We writers spend an inordinate amount of time alone with our thoughts. Basically, we fill our days talking to ourselves. You would think that would be a pleasant way to pass the time—no interruptions, no differing opinions, no criticism, no cranky-pants—just sunshine and roses. But the truth is it’s a hurricane inside our heads, and sometimes we begin to wonder if we’re losing our minds.
Our characters take over our stories no matter how hard we try to keep them in line, and after a while we’re not sure who the writer is. What starts off as a wonderful idea quickly becomes a disaster. We’re 30,000 words in before we realize we made a wrong turn at Albuquerque. The greatest novel ever written can’t be saved. How could we have thought it was going to be a masterpiece—our opus? Alas, we are frauds, charlatans—imposters with questionable skills.
But when we turn the computer on the next morning, the story has somehow righted itself—at least in our minds—and we carry on, chasing the thoughts in our heads and pecking at the keyboard.
Our existence borders on schizophrenia which, according to Google, is a serious mental health condition that affects how people think, feel and behave. It may result in a mix of hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking and behavior.
I rest my case.
What is needed is an intervention.
Enter: the writing group—the connection to reality and the world everyone else lives in.
My writing group is called River Writers because its members live in Campbell River. Clever, right?
River Writers took shape way back around 2006. It was one of those 6 degrees of separation things. Shari Green and Catherine Knutson met at the Surrey International Writers Conference and, discovering they both lived in Campbell River and both were aspiring writers, they decided to form a writing critique group. Through a pagan organization Catherine belonged to, she recruited another writer, Sheena Gnos, and Shari found a fourth member in Diana Stevan, who she knew through church. There was a fifth member as well but she left the group early on. Shari, Diana, and Sheena are all still with River Writers.
I joined the group the following year, shortly after moving to Campbell River from Victoria. I already had 9 books under my belt, but I had never belonged to a writing group. I got a call from Shari after presenting at her son’s school. She invited me to attend the next meeting, and I’ve been part of the group ever since.
Over the years, the membership has changed a bit, but not much. Three people left because of relocation (Sheena rejoined when she moved back), and one person retired. Otherwise the membership has remained constant.
We limit our numbers, because of our critiquing method. We meet every second Tuesday, and by the Friday before, we submit up to 10 pages of writing for review. Six submissions is pretty much all we can handle. At the moment we have five members and there aren’t always submissions from everyone, so the amount of reading and responding is manageable.
We do a written critique for each piece, and during the meeting, we share our findings with the group. Afterwards, we provide the writers with the critiqued versions of their submissions. It is amazing how much overlap there is among the critiques. Though we all pick up on different positives and problems, members often comment on the same bits. That’s a pretty good indication for the writer which areas need attention.
We recently brainstormed to determine the reason for the group’s longevity and came up with a number of factors. For starters, we’re not in competition with one another. Shari and I both write for kids and teens, but Shari writes in verse, which is very different from my books. Diana and Liezl (our newest member—she’s only been with us about 10 years) both write for an adult audience—primarily female, but Diana’s books have a strong historical element. And Sheena is our resident high fantasy aficionado. Anything you want to know about dragons, Sheena’s the woman. Oh, and slanting. She knows about that as well.
There are no egos to deal with in our group. We are equals, and we respect each other’s work. We all want to see the others succeed, and our critiques reflect that. If someone is stuck, we brainstorm during the meeting, and that always seems to help. We make book suggestions, offer potential publishing opportunities, share pertinent reading/writing anecdotes, acknowledge achievements and accolades, etc. We are honest in our criticisms, but also always kind. We are critique partners, but somewhere along the way, we’ve become friends.
Since COVID, we meet mostly online, though we do still have in-person sessions from time to time and look forward to our Christmas get-togethers and our wind-up firepit at Liezl’s house each June. River Writers even has a website, which we diligently update every 10 - 12 years.
Our current members include:
Diana Stevan
Diana likes to joke she’s a Jill of all trades as she’s worked as a family therapist, teacher, librarian, model, actress and sports reporter for CBC television. With writing her passion, she’s published newspaper articles, poetry, a short story, a novelette, and five novels.
Her novels cross genres: A Cry from the Deep, a time-slip romantic adventure; The Rubber Fence, women’s fiction; and Lukia’s Family Saga trilogy, historical and biographical fiction: Sunflowers Under Fire, Lilacs in the Dust Bowl, and Paper Roses on Stony Mountain. The trilogy is based on her Ukrainian grandmother and family’s life in Ukraine and Canada, 1915-1943. Sunflowers Under Fire was a finalist for the 2019 Whistler Independent Book Awards and received notable attention in 2019 Kindle Book Awards and in 2020 Writer’s Digest Book Awards. Paper Roses on Stony Mountain was on Miramichi Readers’ List of Best Fiction for 2022.
Her next book, Along Came A Gardener, a self-help book—with stories from her work as a psychotherapist in the world of mental health—comes out on March 15, 2025. When she isn’t writing, she loves to garden, travel, and read. With their two daughters grown, Diana lives with her husband Robert on Vancouver Island and West Vancouver, British Columbia.
Visit Diana's Website.
Shari Green
Shari Green writes novels in verse for kids and teens. Her most recent book, Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams, is a 2024 Governor General's Literary Award finalist, and her 2023 book for middle-grade readers, Game Face, is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection and has been chosen for several readers' choice programs. Shari's next book is a poetic picture book, forthcoming in March 2026.
Visit Shari's website.
Sheena Gnos
Born and raised on Vancouver Island, BC, Sheena has always loved stories. A voracious reader, Sheena is fascinated by the written word's ability to open doorways into other worlds, perspectives, and experiences. As she loves to say, "I write to live the lives I cannot lead."
Sheena graduated with a double major in English Literature and Creative Writing from Vancouver Island University in 2014. Her first fantasy novel, A Chosen's Sorrow was published in 2007. Her short story, "The Doorway" was published in 2013, in an anthology titled Escape. While in university, her 2013 essay "The Authority of the Slave Narrative: How Mary Prince
and Frederick Douglass Contributed to Abolition" won 1st place in the 3rd category of the Vancouver Island English Department Essay Competition. In 2014, she also published 2 poems "Empty Echo" and "The Crossing", and 2 articles "Stigmatized breeds: how humans create dangerous dogs," and "GHB The Social Problem," published in The Navigator: Vancouver Island University Student Press.
Currently, Sheena is seeking representation for her fantasy novel, featuring an assassin who turns her back on everything she knows to do the right things, as well as her YA fantasy novel featuring a girl forced to question tradition to save those she loves. She's also currently preparing her latest urban fantasy novel about a family of witches for submission.
Liezl Sullivan
Liezl is a busy lady. As a doctor and an entrepreneur, she finds that a short 24 hour day just doesn't cut it. This could be why she's been working on the same novel for the last 10 years. It's called The Diary, though a diary is yet to make an appearance in the story. But we're hopeful.
Liezl recently finished a room in her home earmarked for her creative endeavours only, and toward that end she recently submitted a new chapter for her novel.
And Me.
Since this is my blog and it appears on my website, I'm pretty sure you already know more about me than you should, and you can look around my website to suss out the rest. 'Nuf said.
And now back to your regularly scheduled life.
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