Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 11/00) - Who says all that writing has to stay stuffed in a drawer?

After meeting Diane Brooks -- the publisher of Raven Rock Publishing in Yellowknife -- at a Northern writers' evening, Scott Woods decided it was time his writing saw the light of day.

The Human Element, a collection of 12 short stories, and Woods' first published work, will be launched at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Yellowknife Book Cellar.

Woods, who moved to Yellowknife two years ago from Brandon, Man., writes about the human experience.

"My main theme is people," he says. "Joy, pain, fear, unanswered questions ... there's something here that everybody can relate to."

The 29-year-old First Air employee started writing a few years ago. He says he's shy and introverted and writing proved to be a powerful form of self-expression.

"I think it's something I always wanted to do. I think at that time I had a lot of things going on in my life and I just found myself doing it."

A university drama professor encouraged Woods.

"She read some of the stories and actually critiqued them," says Woods, adding that writing can be fun and excruciating.

"When it flows, it's fun. But a lot of times it's hard. You have to have a lot of patience. But it's all worth it in the end."

He says he's nervous about the launch of the book, but also feels confident about the writing, which Brooks helped edit.

"For me, all the stories are very personal. It took a year before I showed them to Diane. So changing things around was tough to handle," Woods says about the editing process.

"All in all, she was right on most of them," he says about Brooks' changes.