Guidelines and expectations

Before you submit your work, please give careful consideration to what kind of feedback you want to receive. Students often dismiss this consideration because they are happy to receive any kind of feedback from a writer in residence (WiR). When asked to consider the feedback they want, students often express a very general desire to know, “am I on the right track?” However, this is too vague to be useful. The answer really depends on what track you want to be on. You don’t need any feedback; you need the feedback that you need.

In order to help you articulate your needs, you are invited to submit your writing using the Google form linked at the bottom of this page. The form offers opportunities to clarify your goals. You may want to prepare your answers for it in advance. Here is what you will be asked:

• How you identify
• What your level of writing experience is
• What genre/s you typically write in
• What you hope your submission expresses
• What you want the WiR to address in your piece
• What challenged you in the writing
• Anything else about yourself or your writing you want the WiR to know

Please submit work that feels as polished as possible to you. What is meant by “as polished as possible”?  Your best writing; refined writing; writing which has undergone thorough revision, has been robustly considered, and generally feels complete. (N.B.: Excerpts can still be complete even though the entire work is still in progress.) Avoid sending samples of a work in an early stage when it is still unfocused or unrefined.

Writers of prose can send 10 pages of work (amounting to no more than 2,000 words: double-spaced, paginated, in a 12-point font, preferably Times New Roman).

Writers of poems can send 10 pages of work (amounting to no more than 10 short poems, presented as intended for publication, paginated in a 12-point font).

Please submit your writing by filling out the form linked below. Your writing sample can be uploaded as PDF, Google Doc, or MS Word file. Within 48 hours of  your file being received, the WiR will reach out to you to arrange a virtual meeting to discuss your work. This meeting will take place roughly 10 business days after you submit your writing.

If you have any technical difficulties with the Google form, or any general questions, or would simply like to reach out to the WiR, please send an email to the following address: bbickersteth@oldscollege.ca.

Please note that all communication between the student and the writer in residence constitutes a private service, not suitable for dissemination in any other context (such as social media).

Submit your work here using this Google form: WiR Submission form.