Storytime

I'm a character person. Don't get me wrong, hopefully something happens as well in one of my stories but to me, it's the character that drives a piece of writing. I'm not talking 'she was 175 cm tall, weighed 70 kg, had long blonde hair, blue eyes' To me that's boring. For me it's the small details that add interest, that help to build a multi-layered character. Let's create a character. How about a woman, a stay at home mum. And that is boring. It's a simple sketch- we have no idea about this woman at all. Let's add some details. She is shy and finds social occasions something she has to do, rather than want to do. Parties tend to send her into a panic. She's still boring, and now sounds like a wall flower as well. How about if we add this information - She had an idyllic beachside childhood, with assorted siblings, loving mother and father. Although she is terrified of deep water and never learnt to swim, she loves boa...

Last weekend we had the 'official' opening of our new library - 3 weeks after actually opening. There were entertainers and balloons, family storytimes and Spot the Dog. It was a lot of fun- so I'm told, and I was there. But like everyone else that works in the branch, I have not yet had the time to sit back, relax and actually enjoy the new surroundings. We are too busy planning new activities and programs for the year ahead...and just working. Sound familiar? After I receive notice that a story or poem is to be published, say YEAH out loud (perhaps a smallish jig if this is a magazine that I've been trying to get into for quite a while) I get back into. Work on the next piece to send out. Not that you have to have fireworks every time you receive an acceptance... However I don't think we celebrate all those small steps. Yes it's great to be published, more so if payment is part of the proposition. But do we celebrate when that poem finally wor...

It's that time of the year - for me at least. I've spent the past few months sending works out...and now the waiting game begins. Waiting for weeks, sometimes months, sometimes even more months. Hoping for that 'yes' but more often than not receiving... It's a part of life when you write. You sit in your lonely garret, pen to the paper (or in my case, sit in my bedroom, fingers at the keyboard) and you create. You attempt to put down what moves you, those wondrous sentences that dance before your eyes. For me, that's the fun part. The creation. Then you edit. And edit. And edit some more. Finally, with a deep breath and some belief in what you have created you send it out into the ether, hoping that an editor/ publisher/ editorial committee or judge will see the beauty in what you have created. There is no denying that a rejection hurts. Although it is no longer as painful as when I started out- at that early stage I had not built up those layers of self...

Facts are some of the most interesting (and useless) pieces of information. A CAT HAS 32 MUSCLES IN EACH EAR As I said, interesting but what good does it do us?...and of course we all know someone that will dredge up facts at a quiet dinner amongst friends or at a party. Throw them at us and then sulk when we don't give thunderous applause for now knowing the scintillating fact that- A JELLYFISH IS 95 PERCENT WATER . But sometimes when faced with a blank page, when a case of the dreaded writers block strikes, facts can be a starting point for a piece of writing. Could be a short story, a poem, even the basis of a novel. All you need is a fact that intrigues you, that sets you thinking 'what if'. EVERY PERSON HAS A UNIQUE TONGUE PRINT Hmm, the mind begins to swirl....a detective story where the tongue print is the key to finding the killer? Could they cut off a tongue in the same way they burn the fingers of victims - making it harder to identify a body? Do i...