London Writers Society Archives - London Writers Society

2025 11 24

Death of an Imposter

hermitcreative writing fiction writing, London Writers Society, write local, writer's life

From the moment I could put words to a page, I have written stories and poems. Being a child of the 60s, many of my earlier tales were dark fables influenced by the Brothers Grimm, or limericks inspired by the prolific Mr. Edward Lear himself.

As time passed, I never imagined I would do anything but write. Sadly, time and circumstance are pranksters, Pied Pipers who lead us away from our chosen paths until we awaken from the reverie, decades later, wondering how the heck we ended up where we are.

Or at least, that’s how it played out for me.

But writing is like an addiction. The euphoric high produced by crafting a story, even a sentence, surpasses (I imagine) most narcotics. And so, when I awoke from the Piper’s spell—more accurately the need to keep a roof over my head—my compulsive craving for words returned.

Full of self-doubt, I entered contests, and with some encouragement entered more. Gradually, I felt the need to find a community, a space where I could meet other writers. But as a 60-something adult locked down in the throes of a global pandemic, I had no clue where to turn.

One early winter evening, I sat staring at the blinking cursor in the search bar and typed, “writers clubs London Ontario.” To my surprise, a website appeared: www.londonwriterssociety.ca. The site said they welcomed authors of all levels, but years of experience (cynicism?) made me doubt my abilities.

Would I fit in? Am I “good enough” to belong to a “writing society”? It took a gentle nudge from my husband for me to take the plunge.

And there it was. Home.

Even over zoom meetings, it became clear that I had found my people. The London Writers Society (LWS) has a diverse demographic—ages spanning early 20s to mid 90s, various backgrounds, cultures, and gender identities—with members ranging from those just starting out to those who have published several books, plays, and more. Membership includes access to critique groups, where writers can share their work and receive constructive feedback from their peers.

My timing was impeccable, because I was welcomed into a critique group with five other members—a diverse bunch of exceptional writers with a broad spectrum of life experience—who have transformed my approach to writing through their meaningful insights.

They have taught me how to receive criticism and how to offer it (a useful tool in every aspect of life). It’s not easy to share our work with strangers. As writers, we are often baring our innermost feelings, fears, or fantasies, which means the process demands an immense level of trust. Feedback must be handled with care, always remembering to tread lightly on someone’s soul.

In a few short years this group has surpassed being “peers” or “fellow members.” We have become a clan, a tribe connected to each other through our love of writing and reading, and our desire to hone our craft.

When I joined LWS, I was an unpublished “wannabe” writer who didn’t believe that status would ever change. Now, just a few years later, thanks to the support of my LWS family, two of my poems were selected by Emma Donoghue for publication in the Society’s inaugural anthology, Out of the Woods: Voices from the Forest City, launched back in June. I’m currently working on a series of short stories, a collection of poetry, and am gradually falling back into my habit of writing.

If I were a mediaeval knight, you might say I have slain the dragon known as “imposter syndrome.”

Thank you, LWS. It feels great to call myself a “writer.”

Brenda Martin owns a marketing and design studio in London. For decades she has written, edited and designed marketing content. A late-emerging author, she is working on a collection of short fiction and poetry.

2025 08 13

The Anthology Journey, Part 4: The Portal is Open!

hermitcreative Book Promotion, Publishing Opportunties, Self Publishing, writing, Writing Resources anthology, Book Promotion, creative nonfiction, fiction writing, London Writers Society, Martha Morrison, out of the woods, poetry, publish, read local, Self-Publishing, Terry Fallis, write local, writer's life

The submissions started rolling in! What a thrill it was to hear that the numbers were increasing each day. With each submission, we knew another brave member had polished their work and made the courageous decision to hit “submit” for a chance to be published in the anthology. I submitted two very different poems: The Rollercoaster explores the emotional ride we experience when a loved one faces cancer; and Barnyard Duet depicts a humorous incident involving my goofy goldendoodle and an unwanted duckling named Quackers.

And so, with everything ticking along nicely, the anthology committee (with lattés in hand) sat back, put our feet on our desks and relaxed.

Just kidding! There was way too much work to be done to enjoy more than a momentary virtual clink of glasses. This was confirmed as I researched past emails in order to write this blog. There were thousands of communications between the A-Team members as we worked furiously behind-the-scenes to research publishing options, figure out promotional opportunities, find an editor and finance the project. While the London Arts Council grant had covered a large part of our expenses, it wouldn’t cover everything. We decided to seek out sponsors from community members. Brenda’s years of expertise with corporate sponsorship served in creating levels of support and incentives such as being mentioned in the anthology, thanked on the website and social media channels and, for some levels, logos added to the tote bags.

From family members to local businesses to friends of the LWS, we were humbled by the amount of support we received. Brenda coined the term “Literary Champion” because that’s what each sponsor was to the anthology project. It cannot be overstated the gratitude we felt, and continue to feel, toward the sponsors who made this project possible.

When the portal closed at midnight on October 15, 2024 and submissions were no longer being accepted, an image of a closed door with a huge padlock appeared on our socials. The anonymous entries were sorted by category and sent to our panel of First Reader judges.

We provided our First Reader judges with a scoring rubric (generously provided by Mirror World Publishing) to ensure that they were reviewing each entry consistently. Based on the judges’ final scores, the top percentage in each category formed the longlist. The judges had a month to review the submissions. And so, we waited.

On November 15, 2024, it was a thrill to announce the longlist. But as in any contest, there will be those who do not advance to the next round. The anthology committee received some emails and in-person conversations about the disappointment of not being chosen. As we faced these conversations, the words of one of my writing teachers, Alison Wearing, came to me: “Rather than taking rejection as evidence that you are not a writer, it’s also possible to take it as evidence that you are.”

The truth of the writing life is that there’s a lot of rejection involved. While I know this personally, I also keep a list of famous rejectees near my laptop: J.K. Rowling, Beatrix Potter, Agatha Christie, George Orwell, Stephen King. A favourite story is that after King’s debut novel was rejected more than 30 times, he threw it in the trash, only to have his wife retrieve it and encourage him to try again. A few years later, Carrie was published and became a bestseller and major motion picture.

The longlist entries were passed on to Emma Donoghue who would curate the shortlist which would become the anthology Out of the Woods. An agonizingly long month stretched out ahead of us as we waited for word from Emma with the results.

To be continued…

Photo of Martha Morrison, Chair of the LWS Anthology Committee Martha Morrison is honoured to have served as Chair of the Anthology Committee for the London Writers Society’s inaugural anthology project Out of the Woods. She holds a BSc in Biochemistry and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction writing. Her work has been published in various literary anthologies and she was shortlisted for the International Amy MacRae Award for Memoir. Her previous careers include flight attendant and professional ballroom dance instructor. Martha lives on a farm outside London with her family, dogs, cats and chickens. Most days, she gets up before the rooster (and the kids) to write in the quiet early mornings.