I try not to discard any writing ideas. Even old manuscripts. Because you never know when you may use the idea, recycle it, regenerate it.
This year, I finished a radio play I started to write 14 – 15 years ago. The original writing was so old that I only had a print-out of it – but I had kept a paper copy of every scene I’d written, every journal entry I’d composed that related to it, and all my research. 14 years ago, the time was not right for me to finish the play. The emotion was still so raw and I had no resolution to the piece. Now as time has passed, and my wounds have healed, I have resolution.
Each year Nambucca Valley Writers Group has a writing competition, and each year explores a different form of writing. The first year was poetry, and I came 1st and 2nd with a couple of collage poems. The second year was non-fiction writing. Third year was short stories. This year was performance writing, a broad title which covered monologues, plays, screenplays and radio plays. The restriction was that the piece needed to be no more than ten minutes, and was to be submitted in script form.
A week before the deadline, I pulled out the notes and rough scenes for my play Members Only. I decided to leave the political out — I think I’d been focusing on the big picture too much 14 years ago — and strip it right back to the personal, back to the raw emotion, and then focus on the resolution. The time constraint made it necessary to strip it right back, not to waffle in the politics.
Stripped back, the piece became very powerful and very confronting. And very personal.
One woman’s nightmare.
Every woman’s nightmare.
My nightmare.
I submitted the play, slightly fearful of having put so much of myself onto the paper. But it was also cathartic. A release. And a sign that I was finally healed.
Good things can come from bad things. Good things can come from being brave.
The competition results were announced at our AGM on Saturday. I won 2nd prize.
A certificate, bottle of champers and some choccies. And validation. And peace.
But it seemed that the presentation wasn’t over. Apparently in my absence at the last meeting due to the floods, they’d talked about me. And decided that as I was ‘the world’s best secretary’ (especially with the online stuff), I deserved another award.
This time, handmade choccies from Bowraville. It’s a good thing that I don’t live there, because these are truly decadent. The first one I ate was in the shape of a lolly and had sherbert inside it. Yummy.
There are still a few left. But only just.
So at the moment, I’m feeling very loved, validated as a writer, justified in being brave, and full of chocolate.
And panicked that the 50ks in 30 days deadline is less than 24 hours away, and I’m just shy of 30ks.
I’ve been thinking a bit more about my current Writer’s Mantra:
WRITE EDIT SUBMIT
write
edit
submit
WRITE
D
I
SUBMIT
Is it in your brain yet? Say it a few more times.
Here are my latest thoughts:
Writers write
Editors edit
Submissives submit
Only an author does all three.
So you want to be an author?
WRITE EDIT SUBMIT
So an update on my mantra progress:
WRITE – 15,000 words to date on current WIP since beginning of June.
EDIT - with the assistance of the fabulous Writing Body Language & Dialogue Cues workshop with Margie Lawson, I’m whipping Beyond Happily Ever After into shape.
SUBMIT – Cinderella has been sent off to another ball to dance the night away.
I’m on track with my mantra. How are you doing?
Oh yeah, almost forgot: I built me a website right here.
I had to share this (which I came across via the TeenLitAuthors group):
Hehe yes I really am laughing out loud.
Now, I need to find me some writing mojo. So I can come up with a better beginning than ‘The’. (oh no, I just checked – my first word is ‘the’ – I’ll need to do some major editing before I submit to Rat)
Okay, I have broken the 10k mark with The 12 Step Fairy Program, but I’m falling behind with 50ks in 30 days. Help me out, Fairy Godmother?
I haven’t been to a garage sale for a while but this was my landlord’s garage sale, and as my landlord is God, it would have to be good. Well, actually, we rent from the church and it was their annual garage sale, held at the local winery.
And I hit the motherlode.
I’ve taken a leaf from Simmone Howell’s blog and posted pictures of my found treasures.
I always head for the books first and they had a good selection of recent books and also old, very old books. There were some Cherry Ames books (which brought back memories of checking them out of the primary school library and the librarian not believing I was capable of reading them), Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew…but I left all of them behind.
This is what I bought:
We have:
Raw by Scott Monk
Charm Club by Belinda Ray
Captain Underpants (no 7) by Dav Pilkey
Judy, Patrol Leader by Dorothea Moore (no publication date but reminded me of my mum)
Heir of Mystery by Philip Ardagh
Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone (had given away my original copy years ago and needed the first one to complete the set again)
Fairy Dust by Gwyneth Rees
Decadent by Suzanne Forster (Blaze)
Around Australia in 90 days (for the fabulous photos)
There’s a lot of Young Adult and Middle grade in there which is fabulous, and how serendipitious is it to pick up a book called Fairy Dust when I’m about to write again about Felicity, the fairy-dust snorting fairy godmother.
The lady at the stall asked me for $1 for all the books. I gave her $2.
Then I went and circled the other goodies, and was chatting to one of the ladies of the church who we’ve known for many years and she pointed out a pair of shoes that looked like new. I tried them on and they fitted. Then I picked up the bag…perfect for holding A4 manuscripts. I no longer have to take both my handbag and a pink ‘green shopping bag’ to work.
I asked Jean how much she wanted for the shoes and bag, she said $1 and I gave her $2.
I circled the rest of the bric a brac and had my eye on an art deco statue, but hadn’t quite made up my mind that I wanted it.
So after offloading my first lot of books to the car, I went back to the book table and grabbed these two for my aviation-loving father.
The blue book is The Phantom Wing from Guy Dempster, both written in the thirties, from what I can tell from the Books and Collectibles website. ( Sale cost: 30 cents. Gave 50 cents)
But before I left the garage sale, I decided that the art deco statue had indeed won me over, and was coming home with me for the bargain price of $2.
Here she is in her new home:
I love the elliptic shape, and the curves of the figure. She has a little bit of wear and tear but nothing noticeable.
So the garage sale was a big success for me, with the grand total spent of $6.50. (I think my partner also bought a book on the history of Coffs Harbour for 20 cents) and I spent much less at the sale than I spent at the supermarket today and in a fortnight, I’ll still have my treasures from the garage sale, while today’s groceries will be eaten.
What wonderful things have you picked up at garage sales or fetes?
I’m now working on the synopsis of Beyond Happily Ever After.
I’ve read through the whole story, made lots of notes and now I need to distill 6 pages into a page. If only I had a synopsis fairy godmother.
Instead, I’ve got Felicity.
See, I’m not sure that Felicity (below) is quite up to the task. As usual, she’s been snorting too much fairy dust!
And this is Cinderella, all dolled up for the ball and the competition.
I didn’t need a fairy godmother to write the blurb: that came out very easily…
Fate had dealt her the wrong prince…
When Cinderella married Prince Edward, she expected the ‘happily ever after’. But when the couple have trouble conceiving an heir, she turns to her husband’s cousin and lookalike Prince Henry for a solution. A solution that Prince Henry is more than willing to provide as he has been in love with Cinderella since the night of the ball. And now Cinderella is also falling in love. Is it possible to be the wife of one prince and mistress of another? Or will Cinderella’s infidelity bring both kingdoms to ruin?
After an online chat with my friend Tracey O’Hara today, an idea is starting to take shape for our next 50k in 30 days challenge which starts on (gulp) Monday. It seems that Felicity, the fairy-dust addicted fairy godmother doesn’t think she got another scenes in Beyond Happily Ever After. She’s a little put-out. So she’s going to find herself a modern teenager who she can aid and abet, and most likely cause more than a little mischief. I can’t wait to see what she gets up to.
Having more fun at Photofunia
Pleased to report that Making the Cut is now under 100k, and getting great reports from my beta readers. She’ll be winging her way out there soon.
Remember the mantra: WRITE EDIT SUBMIT
Meantime, Cinderella is getting ready for another ball. She will be going into competition once again next month, and I’m having so much fun in her world again, especially with her feisty fairy godmother. At the moment, I’m preparing notes for the synopsis. As the story part for the comp is ready to go.
So I shall celebrate with her special banner:
This is my first attempt to post to my blog via email. Let’s see what happens!
It seems as if we’re heading for a hat trick in Coffs Harbour. This may be the third time in the last four months that I’m likely to be flooded in and cut off from town. It’s getting a bit tedious. If it happens, I’m not sure I’ll even take photos this time.
But meantime, I’ve been using the time to work on my manuscripts.
I thought I’d finished Making the Cut the other day and proudly tweeted so. Deanna had sent me through some notes, that I decided to wait until I hit the end before I used the notes to tweak. Did some tweaking last night. Then I reached the comment "I’m tuning out now…" Oh no. Seems I completely lost the pace in the second last chapter. Actually this knowledge now gives me the perfect opportunity to trim the ms back under 100k. So still work to do.
I’ve moved onto the novel-length version of Beyond Happily Ever After and wrote this blurb:
Fate had dealt her the wrong prince…
When Cinderella married Prince Edward, she expected the ‘happily ever after’. But when the couple have trouble conceiving an heir, she turns to her husband’s cousin and lookalike Prince Henry for a solution. A solution that Prince Henry is more than willing to provide. He has been in love with Cinderella since the night of the ball. And now Cinderella is also falling in love. Is it possible to be the wife of one prince and mistress of another? Or will Cinderella’s infidelity bring both kingdoms to ruin?
I’m having so much fun working on this story again, preparing it for competition. Cinderella’s fairy godmother is a hoot, and I love the combination of the fairy tale aspect and the modern world. And Cinderella enjoys a competition, as long as she has her glass slippers with her. She’s already taken out a second prize with the original short story. So I’m hoping that she’ll do well with the other comps and opportunities I have planned for her.
And I’ve found the perfect inspiration for Prince Henry…right here.
The manuscript is looking very colourful, highlighted using Margie Lawson’s EDITs system, but I do need more pink. Always need more pink.
Okay, I’m hitting send now. Let’s see if this baby posted.
Okay, I’ve been a little absent from my blog lately. My head has been in editing land. Sandie has instituted nightly writing or editing sprints, and along with an encouraging but ‘no pressure’ post-it note from my beta reader, I’ve been speeding through the edits, and feeling very productive.
My critique partner, Kiki, posted this meme to her blog on Monday, so I thought I would answer the questions as well.
What’s the last thing you wrote?
An article for a work newsletter. The names of the characters of the ongoing soapie are creative, if nothing else.
Was it any good?
Let’s see what the boss says. And then her boss.
What’s the first thing you ever wrote that you still have?
I have a ‘book’ I wrote in 5th grade called The Everyday Adventures of Witches. It won second prize in the book competition for book week. Very tattered now.
Write poetry?
I wrote really bad love poetry when I was a teen and have the rejection slips from Dolly magazine to prove it.
Now I assemble poetry instead of writing it and you can find my collage poetry here – Chickollage
Very occasionally, a ‘real’ poem will slip out.
Angsty poetry?
sometimes
Favourite genre of writing?
Chick lit, not that there’s anything wrong with that. And young adult.
Most fun character you ever wrote?
Kat in I’m with the Band – she gets to live completely out of her comfort zone, and does stuff that I could not imagine ever doing, like jumping out of a plane.
Most annoying character you ever wrote?
Libby in Kissing Toads was very annoying. she was always the party pooper, nay-saying everything or whining about stuff. And yet somehow, she got a guy. A neurotic psychologist. I think they were perfect for each other.
Best plot you ever wrote?
I’m really not good at this self-analysis stuff and at 11.15 at night, I can barely remember any plot, let alone the best plot I wrote. Okay, having a diary in which you can write the future and it comes true would be way cool.
Coolest plot twist you ever wrote?
Beyond Happily Ever After severely twists the Cinderella story and I had so much fun with that!
How often do you get writer’s block?
I don’t believe in writer’s block anymore. I just get on Write or Die and write my way through it. Now editing block…that’s a whole other thing.
How do you fix it?
Write fan fiction?
No. I’d rather invent it all.
Do you type or write by hand?
A bit of both, but mostly typing for now.
Do you save everything you write?
Yes. Except for the stuff that have been lost to former hard drives.
Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it?
Sometimes ideas need a long time to percolate to find the right vehicle, character or right opportunity.
The idea for Diary of the Future came to me many years before.
The idea for Are you a Real Person? started as notes for a screenplay, and a year later became a short story.
What’s your favourite thing that you’ve written?
I’m very fond of Beyond Happily Ever After at the moment. Maybe because I’m not in the middle of editing it. But that will change very soon.
What’s everyone else’s favourite thing that you’ve written?
The short story version of Beyond Happily Ever After has been read by many people and liked. But Are you a Real Person? has its own little fan club in my work environment. Very close to the possible truth.
Do you even show people your work?
yes, I’m building a fan club at work, plus I have beta readers and critique partners.
Who’s your favourite constructive critic?
my lovely critique partner, Kiki
Did you ever write a novel?
See page ‘My Stories’ – 7 novels in various states of development
Have you ever written fantasy, sci-fi, or horror?
No fantasy. Are you a Real Person? was quite futuristic.
Ever written romance or teen angsty drama?
yes and yes. though I say I’m writing chick lit, my chicks always get a happy ending.
What’s your favourite setting for your characters?
I love the town of Bilby Creek, and have two novels set there so far.
What’s one genre you have never written, and probably never will?
Mystery. Too much pre-planning involved.
How many writing projects are you working on right now?
I am trying so hard to focus on one project at a time.
So I’m editing one Making the Cut, with approx 50 pages to go.
Then I’ll edit Beyond Happily Ever After for a comp.
Then I’ll write another 50ks in 30 days in June. Not sure what I’ll write yet. It might be the next installment of Bilby Creek. But with another two weeks before June, anything could happen.
Do you want to write for a living?
I get paid to string together words into coherent sentences, but I don’t get paid to write creatively. Yet.
Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper?
Beyond Happily Ever After was published in Wet Ink magazine.
I’ve written many press releases for newspapers.
Have you ever won an award for your writing?
I won this beautiful trophy for a collage poem. Shame I had to hand it back a year later.
And a second prize for Beyond Happily Ever After.
Ever written something in script or play format?
I’ve written a few plays and some of them have even been performed.
What are your five favourite words?
Do you mean the words I use too often? Or the words I like?
I’ll come back to this question. Maybe.
Do you ever write based on yourself?
I use situations I’ve experienced to inform my writing. Doesn’t everybody?
What character that you’ve written most resembles yourself?
Funny enough, the character’s name is Diane and she appears in “I’m with the Band” as a crazy fangirl, meets the lead singer and Kat, the main character in a pub in Coffs and wrongly assume that Kat is the singer’s husband. When I was writing the story, I was depressed one night, was close to a scene where the band was coming through town, and I thought ‘I wish I could go and have a drink with the band,” and then realised, I could. As the author, I had that power. Next thing, I had a cameo in the story.
Hey if Stephenie Meyer can have a cameo in the Twilight film, I can have a cameo in my story.
Where do you get ideas for your other characters?
I watch and I listen and I learn. Watch out everybody – you may end up in a book.
Do you ever write based on your dreams?
I used to write my dreams down, but I don’t remember writing any stories based on them. However, I can go to bed with a problem with my story, and wake up with the answer. And I love that half awake time when I don’t have to go to work for thinking out a scene.
Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers?
Give me a Happy Ending every time.(sorry tune from The Pirate Movie is in my head now).
I hated the ending of Oscar and Lucinda so much, I threw the book against the wall. I’m not usually violent with books.
Have you ever written based on an artwork you’ve seen?
I don’t remember.
Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
It can all be fixed. I write fast and furious.
Ever write something entirely in chatspeak? (How r u?)
No. I prefer real words.
Entirely in L337?
Never.
Was that question completely appalling and un-writer like?
Yes, don’t ask me again.
Does music help you write?
Depends on what I’m writing. Are you a Real Person? first draft was written at a bad heavy metal concert to try and tune out the music.
I’m with the Band required a very loud soundtrack to create the ambience of being at a gig.
Are people surprised and confused when they find out you write well?
Not anymore.
But sometimes I’m surprised and confused when I find out I write well.
Sometimes I will read and older piece of work and can’t remember writing it.
Quote something you’ve written. The first thing to pop into your mind.
Hangnail moon
Bears witness to the terror
But cannot be subpoened.
Your turn! You know you’ve been looking for an excuse to procrastinate…
I started feeling melancholy on the weekend and tweeted about why anything (especially people) have to have an expiry date.
I think it’s because I was heading towards this date.
30th April 2009 – the day my mother would have turned 60.
The anniversary of death can slip past now as just another day, but today I feel poignant, empty, because it’s a day I should have been celebrating with my mother.
I remember as we approached Mum’s 40th birthday, she insisted that she didn’t want a surprise party. She was concerned that if a party was arranged, she’d be stuck celebrating her birthday with a bunch of drunks and people she didn’t want to spend time with. We’d planned a suprise but as most of the family were in on the planning, we knew exactly what she would like.
We took her to a Woolshed dinner at Picton, surrounded by her Gourmet Club pals, her cake decorating friends and everyone who’s company she enjoyed. And she loved it.
We never got to celebrate her 50th birthday – she passed away, far too young, at 48 years old.
I wonder what Mum would have been like at sixty…
Still cake decorating? I’m certain.
Still going to the cinema and rocking the whole row of chairs with her infectious laughter? I’m sure.
Still chatting to anyone who breathed? Undoubtedly.
Still cooking the best roast chook in town? To perfection.
Revelling in being a grandmother? And loving it!
Reading my stories? And adding her own suggestions for plot twists.
Mum would still be cooking, and cake decorating, and belly laughing. She’d be having fun with her family, and adoring her grandkids. She’d probably have given Arnold Schwarznegger the flick for Hugh Jackman. She’s still be buying subscription tickets for the Ensemble Theatre and winning movie tickets. And she’d still be Mum.
Thanks Mum for making me who I am today.
Somebody visited my blog after typing in the search term ‘things to write on Twitter’.
It’s 140 characters. Can’t you think of something yourself? Maybe you should rethink your decision to ‘Tweet’.
Okay, I’ll help – Here you go:
I copied my Tweet from http://tinyurl.com/caq99s because I couldn’t think of anything to Tweet myself.
I hope that helps.
Now it’s back to Write or Die for me.
