Author

Filed under: Uncategorized, Author Events, Conferences — Diane at 7:05 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2008

On Tuesday evening of this week, I was the guest of a Vancouver chapter of the organization known as Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG). DKG is an international group of women educators, some retired and some still working, all of whom are committed to education and to providing education opportunities for disadvantaged children all over the world.

Chapters raise money to support international education initiatives. They also meet each month to discuss business and plan activities, and each month they host a guest presenter. Last night, that was yours truly!

My mom is a DKG member in a Burnaby chapter — she taught primary students for 40 years! — so that was my initial contact with the group. But when I arrived last night, I discovered a few other familiar faces. I spoke at the Northwest Regional Conference for DKG last summer, and recognized a few members from that event. Also in the crowd was Mizue Mori, the woman who conducted the marriage ceremonies for my sister and for one of my best friends! So I felt like I was among friends.

I told stories about how I became a writer, and how I came to write about animals, and showed some slides and a DVD. I also sent members home with hawk silhouette stencils for their windows, and instructions on how to make their own animal rescue kits. Several members bought books for children and grandchildren and classrooms, and one is planning to invite me to her school!

My thanks to DKG for the warm reception, and for all your support!

P.S. Special thanks to Claude for making sure I didn’t have any “technical difficulties!”

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Get Wordy! Get Published!

Filed under: Uncategorized, Author Events, Conferences, Public Readings — Diane at 2:49 pm on Monday, February 18, 2008

Diane Haynes

Originally uploaded by Jane Ray’s Wildlife Rescue Series

The CWILL Writing for Children panel happens tonight, Monday February 18, at the Vancouver Public Library from 7-9 pm. Be there … I will!

CWILL stands for the Children’s Writers and Illustrators of BC, and a panel of us will be speaking to an audience of about 100 people (one of them could be you!) about how we got started as authors and illustrators, how our careers progressed, what quirky little ins and outs helped us and might help you. There will be time for questions and to speak with individual authors and illustrators afterward.

That’s the Vancouver Public Library, downtown branch, from 7pm to 9pm, likely downstairs (but watch for signs).

** The VPL will also be announcing a new teen book program!

Hope to see you there!

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Educators: Book Me to Visit Your Classroom This Year!

Filed under: Uncategorized, Author Events, Conferences, School Visits, Book Tours, Educators — Diane at 5:28 pm on Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Attention all teachers, librarians and educators: I’m taking bookings now for presentations and workshops throughout the 2007-2008 school year!

Click here for a detailed description of presentations and workshops, as well as information on how to book me for your event.

I look forward to hearing from you, and to visiting your classroom, library or conference!

Diane

Note: Ten percent (10%) of all speaking fees will be donated to the University of British Columbia’s Haynes Scholarship for the Advancement of Animal Welfare.

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Anton Chekhov, the Delta Kappa Gamma Northwest Regional Conference, and Me

Filed under: Uncategorized, Author Events, Conferences, Educators — Diane at 10:19 am on Sunday, July 22, 2007

The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International (DKG) is a group of several thousand key women educators from all over Canada, the United States and Europe. This weekend, the Northwest Region held its annual conference at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, with about 400 women in attendance.

After presenting to a couple of the local chapters back in February, I was encouraged to create a workshop for the conference. I applied and was accepted (see workshop outline below, or click on Educators in the right nav bar) and since then have been stuffing ideas into a file. I pulled the file out two weeks ago, and spent a good thirty to forty hours crafting my presentation, keen to make a powerful impression on these women who have so much influence with so many other educators and students all over the continent.

Five women attended my workshop.

Five. Six, if you count my mom.
As I stood in the hallway outside the conference room, checking my watch and wondering if maybe the rest of my participants were just in line for the washroom and would be arriving any minute now, I steeled myself for the truth by thinking of Anton Chekhov.

Or rather, of a play of his called The Three Sisters in which I played the role of Olga back in 1996. It was an execrable, two-hour-long amateur production, but the theatre company itself had a strong following, so we blamed the weather that one night when, by curtain time, only 10 kind souls had purchased tickets. The show must go on, we decided, and buoyed, I think, by the faith of our teeny tiny audience, we gave our best performance. As the curtain came down, we received a 10-person standing ovation.

My five stalwart DKG-ers — six, if you count my mom — took chairs along the center aisle, and we began. I was speaking of the heroism of children and the burden they all carry knowingly now, of the need to save the world. Children don’t have the same freedom we did, to play at being SuperHeroes. This generation is all too aware that the planet really needs them, needs all they have to give, as soon as they can give it. I spoke of the myth of the hero — elucidated so clearly by Joseph Campbell in The Hero With A Thousand Faces — and how this myth is born inside all of us to tell, and to live. And I showed the participants some simple ways to help children get in touch with the heroic part of themselves; to bring their unique gifts into awareness; and to use those gifts to take meaningful action.

If you’re a DKG member reading this, and you’re wishing you’d made it to workshop, write me at janeraybooks@gmail.com. I’d love to give this presentation again; it’s got lots more mileage in it!

And if you’re one of the five who did attend, thank you … for choosing to spend your time with me Friday afternoon, for having the courage to experiment with some new ideas, and for your support of my books.

Special thanks to Oregon for your enthusiasm to bring me down to tour; I hope we can work that out! And to Ohio, a writer herself who is teaching others to write: may your daughter’s delivery be safe, swift and joyful.
Oh, and thank you, Anton.

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Wildlife Rescue Series!

Williams Lake Young Authors’ Conference

Diane Haynes Presents on GAIA WILD

Canadian Book Camp … Six More Sleeps!

If I Was A Professional Skateboarder — by Keaton

The Dream Machine — by Austin

Diane Haynes Presents at the Williams Lake Young Writers’ Conference!

Delta Kappa Gamma Welcomes Wildlife Rescue Author

Get Wordy! Get Published!

Educators: Book Me to Visit Your Classroom This Year!

Anton Chekhov, the Delta Kappa Gamma Northwest Regional Conference, and Me

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