Why should kids have all the fun?
Internationally published writer Dorothea Helms is The Writing Fairy – a popular writing instructor and speaker who has inspired countless writers to come out of the closet and live their passion for words. She does it with humor and refreshing honesty. Dorothea believes in the enchantment of words. She has both experienced and witnessed the magic that happens when writers answer the call of the letters and allow their voices to sing on paper and/or computer screens.
Many years ago in a land far away, a young girl named Dorothea wished to become a writer. She put that dream on hold in order to finish high school and university, get married, have kids, buy houses and lose the mates to at least 1,000 pairs of socks. Then one day when she was 41, her husband suggested that if she wanted to be a writer, she should find out what writers do, and do it. That was in 1992, and today Dorothea Helms co-owns the highly successful freelance writing business Write Stuff Writing Services. A popular writing instructor, Dorothea enjoys inspiring other writers to tap into their passion for words with her own right brain/left brain techniques.
Dorothea has an impressive roster of publishing credits behind her, including articles in publications such as Homemakers, lichen literary journal, Toronto Sun, Chatelaine, Scarlett, Stitches the Journal of Medical Humour, Popular Woodworking, Woodworker, The Business and Professional Woman, and Big Buck.
This prolific, multi-talented writer has been featured on CBC Radio twice, once with a humorous look at childbirth and breastfeeding entitled “Call a Pain a Pain” – an essay that is included in the 2004 humour anthology They Lied! True Tales of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Breastfeeding. She has served as contributing editor for several regional publications in the Greater Toronto Area.
In May 2005, Dorothea was named by the Periodical Writers’ Association of Canada as the inaugural winner of the Barbara Novak Award For Excellence In Humour and/or Personal Essay Writing for her essay entitled “The Gift of Words,” which appeared in The Globe and Mail “Facts & Arguments” section in 2003. It was about teaching writing, and the validation that comes when a student trusts in your guidance and does well. The award is named for one of the original members of PWAC who was a successful freelance writer and a well-loved writing mentor, and who died of complications resulting from cancer. In June, 2005, Dorothea’s personal essay entitled “Shelf Life” tied for first place in the non-fiction category of the Haliburton Highlands Writers’ and Editors’ Network and The Agnes Jamieson Gallery 3rd Annual Writing Contest. This essay is a humorous look at her obsession with owning books. You can read the winning essays and another on this site.
When Dorothea ventures to the far side of her right brain, she writes poetry. She won third place in the 2003 Dan Sullivan Memorial Poetry Contest – an annual contest run by The Writers’ Circle of Durham Region. Dorothea’s poetry has appeared in lichen literary journal, the Canadian Authors Association Millennium Anthology Legacy and Ascent Aspiration Magazine’s Windfire Anthology 2.
The adventure continues …
In a mid-life, what-the-heck-am-I-waiting-for? burst of creativity, Dorothea has launched a second business called The Writing Fairy. Through a series of books, courses, workshops, lectures and various writing services, she focuses on helping closet writers to emerge and make their magic known. She is living proof that it’s never too late to live your dream.