Storytime

Don't know about you but some aspects of writing are boring, dull and no fun at all. Scrolling through looking for a place to send something. Changing word count, font, style to make sure you are hitting all the publishing requirements. Getting ready to hit send only to find that they are no long accepting unsolicited submissions. Scroll to find another publishing opportunity. Going through draft after draft, sometimes working on a manuscript for years, and then losing the whole love with the piece of work. This is when it's necessary to take a step back. Go off and do something. Potter in the garden. Mow the lawn. Weed a total garden bed. Go for a walk. Swim at the local pool. Hit the gym (if you are that way inclined). Perhaps take a joy flight. Do something you enjoy. Put distance between you and the piece of work that is dragging you down. When you come back, refreshed and hopefully energised....give that piece a very good looong look. Is i...

I recently ran a writing memoir workshop and once again I was amazed at so many people who thought 'who would be interested in my life.' Everyone has a story to tell. Every one. Yes, not all of them are going to be award winning best sellers, but even if you are leaving your story for your children or grand-children or great-grand-children, then it's worth it. In this workshop were people who grew up in Collingwood in the forties...folks who had been born in India and came to the cultural difference of Australia in the sixties....people who had left the inner city at 18 to work on a cattle station in central Queensland. There were reminisces of the ice man deliveries, of the local bookie and his 'cocky' or lookout (policeman's son), of being evicted and coming home from school to find all the furniture out in the street. Some of these stories were powerful, full of pain and even anger after a lot of years. But our pasts are what has created us. ...

Yep, it's that time of the year when Halloween merchandise is battling Christmas stuff and the end of the year is looming. Frankly I'm sure it was Easter only a few weeks ago. But no, the truth is facing us. Unavoidable. We have 78 days left till the end of the year. And of course I started 2019 with a clear head. I knew what I wanted to do (kinda) and knew exactly    supposedly how I was getting there. But I have no idea what I have done! Realistically there have been 288 days in which I have done...something. Often I don't know what. That is over 6912 hours of something being achieved. Some days getting out of bed counts! Going to work....being with family....actually writing something is a HUGE achievement. So...basically I set off with goals and have meandered. Perhaps this should be me next year... Perhaps not. On the positive side I still have about 1872 (plus or minus a few) hours left to accomplish great things. Starting....hmmmm...

We all have them. Some of us flaunt them...think great musicians or actors...others live their lives and their super power is sometimes revealed when called upon.  There are those that can organise to the nth degree....some can Irish dance....some can juggle. We all have our super powers. Whether it's a huge love of animals...(even rats :(  ) Or a great love of helping...even if not wanted... Or the ability to discover all the world has to offer... Some writers I know have abilities they take for granted. Whether it's always meeting deadlines....staying super-focused and goal orientated....master of all aspects of grammar....ability to get the big picture down....able to capture a character or setting with ease. We all have them as writers. Superpowers that we are aware of, sometimes we are told of others that bystanders can see in us. Unfortunately we also have our kryptonite. These are our downfall. Enemies ready to take us down. Sometimes it's...

Last weekend (when I wasn't working) I went to 'From Text to Texture' a great workshop run by Writer's Victoria for the Casey Writers Project over at Bunjil Place. This was a great day, spent with like minded folks, most of us with the same trials and tribulations of wrangling a piece of work into some sort of sanity, the workshop led by Toni Jordan. Toni was inspiring and enthusiastic. We looked at character and how to use minimal dialogue tags. We talked about adverbs (the devil's own in Toni's opinion) and setting. We were given writing exercises - which for some is so easy....others find it very daunting to write cold, without research and data at your side. I came away with some new insight, and eager to get back into the WIP. One thing that really got me thinking was when Toni said 'why does your scene have to be set here?' She made us think about our settings we have chosen. Are they vital to the story, move it on, do they add detai...

Last weekend I went along to see PMJ or Scot Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox. It is a group that rework pop songs into vintage genres, usually swing and jazz. It was something new to me. And frankly I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would (I"m not that keen on jazz). But WOW, this ensemble had some amazing voices. The renditions of pop songs such as Radiohead's Creep, Jet's Are You Gonna be My Girl and Guns N Roses Sweet Child of Mine were awesome. Of course this is not a new thing. Taking something, often classic, and rejigging it. Giving it an update or a new twist. There have been so many novels (short stories and poems) using fairytales as bases. Whether it has been the traditional Cinderella or Red Riding Hood...mermaids and beasts....wicked witches and princesses locked up in towers, or Snow Queens on the hunt. Some have worked a lot better than others. Some have been so close to the original you want to ask the question 'why bother?...

So the plan/ goal/ concept for this month's writing was to GET MY BUTT INTO GEAR AND FINISH THIS DRAFT OF THE NOVEL. Hmm, you say. Not too bad when I've had two weeks off work. (Mind you I played more in the garden then with a computer). And I was only concentrating on a few things this draft. First was tense. I have some of the novel in present tense, others in past perfect but on looking at it as a whole, I think it all needs to be in past tense. So I'm working through, changing the tense. Easier said than done, it's more than a change from explore to explored..it's also run to ran etc etc and it affects so much of a sentence. You really have to look at a whole paragraph to see if it's working. I've also added a few chapters to build a character's growth. Which, I know, will have to be worked on later. But my main object was to get the tense down...and then work from there. BUT...OMG...I have so picked up on so many stereotypes...so man...