To write or not to write...

Hello again

I think every writer questions whether they are doing the right thing in devoting their time to writing. It is probably the same with any artistic field, as there are little or slow rewards for creating art. In the ABC short story competition I participated in recently, one of the winners talked about how she felt torn between her family, working and writing. I have heard other authors say the same thing, they questioned what they were doing constantly. Writing can present so many frustrations, but if you have an overwhelming urge to create you will not be able to give it up.

When you start to take your art more seriously it becomes more obvious that there is a lot of work and pain involved. Tangible results may or may not eventuate. One never knows. You always hope, but in art you can never guarantee it. No one really knows if they will ever be recognised by anyone or indeed if they should be.

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Thanks for reading.

Editorial Consultancy

Hello again

I recently paid for an Editorial Consultancy at the QWC. You send in a sample of your work and then you get booked in with an author to talk about your work. I saw Lesley Singe, who is an author and tutor related to the QWC. The purpose of the consultancy is to provide advice about your work, the things you need to work on, the things you are good at and potential places you can market your work. I was dubious about what would come out. But once I was there it was very productive.

Lesley provided detailed feedback on the work I had provided. She pointed out things that I knew I had to work on, which was really good. She suggested markets and publishers for my novel when it's finished, and she liked the ideas contained within my novel. As a result I feel increasingly confident this novel has many levels and a depth to explore within its narrative structure.

I would recommend attending a session, especially if you have finished a manuscript. It is very informative and provides a writer with much needed clarity and direction for themselves and their work. Do it if you can, it is worth the money.

Daisy Chains - my collection of short stories...

Hello everyone

As some of you know I have published a small collection of short stories. The book is available in Canberra at Smiths Alternative Bookshop 76 Alinga St Canberra City (in the Melbourne Building).

Description:
Take a journey from New York to Sydney, Jenin, and Brisbane. Intriguing stories of shock revelations, betrayal, loss, grief, forgiveness, grace, and political and personal conflict as well as much more.

"You don't expect your life to change forever on a balmy, September evening walking to the ATM to get money for dinner. But mine did." One Beautiful Night.

Some comments received about the book:

A Gem of a Book 25 Jul 2007 (From Lulu.com)

by jadzia1994

Each one of these stories is a little gem. Intriguing, and too the point. The author doesn't waste her words as she describes the action and scene. Very well written.
Anne Rogers, Australia.

"The stories pulled me in straight away and I couldn't stop reading them until the end. Very compelling," Karen Eggleston, Australia.

"I've finished reading your book and I enjoyed the stories very much. They are well written and I lived with the characters. They were the right length and the endings were subtle enough to keep the reader interested." Michael Acton, UK.

"I especially liked the bit of a twist in the first story, Forward Thinking, I loved it. Maybe the idea of giving one's life to a greater cause spoke to me a bit, I'm not sure," Joseph Picard, Canada.

"I loved reading this book. It struck me as original and interesting. I especially liked the Forward Thinking story." Kris Wynn, Australia.

Third Year of the Novel

Well, another Year of the Novel day has happened and this particular session was really what I needed to kick me into gear. It is always very motivating to hear other people say they have been writing religiously every weekend etc and to realise that I have not been utilising my time the way I should be.

At the moment I have some time and I am really enjoying using it for writing.

YON Number Three was great. We had a little field trip outside where we were to stalk someone and write down characteristics of them and also, create what we wanted their inner world to be. This was fun and also very good to do as an excercise. I often find myself doing this naturally, if I'm sitting at a bus stop or at a coffee shop, I like to imagine what the people are talking about, where they are going, what they're thinking, are they happy? Many things. So this excercise was good and the girls I went with were fun.

A glass of wine (only one) and a walk, what more can get your creative juices flowing? I enjoyed having conversations with the people in the breaks, discussing their projects and their lives to some degree. The support one gains from this is enormous because we don't feel alone in pursuing writing.

What Veny taught was excellent as well. It is always very informative and strangely what I really need to learn at the time, so I am really happy about that.

For example; I had been thinking about how I needed to put more detail into my novel, more beautiful detail as in the sensual details, sight, smell, sound etc and that was what he was talking about. Making sure that we use detail and make the novel a sensual experience. Of course, I have read this before and learnt it through courses but it was just what I had been thinking was lacking in my novel in the past weeks.

Veny also talked about "Verbal Sensitivity" which is constructing beautiful phrasing and making the story "sing". This is also something I had been thinking about in my work. I always want to do this. This is what we want in art, to read, see, hear something beautiful something that takes us out of the everyday and maybe even (if we're lucky) we can taste the Divine...who knows?

I love imagery, and "cadence" which is what I have written above my desk. Cadence - I need to read through my stories and chapters and writing a lot more to "hear" how it flows or doesn't as the case may be. I have long known and wanted to improve this in my work. I know that sometimes I have achieved a good melody with my words, but I think the writer is always wanting more of that and to make it better. The endless quest.

Also, he talked about "originality and accuracy" being original and not copying other's styles. I believe that even if we do attempt to copy other people's styles if you are a true artist you will be totally original anyway. For example, when I researched and read Van Gogh's letters to Theo a few years ago, he was saying how he was copying all of the greats of Dutch painting. The paintings he said were imitations of these "masters" but they were nothing like the masters, because I got to see what he was imitating and his drawings but what you could see was his individual stamp on the work. Something only he could've achieved. This amazed me and made me less afraid of that learning period where we study others and try to imitate, but hopefully we are doing our own thing really. Bob Dylan did this with Woodie Guthrie, while Bob was discovering his own voice he was seen as almost a Woodie Guthrie impersonator, because he mimicked everything down to his clothes, the way he stood and sang. However this was only for a time and now who in all of pop music history is considered one of the most original artists that has ever been if it is not Bob Dylan.

My highest compliment was paid to me the other day. Someone who read my collection of short stories, said to me:

"I really liked your collection, I thought it was really original. Especially the middle eastern story."

Originality is the biggest compliment for an artist because they know that they are doing their own thing. Really my highest achievement would be to be considered completely different to anything that's going on. We can only dream. However, I lived on that compliment and it still makes me feel good now. (You've got to take what you can get...hey?)

Thirdly, he talked about intelligence and using our wit to make our stories interesting, amusing and to question the way things are. This is also something I love to do through my writing. I remember reading "The Lives of Girls and Women" in Year 9 at school, being taught by my lesbian English teacher and being amazed at how a novel could, through narrative, comment on the way things are and question whether they should be this way. I decided that I wanted to write books like this, that incorporated philosophy and told a story.

I have also, interestingly enough, started to think about the humour topic as well for my novel.
There is fortunately a lot of humour that I can draw into my new novel idea and before the session I was thinking about how I can incorporate this to make it more fresh and interesting to read. So this was another area, where I went "yes, I have been thinking about this...excellent."

Anyway, consequently I am very motivated in the last few days to keep moving forward with my novel.

However, there has been one snag due to the antagonist, whilst present in memories and phone calls, is not physically present throughout the whole novel. This is a large problem that I will have to address in some way...difficult, but I am ever so grateful that I am doing YON because at least I know where I am going wrong, otherwise I would be labouring in the dark. I am very glad I can see where the problem is and that I can change it before I go too far. I am very happy to be doing the YON and Veny has been extremely helpful with certain issues with my novel. Also, the people are wonderful to spend the day with, funny, attentive and interesting.

Year of the Novel and Writers Groups

Hello everyone

Next week is our third Year of the Novel session, I am looking forward to it.

It is very useful as we learn so much about the creation of tension through conflict and how to structure this tension etc. I have been so spurred on by simply talking to other writers. I am looking forward to our third meeting, to seeing the same writers again and bonding over our efforts or non efforts since we last talked.

I am also wondering about a writers group. The hardest thing with writing is not having peers, people who can tell you where you are in the scale of things. All of the famous authors and indeed artists of many types had peers and famous ones at that, that were able to tell them where they were and how to improve themselves. So my question is, how do I get into that situation?

Hemmingway was friends with F Scott Fizgerald (I think), Mary Shelley was married to the poet Percy Shelley, Van Gogh hung out with (somewhat famous at the time) impressionist painters like Gaugain and Manet and others. Bob Dylan immersed himself in folk music and lived in Greenwich Village and met the right people. He met his idol, Woodie Guthrie, was given a guitar from Johnny Cash and knew various other people. I realise I am not as talented as these people, especially Hemmingway, I am not comparing myself to any of these artists. However, the concept is there that along with their talent they also were able to build on this and make it even better. But, even having another writer with similar desires would probably be beneficial to my work. Venero, in last time's session said he had a friend who had similar writing goals and they set each other tasks for one year. This kind of spurring on would be great.

I realise I am not in the league of the above artists, but I do want to try and develop as much as possible the skills I have. So anyway, I am seeking out a writers group hoping this can help.

In a way I have answered my own questions, I need to go to more events and eat, sleep and breathe writing. Does anyone else feel this way?

By the way, I saw this website recently that showed you if you have a life span of 80 years how many seconds you have left and the timer was ticking away furiously, counting it down. It disturbed me a little and I got off the website. However, since then I have had this feeling about death and about how we have little time really, to do things with our lives. Nobody really knows how much time we have. It makes me think many things, about my spiritual life and about my writing. So I am trying to move forward every day. To progress in many ways, and writing being one of them, every day.

Good luck with whatever you put your hand to and think a bit more deeply about life today...

Is there any quiet, anywhere?

Hey everyone

A bit of a rant today. I was thinking about quiet and how in our industrialised society we have a lack of it. Radio, television, IPODs ( I have one) the gym even has television playing while you work out so we won't be bored for a minute (or to have time to think), we drive everywhere, go to shopping centres and hear advertisements incessantly, attend classes or jump our of planes or do anything rather than sitting and contemplating. There is something manic about how we live now.

I don't think there is anything wrong with doing all of these things. A balanced life exists with adventure and activity and relation with each other. But I find myself sitting impatiently waiting for my daughter's cross country to start and I wonder - why has waiting a few minutes become so disturbing? Patience and taking things a little slower, is a big challenge. We do have lots of demands on our time. And I do.

Two children, a PR business and doing the accounts for our business, trying to run everything that needs to be done for kids and having a husband as well. I am very busy.

However, I just know deep down, there is a need for more quiet. Catch some moments, don't be afraid of silence, or waiting. Writing has to be done in quiet, or at least sort of quiet. I can't really achieve the quiet thing for my writing, but at least I can think about it on my walks.

I do grab some moments and they have to be quick with all I have to do.

(As an aside: I am reading this book written by the man who started the novel in one month idea and he believes that busy people can get more creative work done. I don't know if this is always true. Look at Van Gogh who focused totally on his work for 10 years and how much he achieved, it was phenomenal. In the last 90 days of his life he completed a painting a day. However, I am hoping this is true (that people busy with life can achieve creative work) because like most of us we have to work for a living.)

Back to the quiet issue as Bob Dylan says (I can't remember right now which song), "they'll take your mind away from contemplation".

Even in places like church - there is little silence, in the place that was meant to retain the sacred and provide a place for people to contemplate and be quiet, there is a sad lack of this as well.

You see, wide ranging rant.

Also, I have gone back to my novel again and decided to try and just write intuitively. Does anyone know how to write back story? That is my problem currently. My goal is to keep on going to finish a draft. There is something in the writing that teaches us.

This morning I read a Hemmingway short story - The Nun, the Gambler and the Mexican (I think that's what its called) the narrator says that one of the characters didn't like to think much at all, except when he was writing. He relegated this sort of exercise to when he was writing, probably pretty true of Hemmingway himself, considering how he chose to live his life.

Do you think this post was rambling enough? Anyone's thoughts are always appreciated.

Next post I might talk about - some writing software I have had a look at. I can't recommend it totally, as I have not looked into the opposition to the product. But stay tuned.

Australia Council Grants

Hello everyone

Has anyone out there in writing land applied for an Australia Council Grant and been successful in achieving funding?

I am attending a seminar put on by the QWC
in conjunction with the Australia Council to provide information on Thursday February 15, at the Metro Arts Building.

I have been looking into applying for a grant for my novel. Has anyone else done this? Is anyone else from the Queensland Writing Group applying?

Anyway, I will let you know what I find out at the session, happy valentines and happy writing.

Other stories I have written

Hello

I just thought I might post up a story I wrote recently and then another one soon.

I have only included One Beautiful Night as I am using the other story for something else. The PDF's are available below. I'd love to know your thoughts on these.

Thanks for your interest.
Cheers
Suzanne

One Beautiful Night

Click Here for a PDF

My story in Amazon Shorts

Hello everyone

As I have mentioned in my previous post, I am entering the Amazon Shorts Story Competition.

If you are interested in voting or publishing a story in the competition, you need to join Gather.com and then you can vote and post.

The below link is for my entry :

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976860205

The Wall (story).

My story will be live for fourteen (14) days from the date it was published. At which point Gather will remove the entry and tally my votes.

How to vote? Read, vote and comment through the following:

1) Join Gather.com so you can vote for my story. join link.

2) Click on the link to the story and vote.

Thank you very much for your interest. If you wish to notify me of any stories you are posting. Let me know.

Amazon Short Story Competition

Hello again,

I am preparing currently to submit a short story to the Amazon Shorts Short Story Competition.

If anyone reading this is a short story writer they could do also enter. I will include a link below about it.

When the voting starts, anyone can go onto the site and vote by clicking on the story, (I think) I am not 100% sure about how that part of is going to work, but reader votes count towards the competition.

Anyway, I thought I would post the link so that others could join and when I upload my story I will post the link, so if you are interested you could read and vote yourself. If I'm lucky some people will vote for my story.

Look forward to hearing from you, if you wish to enter the competition or anything else.

Happy writing.

Here's the link:

Amazon Shorts Short Fiction Competition

My first blog.

This is my first blog. I am very new to the blogging scene. I am looking forward to experiencing this world more. For us writers the web is an encouraging place where we can read and critique each other's writing. It is a great way for us to grow our work, through discovery of new ideas and refinement of our skills.

Thanks for visiting. Hopefully, in one of my posts you may find something interesting. I will be posting up some of my stories, that have also been published on my website and a couple of other sites.